A 10/90 Kind of Day...

The axiom goes... 10% of your personnel take up 90% of your time. Anyone who manages staff knows this is the truth. Well, today (and a Friday on top of it) was a 10/90 kind of day. My calendar wasn't crazy today (as I try to do), but the only meeting I had scheduled was an important one. It was a Finance Committee meeting to present the 2008-09 Budget and request an emergency allocation for a facility renovation project. No pressure there... asking for $750K to keep the lights on for the next 10 years, and presenting an operating budget in a state that's facing a $20-billion budget deficit. Needless to say it was important.

So getting into the office at my usual 8:30am, I started making the coffee for the crew (as is my routine), and getting my thoughts together for the meeting. Then in comes "trying" employee #1. Now he usually comes in to update me on what he's working on, which in the nature of his position is important for me to know. But today's update rolled right into his semi-regular bitch fest about the people he works with, how he isn't appreciated, and people take advantage of him and his department. Sometimes he does have legitimate grievances, but Friday brought what I would consider more whining than issues. This venting session lasts about 30 minutes. At this point I'm zapped of much of my energy, going round and around with him. Probably more importantly, my attention has been diverted, prep time reduced, and set a bad tone for the day.

After some additional information and ammunition for the meeting, in strolls employee #2. Refer back to yesterday's bullet point #1 for another trying discussion, a carryover from Thursday. Here comes more dialog on a difference in philosophy that won't likely change anytime soon. At this point, one hour of my Friday morning has been consumed with 10% of my staff taking up 90% of my intellectual energy on non-issues. All of this and I haven't even gotten a sip of the now brewed coffee or reviewed the material for the Finance meeting. One hour into a Friday morning and I can see the whole day disintegrating in front of my eyes. I'm drained mentally and the big meeting still lies ahead. Fortunately I have great people around me that pull it all together, make me look much better than I am, and come through in the clutch with the Finance Committee.

Now more than ever, I'm convinced that colleges and universities need to design programs and classes to help train tomorrow's leaders on personnel management. All of the technical skills aside, manager's spend 90% of their time dealing with 10% of their employees. They drag down the entire operation, cause drama and angst among the other 90% of the employees, and distract the focus of the common goals of the organization. People end up expending much of their time and energy figuring out ways to work around the 10% rather than working with them. It's not that their efforts aren't valuable, because much of the time their work product positively impacts the organization. I wonder sometimes whether their efforts are worth the time and trauma invested to get it.