The Letter

Doug,

Now that I have started my new position as a project manager (making way more money!) I felt a need to address the e-mail you sent prior to my "resignation". Though I am aware of the reasons why you sent this letter I can not in good conscious let this go unchallenged.

First, I think it is imperative to recognize that Kathryn is an executive of the Association, which sometimes means juggling priorities or taking extra steps to address her concerns. It's just good politics. I thought we all agreed that a new system was essential for Kathryn, which is why I personally spoke to and convinced her of that necessity.

You are basing this on the presumption that I did not take Kathy's position into consideration. First, I never told her I would not or could not deliver her new laptop. I stated that I would try but could not promise anything in the time allotted (one day). At that time I knew I had to go to the doctor and could not foresee that I would have to go home due to extreme pain. What I find glaringly absent in this letter is your complete lack of responsibility and complicity in this situation. You state quite clearly that you had a conversation with Kathy about her laptop but you had no such conversation with me. This put me in an impossible situation. How long ago was this conversation? What did you promise her? I have no idea.

After she returned from her trip, you should have taken every step to make sure that all elements of the setup were configured and functioning properly.(How could you overlook the new Toshiba network printer and dialup software, especially given the fact that she had raised issues regarding both on her previous laptop?)

As for the events that followed I wanted to deliver Kathy's computer as quickly as I could but informed her that I had more settings and configurations to do but had to complete them while she was logged in. I'm sure you are aware of profile specific settings. Yes, I do admit that I had difficulty with the modem and apologized profusely for a mis-communication we had regarding her departure day to New York. Oddly enough, she wasn't even going to take her laptop until I strongly recommended that she take it!

You downplayed the situation at our weekly meeting in spite of the growing frustration between the two of you, and it wasn't until her next trip that you contacted me with an update.

This is obviously a matter of perspective. I believed I gave a proper update at the meeting with the knowledge that I had. You seem to be much more privy to what was going on with Kathy than I was. I told you in a private phone call what had transpired. I could go on but I believe you get the picture.

Doug you have failed as a manager and a leader time and time again in ways that are quite intolerable. You seem to be much more concerned with pleasing upper management than you are with the well being of your own team and that is inexcusable as a leader. I am able to speak from many years as a manager, supervisor and non-commissioned officer in the service. In all positions I was charged with leading and managing a team. A duty I do not take lightly. All of which I have taken leadership and managerial training courses and abide by standard leadership principles.

Doug, I lost confidence in you as a leader over a year ago when I requested 2 hours of comp time for having to stay later than expected one weekday evening. You mis-interpreted my e-mail and instead of calling me to clarify the issue your (poor) decision was to have Travis discuss this with me. If you had time to talk to him you certainly had time to talk to me. You have a 'Do as I say, not as I do' policy. You made it a point to inform the team that prior to making any changes on the network that we should inform everyone on the team but this never applies to you. When I was the lead on the AD project you took it upon yourself to implement policy changes on AD without even notifying me. That's beside the fact that you completely took over the project. At our last conference in New York when we were all out for dinner you began talking quite negatively about Karen while she wasn't there in front of Chris, Kurt and me. I can not speak for anyone else but I was highly disturbed by this. This type of conversation is best kept among your peers and not your staff. You also showed quite clearly where I fit into your priority list when you visited Chicago. A visit that I urged you to make during my review. You spent an entire week here and had lunch, dinner and whatever with everyone else BEFORE you asked me out to lunch on the Friday you were leaving.

But let me go beyond the issues that you and I have, Doug.

Steve,

If you really want to do a proper operational revue then you must recuse yourself of the duty as reviewer. With your position as the personnel director you must realize that any data you are collecting is tainted. Though you state profusely that your review does not mean people will lose their jobs do you honestly believe others see it that way? My case is a perfect example of why your data is tainted. Because you are close with both Doug and Kathy I could not be forthcoming with these issues. Do you honestly think others in the organization are as forthcoming? I could only make these statements once removed from retribution. I also felt it necessary to do so because I believe there are a lot of good people working at Equity unfortunately they are being subjected to poor management. Who's doing the operational review on the managers I wonder? One thing I must share with you regarding Kathy is her complete lack of concern for other's well being and something I will never forget. I stood in her office informing her of my progress on her new laptop and that I was in a lot of pain which required surgery and needed to go home. I was leaning on her chair and could barely stand. Not only did she not acknowledge my condition but brought up a computer issue she was having with her modem which she had not shared with me prior to that moment. This is the kind of person you have leading the staff in the Central Regional office.

Steve, you stated a while ago that you are tired of firing people all the time. Here is the answer to the question why so many people are being fired. The main reason a manager has to fire a staff member often has less to do with the staff member and more to do with the manager. Ask yourself if you have been a good leader. Are you setting a good example? Have you been honest, trustworthy? Do you know your staff? Are you concerned with their well being? Does the staff feel a sense of responsibility? Are you providing the tools necessary for the staff to do their job effectively? Are you communicating effectively with your staff? If you answer no to any of these questions then you not and effective leader and you are not doing your job. These are just some leadership traits. There are many more.

I believe that all experiences are life lessons and I can say without a doubt that I have learned several lessons while at Equity that I will take to heart.

Regards,

Paul Thompson

"A competent leader can get efficient service from poor troops, while on the contrary an incapable leader can demoralize the best of troops."
-- Gen. John J. Pershing

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Beebe, Doug
> Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 2:01 PM
> To: Thompson, Paul
> Subject: Laptop Follow Up
>
> Hi Paul,
>
> I wanted to follow up on the recent events involving Kathryn's laptop
> and offer some constructive feedback. I certainly appreciate the
> challenges we all face when dealing with different personalities and
> circumstances, however I feel like you could have taken steps to avoid
> some of the problems you experienced during the rollout of her system.
>
> First, I think it is imperative to recognize that Kathryn is an
> executive of the Association, which sometimes means juggling
> priorities or taking extra steps to address her concerns. It's just
> good politics. I thought we all agreed that a new system was
> essential for Kathryn, which is why I personally spoke to and
> convinced her of that necessity. It might have been more appropriate
> of you to inform her pro-actively of the laptop's arrival and offer a
> timeline for its deployment. If you had any hesitancy about the new
> system, you should have involved me. Instead, I was approached by Kathryn and had to intercede with a request to "step-up" the
> rollout. We were already in a defensive position at that point. After
> she returned from her trip, you should have taken every step to make
> sure that all elements of the setup were configured and functioning properly.
> (How could you overlook the new Toshiba network printer and dialup
> software, especially given the fact that she had raised issues
> regarding both on her previous laptop?) You downplayed the situation
> at our weekly meeting in spite of the growing frustration between the
> two of you, and it wasn't until her next trip that you contacted me
> with an update. And although I understood the challenges you faced
> due to your pending surgery (see below), even that conversation came
> off as passing the blame entirely on to Kathryn. I'm sorry I cannot
> agree with that assessment, and was disappointed that you seemed to
> miss an obvious opportunity to learn from your mistakes.
>
> I realize that your foot injury and subsequent surgery was an
> unfortunate and coincidental aspect of this issue. But sometimes
> unforeseen circumstances arise in both our professional and personal
> lives, and we have no choice but to address them as they occur. Had
> the laptop issue not been allowed to snowball, it might have been
> easier to handle both without compromising your own well-being or
> damaging your professional reputation.
>
> I hope your surgery was a success and that you're recovering without
> too much pain or discomfort.
>
> Doug