Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

This is a simple, two-word question. It is fundamental if someone is paying for my time. What is all the fuss about?

In the news recently, I find that a new advisor to a new executive asked all the employees to answer the basic question that is the title of this post. This all sounds pretty simple and innocent, but it raised a storm of biblical proportions.

Note: both the new advisor and the new executive in the news are polarizing persons. Many folks don’t like ’em. I am not naive about that. The management practice, however, is sound and is widely practiced.

I have written in the past about this two-word question. Someone pays me money for my time. They are entitled to know what I’m doing with my time. If I don’t want to answer their two-word question, I can quit the paying job.

Perhaps there is something wrong with me in the above beliefs. Perhaps.

Many management consultants provided their opinions on the management practice of asking, “Whatcha’ doin’.” It appears that only the negative views of of this management practice were published. Yes, this management practice can be bad in some circumstances. Yes, most of the time it is a basic that should be practiced. People cannot have other people hiding what they are doing.

This is government. Public employees are paid by the public to do public works publicly. Except for a few cases, when public employees ‘splain whatcha’ doin’, the answers can and should be for public consumption.

Then the management practice moves on to comparisons of “this is what we are doing” to “this is what we are supposed to be doing.” Then comes corrections of course and all that. A postal carrier is supposed to carry mail from the Post Office to the mailbox. If the postal carrier isn’t doing that, well, we need correction. This isn’t rocket science. Mundane? Maybe. It is government service. Generations of families have been supported by it. It is honest work. Let’s keep it honest and public.