None of what I have written so far about the reading groups project shoud be taken to mean that I was the most important factor in making it happen. A lot of different people contributed on a lot of different levels to realise that project. But since I am telling this from my point of view, I may appear as the most prominent person in the reading groups story. That is the trick of personal narration, don't let it fool you.
Nor do I wish to imply that I was the only one who could or should have been the leader of this project. Far from it. For some reason, I was the one among the staff who seemed to be most anxious about a failure, about how bad Leaky might appear if nothing came out of the reading groups project - after all the hype we had made of it in the RR and the test group forums. That was basically the motive behind all my nagging and all my more or less desperate measures to get someone to listen and something to happen. Looking back, I don't think I always chose the best strategies....
I have wondered if I came across as annoying and a bit threatening to the admins - a nagger and a basic pain in the neck kind of person. If you want influence in an organisation, any organisation, that is definitely not the way you want to appear. Maybe that was why they were so reluctant to give me even the shadow of a "position", why even the title of "clerk" seemed too much to bestow upon someone like me.... It is in no way unlikely that someone else could have handled this whole thing way better than I did.
The main point remains though: any project of this size needs some organisation, some co-ordination and leadership. There are many workable ways to do that of course... But someone with authority at least needs to approve, set reasonable deadlines and give feedback on the work done in time to correct it before the deadlines are hopelessly passed. When I am saying there should be no micromanagement, that should not be read as if I say there should be no management. I don't mean that at all. There is nothing wrong with management and leadership per se.
Neither is there anything wrong per se with admins being absent, as in engaged in other, new and exiting projects. As long as they ensure that the staff in the projects they leave behind have the guidelines and mandates they need to be able to function on their own, everything is fine.
What is damaging is absence combined with unwillingness to delegate, unwillingness to appoint deputies, reluctance to trust staff to make wise decisions on their own level, regarding the tasks they have been assigned.
When an organisation grows, like Leaky has done, and branches out in many different subsites and subprojects, it will not be humanly possible for one manager to oversee every detail of every project anymore. You have to delegate. You have to trust that the people you delegate some authority to, will follow the main principles you have set, and basically be loyal to the site and to you as the owner of it. If you can't do that, then don't branch out.
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2 comments:
I have really appreciated getting to read your story, Torill.
When I arrived as member - it was one month prior to publication of HBP. I was in the vaults with the uber-fabulous Jonathan (Mr. Quint), my gentlemanly moderator. It was, from this users point of view, fabulous.
I became a mod in December of 2005. As you left - (and what I refer to as the first Scribby exodus) and as Bel and Sue were ousted - those of us who newly arrived were seriously unhappy. We had no allegiances, no agendas but we could clearly read what happened and were aghast.
I can say for myself that one of the things that was given to us - largely I suspect as one of those sweeping gestures meant to placate - was the goal of constructing PG13 guidelines. I still have great pride in producing that bit of policy with Stacy (minime) and Lilly. Rarely even looked at, mind you, but an accomplishment nonetheless.
The thing I want to stress - as I see it with people now - is that I still feel I gave solidarity to those who left before me and I hope I give it to those who choose to remain. Its a hard choice - but I do think that people can make changes in their own areas and protect their own people despite and inspite of Doris, Nick, and Melissa.
Hi Gina, thanks for your input.
Yes, I think the reading groups realy ended up being great for a lot of people, and those leading them did a fabulous job. The big frustrations were mostly "behind the curtain" and really uncessesary - lots of people really wanted to do a lot of work for this project, so if a group could have been put togehter a little earlier with a clear mandate, and at least Nick as a forum manager could have been given authority to say yes or no to the result - if they could have had a little faith that this would not have resulted in a full blown rebellion or a snake-pit of seething jealousy among the staff - a lot of the nearly-eating-walllpaper insanity of a certain staff member who shall not be named here could have been avoided..
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