Daily Archives: March 24, 2010

Best Practices: Become a Target!

24 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Human Resources, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Tom Peters

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by Paul Kiser

Paul Kiser - CEO 2020 Enterprise Technologies

I just read Dr. Bret Simmons blog post, Give Yourself Permission to Be Excellent.  Excellence is a topic I fell in love with back in the 1980’s when Tom Peters and Robert Waterman wrote the iconic book, In Search of Excellence.   In that book I finally found someone who confirmed that business as usual is not good enough.

In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman

Fortunately, the President of the hospital I worked at then had also read the same book and for two years I experienced what business could be when unleashed from the confines of the unimaginative and uncaring.   All the ‘can’t-be-done’ stupidity had to face the light of day and it didn’t fare well when the control was removed from those who saw themselves as the ‘protectors’ of traditions.   The hospital (run by a strict religious-based organization) grew and flourished under the new leadership.  The facility kept it’s core values while eliminating most of the dysfunctional ideas that held it back.

But there was a price for those who pioneered the concept of excellence over authority.   Those people came under scrutiny.   Any mistake or failure was seized as proof positive that the people involved in effort of change were flawed….not that their ideas were flawed, but that the people were.

In Dr. Bret Simmons’s Blog he talks about the risk in striving for excellence and helps us understand why ‘risk’ happens.

(Click here to read Dr. Simmons Blog)

Dr. Bret states that mediocrity abides by the current rules and to strive for excellence means defining new rules.  Most people wait for someone in authority to define the new rules and in most cases those in authority fear risking his or her position by breaking new ground.   Thus it takes a ‘champion’, as Tom Peters liked to call them, to step forward and make the new rules for everyone else.

However, once a person steps forward to lead the way they make themselves a target. Their peers ask, “Who are you to do this!!!” and they wait for the person to be struck down by someone in authority.  The person in authority is embarrassed that they weren’t the one who took the bold action and so is predisposed to ‘put the person in their place.’   The result is that the person who leads the way is disliked…personally…by others in the organization.

The organization that lacks great leadership destroys champions, and make no mistake it takes GREAT leadership to love a champion. Good leadership toys with champions like a cat toying with a mouse. Good leaders are entertained by champions, but once they make an error the champion is lunch.

So why take the risk?  Why not play it safe and color within the lines?   George Carlin said, “Life is what we do while we are waiting to die.” It’s a matter of choice, but one can find purpose by being a champion and that can be a great feeling!   So go ahead…put those red circles on your back and move out in front of everyone else.  They can see the target easier when you’re in front…but then they have to live with the fact that they are always behind you.

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Management by Coup 2: Eliminate Job Standards and Job Descriptions

24 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Human Resources, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Tom Peters

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Being the Boss is more than wearing a suit and looking important

by Paul Kiser

It seems like a very rational idea. Create job (or performance) standards for every employee that dictate their responsibilities and define the expectations (or for performance standards, defines  ‘does not meet’, ‘meets’, or ‘exceeds’) for all aspects of every job.   That is the only way an employee knows what is expected of them and the only way a manager can “objectively” measure performance.

Very rational…very, very rational….

News Flash: We don’t live in a rational, sterile world where we can put down on a piece of paper an adequate description of intangible concepts like:

  • Taking care of the customer.
  • Thinking outside of the box.
  • Anticipating unforseen problems

Paul Kiser - CEO - 2020 Enterprise Technologies, inc.

I used to think that I could write objective performance standards that covered the intangibles of the business world, but it is really like the Schrödinger’s Cat paradox.  The more objective a set of performance standards, the more impossible it is to accurately and appropriately measure.  Likewise, the more subjective the performance standards, the less accurate the measurement tools and the more a manager’s personality, mood, bias, etc. will influence an employee’s score.

In my first Management by Coup blog I proposed that employee evaluations could and should be eliminated.  Now I want to go further and propose that performance standards are also unnecessary….But wait there’s more.

I propose that companies can also eliminate job descriptions as well.

Someone is saying “You CAN’T do that!!  Job Descriptions are required by LAW, you idiot!!!”  To that I say, BS.  There is no Federal mandate for an employer to have a job description.

There are some caveats to this statement:

  • In certain situations (government contracts, state government positions, etc.)  job descriptions are required.
  • Job descriptions are also often subpoenaed as evidence in an employee relations case.
  • If you have job skills, educational requirements, licensing, etc., then that needs to be listed in some type of job description.

However, all the other things in a job description (job duties, reporting to, etc.) are all optional. So maybe you can’t realistically eliminate a job description, but you can slice it down to the bare bones, and I recommend doing so.  Why?

First, anything a company puts in a job description can and will be held against them.  Like employee evaluations, the job description is often more useful to the employee’s lawyer than it is to the employee or the employer.

Second, like performance standards, job descriptions can’t possibly describe everything an employee does 2080 hours a year.  For this reason almost every job descriptions has the phrase, “Other duties as assigned,” in it.  So why not have a one line job description: “Other duties as assigned” and skip the hours wasted on writing and re-writing job duties?

Third, management is about talking to your staff.  When a piece of paper is more critical to your company than talking to the employee on a regular and frequent basis, then that is the moment to close up the business and let your competitors take over the market.

Here’s a test.  Write a job description for the expectations you have of your child (if you don’t have a child, try a pet, or your significant other).  Then at the end of a week measure how well the job description improved your relationship and if the job description had any value over just not writing it up in the first place.

I rest my case.

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