The past four years have been a very long haul of seizures, C6 disk bulge, muscular spasms, sinus drain and coughing, neuropathy-like pain, fears about not being able to work, dental emergencies, sleep disorder/insomnia, disabling drug side-effects, a teenage daughter with severe depression, a relapsed-alcoholic husband, terribly deteriorated living conditions, and an intense job.
I am under the active care of a primary doctor, neurologist, psychiatrist, social worker/counselor, Stephen Minister, spiritual director, Reiki/BodyTalk practitioner, family counselor, and off-and-on care of a physical therapist. I've had several MRIs (with and without contrast), CT scans, ultrasounds (with and without contrast), EKGs, EEGs, video-monitored EEGs. I've lost track of the number of drug changes for seizure control, pain control, blood pressure control, and cough control. (My doctor has taken to prescribing without refills because we so seldom refill.) I have regular traction, soft tissue work, structural manipulation, exercises (with and without weights).
And that's just off the top of my head. Just the thought of it all exhausts me.
So it's no wonder that occasionally I give in to despair, sure it will never end. The wonder is I only give in occasionally.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Management as Sculpting
Back in May, I spent quite a bit of time pondering the nature of managing people. I decided on a model I thought I liked, and set it aside to see if the idea developed further. It didn't because I don't know enough about the art of sculpting. Since I'm not likely to go out and learn anything about sculpture any time soon, I've finally decided to just put the idea out here where I can find it again later.
The best manager I ever had didn't manage me the way she managed others in the team. In fact, we broke down into three basic groups - those who thrived being pushed as fast and hard as possible, those who were comfortable with concrete tasks and weren't interested in growing for various reasons, and those who needed a lot of hand-holding no matter what they were assigned. We all thrived because she managed us as we needed to be managed. It wasn't about her, it was about us.
Years later, I started preparing myself for eventual management. I read books, trade magazines, talked with people. Basically, the management profession recognized exceptional manager like the one I'd had, but had no guidance for how to become like them. The one place I finally found guidance for how to manage was the Rule of Saint Benedict, in the instructions for Abbot or Prioress where it goes on at great length how to delegate, how to identify potentials, etc. It discusses both how to rotate tasks, how to encourage growth as appropriate, and how to avoid setting up disaster.
So what does this have to do with sculpture? Well, it occurred to me that the management is the art of building people with a variety of temperaments and personalities. In other words, sculpting with a variety of materials.
Here is a rough outline for how I think the metaphor would go:
- Michelangelo talked about seeing an angel within the marble and removing what didn't belong. Some people have a very clear potential in their strengths and a manager helps them prune away the distractions.
- With clay, the sculptor has to add mass first and then shape it. This seems especially appropriate with most youths who need to build experiences first to have something to shape into a longer term career.
- Granite is very set in its ways and wears down the tools used to shape it. But once it has shape, it keeps it for a long time. These are the people where you take advantage of what shape they have and don't expect much flexibility.
- To contrast, I have known managers whose approach was to identify an employee's weaknesses and have them spend all their energy on shoring those up. A sculptor who randomly grinds away rough spots ends up with a shapeless mass rather than a work of art.
To become an effective manager then is getting a feel for the materials, choosing appropriate tools, and working a piece appropriate to the medium.
Come to think of it, if I aspire to management maybe I should take some actual sculpting classes to get a feel for how tools, medium, etc. work together.
The instructor would think me crazy if I say I'm there to learn how to manage people. : )
The best manager I ever had didn't manage me the way she managed others in the team. In fact, we broke down into three basic groups - those who thrived being pushed as fast and hard as possible, those who were comfortable with concrete tasks and weren't interested in growing for various reasons, and those who needed a lot of hand-holding no matter what they were assigned. We all thrived because she managed us as we needed to be managed. It wasn't about her, it was about us.
Years later, I started preparing myself for eventual management. I read books, trade magazines, talked with people. Basically, the management profession recognized exceptional manager like the one I'd had, but had no guidance for how to become like them. The one place I finally found guidance for how to manage was the Rule of Saint Benedict, in the instructions for Abbot or Prioress where it goes on at great length how to delegate, how to identify potentials, etc. It discusses both how to rotate tasks, how to encourage growth as appropriate, and how to avoid setting up disaster.
So what does this have to do with sculpture? Well, it occurred to me that the management is the art of building people with a variety of temperaments and personalities. In other words, sculpting with a variety of materials.
Here is a rough outline for how I think the metaphor would go:
- Michelangelo talked about seeing an angel within the marble and removing what didn't belong. Some people have a very clear potential in their strengths and a manager helps them prune away the distractions.
- With clay, the sculptor has to add mass first and then shape it. This seems especially appropriate with most youths who need to build experiences first to have something to shape into a longer term career.
- Granite is very set in its ways and wears down the tools used to shape it. But once it has shape, it keeps it for a long time. These are the people where you take advantage of what shape they have and don't expect much flexibility.
- To contrast, I have known managers whose approach was to identify an employee's weaknesses and have them spend all their energy on shoring those up. A sculptor who randomly grinds away rough spots ends up with a shapeless mass rather than a work of art.
To become an effective manager then is getting a feel for the materials, choosing appropriate tools, and working a piece appropriate to the medium.
Come to think of it, if I aspire to management maybe I should take some actual sculpting classes to get a feel for how tools, medium, etc. work together.
The instructor would think me crazy if I say I'm there to learn how to manage people. : )
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