Last Friday, I held a department meeting where I told the bunch of staff that we (the company) had managed to hire a new manager and he would be reporting for work on Monday, so I would not be their boss any longer.
After 2.5 months of serving as acting manager of their department, I thanked them for their hardwork and support. The fact that everything ran pretty smoothly and no major disasters happened showed that we had managed to pull through a rather difficult patch together through teamwork.
Shortly after the meeting, the team leaders came to see me privately and expressed their sadness at my departure. Apparently they tremendously enjoyed my Cowboy Method of making as many decisions as fast as possible. Although I didn’t manage to solve all their problems, I had probably closed 6 out of every 10 issues, leaving the department in a better shape than it originally was when I took over.
So I’m very glad that they appreciated me and didn’t see me as some stupid expat manager who lorded it over them. The general rule of thumb is that expat = idiot and acting manager = bumbling moron.
But at the same time, I’m now even more convinced now that the best managers are the ones that have the courage to make decisions in a timely manner and get people to move their arse.
Copyright © 2008 Cowboy Caleb - http://cowboycaleb.liquidblade.com - .