Monday, September 29, 2008

Problems Are Better Left Unsolved

I know someone who works in a Cube City that we've all heard of. This someone works in HR and recently told me something disturbing yet not surprising: Her boss doesn't want her to solve any problems.

Yes, that's right. There is no room in Cube City for people who bring solutions to the table.

I found it laughable yet troublesome that her boss actually told her to stop offering solutions to their department's problems. From the sounds of it, the solutions offered were sound and reasonable, but the boss just didn't want to hear them and didn't want others on the team to hear them either.

How does someone go down the path of thinking that solutions are a bad thing, let alone make a point to silence a solver who is just trying to help make things better?

This is just one of many Cube City problems that I can't solve, but at least I don't need my boss's permission.

1 comment:

Michelle Medley said...

This idea is chilling. Perhaps the boss sees herself as Sole Solutioneer and isn't adept enough to just steal the solutions from direct reports in the traditional fashion.

Is there any relation to this and the Congress rejecting the bailout? They're having a bit of difficulty with solutions, too.