Russian mayor bans phrase 'I don't know'

[JODO 2]

Russian mayor bans phrase 'I don't know' By BAGILA BUKHARBAYEVA,

Associated Press Writer

Tue Sep 4, 6:56 PM ET

The mayor of a Siberian oil town has ordered his bureaucrats to stop using expressions such as "I don't know" and "I can't." Or look for another job.

Alexander Kuzmin, the 33-year-old mayor of Megion, has banned these and 25 other phrases as a way to make his administration more efficient, his spokeswoman said Tuesday.

"It's a suggestion to the staff that they should think before saying something," Oksana Shestakova said by telephone. "To say `I don't know' is the same as admitting your helplessness."

To reinforce the ban, a framed list of the banned expressions has been hanging on the wall next to Kuzmin's office for the past two weeks, Shestakova said.

Some of the other prohibited phrases are "What can we do?" "It's not my job," "It's impossible," "I'm having lunch," "There is no money," and "I was away/sick/on vacation."

Kuzmin, a businessman who was elected mayor 1 1/2 years ago, wants to "shake things up" in Megion, a town of 54,000 in the Khanty-Mansiisk region, the spokeswoman said.

The region, located some 1,500 miles northeast of Moscow, produces more oil than the rest of Russia combined. As world oil prices have risen sharply in recent years, the region has flourished, and in stark contrast to the rest of the country its population has grown at the rapid rate of more than 7 percent annually.

But construction has not kept pace, and the lack of adequate housing is one of the town's most serious problems, Shestakova said.

"Town authorities are there to make town residents' life comfortable and prosperous," Kuzmin, a trained oil engineer who studied business administration in Canada, said in a statement posted on the town Web site. "Town officials must work out mechanisms to solve and remove problems, not to avoid them."

Officials who disobey the ban while in the mayor's office "will near the moment of their departure," the statement said.

Providing the mayor with wrong or incomplete information, or being late in reporting important information will be considered an attempt to undermine his work, it said.

Anna Borovikova, the mayor's chief of staff, said the novel approach has improved discipline.

"Before, it was so easy to say `I don't know.' Now before reporting to the mayor we prepare several proposals on how one or another problem can be solved," Borovikova said.

At first it was hard to remember not to use the banned expressions, she said, and they "slipped in sometimes."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070904/ap_on_...7BoVJnBnFcDW7oF

[Jason-Sasha 1]

I didn't know that.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Who said Soviet style bureaucracy is dead?

[Jasman0717 9]

Ah, the buck stops here I guess

[Kazan' Tiger 1]

Foolishness. There is nothing wrong in admitting one does not know an answer or can not do something if this is the truth.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Foolishness. There is nothing wrong in admitting one does not know an answer or can not do something if this is the truth.

I don't agree with that. I prefer to simply replace "I don't know" with "Let me find out", "I can't" with "I need some help with that" or "problem" with "opportunity". It just changes the immediate perception of a situation from a negative to something positive or challenging. When facing a customer, it helps convey confidence and competence - on an organizational level - instead of helplessness and ignorance.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

It's not a problem, it's an opportunity ... that line will generate snickering around a conference table every time.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

It's not a problem, it's an opportunity ... that line will generate snickering around a conference table every time.

You should try the approach once...

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

It's not a problem, it's an opportunity ... that line will generate snickering around a conference table every time.

You should try the approach once...

Prod support. Every problem is an opp'ty. A billable opp'ty.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

It's not a problem, it's an opportunity ... that line will generate snickering around a conference table every time.

You should try the approach once...

Prod support. Every problem is an opp'ty. A billable opp'ty.

See. It works already.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

When something breaks, the first thing we ask isn't "ok how do we fix it", it's "ok which code do i charge this to?".

The hilarity of it all kills me.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

When something breaks, the first thing we ask isn't "ok how do we fix it", it's "ok which code do i charge this to?".

The hilarity of it all kills me.

Yeah, you ain't kidding. The only way to get anything even looked at is to raise a ticket so IT knows where to bill the hours. It's horrible. More often than not, logging the ticket takes longer than fixing the issue at hand. I wonder what will happen when the application used to log the tickets needs fixing...

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Contingency plan for that where I am is phone number and a team of temporary Excel monkeys.

[eric&gen 0]

Rights to free speech is gone might as well be a mute lol.

[Kazan' Tiger 1]

I'll repeat myself, there is nothing wrong in admitting one does not know an answer or can not do something if this is the TRUTH. e.g, "Can you give me a million dollars?" The answer is, "NO, I can NOT." Why must I say, "Let me find out."??? I KNOW the answer. Now if the situation involves just not having pertinent knowledge, there is nothing wrong with saying, "I don't know, but this person does. Let me introduce you to them." or "... Let me ask this person for you." What is wrong with taking personal responsibility and admitting you don't know something? It is HONEST!

Foolishness. There is nothing wrong in admitting one does not know an answer or can not do something if this is the truth.

I don't agree with that. I prefer to simply replace "I don't know" with "Let me find out", "I can't" with "I need some help with that" or "problem" with "opportunity". It just changes the immediate perception of a situation from a negative to something positive or challenging. When facing a customer, it helps convey confidence and competence - on an organizational level - instead of helplessness and ignorance.