I am often reminded of the opening lines of The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, . . . it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."  I was reminded of these lines this morning when I read the Forbes article, "9 Things a Boss Should Never Say to an Employee." This excellent article reminded me of the good fortunes I have had to work for some exceptional bosses and the miserable times I spend working for some bad ones.

     Once there was a senior administration official where I worked. The work area for my group had an inefficient HVAC system that simply could not cool the area off during the summer or warm it up during the cold of winter. This particular administrator had heard our complaints and pleas for help to the point where she didn't want to hear any more. At a meeting one day she announced that she didn't want to hear any more complaints about the temperature in our work area. She went on to say that we should be glad to have a job. 

     You could feel the impact of her words almost immediately. Inspiration turned to desperation. Energy turned into dread. Passion turned into misery. We went from the spring of hope to the winter of despair like flipping a light switch.  In a little over 15 seconds this one administrator sent the morale of my work group from about a 9 to about a 0.5 on a 1 to 10 scale. And the sad thing is that even though she was had a doctorate level education and was the #2 administrator at this institution she didn't have a clue regarding the impact of her remarks. I found my self wondering if I was more uninspired by her remarks or more distressed by her lack of understanding of their impact upon her audience. It was truly the worst of times.

     Then I often think of those bosses who had the opposite perception of their employees. The listened, they cared, they dreamed with you, they inspired you, they celebrated with you, they cried with you, they told you the truth, you trusted them, and you would do anything for them. Those are the bosses that I like to remember the most. They truly represented the best of times.

     So, what kind of boss are you? How will you be remembered by your employees? Do you listen to them? Are you transparent with them? Will they recall being in a spring of hope or a winter of despair? Will they do anything for you? If you aren't pleased with the kind of boss you have been, it is never to late to take stock of a bad situation and change. You CAN do it.

     Frank Tyger once said, "Wishes cost nothing unless you want them to become true." Wow - that hit me like a bucket of cold water when I read it over the holidays. We all like to wish because it's cheap. You can wish while you are driving to work or to the store. You can wish while you are waiting on that annoying TV commercial to end. You can wish at the end of a bad relationship that the next one goes better. All of these wishes cost you nothing as long as there is not desire for them to become true. They will cost you, however, if you want to realize them.

     What are your wishes? Are you ready to bear the costs in terms of time, money, etc.? A lot of administrators wish they could assess their academic programs to ensure that it is adequately supporting the institutions overall strategic plan. They wish that something would fall out of the sky to make this sometimes painful process more soothing. They wish their wishes would come true. All the time they fail to realize the cost to realize a wish. Tough decisions have to be made. The processes for transformation performance measurement have to be in place. The organizational culture has to be changed. The guardians of tradition have to be changed into champions of transformation. All of this costs energy and risk political capital. It can be nerve racking. It is hard work, but worthy work. It must be done if the organization is going to become all it is capable of being.

     Are you ready to bear the costs? You can do it. It will be worth while. Your organization will thank you in the end that you had the vision and leadership to set it on the path to excellence. You CAN do it.

     Welcome to Strategic Assessment Consultants, LLC, the most effective, the easiest to use and the most affordable assessment system available. Our system is focused on student learning outcomes using pre and post test data. It was designed by a faculty member to be faculty friendly. So, take a look at your new website and consider how our Level 5 Assessor™  can fit into your assessment program.

     We will use this blog to post updates to our assessment solutions. So, please check back often. Also, be sure to check out the website at new by going to the web address www.strategicassessmentconsultants.com.

     Thank you for your interest in Strategic Assessment Consultants, LLC.