davidcaldwell123 wrote:Over the years I have learned not to judge people, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and in certain situations some people are better placed to succeed than others, Kevin took on a difficult job at a time of turmoil, everyone has their own way of dealing with stress and pressure. I only hope he gets through this difficult period, no one will bother about anything if we get some results over the next few games. Sometimes when you are at your lowest you can achieve great things, "exceptional work ethic", "passion" and "inspiration" required over the next few games.
I too have a number of years on my clock and have managed teams of diverse people for many years.
Whilst I agree it is always counter productive to jump to a "snap" decision on a person's ability, there has to be a point in their performance period when a decision has to be reached on the underlying skill set and a judgement made on their potential to achieve whatever the requirements of the job are.
Much can be made of the "tools" provided to complete the task and if they were sufficient and/or fit for purpose at the start of the undertaking, but unless the tools were inherently wrong for the task in hand at the start, it is not unreasonable to expect a "manager" to manage and prove an aptitude to adapt to the circumstances he is working with by showing an ability to improve from the starting position. That provides the performance assessors with the confidence that, whilst the current situation may be less than hoped for or ideal- in either financial or commodity terms, there is evidence that the person trying to perform has the underlying skill base to improve over time.
Whilst I have no doubt whatsoever that KN has the very best of intentions and is wholly honourable, he has yet to display, to me, enough of the underlying skills to be successful at this particular task. My experience has also shown that if you leave a person buried under stress and pressure for too long, it will only have a detrimental effect on them and the task.
Agree that great things can be achieved from great adversity, but I believe that the underlying ability has to be evident to sustain the "great leap forward" and for it not to be like a struck match - brief flash and then slowly burning out.
I believe KN is doing the absolute best he can at this moment in time, but unfortunately without considerable support and mentoring that will not be enough to stop him from burning himself out which will be a personal disaster and no long term help to the business.
This is not a call to sack him, but a personal view that he has not shown the skills required to arrest this slide, and needs help for his own well being as well as the business's. I realise that the Player's Fund has been earmarked for playing staff only, but is there an argument to consider using some of that to bring in some non playing "experience" - if only on a short term of a couple of months?
