Working For Gibbs

Now that season 6 of NCIS is in the books and not yet available on dvd, we addicts need something on which to dwell. I have often commented to my wife (also an NCIS addict, another of her brilliant qualities) about Gibbs’  excellence as a  boss. I have also said that it would be nice if people I  work  for  have worked for in the past could emulate some of these qualities.

So, what makes  Gibbs a good boss? You certainly agree that he is of course.

• Easy to work for- no
• High expectations – oh yeah
• Cares about his team- definitely
• Respects their abilities – true again
• Demanding !!!
• Lets you do your job- Check

All of the above qualities seem to be rare in a boss, at least those for whom I have worked. There are doubtless others that I have should have listed that are sort of reflected in the list, such as honesty and loyalty, to name a couple.

Early Version of Team Gibbs

If we buy into the assumption that theses qualities are rare, why is that? I think it may have something to do with the  fact that Gibbs has no hidden agenda, is not power hungry and for certain does not care for recognition or publicity. A line in the first episode of the series made the point that there wold always be more of them than of us, them being being other agencies . So much for winning the publicity battles..

So, Gibbs and his people do their job largely under the radar, with liberal doses of humor,” sarcasm” and a drive to excel. No question, they all want to make Gibbs  proud and all are pleased with the well dones that he bestows. I  think this is due that their knowing that his praise while not necessarily frequent is genuine and well earned.

Since, there are probably no openings for any of us on the  team, in spite of  Ziva’s obvious discomfort in the season ending episode.We  must console ourselves in learning as many of the Gibbs rules as necessary and hoping more of the uninitiated can learn from the show.

Notice that what  has been said does  not make him a perfect boss, but one that would definitely  make the workplace interesting. Suppose there will ever be a college course on the Supervisory Skills of Leroy Jethro Gibbs; probably not.

About these ads