What to do when the system breaks
Most of us make mistakes - it's human nature. Since I am theoretically in charge of my organization, when I make mistakes, they are usually larger than normal. This gives me a certain tolerance for other members of our organization, because I've either already made that mistake, or mine cost me a whole lot more money.
I read an interesting blog piece from Seth Godin (author of The Long Tail, and a couple more good books). He was talking about system failures, mistakes that resound across a whole organization. (the piece is here - http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/07/what-do-you-do.html)
He makes a good point about judging an organization by how well it corrects its mistakes. It's an old struggle between the dynamic and the static - the static process has to have a mechanism for change when it stops working. I tend to divide mistakes into human error and system error. Human mistakes are normal, and kind of hard to eliminate - people just aren't perfect. The system mistake, however, is a problem with the way the system is setup, and it leads to similar mistakes because similar situations occur. These kind of mistakes seem harder to correct. One of the best speakers I have heard was Horst Schultze (spelling?), the VP for Ritz Carlton. He was talking about an elevator availability problem, and traced the cause of the problem back to a decision that he made to buy less than the recommended amount of towels when opening his hotel. Our goal is to identify these type of problems, and make the changes that need to be made, as soon as possible. Of course, the hard part is to predict what effect the change you make will have on the other parts of the organization. The law of unintended consequences is alive and well, but it seems to me that you're still better off changing than standing still.
A brief gripe on the end of this entry. I was a bit shocked to read that the Governor of North Carolina's wife received an 88% raise, from $90,000 to $170,000. This was not for a new position, just increased responsibilities. No matter how well the job has been done, it's hard to justify. It seems to go with the several out of the country trips, the helicoptor transportation for the Easleys, and the arrogance the Governor displays in ordering the elimination of public record e-mails. The appearance stinks, it looks like the taxpayers are just making sure that the Easleys have a comfortable retirement. The feeling of entitlement to public money is one of the worst symptoms of a long career of being employed by the State. North Carolina deserves better.
I read an interesting blog piece from Seth Godin (author of The Long Tail, and a couple more good books). He was talking about system failures, mistakes that resound across a whole organization. (the piece is here - http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/07/what-do-you-do.html)
He makes a good point about judging an organization by how well it corrects its mistakes. It's an old struggle between the dynamic and the static - the static process has to have a mechanism for change when it stops working. I tend to divide mistakes into human error and system error. Human mistakes are normal, and kind of hard to eliminate - people just aren't perfect. The system mistake, however, is a problem with the way the system is setup, and it leads to similar mistakes because similar situations occur. These kind of mistakes seem harder to correct. One of the best speakers I have heard was Horst Schultze (spelling?), the VP for Ritz Carlton. He was talking about an elevator availability problem, and traced the cause of the problem back to a decision that he made to buy less than the recommended amount of towels when opening his hotel. Our goal is to identify these type of problems, and make the changes that need to be made, as soon as possible. Of course, the hard part is to predict what effect the change you make will have on the other parts of the organization. The law of unintended consequences is alive and well, but it seems to me that you're still better off changing than standing still.
A brief gripe on the end of this entry. I was a bit shocked to read that the Governor of North Carolina's wife received an 88% raise, from $90,000 to $170,000. This was not for a new position, just increased responsibilities. No matter how well the job has been done, it's hard to justify. It seems to go with the several out of the country trips, the helicoptor transportation for the Easleys, and the arrogance the Governor displays in ordering the elimination of public record e-mails. The appearance stinks, it looks like the taxpayers are just making sure that the Easleys have a comfortable retirement. The feeling of entitlement to public money is one of the worst symptoms of a long career of being employed by the State. North Carolina deserves better.
While I agree with your "gripe" about the Governor's wife's raise, I have to wonder why you, as an elected official, haven't spoken out about similar raises given governmental employees here in your own county. Any word there? For example, do you agree that Dare County should have the highest paid county manager in the entire State of North Carolina? Or is that salary justified and based upon a "long career" of salting the political coffers of Dare County.
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Correction - Seth Godin did not write The Long Tail - sorry for the bad info.
Ray, On your specific example, I haven't dug for the info to make a reasonable call on the highest paid county manager. Depending on longevity, size of the budget, other challenges, it could be reasonable to have the highest paid manager. I think the smaller county and town managers face a lot of different challenges than the larger counties, but the cost of a mistake is a lot bigger in a bigger budget. Hiring and compensating the manager is one of the few essential Board duties, probably the most important for day to day operations.
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Less than 10 years ago, with no education beyond high school and no subsequent training since taking the job, this county manager was earning approx. $60,000 per year. Today, with no more qualifications/training, and with a only a small increase in number of personnel; and no new departments, that salary/benefits have jumped to 1/4 million dollars per year; the highest in the State of North Carolina; and he only has to report to work when he feels it is necessary. Added to that, he now has an assistant county manager, who makes in excess of $100,000 per year.
You're no dummy, Bob.. you know Dare County politics. Why else would your own town hire an ex-police chief to be a town manager? Qualifications mean little in the "goodliest land under the scope of heaven". Right?
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Ray,
How big is Dare County's budget compard to the $250k? Honestly, the $60K from 10 years ago sounds low, the $250k now sounds high, and almost had to include some disproportionate raises. Is the "only has to report to work when he feels like it" in his contract? Or is that your opinion? The managers I have known have made themselves available to the Board and others the vast majority of their time, including weekends and nights.
I think elected Boards fear change as much as anyone, and I suspect that Dare's Board has put off the challenge of finding new management by sweetening the manager's contract to entice him to stay instead of retire. I think they have lined up an assistant manager so he can move into the top spot at some point in the future.
I don't think Dare County politics had anything to do with the hiring of Charlie Cameron to be the Nags Head Town Manager, and I'm in a pretty good position to know. We went through the selection process and hired a new manager to replace Mr. Fuller, and the new manager lasted about a year - various reasons, which I can't discuss. Charlie was the best person to become manager at the time, and he has provided good leadership for the town organization. I'lll take a good leader over an MPA anyday, because qualifications on paper are only a partial indicator of the ability to lead an organization. In Charlie, we have a known and tested leader - you never know what you'll get in a new hire.
You ask how I can make a judgement on Mary Easley, and not on Dare County's manager? Three points: 1)Ms. Easley's position was created for her a couple (3 or 4 years) ago. 2)She appears to be hiring speakers for NC State, not managing an organization of any size. 3) Her salary increased 80% at one crack.
Mr. Wheeler has worked for Dare for over 10 years( I think longer), and the position was not created for him. Dare County is a large organization, and I would say it's grown over the last ten years - sure seems like there are more county employees now than in 1998. Mr. Wheeler is not married to the Governor.
But there is something you can do about Mr. Wheeler - run for office at the next opportunity!
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Bob,
Let Wheeler retire and let Dare County put the job out for hire. Then see how many highly qualified MPA's from all over the state and country will apply.
Do you suppose then, the county commissioners will consider someone with a high school education; even at 1/3 the salary? Other counties aside, I'll wager you there are fewer than a handful, if any, public employees in the entire state government of North Carolina who make as much money as Dare's county manager; not to mention there are dozens of them with (1) more education, (2) qualifications, (3) experience, (4) responsibilities, (5) employees to supervise, and,(6) years of service. Back to county managers. Want to bet that the county managers of Wake, Mecklenburg, Durham, etc. counties don't stand up and salute Wheeler when he passes by? Or else they just ignore him. Go figure.
As to Nags Head's current manager; nothing personal from me there...I understand small-town politics. Hey, look at Southern Shores!
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Bob,
As an after-thought, I have to ask...
"if you haven't had time to research the merits of your own county manager's excessive salary, have you had the time to research the merits of the Governor's wife's salary (to which you speak)?"
You're starting to sound like Muller.
You know Muller????...the ex-mayor who tried to soak your town's residents for beach nourishment tax assessment(s) as his 'last act' of holding elected office.
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