Because we have had snow cover in northern Washington County for, oh, I don't know, a year or two, I am in a foul mood. Perfect mindset for writing a rant. If you don't want to read more bellyaching about the DNR, better avert your eyes. Find something more innocuous on the website.
I am a product of two huge organizations -- the United States Air Force and a Fortune 100 corporation. These suggestions are the result of that upbringing.
First, business etiquette. These are some of the simple rules we observed at the company where I worked. Answer your phone before the third ring. Return calls by end-of-business on the same day they were received. Keep your voice mail announcement current. If your recording says you'll be back in the office March 21st and it's March 28th, the caller, your client, is probably going to assume you don't have your package together very well. Answer emails within 48 hours of receipt. If you're going to be out of the office for an extended period, use you email provider's automatic answer to say that. If you answer your phone and the caller has a problem, you automatically own it. This means you don't send the caller down an endless road of referrals. Don't say, "you need to call..." Say, "I'll have the person who knows about your issue call you back today."
If you are in a customer contact position with the DNR, your attitude with each client will be painted across the entire DNR population. Case in point: a pal of mine was hunting deer alone in my neighborhood. He shot a large buck which he dragged, with great effort, back to his truck. There, he was checked by a DNR warden. When my pal asked the warden to help him lift the deer into his truck, he got an icy "do it yourself." Would it have killed the conservation officer to lend a hand? Choosing not to, he runs the risk of one hunter thinking all wardens are chippy.
The words "line" and "staff" are military in origin. Staff people support line people. When there are too many staff people and not enough line people, bad things happen. Battles are lost. Staff ends up making work for line, instead of the reverse. At the corporation where I worked, when the staff/line ratio got out of whack, the head count police would swoop in and offer staffers line positions. Or the door. I'm thinking, for example, if there are ten people at the DNR studying the dismal condition of our waterfowl habitat, but only one actually wading the wetlands with a shovel, we're not likely to win that battle.
Before you send me No Whining posters, know this: I work for the DNR, albeit in a non-paying job. So I've got the right to rant. Right?
