Lost Opportunities

One's lost opportunity is another one's gain. So I thought. But I was wrong.

Some two months ago, our Human Resource Development and Personnel Services routed a memorandum  inviting our office to send two applicants for a free training in Taiwan on various software applications. Our officer-in-charge asked me if I was interested. Of course I was, but I had to beg off because of my other commitments which I could not just take for granted. Instead, I suggested that another staff take my place because he, too, was qualified for it.

My two officemates immediately completed all the requirements and hoped that they would be leaving for Taiwan for the training. All their hopes were crushed when they learned that the big boss of our boss rejected the nomination although it was not the reason stated in the memo they received from HRDPS (you may also read the personal blog of my staff at renrengoaway.blogspot.com, narrating the big disappointment he felt for what had happened).

To think that the formal announcement of their application's rejection came days before the scheduled day of their supposedly flight. Our boss and I felt the same frustration and sadness because we have also been experiencing difficulties in getting her aproval for our proposals or travels also, but we could not do anything about it. We do not try to question her decisions because we know nothing would happen even if we do. Besides, we would just put so much undue stress on our part. We have learned to accept the big boss's strictness and decisions for not approving travels abroad, or even local trips,  even if these are at no cost to the agency. For whatever reasons she bases her decisions on, we can only guess.

We do not know if the big boss realizes that she has been demoralizing the employees' morale with her being overly strict and unfathomable decisions. There's no doubt, she's an intelligent person, an aggressive leader, and a workaholic and dependable administrator, but sad to say, she still has a lot to learn when it comes to being a good manager and dealing with subordinates. A good leader and manager provides a lot of opportunities to his or her subordinates and is proud of the achievements of his or her followers. I wish I could say the same for the big boss. I also wish that she wakes up from her deep slumber and sees the negative effects of her whimsical decisions before it's too late.