Methods to Having Authority with None of the Responsibility

About a year into my career in the student assessment industry, our company had a large group meeting about a program where we discussed lessons learned. Running the meeting was our program manager (PM), who I had never seen until that day. Judging from the comments around the room, some people didn’t even know who he was.

The meeting seemed to be productive as members of the group laid out issues they found while trying to make their deadlines. Issues ranged from creeping scopes of work to a severe lack of personnel to not having a coherent master schedule. The PM wrote it all down on an easel.

As our allotted hour time limit approached, the PM stopped everyone and handed out a colorful sheet of paper. He didn’t have enough copies, claiming he didn’t realize so many people worked on the program. The paper contained a design made in PowerPoint that said, “Everyone Counts, Everyone is Accountable.” Then – POOF - the PM was gone, leaving all the notes from the easel behind.

After seeing the same type of thing a few times, I coined the name “dive bombing” for that style of management. Swoop in, sound authoritative, and disappear. Above all, don’t get your hands dirty. It’s a technique in trying to establish authority while shucking any type of accountability.

There is another form of dive bombing. In a more negative form, the dive bomber points out all the problems (real or perceived) very vociferously, then…POOF…disappears until the next meeting. There is no intent to suggest solutions or to work with anyone until the problems are addressed.





The Dragnet is usually done by a supervisor that was caught off-guard by something that should have been easy to see coming. A dragnet may go something like:


Supervisor: Why didn’t you tell me about the package?
Underling: I did, several times. I even emailed you a heads up twice.
Supervisor: Where is the package?
Underling: In the mailroom.
Supervisor: Which mailroom?
Underling: The one downstairs.
Supervisor: Is that where you were told to put it?
Underling: No, you wouldn’t answer me on where to put it. So I put it there for safe keeping.
Supervisor: A-HA! So, you were hiding the package instead of placing it where you were told! No WONDER I was left in the dark! We have high standards, you know!

A much uglier form of a dragnet gets personal, with one person investigating things such as an employee’s social habits, how much they are seen drinking after work, where they are using their company credit card, and who they talk to from competitor organizations. Anything to dig up dirt, discredit, and smear someone on the other end of a dispute. Unfortunately, this is a very real phenomenon.

A Yellow Herring is somewhat like a red herring. Where a red herring sends people into a different and incorrect direction, a yellow herring is purposefully laid out in numbers to distract. This is a complicated scenario where Group B is banking on Group A not successfully completing their portion of work on time. This way, Group B is without blame if deadlines are not met. Yellow herrings are best set under the guise of questions, such as, “is the VP okay with this process?” While the question may be completely irrelevant, the process has to be halted until someone is able to track down the VP and ask.

Akin to the yellow herring, Speed Bumping is assigning actual tasks or details with the intent to slow down a person or group. If an original task was to review a test form to be sure that keyed responses are correct, a speed bumper will add, “make sure that the fonts are consistent.”

A Phantom Checklist is a checklist that grows with phantom requirements after the work is done. The phantom checklister will ask, one by one, if specifications were met. The problem comes when the phantom checklister keeps asking questions until they get a “no”. That conversation may resemble:

Phantom Checklister (PC): Is the software compatible with PC and Mac?
Unaware Victim (UV): Yes
PC: Does is use less than 3 GB of space?
UV: Yes
PC: Does it have a clear welcome screen?
UV: Yes
PC: Does it make people feel good about themselves?
UV: Um, yes, I guess so.
PC: Does it make julienne fries?
UV: Of course not.
PC: Get back to the drawing board! You know our client has high expectations. I have worked so hard to build this relationship and will NOT stand by and let you destroy it with sub-standard work! We have high standards, you know!

Scope creep is a project management term to describe when the scope of work grows without commensurate changes in timeline or compensation. It is a nasty thorn to most program managers and is usually caused by a sly client. Responsibility Creep, by contrast, is when some responsibilities prove to be too difficult or treacherous for someone and they migrate into someone else’s hands. The creep is almost always stealth and results in conversations like:

Scope Creeper: Why didn’t your group finish the edit log?
Unaware Victim: That is not in our realm. It is reserved for your group.
Scope Creeper: So we aren’t a team? Aren’t we ALL responsible for the success of this program? We have high standards, you know!

The Soviet Basketball technique may be the most sinister of them all. It is used less frequently than the other techniques, but can be much more damaging. The name comes from the 1972 Olympic basketball gold medal game between the Soviet Union and the United States. If you aren't familiar with the reference, read about it here.

To avoid a lengthy description, let’s cut straight to a real example. One of the duties of assessment people is to build test forms to match a blueprint and certain specifications. It’s not an easy thing to do and any error can put the company onto the front page of the newspaper…or at least in very hot water with the client. Program ABC (masking true identity) had strange specifications and a weak bank of test questions to use. The chances of error and missing the specifications were very high. Yet, the test forms were built that satisfied all criteria. Huge accomplishment, huge relief.

Just after completing the work, the specifications and blueprint changed and we had to start the process all over. And with less time. The job of our project leader was to avoid these types of changes after the work was completed. But alas, the specifications continued to change.

Again – success somehow. Again – a change in the specifications. Again – rebuild with even less time than before.

This went on for a month. The tests were built and rebuilt …until an error was committed and caught. It turns out that the error was perceived and not real; but the damage was done.

This program was doomed from the start for several reasons. Using a Soviet Basketball, the project leader was able to put any and all culpability for program failure on the worker bees.

And we lost a month of work time.

The Value of a Basic Education

Govinda Prasad Panthy and I met quite accidentally not long ago.  Govinda lives in the small Nepalese village of Bageshwori.  Like other villages in Nepal, Bageshwori is poor and agrarian. Children who are able to go to school have to walk miles to class in all types of weather and on roads that are often more mud than road.

Govinda persevered through the same conditions in pursuing his own education.   Although most of his classmates dropped out, he completed his formal educational journey and is now trying to get as many children in his village as educated as possible.

In 1998, Govinda started the Shantideep Adarsh Vidhyasadan (SAV School) with 13 children.  This past school year, that number grew to 127. SAV is an English Medium School, which means that classes as taught in the English language, and goes from pre-K to grade 6.  

Some of the teachers are volunteers and others work for less than $50 a month.  Govinda actually erases and reuses student papers because there is no other way to keep a supply.  Govinda also teaches part time at another school in another village to help pay the school’s expenses.  

Like American kids dream of being the next American Idol, the kids of Bageshwori dream of their own school building.  A simple building to keep out the elements and house books, paper, and pencils.  Govinda dreams of computers, electricity, and internet access for the school. Seemingly simple wants evade them, even in 2011. 

What is the Best Advice You've Ever Gotten?

As kids we heard a lot of advice from a lot of people. Some was good, some not, some was flat scary.

As someone that works with kids and has a four of my own, I am careful to not share a lot of life advice for a few reasons.

1 - I don't pretend to be the wisest person on Earth.

2 - Mis-interpreted advice can be dangerous, especially in the form of a metaphor...which is usually how I speak.

3 - I just don't like to do it.

But there is a need for advice from people who have spun a few wheels already (metaphor).

I must say that the absolute best life advice I ever got was from my old man.

NEVER bring a knife to a gun fight. 

My father was not the kind to carry weapons or even engage in physical confrontations with others.  So what did he mean?

To me, it meant never expect to compete in a speech competition with well-practiced people without being well-practiced yourself.

It also meant never go into an athletic competition if you aren't in prime condition and your competitors are.  

It also meant to never expect to get a job that requires a Master's degree if you are only carrying a high school diploma.

It also meant to not expect to have much success winning business if you didn't do your homework and everyone else has.

And so on.  The applicability is universal. 

What is the Role of High School?

A local radio station spent some time talking about state budgets and how schools fared in them.  One large question came from a listener that had just about everyone stumped.

What is the role of high school?

The conversation went several directions.  Here is a terribly truncated paraphrase:

• High schools are supposed to make kids ready for college.
• High schools should be getting kids ready for careers.
• There isn’t enough money anywhere to accommodate both.
• College degrees have decreasing value.
• Community colleges have the role of vocational education.
• Colleges will lose money if the vocational role is taken by high schools.
• Colleges and universities have become “re-training grounds” for displaced workers.
• A mechanic or plumber making $50 an hour won’t quit their job to make much less as a vocational education teacher.
• Despite efforts to push kids toward college, growing numbers are going to college unprepared.

…and on and on.  This type of re-hashing the problems isn’t atypical.  But what is there to do?

Here are some ideas that will likely never get off the ground:

• Establish and grow apprenticeship programs for high-schoolers and young adults.
• Re-establish standardized tests as minimum skills test and/or prognostic tools ONLY.
• Re-establish the ACT and SAT as the indicators for likely post-secondary success (not the statewide test.)
• Establish Vocational Charter Schools as an educational experiment.
• Establish that “work” isn’t dirty or lower than “not-working", and is very important and vital. 

If any of the above were discussed seriously, mighty battles would start over the details, like tax breaks for individuals and companies that took on apprentices, how many hours should be allowed, what is “critical” in a minimum skills test, etc. 

Then there will be accusations about pushing certain groups into vocational routes to keep them down.  Politicians will always tiptoe around such charges despite their ridiculousness.   

A question for readers, how many of you make more money than your plumber?  More than the guy who inspected your house before you bought it?  More money than the contractor who keeps the country club grass green and draining properly?  More money than the people who wire all newly constructed building for electricity?

You may be surprised.

Youth Competition - The Tale of Two Regions

 Every region is different.  Let’s just get that out of the way.  I moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina in December of 2009.  The 28 years before that were spent in South Texas.    Earlier years in my life were spent in South Dakota and Hawaii.  My memories of those last two aren’t as vivid, so this article will only contrast North Carolina and Texas. 

After watching a handful of athletic contests at the high school level and lower, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Chapel Hill area and Texas have very different philosophies about competition.  That there is a difference isn’t surprising, it’s the vast chasm between the two that is eye-popping. 

Exhibit A - San Antonio – My nephew’s 4-year-old soccer league game where the other team has a player named Michelle.  We all know her name was Michelle because she had a soccer bag with her name monogrammed onto the side AND every time she had the ball, someone kept yelling “Michelle, Michelle, MICHELLE MICHEELLLEEE!!”  Michelle’s team wins 14-2 and their parents continue to coach up the kids after the game is over.

Exhibit B - Holly Springs, NC – A 10 to 11-year-old softball league game has one parent bringing her daughter a fruit salad in a bowl with a fork DURING the game.  Each kid gets a snack bar and juice box as they leave and none of the girls have really mastered throwing, yet. 

Exhibit C – McAllen, TX – At a freshman football game that is getting very physical, Luis breaks both bones in his left forearm.  Luis tries to hide the arm from me (his coach at the time) so that he can keep playing.  When his arm is discovered, Luis pleads with his coaches and team trainer to let him play, anyway.  His salemanship fails. Luis defies his coaches and hits the weight room every day, only being able to use his right arm.

Exhibit D – Pittsboro, NC – A “big rivalry” varsity football game is preceded by players doing some dancing and towel waving.  The game starts with suspect ball handling and not a single collision that can be heard from the stands. 

Exhibit E – Austin, TX – At the state track and field meet, Robert vomits from exhaustion and nerves after finishing 2^nd in the 400-meter dash.  His 47.9 second run was just short of being fast enough to be state champion.  After making sure that he is properly hydrated in the 97 degree heat, he gets ready to run the 200m, where he breaks his personal best time of 21.6. 

Exhibit F - Chapel Hill – A junior high soccer tournament is filled with coaching pointers such as “play as a team” and “do your best” and other feel good quips.  Judging from the skill set of the players, that is probably about the extent of coaching that goes on at the practices.  The kids have on some fancy equipment.  None of their uniforms show any evidence of grass stains or dirt...or sweat, even though there is some complaining about the 75 degree “heat”. 

This isn’t to say that either is right, nor is either necessarily wrong.  They are just very different attitudes.  There is plenty in both that can be picked out as “right on” and even more than can be isolated as “needs some changin’”.

Perhaps I’ll keep moving so that I can take notes about how such things are handled in other places. 

Can Reading Be Saved?

In the Education Week Teacher article Can Reading Be Saved?, Kelly Gallagher outlined his vision for correcting a sagging reading level in students.  Gallagher is a 25-year veteran from California and has authored four books on reading and writing. 
   
In the interview article, Gallagher points to the usual suspects for student ill-ability to comprehend what they read…Facebook, texting, IMs…but he reserves most of the blame on teaching strategies. 

“I think what we are doing is selling out the long-term prospects of our kids becoming readers for the short-term pressures to raise test scores.  And the sad thing is, I don’t think that those two things are mutually exclusive.”

His solution is to have kids read books that are interesting at the student’s level.  While its important to offer challenging reading text, he argues, its more important to have books that they can handle. 

“…if you have a high school kid reading at the 4th grade level, he or she should be reading a lot of books at the 4th grade level.   And once they get better at that, then he should be reading books at the 5th grade level.”  And so on.

Mr. Gallagher sees well-intentioned culprits for the lack of reading development.  Here is a brief list:

• Teaching “strategies”
• “Fake” school writing (as opposed to the writing we want kids to do when they grow up.)
• Slowing down stories to recap and explain. 
• Stressing standards at the exclusion of classics.

 All of the above are done in an attempt to help students, but they are counter-productive according to Gallagher.


“More than ever, we need to reintroduce kids to the richness and creative play of our subject.”

A Moment of Parenting Genius

A recent conversation caused me to remember a rare moment from a few years ago.  I was driving my oldest child, then 6, to her first violin recital.  She was all dolled up with her best hair and fancy dress.

Like every 6-year-old, she was unpredictable.  This child was ADHD, showing glowing brilliance one moment and then hanging upside down on the furniture the next.  I wanted desperately for everyone at the recital to see the former and scared that they may see the latter.  To add to the parental pressure, the other performers were all from a music family.

About 1/2 mile away from the recital, I started to think about all of the last minute coaching advice to give her.  "Stand up tall", "focus on what you are doing", "be sure you pay attention to when you are up", and "if you mess up, just pick up where you left off and keep going" all rushed into my head.  Then my mouth opened.

For a brief moment, I was brilliant.

"Have fun" is all I offered.

What did I know about playing the violin, anyway?

On that day she had played as well as I had ever heard her.  In some other recitals she didn't.  But she always looked forward to the recital as something to enjoy.  She did NOT see it as a job where Dad gets all over her or as something to just "get through" without embarrassment. 


I won't take credit for all of that, or her love of competition.  But I can proudly say that I didn't HURT the cause on that day.