Czaro Strategic Communications

In Ken Blanchard's book, Leadership and the One Minute Manager, he describes a certain type of manager:

"Seagull managers fly in, make a lot of noise, dump on everyone, then fly out."

Seagull managers tend to stay in their offices until a problem arises. That’s when they interact with their employees. They swoop in. Make haphazard decisions about things they know little or nothing about. Then leave without listening or giving anyone the opportunity to speak.

I’ve worked for one seagull manager, and that’s one too many.

I was reminded of this on my recent family vacation. On several occasions we took bread to the beach and my girls fed the seagulls. My daughters were screeching and laughing. The birds were swarming and feeding like winged sharks.

I took lots of photos to capture the moment, but all I could think about was that someone was going to get dumped on.

Our last day in Florida a lone seagull dropped a load on my oldest daughter’s shoulder. She was wearing a rain slicker, so she didn’t get upset because the rain washed the waste away.

That’s when I figured out two things.

• You never see a flock of seagull managers swoop, poop and leave. It’s always one lone manager.
• My daughter was protected and the poop simply washed away.

I’m not suggesting everyone wear ponchos to work, but you do need to learn how to cope when working for a seagull manager. More on that next week.