A Salute to Deborah Thompson!

[US AIRWAYS FAN]

Is anyone keeping on contact with Deborah? I am sure you are L4PI. How is she doing? I hope all is well with her.

 

[WestCoastGuy]

DT was one of the few that had any class or character or morals, out of the whole bunch of bananas at CCY. She is indeed a diamond and I wish only the best of everything in life for her.

 

[AtlanticBeach]

Is anyone keeping on contact with Deborah? I am sure you are L4PI. How is she doing? I hope all is well with her.

We've been e-mailing the past few weeks. She may be lurking here even as I type this.

She is doing well. Has begun her new business and is soliciting clients.

 

[longing4piedmont]

We've been e-mailing the past few weeks. She may be lurking here even as I type this.

She is doing well. Has begun her new business and is soliciting clients.

Glad to hear it. I been on the road so much I haven't taken the time to stay in touch. And I'm at the spring furniture market for the next 13 days for my semi-annual, all expense paid "vacation" in High Point, so no time coming up in the next couple of weeks either.

For those who never had to pleasure to meet or work with her, you have missed a real treat. So Deborah, if you are lurking, I apologize. We really do miss ya.

 

[SS255]

Despite my 1,300+ posts on Flyertalk, I am still quite a timid mouse when it comes to posting on USAviation. Heck, I really only started lurking here because I "missed" Longing4Piedmont on Flyertalk. But if Deborah is lurking here, I will meekly surface for one post to say "Hi," and "Miss ya!" Now I'm going to crawl back into my shell and cower in fear.)

 

[SpinDoc]

DT was one of the few that had any class or character or morals, out of the whole bunch of bananas at CCY. She is indeed a diamond and I wish only the best of everything in life for her.

Overall, your assesment is pretty fair. Ms. Thompson made it a point to always keep her public face positive; however, I have heard from some on the inside that she was not quite as endearing to her staff.

 

[noname]

Overall, your assesment is pretty fair. Ms. Thompson made it a point to always keep her public face positive; however, I have heard from some on the inside that she was not quite as endearing to her staff.

You heard correctly.

 

[PITbull]

I heard the same thing.

 

[NCFL]

I have heard from some on the inside that she was not quite as endearing to her staff.

You can say that again.

 

[Art at ISP]

Is there an unpublished rule around here that there has to be something negative in EVERY thread?

This was started as a thread to commemorate the retirement of a long time and well known manager, who, regardless of how some of you feel, did a world of good in keeping customers loyal and coming back.

Let's drop the negativity, and just wish Deborah well in her new endeavor shall we?

 

[PITbull]

Art,

With all due respect to your initial intent, posting a recognition for someone who cared about Loyal FF is a well and good, so send her a letter from all of the FFOCUS group. Posting on a public forum only opens the door for debate. This is for anyone whose name has been posted here for positive recognition. Especially a manager/director from the old East regime at U. There will always be those folks that don't agree with the overall treatement employees received by a person in a department or company. Obviously, some in her department just don't have those positive thoughts as you do and basically wrote just that.

To imply that folks need to just shut-up if they have nothing postiive to say, then I say, just don't post these kinds of topics if you don't want any negativity displayed from a thread you start.

Perhaps in her next position she will also demonstrate respect equally for her employees who work to make the customer's experience positive as well. If she is lurking here and truly is a descent person and manager, she will accept some criticism contructively and take it to her next position.

My recommendation, write on the initial post "for customers only".

 

[Art at ISP]

PITBull,

You missed the point. It is just that NO threads around here can get away without being negative. Regardless of her history with employees, there was no reason to bring it up here, that's all. I am not saying it is or isn't so, but I am disappointed to see more of the after the fact bashing.....

I just guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

I hope you're well......

Best,

Art

 

[PITbull]

Art,

I got the point.

Its called "being human".

 

[SS255]

When she was speaking at the dinner (both privately to me and publicly to the group), all I kept thinking was "Your staff is so lucky to have you as their boss."

Speaking as someone who for several years was "managed" (by both good and bad managers), and for several years now has "managed" a staff (that often despises me for being tough on them), I can definitely see both sides of the issue, and I agree with Piney's post. Piney, the only issue I take with your post is that usually 100% of the people under you disagree with you some of the time, and often it's because they don't understand the thought process that goes into your decision making.

The manager is usually the one whose neck is ultimately on the chopping block. A good manager sets high standards for his/her staff, and holds his/her staff accountable when those standards aren't met. The manager also sees the bigger picture, whereas the staff usually only sees part of the picture. I don't in any way belittle the experiences of anyone on her staff (good or bad), but there are usually two sides to every story. Deborah had a really tough job - probably one of the toughest jobs at Airways - and I'm amazed she was able to do it for as many years as she did.

 

[SpinDoc]

The manager is usually the one whose neck is ultimately on the chopping block. A good manager sets high standards for his/her staff, and holds his/her staff accountable when those standards aren't met. The manager also sees the bigger picture, whereas the staff usually only sees part of the picture.

Regardless, good managers are also good insulators and communicators who share the plan with their staff, delegate appropriately, and defend the employees when things don't go quite right. It has been the modus operandi for many years for the managers at US Airways East to lose sight of their roles as insulators and communicators, and instead continue to be "yes men" and shove their employees under the bus when the heat was on. This only perpetuated the "management by fear" atmosphere, breeding mistrust and union skepticism when problems needed to be solved.

One by one, America West is replacing East management, from Vice-Presidents to Director level personnel, presumably to weed out the culture of "management by fear". To that, I say "here, here". Mr. Glass, your taxi is waiting.........