At the age of 34 and with precious little supervisory experience, I became a manager. It was 1989, and I was selected to fill the third-ranking slot in an organization of almost 200 people.
In my naiveté, I thought I was ready for the position, as I had strong technical expertise, a passion for the work and an appreciation for all types of people. The organization existed to provide a public service, but it did not have a great reputation. The position, though, was a chance for me to earn some managerial experience and to perhaps make a difference. It turns out that I had a lot to learn.
Immediately upon starting there, I became painfully aware of the various ugly tensions that existed. My appointment as the unit’s third highest ranking manager meant that the three people at the top were White, while most of rest of the organization – mid-level managers, first line supervisors and workers – were Black. And I was told repeatedly that there was low morale throughout.
I was managerially responsible for a total of approximately 130 staff in about a dozen teams. It was a seven-day-a-week operation. Many of the staff were temporary part-time employees with no benefits. The dozen or so managers and front-line supervisors in my area were permanent employees with benefits, but it soon became evident that all were unhappy for one reason or another.
To get my bearings and to validate what I was being told by my two superiors, I met individually with each manager and supervisor to learn about their concerns. I was earnest in my desire to hear their thoughts. Some were more open to sharing than others. One brave woman, a longtime supervisor I will call Sandra, calmly said to me, “You are just another White man.”
This was shocking and disheartening to me. However, it was important that Sandra said those words. She truly didn’t know me. At the same time, I couldn’t possibly know what had happened to make her to feel that way.
What she didn’t know was that I had grown up with parents who were bigots. My mom and dad used slurs and demeaning language when speaking of Black and Hispanic people. They reflected the racial tensions that were front page news in the 1960s. It didn’t help that I was assaulted a few times when I started junior high school on the “other side” of the urban park across the street from our row home. That led us to move from our changing North Philly neighborhood to an all-White area in Northeast Philly. My parents voted for the segregationist George Wallace for President of the United States and were ardent supporters of Frank Rizzo, the bully police commissioner who later became Mayor of Philadelphia.
The funny thing is that I never went along with my parents’ thinking, nor did I adopt their viewpoints. I guess I was influenced by the music and books of the time and by the lessons I had been taught as a child in Sunday school. So, as a know-it-all teenager, I became the annoying liberal voice in our home. Understandably, it was not appreciated. I bought a copy of the pamphlet, The Sayings of Chairman Frank, which was a compilation of some of Rizzo’s preposterous statements, such as, “The streets are safe in Philadelphia, it’s only the people that make them unsafe.” To aggravate my parents, I would read excerpts to them. One day the pamphlet disappeared. My mother returned it to me a few years later once I moved out of the house.
So, Sandra’s words made me take a step back. I saw myself as open-minded and respectful of all people. However, I didn’t have a clue as to what it was like to be anything except for a White man. I then tried my best to be open to learning more and raising my level of understanding of all types of people. In the meantime, I did what I could to improve the morale for the staff – establishing cross training opportunities, setting up work details in other areas and initiating a staff newsletter.
That job also demonstrated to me the common, but unfortunate, desire of people to build walls and to see others in slightly different circumstances as enemies. The organization ran operations during both the day and evening and in two adjoining buildings. Each team was assigned to one building and to either day or evening. As previously mentioned, none of the supervisors were happy, and most of the workers were low-paid temps with no benefits. In such conditions, you might expect the various individuals to unite to improve their situation across the board. However, that is not what happened. Instead, there was constant turmoil between the day and night teams and between the teams in the two buildings. All of them were in the same lousy condition, and what they did was to demonize others because they were on a different shift or in a different location. I wish I could say that I was successful in helping the teams, all of which were under my oversight, to be more harmonious, but I was not.
My time in that position convinced me that a successful manager needs to embrace two basic principles:
- Keep everyone’s eyes on the mission of the organization, and
- Take care of the staff
The most important part of that second principle is to treat everyone with respect and to demonstrate that each person’s well-being is a priority. Of course, a manager cannot “fix” every issue that an employee might raise, but the manager can listen, be honest with the staff member and ensure that steps are taken to resolve issues whenever possible.
I was extraordinarily fortunate to spend the last decade of my career in building from scratch and then leading an over-achieving small team. Selections were based on technical merit and on the perceived ability of the individual to function at a high level as a member of a team. Through this process, a group was naturally formed of individuals who were diverse (age, gender, race, ethnicity, cultural background, personal identity). These folks all were top-notch employees and shared a dedication to meeting the mission of the unit. They operated on a foundation of mutual respect, and they supported each other.
Having a group of such individuals working together produced ongoing benefits. Problems that needed to be solved and challenges that had to be met were seen from various perspectives, which led to quality discussions, solid decisions and positive outcomes. This enabled us to avoid the trap of group think. It also allowed us to think of those we served and try to anticipate their needs and their reactions to steps we planned to take.
Ultimately, we had a mission to meet, and we were successful in doing so year after year. Seeing this group of varied human beings, each with their own expertise and insights, collaborating and producing outstanding results was a beautiful thing. It inspired me every day.