1J

Was her appraiser right about Vera not delegating enough? As the person in charge was Vera guilty for not developing her staff if she was better than them at things?

Of course she's better than them at most things but they have to learn and gain experience so she should give them the opportunity. I'm not sure if Kenny is in the books but in the TV series he's on her team. He's been with the police almost as long as Vera. She doesn't have a team of rookies for the most part. They should all be capable of doing most of the things she would need done.

Vera believes the only person she can truly count on is herself. She feels like she owes it to the victim to do as much as she can herself.

Vera needs to delegate some tasks as this is a good way to train them. If she can't delegate, she should at least take one of them with her so they can observe and learn.

>4 eadieburke: Agree fully Eadie, if she couldn't delegate it at least she should have taken one of them along to train them up. This is the responsibility of any leader, you may feel you can do things better than others but you have to give them them opportunities and guide and support them. She needs to be less me, me, me!

>3 Olivermagnus: >4 eadieburke: >5 Andrew-theQM: My cop says that you are all correct. She should be giving them the tools to become at least workable detectives. He says he understands what might be Vera's position here. He says that this is the case in many police departments. If the investigating team screws up under your supervision the lead takes the heat from the state, city, and county high echelons as well as the department heads and worse yet, the career breaker of all times...the press. The bigger the department the worse it can become. He thinks that Vera either just doesn't want to deal with all this...or... she wants to be sure to be there to pick them up and try to make it right before it gets out that it even happened. He also said that some of her people probably had as many years in as she did and didn't need training...just the direction that she wants the investigation to go. The thing that I stated, and he agreed that I was also right....(count one for me)...was that she knew the political game when she took the job. To which he reminded me that it was fiction:)

>6 Carol420:
Fiction? Vera is fiction?

>6 Carol420: >7 EadieB:
Really!?!

Your cop is definitely right about leadership, you have to train the others up giving them the key skills necessary for following your direction and strategy. And if things go belly up the person at the top takes the heat!

>7 EadieB: It was a shock to me also. Maybe he's wrong.

>9 Carol420:
Most definitely! Vera is our friend and Joe too!

Missed this one first time round...

Seems we had this same conversation in the last book, too, so this is nothing new for Vera. I suspect it's a failing of hers that is picked up on at every appraisal, and something she definitely needs to address. I get the impression that she's very jealous of her own ability, though, and doesn't really want to share it - I think she wants to keep her ducklings close under her wings.

About time she showed more maturity in my opinion.

Couldn't agree more!

Vera's inability to delegate is a very realistic character flaw and one of the reasons I like her character so much. She is very human and certainly not perfect.

>14 Lynsey2: I can't imagine a perfect Vera. I don't think I would like her very much.

>15 Carol420: If she were perfect she would end up being more like Veronica.