Taking the Judge Out of Judgment
By Michelle Malay Carter on October 3, 2007
Work* is the exercising of judgment and discretion while trying to achieve a goal.? When judgment is removed, you no longer have work, you have computation ? something a robot or computer could do.? Organizations hire people to do work.?
Interestingly, we hire people to make judgments, and then, whenever possible, we try to take the judgment out of their work.
Does anyone see the irony in the US government’s instituting mandatory sentencing laws to take the ability to use judgment away from – JUDGES.? The supreme court may be seeing the light.
What has the myth of managerial objectivity done to work? It has fueled corruption and degradation. 
When we measure output only, while ignoring the effectiveness of the judgments in light of the prevailing conditions, we will get output, but at what price? ?I?ll make the goal of 100 widgets an hour, but to do so I will have to ignore the fact that I am inserting defective parts into each widget.? And then we complain about quality.
When we offer bonuses to only the top ?outputers?, we get output, but we also get information hoarding and even sabotage.? And then we complain about lack of teamwork.
When we require a college degree as a perquisite for a job and ignore equal experience, we reduce our candidate pool without necessarily gaining an assurance of on-the-job success.? And then we complain that our workforce lacks diversity.
When we require an arbitrary number of years experience to be considered for a job, again, we are arbitrarily reducing our candidate pool.? And then we complain that we can?t find talent.
When we promote for achievement while ignoring potential, we disqualify those annoying, ornery, young, high potentials whose performance may not reflect their potential.? And then we complain we have no benchstrength.?
The essence of managerial work is judgment.
When we pile on accountability and simultaneously handcuff managers with arbitrary but supposedly objective means for judging capability and effectiveness, for hiring and firing, we get what we have.? And then we complain about low engagement and lack of accountability.
In order for managers to be accountable, we must institutionalize the granting of certain authorities to all managers ? the first of which is the authority to use their judgment ? to work, not calculate.
*Organical work, i.e. the work of living organisms, not mechanical work.
Filed Under Accountability, Managerial Leadership, Requisite Organization, Talent Management | Comments Off on Taking the Judge Out of Judgment
I’m Babu. Will You be My Jerry Seinfeld?
By Michelle Malay Carter on October 2, 2007
I’m endlessly enthralled with managerial leadership and organization design.? I love to write. “You should be blogging,” I’ve been told.?? “If you write it, they will come!”
So here it is, after some study and coaching, I’ve soft-launched Mission Minded Management.? I’ve got a decent-sized mailing list in my back pocket for the official launch, but who wants to visit an empty space?? It’s a bloggers catch-22.? How to attract beginning readership and comments to?gain experience?and work out the technical bugs before I invite all my friends to the party?so they don’t show up to?discover I have spinach in my teeth?
Have you ever entered a restaurant only to find it empty??? You get that sinking feeling that you’ve made a mistake.? It doesn’t matter how good the food is if no one stays to taste it.? It reminds me of a Seinfeld episode?where an inexperienced, enthusiastic but clunky?restaurateur, Babu, has just opened the Dream Cafe. ?He built it, but they did not come.? Jerry Seinfeld tak
es pity upon him, eats there, and offers Babu advice.
Will you be my Jerry?? Make a comment.? Offer some feedback?? You could be creating a legacy for yourself.? Imagine telling your colleagues, “Yea, I subscribed to Mission Minded Management before Mission Minded was cool.”? Time is short.? This is your opportunity to be leading-edge.
I guess I need to get my RSS feed link posted.? Babu and me – enthusiastic but a little clunky.
Filed Under High Potential, Personal Observation | 4 Comments
The Potential in Spotting Potential
By Michelle Malay Carter on September 30, 2007
Chip Conley, a Fast Company blogger, started my neurons firing with the following sentence:? “I?ve always believed a great leader knows how to tap into potential and actualize it into reality.?
Yes, I agree. ?Isn?t that what great investors do too?? Whether it be real estate, stock market, or venture capital.? I suppose if it were easy, we?d all be doing it.? Within organizations, I think most executives, managers, and HR alike are well-intentioned but clueless.
In order to spot potential, you must know:
1.? where to look
2.? what potential looks like.
Spotting Potential in People
As far as people are concerned, do we look for potential?? No, we hire for ACHIEVEMENT, and we promote for ACHIEVEMENT, not potential.? Why?? Because of ignorance, because its a no-brainer, and it’s safe, but is it risk free?? As long as we do this, organizations will lament the fact that they can?t find talent while 20% of their current employees are capable of doing higher level work.? For more on this, read my article, But I Really Like Her.?
Spotting Potential in Systems
Your employees and your customers experience your organizaton at the hands of your systems.? I dare say most organizational systems drive behavior and create experiences that are in NO WAY connected to the thoughtfully-crafted, benevolent corporate values statement posted in the employee lunchroom.
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.? ?For more on this, keep reading my blog in the days to come.
The worst system offenders are organization?s people systems.? They are like 1,000 bits of mosaic tile thrown on the floor.? Simply a mess, but yet a mess with the potential to be assembled into a masterpiece.?
If only someone with a vision for a total-system approach to managerial leadership, talent management and organizational design were to come along.? Well, he did, his name was Elliott Jaques, but few very see the potential in his ideas.
The same can be said for hiring consultants.? No one gets fired for hiring McKinsey or IBM. ?It may be safe, but it?s not risk free to hire for achievement while ignoring potential.
Filed Under Corporate Values, High Potential, Managerial Leadership, Requisite Organization | Comments Off on The Potential in Spotting Potential
Protecting High Potentials from Themselves
By Michelle Malay Carter on September 29, 2007
After having to terminate a young, high potential for quasi-illegal activity in a highly regulated industry, a client of ours offered the following metaphor.
There are hot stove assignments, and there are playing in traffic assignments.? Young, high potentials should be given hot stove assignments.? They touch the stove; they feel the heat; but they can move their hand away without much consequence.? Playing in traffic assignments should only be given to highly capable, experienced employees since the consequences of poor judgment can be dire.? The only problem is that, quite frequently, you give a young, high potential a hot stove asssignment, and while your back is turned, they drag the stove out into traffic.
Have you ever dragged a stove into traffic?? Do tell.
Filed Under High Potential, Managerial Leadership | 2 Comments
Is Micromanagement Inherent or Contexual?
By Michelle Malay Carter on September 27, 2007
Chuck at I Hate Your Job had this to say about micromanagement:
Have you ever stopped to consider why some bosses seem to be in love with micromanaging their employees? If so, then here?s your answer: They are incapable of managing in any other way.
I offer that one person’s micromanager is another’s dream boss. What we want and need most from a boss is context – someone who can paint a bigger picture for us than we can paint for ourselves. Someone who adds value to our thinking.
Problem Solving Capability Occurs in Discreet Levels
We all have the capacity for problem solving, and it matures over our lives. (This is a separate factor from temperament, knowledge, skills and experience) What isn’t common knowledge is that problem solving capability occurs in discrete levels. So if I have current problem solving capability at level 2, the perfect boss for me will have problem solving capability at level 3. However, if my peer reporting to that same boss, has problem solving capability at level 3, the same level as our boss, my peer will experience our mutual boss as a no-value-added manager, a micromanager.
The People Aren’t the Problem
There is no inherent problem with the boss; there is no inherent problem with my peer; there is no inherent problem with me. The problem lies in our being unaware of levels of problem solving capability and it’s critical impact upon working relationships.
It’s About Design!!
Instead of structuring organizations to align with this natural phenomenon, well meaning people – HR, OD folks and managers alike – plow massive amounts of time and energy trying to fix those bad, bad people via training and coaching. Micromanagers just need to learn to delegate — send them to delegation training.
Have You Been Called Names at Work?
I venture to guess young Chuck might have been seen as a bad, bad employee during his short stint in the corporate world. Possibly arrogant, impatient, showy. This would be a symptom of high levels of problem solving capability at a young age. It can be off-putting to those older managers who are more experienced and who have “paid their dues” but whose knowledge and skills are bounded by a less complex ability to manage information.
I’m OK. You’re OK. Let’s fix the system.
Filed Under Employee Engagement, High Potential, Managerial Leadership, Organization Design, Requisite Organization | 1 Comment
Gain Accountability by Passing the Buck
By Michelle Malay Carter on September 26, 2007
If I were to ask you who is accountable for your output at work, what your answer be? “Me,” of course.
Good news! If organizations want to institutionalize accountability – employees can’t be the ones accountable for their output. So, pass the buck right on to your manager, s/he’s the one who has to own it.
Why, you ask?
-Who hired you for your role?
-Who gives you your assignments?
-Who provides your resources?
-Who assesses your performance?The answer should be your manager, if it’s not, therein lies another issue. You can’t hold managers accountable without giving them certain authorities, but that’s for another post.
What, then, are you, Joe employee, accountable for?
-Bringing your full effort to bear on your assignments
-Giving your manager your best advice
-Staying within policy
What more can an employee do?
So as many decry the lack of accountability within organizations, I suggest:
Accountability is not MISSING but rather it’s MISPLACED.
I’m OK. You’re OK. Let’s fix the system.
Filed Under Accountability, Requisite Organization | 7 Comments
Equipping Managers with Management Technology
By Michelle Malay Carter on September 23, 2007
Computer technology has long since left the hands of specialists and has been placed in the hands of the users. The days of the “typing pool” are gone. Could you imagine having to track down a specialist every time you needed to type an email, build a spreadsheet, or create a presentation?
So why do managers hand over their managerial work to specialists? Why do we think an HR specialist can do a better job of defining a role than the manager who will rely on that role to accomplish her goals? Why do we think an HR specialist can do a better job of interviewing a candidate than the manager who will employ him?
Sure, some knowledge and skill building will be required. But work and human capability are not really all that mysterious. With a framework for understanding, managers can learn how to hire, task, and coach employees effectively.
Organizations spend millions creating integrated, information technology systems, but seem ignorant to the benefits that could be reaped through a consistent, integrated approach to managerial leadership, organization design and talent management.
Filed Under Managerial Leadership, Requisite Organization | 1 Comment
What Work Could Be
By Michelle Malay Carter on September 22, 2007
Work has the potential to be a noble, highly-gratifying expression of a unique human soul.
Unfortunately, ignorance surrounding work levels and human capability cause organizations to unwittingly thwart and frustrate workers more often than they create conditions for the full expression of their gifts.
Which has been your experience?
Have you had a job that allowed for the full expression of your talents, problem solving capacity, and interests? If yes, you are an extremely fortunate individual. This is a rare experience.
Have you been underemployed – seeing more that could be done but not being given the chance? Has your boss gotten in the way through micromanaging and at the same time, not being able to offer the big picture?
Or have you ever had a boss who gave you too little direction, talking in such generalities that you didn’t know what do?
We’ll be talking about some straightforward and reliable ways to match employees to jobs and managers in later posts.
I’m OK.? You’re OK.? Let’s fix the system.
Filed Under Employee Engagement, Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Talent Management | 1 Comment
Subscribe in a reader