An Apology to My Seven Bosses – On National Bosses Day
By Michelle Malay Carter on October 16, 2007
Having left the corporate world over 10 years ago, I believe I have enough distance and insight on the situation to offer a formal apology.
Former bosses – I’m sorry.? My zest for achievement combined with my uninhibited extroversion likely made your?job as my manager?less than comfortable.
I’m also sorry that the organizations for which we worked did not fully understand what makes for a mutually beneficial employee-manager relationship.? We both gave our best, but the broken system within which we were operating served neither of us.
During my 10 years in the corporate world, I worked for 3 organizations, had 12 different job titles, and 7 managers.? Never once was I afforded the opportunity for full engagement, i.e. ?a job level that matched my problem solving capability level paired with a manager who could add value to my thinking.? Sometimes I had one, sometimes the other, never both.
I’m OK.? You’re OK.? Let’s fix the system.
Filed Under Employee Engagement, High Potential, Managerial Leadership, Requisite Organization, Talent Management | Comments Off on An Apology to My Seven Bosses – On National Bosses Day
Embedding Corporate Values into Operations Via Organization Design
By Michelle Malay Carter on October 16, 2007
I talked yesterday about how exceptional customer service flows from sound organization design.???Regardless of?well-articulated and well-intentioned corporate values statements, your face-to-customer staff are your values ambassadors.? Although “customer focus” is a frequently cited corporate value, executives admit they have no best practices for embedding corporate values into operations.? This?shows in the disconnect between what is said at the corporate level and what is experienced at the customer level.
I?am to connect the dots between Pier 1’s corporate values statements that are peppered throughout their website?and my actual customer experience in their stores.
From Abstract Values to Everyday Procedures – My Real Life Experience with Pier 1
Here is, conceptually, what Pier 1 has to say on its website about what you can expect in their stores (bold emphasis is mine):
Our stores are unmistakable.? Fragrant candles, the exotic scent of wicker, the colors and patterns of dinnerware, textured carvings and woven textiles all combine to create an eclectic treat for the senses.? Our image is quirky.? We display our wares so that each trip is a treasure hunt.? It?s the thrill of the bazaar ? the expected and the unexpected.
We employ committed, caring associates whose first priority is responding to the needs of our customers.
I love Pier 1, but do not shop there with children, as their dazzling displays lure them like a moth to a flame. I also take care not to widen my personal-space footprint with an oversized handbag, as one unconscious turn can sweep a 3-foot, pyramid display of wine glasses to the floor in a New York second.
Translating a?Conceptual Value into a?Floor Level Procedure
Now, you may think I am bashing Pier 1, but this is just the opposite.? I believe Pier 1 has made a deliberate choice to allow for a certain level of merchandise damage in order to create a unique, sensory experience for customers (a conceptual value as stated on their website).? Now, here is the unusual part – not only have they allowed for this damage, they have trained their store associates to gracefully deal with it (a concrete procedure at floor level).
More than once when shopping there, my stomach has jumped at the sound of a meticulously-crafted display meeting the floor.? Every time this has happened, the next sound I hear is the store clerks running to the scene while calmly asking, “Are you OK?” As the embarrassed customer is apologizing, the clerks simply repeat, “Are you OK?”
What value does this telegraph?? The merchandise can be replaced, my first priority as an associate is (remember the line from the website?) “responding to the needs of customers”.
Pier 1 does not expect store associates to interpret conceptual value statements into everyday practices, it has been done for them.? The result is a consistent shopping experience for the customer, and employees who can take care of uncomfortable situations with confidence and grace.
Whether by luck or intention, I suspect Pier 1 has sound organization design in its retail operations side.
I’m OK. You’re OK. Let’s fix the system.
Filed Under Corporate Values, Executive Leadership, Organization Design, Personal Observation, Requisite Organization, Talent Management | 1 Comment
Exceptional Customer Service Flows from Sound Organization Design
By Michelle Malay Carter on October 15, 2007
As you make your way through the world as a consumer, how often are you pleasantly surprised by the service you receive?? For me, I suspect it’s about 5% of the time.? What values do many face-to-customer systems telegraph? In spite of what a company’s corporate values proclaim, customers are an afterthought, if a thought at all.
From Posters to Practice – Are Corporate Values Useful?
My experience bears that something gets lost in the translation from the glossy, optimistic?corporate-values statement posted on the breakroom wall and the day-in day-out ways in which?employees interact with customers.
In a corporate values study conducted by Booz Allen, it was found that most executives thought corporate values were important but had no best practices for embedding values into operations.
How to Solve this Problem with Organization Design?
The key to solving this dilemma lies in understanding work levels.? When organization’s structure their organizations with exactly one role at each work level within a reporting chain, they create a design that allows for the natural flow of work, communication, and leadership.? Consequently, the aspiring, conceptual corporate values penned at the executive level are systematically broken into successively smaller chunks until they play out at the concrete, procedural-based face-to-customer level.
When poor design results in no role existing at a certain level of work, the translation chain becomes broken, as happens in flat organizations.? When more than one role exists in a given level, the translation chain becomes too heavy, as happens in overly layered organizations.
In these days when it’s stylish to bash hierarchies, I say misunderstand them at your peril and your customers’ peril too.
Tomorrow, I’ll share my unusual experience of being able to connect the dots between one company’s?corporate value statements on their website?and my actual experience with their face-to-the customer operations.
I’m OK.? You’re OK.? Let’s fix the system.
Filed Under Corporate Values, Executive Leadership, Organization Design, Requisite Organization | 3 Comments
What Values Does Your Talent Management System Telegraph?
By Michelle Malay Carter on October 14, 2007
Despite what the corporate values statement on your website says, your organization?s actions speak louder than your lofty words.? I have seen very few sane-making talent management systems.?
How many talent management systems reflect the following value set???
Employees are inherently broken and must be motivated, bribed, and coerced into giving their best.
Although our recruiting process forbids managers to hire anyone outside HR?s narrowly defined set of criteria for a role, after you manage to get yourself hired, we shift to the opposite philosophy that anyone can do anything with the right coaching and training.? So we will spend inordinate amounts of time and money to fix things in you that aren?t broken and shape you into something you are not, and then we expect you to be grateful and productive.
We will give you an ambiguous job description with unclear accountabilities and authorities so you will be forced to manipulate or coerce others into cooperating with you to get your job done.? And then we will send you off to team building training.
We will give you two managers, each of whom has 50 hours of technical work responsibilities each week, and no time allotted for actually exercising managerial leadership.? We expect you to keep both managers happy.? If they have competing priorities, please don?t complain, or they will make note of this in your performance evaluation.? And then they will send you off to time management training.
We will measure your output only, not your overall effectiveness, and blame you for issues outside your control.? And then we will send you off to anger management training.
Twenty percent of the time, we will under-employ you and then ask your threatened manager?s opinion about whether you are promotion material.? Your manager?s boss, who might have recognized your potential, does not care to meet you since your manager has warned him about your poor attitude.? And then we’ll send you off to read, How to Win Friends and Influence People.
We may lay you off rather arbitrarily so we can meet our quarterly goals and our executives can receive their bonuses.? And then we?ll send you off to outplacement services so you can start the cycle all over again.
I?m OK. You?re OK. Let?s fix the system.
Filed Under Corporate Values, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, Managerial Leadership, Requisite Organization | Comments Off on What Values Does Your Talent Management System Telegraph?
Looking for Leaders – No Personality Required
By Michelle Malay Carter on October 12, 2007
Leadership: the ability to set purpose or direction for others and then get them to move along in that direction with competence and full commitment –Elliott Jaques. Within organizations, leadership is an accountability of all managers.
Leadership ability could fall into the hands of an intuitive, a senser, an extrovert, an introvert, a thinker, a feeler, a perceiver, or a judger. Good news. Want to be a leader? No single personality characteristic or profile required!
Using the definition above, a leader could be a college drop out, a criminal, or a six year old. Those searching for the leadership “formula” are missing the point, for a series on this issue click here. One man’s leader may be another’s fool.
Maybe instead of studying leaders, we should be studying followers.
In organizations, we often give people leadership positions paired with impressive titles and some direct reports follow with full commitment and others complain with full vibrato. So, does this person have leadership “competencies” or not?
Back to our leadership definition. It’s two part, and let’s not overlook the phrase, set purpose or direction. In order for someone to set an appealing purpose, direction, and context for me, that person must add value to my thinking. They must see a bigger picture than I and solve problems in a way I couldn’t. If I am capable of thinking at the same level as my boss, what is the point of my boss? Either I’m in need of a promotion, or my boss was promoted too soon.
Employees will naturally seek the counsel of a person who adds value to their thinking, whether this person is their manager or not. Have you ever had one boss “on paper” but consistently sought guidance from another, perhaps your manager’s manager? This is the phenomenon of levels of problem solving capability in play.
Simply put, if I am currently capable at level 2, the most satisfying leader for me will be one currently capable at level 3. Ask me to submit to the leadership of someone at level 2, and I will be dissatisfied. Expect me to work for someone capable at level 4, and I may not be able to convert their guidance into action.
Nearly anyone can be a leader; however, not everyone will be a candidate to be one of their followers.
I’m OK. You’re OK. Let’s fix the system.
Filed Under Accountability, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, High Potential, Managerial Leadership, Requisite Organization, Talent Management | Comments Off on Looking for Leaders – No Personality Required
We Don’t Work for Companies; We Work for Managers
By Michelle Malay Carter on October 11, 2007
?Managers trump companies,? states First, Break All the Rules. Company reputation aside, as far as employees are concerned, one bad manager spoils the job.
Despite perks and generous benefits, an employee?s relationship with her immediate manager will determine how long she stays and how productive she is.
What do we want from managers? (A recap from yesterday)
- Context, context, context ? surrounding our role relative to strategy, our role relative to our managers, our role relative to our peers, our role relative to others within the organization, about the task?s assigned to us
- Clear accountabilities and authorities
- Proper task assignment
- Resources to get our job done ? time, money, training, paving the way for access to others, the use of others, information from others
- Regular feedback on our performance with the opportunity to account for our decisions
- Assessments based on our overall effectiveness in light of prevailing conditions, rather than by the numbers
- Fair pay
- A willingness to address performance issues or inappropriate behavior
Assuming all managers were screened to ensure they had problem-solving capability at one level beyond that of their direct reports, I believe most managers would be more than willing and able to provide this IF the organization provided them what they needed as managers.
What do managers need in order to provide this? (Information I promised in yesterday?s post.)
An institutionalized, total-system approach to managerial leadership which includes:
- Clear managerial accountabilities
- A minimum set of managerial authorities to be able to assume accountability
- A selection/promotion system that accounts for problem-solving capability
- Raw talent, aka problem-solving capability, assessment skills in addition to basic managerial skills
- Time allotted in their role description to perform their managerial duties
- Explicit cross-functional authorities and accountabilities
- Science-based organization design aligned with strategy
- A fair pay system
- Involvement of the manager-once-removed in talent assessment, career mentoring, oversight of appropriate and fair application of managerial leadership
I say bravo to managers who strive to do the right thing and get the job done despite being systematically disabled.
Systems are the accountability of executive leadership, and although no company would dream of running without a multi-million dollar IT system, people systems remain snippets of sophomoric reactions to legislation and coping mechanisms for the inadequacy of this approach.
I have met very few executives who have the vision and the intestinal fortitude to invest in people systems to the extent that is needed. I say to the rest, have another hot dog at your employee appreciation picnic, and as Dr. Phil says, let me know how that’s working for you.
Filed Under Corporate Values, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, Managerial Leadership, Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Talent Management | 2 Comments
Misguided Motivation Attempts – Put Down that Carrot and that Stick and that Hot Dog
By Michelle Malay Carter on October 10, 2007
Human beings are pre-programmed to be motivated to work.
We, as a society, agree that bullying is not the way to motivate employees, although some managers resort to it. So, no question, the stick is out. But is the carrot all it?s held up to be?
Instead of casual Fridays and employee picnics, why not focus on maintaining employees’ natural inclination toward giving their best through designing systems that enable productive work? Offering a hot dog is easier, but it is poor recompense for continuously and systematically thwarting employees? efforts to work.
Want employee engagement? Put down your copy of?301 Ways to Have Fun at Work and read along.
The Basics ? What Employees Want:
to use their gifts and talents to accomplish work that aligns with their interests.
The Basics – What Employees Need:
- Context, context, context ? surrounding their role relative to strategy, their role relative to their managers, their role relative to their peers, their role relative to others within the organization, and about the task?s they’ve been assigned.
- Clear accountabilities and authorities
- Proper task assignment
- Resources to get the job done ? time, money, training, their manager’s paving the way for access to others, the use of others, information from others
- Regular feedback on performance with the opportunity to account for their decisions
- Assessments based on overall effectiveness in light of prevailing conditions, rather than by the numbers only
- Fair pay
- Their?manager’s?willingness to address performance issues or inappropriate behavior
Stay tuned for my next post:? What must organizations do in order to provide what employees want and need.? Hint: It?s not tubed meat on a bun.
I”m OK. You’re OK. Let’s fix the system.
Filed Under Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, Managerial Leadership, Requisite Organization, Talent Management | 2 Comments
A Slack Attack Against Bullying Bosses
By Michelle Malay Carter on October 9, 2007
I had a high-spirited boss at my first “real?job” out of college.? She?bullied me?when I underperformed, but was elaborately appreciative when I went the extra mile.??Her favorite bullying technique was public humiliation.? She seemed to revel in bellowing statements at me such as, “If this is all you’ve got, you’ll never amount to *&% anything.”? ?As it turns out, it wasn’t all I had.? It was all I had -?for her and for that job.
A Petri Dish of Dysfunction
I was young and dumb and took an administrative job at an ad agency hoping to become a copywriter.? What they didn’t tell me was they were really a graphic design house pretending to be an ad agency so there was no copywriting.
When I finished the administrative work in 10 hours instead of 40, they realized I needed more to do.? They offered me sales development tasks (aka cold calling) and client relations tasks (aka calling clients and chatting about their account, their kids, etc), and they were less than impressed with my enthusiasm and commitment?to these tasks.? It’s not that these tasks were value-less, but they were not work I valued.? I wanted to write.
One of?the few things I?did get to write were our staff-meeting minutes.??After the meetings, I would run back to my desk to type the minutes while the staff would eagerly await them.??Everyone agreed my creative and witty recaps?were?much more fun?than the meetings themselves.? The meeting minutes were always done quickly and with zest – I needed no stick, nor a carrot.? I only needed to value the work.
I was immature, underutilzed, bored, and didn’t value the higher-level work they were offering.? Add to that my problem-solving capability was likely equivalent to that of my boss, and you’ve got a petri dish for dysfunction.
I must admit I had a few passive aggressive techniques for avenging my boss’ bullying.? As it turns out, many workers admit to slacking off to retaliate against a bullying boss.
My Favorite Passive-Aggressive Techniques
My boss was “big boned”, and we worked in an older building so I could feel her coming down the hall before she arrived at my door.? It was a strange coincidence that quite frequently my pencil would hit the floor just before she appeared, and she wouldn’t see me at my desk because I was hiding under it.
In the days when secretaries typed for managers, the bottom of any correspondence would contain the 
initials of the author followed by the typist’s initials.? On high abuse days, I would maliciously include all three of my boss’ initials instead of just two.? Her initials were APE.
I’d like to believe that with twenty years on the situation, we would both behave in a more refined manner, but under-utilization can make work a jungle, and in jungles, you are bound to find APEs.
It’s confessional time.? What techniques do you have for dealing with bullies?
Filed Under Employee Engagement, High Potential, Managerial Leadership, Talent Management | Comments Off on A Slack Attack Against Bullying Bosses
Our Superstitious Fear of Hierarchy
By Michelle Malay Carter on October 8, 2007
Superstitions develop in the absence of knowledge.? When people lack understanding, they can give cause and effect status to items simply related by time and space.? If enough people repeat it, it becomes truth.
- I saw a black cat today and then broke my arm. B lack cats are bad luck.
- I work in a hierarchy. Decisions take forever.? Hierarchy is bad.
- I work in a hierarchy. Decision happen too quickly.? Hierarchy is bad.
- I work in a hierarchy. My boss is a micromanager.? Hierarchy is bad.
- I work in a hierarchy. I get too little direction.? Hierarchy is bad.
- I work in a hierarchy. The policies are stifling and rigid.? Hierarchy is bad.
- I work in a hierarchy. The policies are ambiguous and inconsistent.? Hierarchy is bad.
It is en vogue these days to bash hierarchies.? The editor of Harvard Business Review conducted an online survey asking readers what they thought the ?modern? industrial organization would look like. ?News flash: ?Hierarchies, the design by which humans have organized themselves since the beginning of time, will be pass? in 20 years.
Certainly, employees are hurt at the hands of hierarchies, but people die at the hands of bacteria.? Yes, bacteria can kills us, but without them we couldn?t digest our food.? They are a necessary and natural part of the human ecosystem, and we can use knowledge to ameliorate their destructive power and exploit their positive properties.
When people prattle about the elimination of hierarchy, that by implication means an organization without levels; even a two layer organization is a hierarchy.? Would you really want to work at an organization without levels? ?What would that mean?? Talk about unintented consequences!
No Hierarchy?
- All decisions need be made by vote or consensus ? hiring, firing, strategy, marketing, research investment, vendor selection, who receives personal development opportunities, what the logo looks like, which benefits we offer.
- Everyone is accountable for creating global strategy, answering the phone, cleaning the bathroom, and everything in between.
- Everyone is accountable for all decisions, even ones they vehemently opposed.
- Everyone gets the same pay.
Maybe it?s not hierarchy that is the problem, but rather it is our ignorance surrounding how to structure them to our benefit rather than our detriment.
Consequences of Too Many Levels in a Hierarchy?
Yes, there can be too many levels in an organization.? This causes buck passing, slowed decision making, turf wars and work overlap.? This breeds frustration, inefficiency and hampered production.
Consequences of Too Few Levels in a Hierarchy?
Yes, there can be too few layers in organizations.? This breeds overwork, ambiguity, and unrealistic expectations.
Humans both seek leadership and contain the potential to provide leadership to others.? We are wired for hierarchy, and that is why humans have been creating them since the beginning of time.
Rather than fighting against hierarchy, why not seek to understand work levels and human capability and naturally align them to release employees? full potential and to offer employees satiating leadership.
That is really want people want ? a job that taps their full potential and a manager who can provide leadership.? Contrary to popular folklore, an appropriately designed hierarchy will provide just this.
It?s not magic. It?s science. Through knowledge, we can eliminate the superstitious fear of hierarchy.
Filed Under Employee Engagement, Organization Design, Requisite Organization | 2 Comments
Employee Performance and Promotion Myths
By Michelle Malay Carter on October 4, 2007
?Employees should be promoted based on contribution.? ?Jim Stroup, Managing Leadership Blog*
Not many would argue with that statement, but I am going to take a shot at it.
Employee Performance Myths
- Employees should be promoted based on contribution. FALSE.
- High potential means high performance. FALSE.
Employee Performance Truisms
1. Employees should be promoted not based on contribution but rather on POTENTIAL contribution. Unfortunately, organizations do not know what this means, much less do they have a systematic process for identifying it.
2. Excellent contribution in a current role means they are excellently suited for that role. They may or may not be ready for a promotion. Promotions should be based on work level, problem-solving capability. When their mental bandwidth matures into the next level, they should be promoted to the next level. Unfortunately, organizations? development plans do not track this factor, and therefore, do not align individual development planning with this. This leaves some employees with problem-solving capability ahead of their knowledge, skills and experiences and leaves others receiving training and developmental experiences prematurely.
3. High potential people are not always your best performers. Why?
- When under-employed, they may lack motivation to do lower level work ? boredom and lack of motivation can manifest in a variety of ways, most of them negative.
- When under-employed, their problem-solving capability may match or exceed that of their manager, causing a barrage of issues, most masquerading as personality issues.
- When under-employed, they can be viewed as arrogant and impatient, not a team player.
Jim Stroup?s blog post also made the comment that: ?Employers are complaining that it is so hard to find the right people that they are frequently settling for second best.? With our research showing that one in five employees is currently capable of higher level work, I wonder how they feel being past over for promotions and then asked to commit themselves to the leadership of second best?
*I agree with the basic premise of Jim’s post which was not specifically about this issue.
Filed Under Employee Engagement, High Potential, Managerial Leadership, Talent Management | 3 Comments
Subscribe in a reader