In a previous job, the head of our department wanted to impress on the C-level executive he reported to that he was a fantastic manager.
(My reporting line went CEO, the C-level executive, this department head, team manager, me.)
He decided the best way to do this was to produce a monthly report for his boss.
So one day the department head held a meeting with all the team managers who reported into him (including my boss).
Data-driven decision-making was the future, he announced.
He tasked all of them with producing a monthly highlights report for their teams. He would select the top highlights from those reports for his report to the C-level executive.
Naturally, my boss, and everyone at that same team manager level, wanted to show the department head that they were a great manager.
So all the team managers tasked all their reports (at my level) with producing a monthly report of their own. All the key highlights and stats from everyone's month had to be documented.
Reporting became a critical task. For at least a couple of days each month, all nonessential tasks had to be paused for reporting.
So imagine: A few dozen staff at my level each producing a personal report over a couple of days each month.
Those personal reports were compiled into team reports by the team managers over a couple days each month.
This was followed by countless meetings with the department head, where each team manager pled their case for their team's achievements being included in the report to the C-level executive.
Eventually, the best highlights from those team reports were culled into the department head's monthly report to the C-level executive.
Anyway, one day the C-level executive called everyone into a Teams meeting. He announced he was leaving the organisation.
At the very end, there was a Q&A.
Someone asked him about the reports.
He said he never read any of them.
#corporations #corporate #business #management #leadership #capitalism
