[Superman]

Something happened at work that you guys will not fully understand but I want to crow about it anyway. Twenty-five years ago our director decided to change the organizational structure from a traditional structure to a "Matrix" structure. Despite being told this is unwise to say the least for a large organization, he did it anyway. This organization of about 2,500 people has suffered ever since. It involves Central Office (which sets policy and procedures) having no direct control over their program staff in Field offices (who do the investigation and enforcement work). The theory is that if everyone plays nicely together and the Field folks are dutiful in following the policy and procedure direction set by Central Office, then everything should work out fine. In theory. In practice, humans play power games. Finger-pointing and warring got to the point where something had to be done. After a particularly ugly warring session occurred late last May, I dropped a little bomb in July.

A ferocious management fight ensued and I dropped a couple more bombs over the last couple of months. I just learned that it appears I won the war. Implementation of the new structure for my program is set for July 1, which is ambitious but not too soon for me. Again, you will not understand all the details but I have to say my staff should get the medal, not me. Their hard work over many months and years is fully documented and represents an overwhelming body of evidence that Field created the dysfunction, not Central Office. Failure to achieve quality and consistency in investigations was caused by Field staff dismissing the clear, consistent, energetic and voluminous efforts by Central Office to achieve the needed quality and consistency. And I could prove it. And I did. And I win. Workload for my staff will likely fall while quality and consistency rises. I will retire in about 1.5 years, and this will be one of my greatest accomplishments.