Watching political shenanigans going on everywhere (admittedly, worse in some places than others), I am reminded of lines from old TV shows and movies that seem to have current relevance both in politics and in the workplace.
Here’s my latest thought. Remember the movie “Dave”? Kevin Kline plays a guy who runs a temp agency and is a dead ringer for the US President. When the actual president is incapacitated by a stroke, senior aides bring Dave in to the White House to fake being the president so they can keep their corrupt plans going forward.
At one point late in the movie, Dave says this about being president:
“I forgot I was hired to do a job …and it was just a temp job at that…I forgot that I had…people who were paying me to make their lives a little better…I ought to care more about you than about me….I ought to care more about what’s right than I do about what’s popular.”
I think this is a great mantra for interim management – to come in and get a job done, make things easier for people in the organization to keep making progress on strategies and goals, to help figure out and execute the right thing to do when faced with an issue or crisis.
As an extra advantage, interim managers also provide great objectivity to any organization that wants someone with fresh eyes to see what is working and what isn’t. Interim managers don’t share existing organizational biases and aren’t worried about getting a promotion – we can tell you what we see and recommend changes, directly and fearlessly. But we rely on references from previous engagements so we have to do our work with integrity, with commitment and with respect.
I think it’s also relevant to generalize this mantra to “permanent” jobs. The days of working for the same company for your entire career are long gone for most people. Even if a job lasts 5 or 10 years, thinking about it as a temp job helps you focus on doing the right work for the organization and your colleagues, keeps you from becoming complacent, allows you to stop worrying about what is popular and do your work with passion and integrity.
End note: if any reader wishes to forward this to elected officials north or south of the 49 parallel to help them understand the parameters of the job they have taken on, be my guest!)
by Christy DeMont
Information Technology
Visit osborne-group.com for other ideas and opinions from our Principals on a range of topics. Their views are their own and do not necessarily represent The Osborne Group’s perspective. The Osborne Group provides interim executive management, consulting and project support across all sectors and over a broad scope of service areas.
