TXDOT would make the perfect academic case study of terrible leadership, the kind of leadership that makes people's lives worse; the toxic kind that makes people dread coming to work. Gallop regularly releases a statistic showing employees who are checked out of or actively hate their jobs hovering at around 70%, and my time at TXDOT makes that tragic number completely understandable. I left after only a few months, but I should have left after one week.
By the end of my first week, I was told staff who leave under the Director are considered "dead to him", a testament to his commitment to their professional growth, especially ironic considering our department was tasked with workforce development (i.e., teaching people to improve at their jobs). Within my first month, I learned compliance was more valued than innovation; silence more valued than initiative.
My Director voiced open disdain for his staff and colleagues; my Supervisor led by degradation. Every Monday morning, we'd meet and go around a table to say what we accomplished the previous week and what was on deck for the current week, and the Supervisor would publicly humiliate anyone who displeased her, ensuring the lasting tone for the week. This gross leadership behavior fed the most miserable office environment I've ever endured (the two happiest employees were the two external trainers, i.e., the two people whose job kept them out of the office). When I tried to raise concerns with the Director about the climate of the office, he apathetically dismissed me with "agree to disagree." Management described the rigid hierarchy and reliance upon subservience of the office as "paramilitary", which is certainly not what I would have signed on for had I known. During my time there, I warned an interested and highly qualified former co-worker away from applying for an open position at my department in TXDOT, because the atmosphere there was so demeaning.
I resigned due to my radical belief I should enjoy what I do for a living; that my waking hours shouldn’t consist of avoiding someone else’s negative attention. My resignation was an example of not leaving a job, but leaving a leader. My exit interview wasn't worth the name, since it consisted entirely of signing documents with no questions asked during what could have been a meaningful opportunity for open reflection. Simply put: people shouldn't be treated like that, and people who do treat others like that shouldn't be rewarded for doing so. It's not difficult to find qualified people with leadership skills beholden to the company’s bottom line who also treat all staff with dignity and respect. Keeping managers who don't do that is a choice.
