I show up, and do my job the best I can; there are times to speak up, but senseless complaining does nothing for anyone but bring everyone down. Do I ever gripe? Sure, everyone does. And I would disagree that many complaints are valid.
With all due respect, there is a big difference between complaining/griping just for the sake of complaining, and complaining because you want to make things better. I can't stand griping, especially from a person in authority to subordinates; they can't do anything about it. But if you have a legitimate complaint, as well as a solution to the issue, than we can change the culture of suck to a culture where everyone is working to make things better.
This was part of the reason I sought to become a supervisor, I was tired of not knowing what I didn't know. Several years later and people still complain about things they know nothing about.
Agreed, but the failure to communicate is more often tied to management and supervisors who refuse to explain things to the lowly peons. While I agree that the line staff doesn't need to be consulted or advised on every little decision, when there are issues, and management can't fix them (for whatever reason), then MANAGEMENT needs to explain why to the line staff.
Every agency has issues, regardless of where you are. Some are fixable, some are not. But one of the surefire ways to kill morale is for management to blame line staff for issues beyond their control, and for line staff to report issues to management, only for them to be chronically ignored.
I have learned there are many aspects to management I don't fully understand, but with that being said, what I have learned is sometimes it's better just to let things run their course.
Now, on the other hand, being in a position to offer up my input for those who's voice may have otherwise gone unseen or unheard when they suggest things of value is an added bonus. As is being able to voice my opinion and it feeling as though it's being heard/ validated within reason, and at appropriate times.
And that's often all you need. Listen to the issues, and acknowledge their existence. Bonus points for working on resolving them.
Managers often forget to consult the line staff when changes are made. As one of the stake holders (that's a corporate word, meaning anyone who might be affected by the change), they are the ones who will be carrying out this change, so they might have an opinion on whether it might be a good or bad idea. It might not change anything, but at least you can review it before it gets implemented, and before you have a huge back lash due to management making stupid policies, not caring about line staff, for no reason other than they want to run their crews into the ground for arbitrary reasons. If you explain those reasons, it helps things go over better.
How dare thee!?...
