POSDCORB

他们说,一个作家应该选择一个标题intrigues the reader and makes the reader want to look at what the author has written. I am certain that you regular readers of this column have long ago given up trying to guess how my most current mental biorhythms are going to show up in the latest installment, particularly when you read this column title. In fact, this month's title really looks a lot more like an eye chart than anything else. The title actually fits into the journey we have taken through trying to vertically arrange the activities and capabilities of a boss doing his job. Breaking down the acronym is going to require a brief history lesson.

A long time ago as a young firefighter, I was going to school to try to understand the details of the fire service and to somehow prepare for being a boss who managed a fire company (captain). A major focus of educational programs in those days involved an academic and very literal discussion of the process of "management." We would look at the current material of the day that had been developed in the areas of organizational sociology and public administration. A lot of the content of that focus was not at all exciting—in fact, most of it was pretty dull, but when you were on the receiving end as a student, you went through it and hoped you just graduated out the other end of the process. A lot of the human relations, motivation-based developments had not yet emerged, so we focused on what we would now describe as "old-fashioned" techniques. We then called all the material "management."

Let me connect this history lesson (and the eye chart) with the progression of our recent installments. We have already covered some topics that form the basic foundation of our readiness—topics like attendance, appearance, and the maintenance that the mechanical part of our readiness resources require. These activities require the very routine attendance and capable attention of an effective boss, but they don't require a huge leadership skill level. While they are absolutely necessary, they set the stage (launching pad) for that boss to exert a higher level of skill to go on up the scale of personal capability and, hopefully, accomplishment.