Work yes men

Are you in? by incubus is playing.  It makes me think of college.

Just recently, there have been three new department managers hired at the store.  It's good and all, it takes the stress off of some of us.  However, they can't think for themselves.  They take the word of the executives as gospel, and that is scary.  It turns them into yes men, but they don't know any better.  They will learn.  

Going toe to toe with your boss, and coming out on top, is a great feeling.  Especially when you were right all along.  Sure, they make the salary, but that doesn't always make them right.  Challenge upwards is a phrase that is used at work in the leadership development of the department managers.  It is good, when you use it with the right people.  That is the one thing I like about my immediate boss.  He'll allow me to bounce ideas off of him, even if he doesn't like them.  We don't always see the same picture, but we get there.  I do come home at times just steaming at the ears because he pisses me off some days, but he will also listen to me.  Occasionally.  

There are a few executives that see challenging upwards as a type of ignorance.  They see it as someone not liking their job, or them, but they don't get it.  Those of us who do question them know what we are doing and know what works in the areas where we are.  That is why we are there.  

Some executives look to these new yes men as 'model managers'.  wrong.