>>Thinking about it, the one that gets me from ok to pssed off in 6 seconds is "Failure is not an option".
>>One needs an Uzi to satisfactorily deal with this particular comment.
I agree on that.
I found myself with a boss a few years ago who was completely out of his depth. I updated him on a negotiation I was doing that had failed, irrevocably, because of a group-wide policy change by one of the big four banks that neither I nor my counterpart could do anything about.
Him: "Do you think that is acceptable?"
Me: It's a fact. I've accepted it. I've already told you what I'm doing about it."
Him: "But it's just not acceptable. Can we agree that it is just unacceptable".
Me: "If you like, but it's still a fact. Is there anything else?"
Him: "Well you've agreed that it's unacceptable so how are you going to change it?"
Me: "I'm not. It's not possible." And so on, and on.
It ended with me saying it was my job to solve the problem in another way and that I fully intended to do that, but if he didn't think I was the right person for the job he should find somebody else to do it or do it himself and pay me off.
I don't know what he did or said but he wasn't my boss a week later.
I later found out that he had been on a coaching course, where he had 'learned' that getting someone to admit that failure is unacceptable motivates them to deliver the required results.
|
BC / BCE new
BC / BCE new
