ANGER MANAGEMENT
“O’Neill!!!”?Shouted in rage, this was followed by the sound of an object crashing against the wall that separated Tim Bannon’s office from the reception area where his administrator and the waiting new facility projects manager sat.?The new manager flinched at the sound and gave the administrator a worried look, perhaps suggesting an intervention might be needed.?The administrator had not reacted at all, continuing to intently read whatever was on her screen.?Realizing the new hire was still looking at her for direction, she calmly noted, “I think Tim keeps soft objects on his desk just so he can throw them at the wall without hurting the object of his ire, or the wall.”
She was already entranced again at whatever was on her computer screen when a red faced man, most likely the aforementioned O’Neill, hurriedly emerged from the office, strode through the reception area, and was out the door.
“Williams!” shouted that voice from the inner office.?The waiting manager looked again at the administrator, but she failed to look up this time.?He then strode through the door into the office to face the section head, his boss’s boss, for the first time.?Bannon, as Williams had been forewarned, was borderline obese, but that was not what startled Williams.?The man sitting behind the desk before him could not have looked more jovial or delighted to see him if had it been his grandson’s sixth birthday.?The 15 minute “get acquainted” meeting ended by Bannon walking Williams back out into the reception area.?As Williams was about to exit to the corridor, he heard Bannon tell the administrator, “I probably overreacted to O’Neill’s failure to notify IT about the emergency generator test over the weekend.?Please send him a $150 gift certificate at the ”The Spotted Cow” so he can take his wife out to dinner after being here all weekend for that test.?And bring me another diet soda when you have a chance.”
Although Williams had not yet left the reception room, Bannon never glanced up at him, as if Williams had never been there.
As Williams’ acclimation continued over the next few weeks, this pattern of demonstrative anger was repeated several times.?His own boss, Jake Walters, once pulled Williams out of Facility Project Department meetings to ask the details on certain projects, information that could have waited until Williams was free, except that Bannon wanted to know NOW.?The next day, there were two floor tickets to a 76ers’ game in Williams’ mail slot.?As Williams’ peers warmed up to him, he sought to discreetly parse this behavior, most significantly by Bannon, but mimicked by other managers in the section.?Responses to these inquiries ranged from:
The section’s definition of “screw up” became clearer to Williams as his first year in the company continued.?It was not whether you committed a mistake, it was about making a mistake and not letting Bannon know before he heard it from somebody else.?The backstory was told that Bannon was in Integrated Logistics Support, known as ILS, when he did a tour in the Army.?At that time, the initials were also used to indicate, “I Loath Surprises.”?And this governed both good and bad surprises.?A cheap knickknack might be flung to miss you by a few inches if you significantly underran a budget as well as if you overran it by the same percentage.
The only person spared Bannon’s wrath was the administrator.?She did receive a thoughtful reward from time-to-time, but otherwise her actions were always above reproach by Bannon… and his staff.?Williams had the misfortune to witness a colleague criticize the administrator to Bannon, and this time having to duck not to be hit.?Williams quickly resolved to make the administrator an ally, largely by taking an interest in her responsibilities and hobbies, but never joining the practice of sending her gifts as some of his peers did.?Consequently, Williams would receive a heads-up when the report of a screw up he hadn’t known he had committed had been left in a message to Bannon, giving Williams time to properly first alert his boss, Jake Walters, and then pop in to see Bannon to confess the oversight.
Williams also did not embrace fits of anger.?When he felt himself becoming enraged at someone, his practice was to calmly ask questions, careful not to employ the sarcasm Williams knew he needed to suppress.?At an informal midyear performance review, his “inability to show emotion” was noted by Walters.?Williams just shrugged, and muttered something about “that’s not my style.”?The same review also noted that Williams was not quite as generous in distributing perks.?Williams agreed, explaining that he only did those types of rewards when he had to ask someone to unexpectedly take time away from their family to address an unplanned activity, a surprise.
As that first year wore on, there were three other incidents that would ultimately be a focus in Williams’ annual performance review:
Walters was obviously in a foul mood when Williams joined him in a conference room for the annual review.?The administrator had alerted Williams minutes before that Walters and Bannon had just finished a closed door session entailing much yelling and Williams’ name was repeatedly mentioned.?After a few neutral comments about Williams’ performance, Walters paused for several seconds and then observed, “I suppose you are wondering how you did on the 360 Degree Review.”
He then tossed a folder at Williams’, who slowly opened it so as not to betray is high curiosity about the results, and how they might affect his raise.
“You beat us all,” Walters noted before Williams’ could examine all the charts and tables.?While the results were all above average, he had received the most complimentary grades from his own staff, being graded as “highly effective.”
“Frankly, I don’t get it,” Walters continued.?This caused Williams to wonder what grades Walters and Bannon had earned.?Williams believed that, on the whole, the section performed very well compared to his previous employments, and he wondered if their 360 Degree Reviews reflected that.?There were rarely any surprise “gothchas” from elsewhere in the corporation, and actually little fear from quickly coming clean on mistakes or unplanned occurrences.?Most staff were pretty immune to displays of anger after their first few years in the section.?They fretted more about the number of “spot bonuses” they received year-to-year, looking for some hidden significance in why some years they received more and some years they received less, as if this was the more accurate gauge of their performance and prospects for raises and promotions, rather than what they were told at annual reviews.
Williams’ raise did exceed his expectations, but Walters again seemed to be annoyed in delivering that news.?Perhaps Walters’ raise was not as high a percentage??Did Walters think that Williams had gamed the 360 Degree Survey??Did Williams’ staff and peers give the high marks just to bait Walters and Bannon??Why was there no mention of the time Williams really lost control of his anger??All good questions to assuage Williams’ anger over a review for which he should have been proud and grateful.?Instead, Williams entertained his first thoughts of when it would be right to start applying for another position without appearing to be “job hopping.”?He was also planning for the next time Bannon hurled a knickknack in his direction, to catch it and lightly toss it back!