Vanity, Critisicm etc.

Yesterday, at the office we had this session with our HR manager where we were to discuss the good / bad things and the shortcomings of our manager. These sessions are supposed to be feedback sessions for the manager so that he can improve and the HR manager can realise how each manager handles his team. I guess for them, its also an oppurtunity to see who are all capable of taking more responsibilities and who can take on more leadership roles. Though I also have my doubts about whether it actaully amounts to that or not. Going by the kind of people I have seen in decent leadership roles, and their way of things and abilities, I seriously doubt what I said earlier. I guess there are lots of things that also come in and can influence the flow of matters - things like political influence in the organization, sycophancy, personal favour, vintage etc. It is indeed a complicated affair.

Anyway, I digressed from the original topic. What was most interesting for me yesterday throughout this session yesterday was when the HR manager had a discussion with our manager on the talk that we had with the HR. He (our manager) then gave his opinions and his thoughts on our feedback. In case I forgot to mention, the manager is not present during the first discussion between the team and the HR manager. I guess thats to avoid personal vendetta and retribution. His thoughts after the listening to the feedback was what amused and interested me the most. I am one who believes that the real test for a person comes when he has to face critisicm from people close to him. And I would say, he failed miserably and I am sorry and sad for him. More disappointed. What I realised is that, most people really hate to listen to their critisicm and take it very personal rather than as a feedback for improvement. When asked about his earlier professional life, his answer and his listing of his acheivements also showed vanity rather than humility. He was nearly glorifying the things that he had done and saying things like "I was the best", "my work was the best", "my work beat all industry comparisons by miles". Well.. eh.. ahem. I was confused - wasnt humility the virtue.

At the end of it all, I doubt whether this whole thing helped him in any way, because he didnt seem to receive most of the things and some of it was wrongly received. I was optimistic at the beginning this could be an useful affiar, but I stand to be disproved!

After everything was over - me, and a couple of team mates were having a small discussion at the coffee table. The very manager specific chit-chat boiled down to one thing - are good managers born or are they made. I really dont know. I wish I knew, though. But I can tell you what I belive - A person's inherent attitude and outlook is a very important factor, but improvements are always possible. So maybe a bit of both with a bigger helping from the second dish.