There is always plenty of room for humor in the Navy. Jeff Bacon illustrates one of those moments of humor with his latest cartoon to capture a very real problem.
We've all had that boss who didn't respect our time and viewed his/her time as more valuable/important than ours. There are times when one can't avoid being late. The CO/XO/DH DIVOFF who is perpetually late for his own meetings needs to change the time of the meeting.
When nearly all of us can relate to this problem, there really is a problem. 12 officers waiting 15 minutes for the CO have wasted 4 hours of the Navy's time. Who can afford it? The Navy, the command and those officers can't.
When nearly all of us can relate to this problem, there really is a problem. 12 officers waiting 15 minutes for the CO have wasted 4 hours of the Navy's time. Who can afford it? The Navy, the command and those officers can't.
Time is one of the more valuable things we have. No respect for our time = no respect for us.
More of Jeff Bacon's humor is HERE.
More of Jeff Bacon's humor is HERE.
13 comments:
Beg to differ with you Captain but any subordinate officer's time belongs to the CO/senior officer. If that senior wants you spending your time waiting in the conference room pending his arrival, then that is his absolute prerogative.
There is a balance to be struck. A CO who shows up early puts those who show up on time in an uncomfortable spot, which eventually leads to everyone showing up early for everything. I think seniors should be on time for small meetings, but a few minutes late for larger gatherings. I've worked for seniors that would stretch that to a half hour late, which I agree is counterproductive.
A CO who things that all of his subordinates' time belongs to them had best learn some humility otherwise it's a rather hard fall...just read the Navy times. Most good/great COs understand that they work for all their subordinates!
My commander does in essence 'own' my time, and can delay me as much as he or she would like. That said -- mutual respect up and down the chain of command is a sign of a leader who uses actual leadership vice a leader who relies on the device on their collar.
“any subordinate officer's time belongs to the CO/senior officer” … to include the moment the resignation letter is submitted, yes - the Senior Officer owns that time to be sure. Mr. Lambert, the statement from the initial comment on this thread at 0703, ably validates, demonstratively underpins and truly supports your assertions; “When nearly all of us can relate to this problem, there really is a problem” and “Time is one of the more valuable things we have. No respect for our time = no respect for us”. Again, we find ourselves blessed with an exceptional example of how efficiently and effectively freedom of speech and expression helps to identify and highlight frightening ignorance, wide blind spots and lack of professional self-awareness. Regrettably, we have leaders in the fleet that echo the low ”EQ” captured by Anonymous 0703’s comment. These “leaders” regularly fail to recognize we are in an All Volunteer Force, continue to pressurize the JO exodus with the “your time is my time” attitude and undoubtedly provide great examples, daily, of what NOT to do as a leader.
I had one department head that told his five division officers that he had 5 mandatory meetings for us each day. Before Quarters, After Quarters, etc. He never showed up for the first meeting and we never showed up for any of his other meetings. Worked out just fine.
Had a CO once who wondered why I failed to attend his meetings and I pointed out that he persisted in scheduling them for times I was on watch. Worked out just fine.
I never missed anything by missing a meeting.
I like that: If you missed the meeting, you missed nothing at all.
As a department head, I had an XO who would often miss PBFT altogether, or show up when we were already done. She would make us hold it again, completely, and repeat what we had already gone through. Very inconsiderate. She never learned her lesson; I suspect, even after she was relieved of CG command in Yoko a few years ago.
Anon @ June 10, 2013 at 2:19 PM
Oh Holly, how we miss you!
If a senior can't manage his/her own time how can I expect them to manage mine?
Same problem in the civilian world.
But it can be fixed. I once worked at a company that was awful for not having the decision makers in the meetings - of course anything decided in a mtg that they were not there was always subject for later review on their whim.
I got tired of the BS and started asking at every meeting if all of the decision makers were present. If I got told no (which happened a lot in the beginning of my campaign..) I simply stood up and walked out of the room. When questioned I said that since not all of the decision makers were present, I saw no reason to waste my time with a pointless meeting....call me when all the decision makers were present and we could have the mtg.
It took a couple of months for people to realize I was serious and by that time most of my peers were doing it as well, so it became a self-fufilling meme.
Six months later the bs of mtgs without all the decision makers present was a thing of the past (or the mtg would rapidly evaporate as people left when they realized not all of the decision makers were present).
time is irrelevant - did you get anything out of the meeting? Was there a point? Did you have input? If you walked away complaining about the time or when the CO showed up, it tells me you were more concerned about your time. Yes time management is important.
Anon June 21, 2013 at 10:39 AM
Time is one of the few things that is relevant. Unlike so many other things, it is finite and none of us knows how much of it we have. Wasting someone's time is unconscionable. Don't do it.
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