Breaking Up is Hard to Do

February 12, 2024?

Dear Leaders,?

Valentine’s Day coming up – a day to celebrate love, romance, and relationships.? As many of us well know, the first two can be fleeting, and relationships don’t always last.? While ending a romantic entanglement might be complicated, one of the professional world’s greatest challenges is breaking up an organization, for the sudden split can leave you drifting aimlessly if not well planned, and like the romantic, pining for what was lost, but when used to your advantage, it is a time for new opportunities.? ???

In 2003, the US Government dissolved the Immigration and Naturalization Service, divesting it into three new bureaus under the new Department of Homeland Security.? Established in 1891 to manage our nation’s immigration laws, it was long derided for inefficiency, capriciousness, and ineptitude, and having worked there, I can tell you there was some basis in fact. ?The Homeland Security Act established three new agencies:? one for law enforcement, one for border enforcement, and one for immigration and citizenship processing.? ??

As you would expect there were significant unresolved issues and growing pains.? The law enforcement and border enforcement agencies were merged with their US Customs counterparts, and much of the new leadership came from customs.? The immigration benefit part where I worked became US Citizenship and Immigration Services as a separate agency, which meant good news in that we survived with our leadership and organizational structure intact.? (The bad news was that we survived with our leadership and organizational structure intact.)??

Internally, there were immediate disagreements on how to manage the fraud and national security missions that were thrust into the forefront after the events of September 11, 2001.? I was part of a small section that did some investigative work, but there was no central organization or standard procedures, so we made our own.? The four sections across the country met together to make something of our program, but we were hindered by a lack of senior leadership and by those who wanted to simply make us a direct part of our bureau’s primary mission of adjudicating immigration benefit requests.??

Seeing the need for more political muscle, a colleague assigned to our headquarters convinced the senior leadership to appoint one of their own, and they made the right choice, for we were then led by an experienced man who understood and appreciated our mission, and had the reputation, gravitas, and experience to make it happen.? Summoning those of us who envisioned a greater program long before it started, he set us to work developing organizational structure, policies and procedures, and a training program.??

We also began working with our adjacent bureaus on common practices and interoperability, and it was here that we ran into our biggest challenges, for the law enforcement bureau immediately developed an air of superiority and set about treating the other bureaus as if we were subordinate units for which they would dictate how we conducted business.? Our executive leadership worked behind the scenes to iron out any wrinkles, but there were times when we had to have open debate, a scenario that I welcomed with gusto, and while I excel at addressing issues with logic and fact to make a point, my penchant for biting criticism sometimes comes to the forefront.??

In a well-remembered incident, I gave a belittling answer to a snide comment that quieted the room, and a colleague later told me that if our boss had been armed, he would have shot me.? I noted that sometimes, stupid people need to be informed that they are stupid, and that he couldn’t say things like that, so I did the honors.? I was never reprimanded for it, while the comment became a whimsical catch line for our organization for many years, and to this day, I remain unrepentant.??

As we grew, internal and external issues required solutions, and we had to continue to deal with challenges from our own people and those in the other bureaus.? Having already developed a substantial Rolodex (Outlook Contacts for my younger audience) of contacts throughout the west and in many other parts of the country, I used it to spread the word and get people to collaborate with us, always selling it as mutual benefit.? Applying this same principle to our own, I integrated it into our training program that we worked for something larger than just our bureau, for we were serving the nation, and therefore had to tailor our work products to answer the needs of others as much as our own.??

Strong and effective leadership knows how to resolve differences, when to work quietly, and when to have the courage to stand up and fight, for it is not about turf protection, rather we must save our mission from being undermined by others, be they well-meaning, foolish, or ignorant bullies.??

Whether it is in dealing with your own headquarters, adjacent activities, or challenging customers, leaders work best when they see the potential difficulties and take proactive initiatives to prevent disagreements and misconceptions.? It is never easy to break up a professional relationship, even when it is necessary, but by using your network and getting others to see the mutual benefit, you can remain pleasantly apart.?

Sincerely,

Tim