Missed Opportunities to Rescue Dugard Linked to Poor Employee Screening or Poor Pay?

By Michelle Malay Carter on November 5, 2009 

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “State parole agents fell down on the job again and again during the 10 years they supervised sex offender Phillip Craig Garrido, failing to check out clues that could have led to alleged kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard.”? [emphasis mine]

Parole Agent Work is Level Two Work
If you follow my blog, you know that work exists in levels, and we can classify roles by work level.? If a parole agent’s job involves sorting information to identify relevant clues and then adding clues together to draw conclusions, then it is level two work.

Level Two Work Calls for Level Two Capability
If we add to that the fact that people’s problem solving capability occurs in increasingly complex levels, we know that in order to be competent in a parole officer role, one would need at least level two capability.

Why Would Someone Ignore Clues that Could Save a Life?
Finally, because I believe people are wired to work and want to contribute at work, I have to ask myself, why would a parole officer IGNORE clues?? I daresay that?maybe they weren’t?ignored, but rather they were not RECOGNIZED as clues in the first place.? This phenomenon would occur if the state of California had level-one capable officers employed in level two roles.

Where is the System Broken?
So is the recruiting system designed to screen specifically for level-two capability?? If not, you might expect something like this tragedy to?occur.? Additionally, we have to ask is the system set up to provide level-two felt-fair compensation for this role?? You really do get what you pay for, and level-one pay will draw level-one capable people, who will not be competent in a parole officer role.? Again, knowing this, we could predict this type of tragedy.

Just another example of how understanding work levels could change the world and save lives.? I’m OK.? You’re OK. Let’s fix the system.

Filed Under Accountability, Felt Fair Compensation, Talent Management, Work Levels

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