July 7, 2008
08:06 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
Single-minded multi-tasking:
Have you heard the one about the Jack of all trades who became the master of none? You have? Then why are you still so keen on multi-tasking?
Multi-tasking does not work. Mmmaybe it does. What I mean is that multi-tasking does not work very well.
No, that’s still not right. Hang on, let me stop watching the news for a minute and focus on what I’m saying. Here goes. Multi-tasking works well enough if the outcomes of the different tasks that you are doing at once don’t matter much to you.
However, if the different outcomes do matter, then maybe you should give each task the single minded focus it deserves.
Single-minded focus can deliver two unexpected bonuses. Not only are you likely to get each task done quicker, you tend to produce better quality outcomes as well.
However, if outcomes don’t matter to you, then by all means, talk and drive at the same time. Drat, now I’ve missed the news.
07:26 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
The lack of power corrupts:
Power corrupts. Or so we believe. And yet, it is feeling powerless which truly corrupts. Why? Because people who feel powerless tend become dysfunctional.
Most organizations operate according to the notion that some people are paid to think and others are paid to do as they are told. This approach empowers managers to demand that workers shut up and listen. And it empowers workers to stop thinking on the job and to do nothing unless instructed.
Don’t assume that it is up to the people in power to break this spell.
Yes, society does expect responsible adults to help children improve their behavior. But workers are not children, they are not really powerless and they are equally responsible.
Workers are responsible adults away from work and are therefore quite capable of being responsible adults at work. As responsible adults they can choose not to be drawn into dysfunctional behavior triggered by power-corrupted managers.
Now that’s powerful!
06:06 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
Risk of knowing more than the boss
Do you realize that knowing more than the boss could cost you that new job?
A friend, let’s call him Pete, recently told me that he knew exactly when the decision was made not to offer him the new job. Pete was having dinner as part of the interview process with the boss and another executive. The other executive was aware that Pete had once worked in the wine industry and so he asked Pete to select the wine. The problem was that the boss deemed himself to be the resident wine expert.
Pete was left with a simple choice. Order a good wine according to his expertise or an inferior wine to stroke the boss’s ego. Be dishonest to get the job or be true unto himself.
Years later the other executive acknowledge the reason why Pete did not get the job.
I drink a toast to you not being scared of hiring someone who knows more than you do.
I’m JamesMcIntosh@nonsenseatwork.com
03:35 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
Expressing gratitude breeds optimists
Children don’t seem to say ‘thank you’ any more in public. This worries me. Not because I worry about ‘values’, but because I worry about ‘expectations’.
Let me explain. There are two meanings to the word ‘expectations’. It can mean ‘looking forward to’ and it can mean ‘it is my due’.
Saying ‘thank you’ is a simple way of expressing gratitude. If you are often grateful, then you will develop the habit of looking forward to the next good thing to come to you so that you can express your thanks again.
But every time you don’t say ‘thank you’, you break the link between receiving and acknowledging. Soon you will have the habit of believing that receiving is your due. And then, when you don’t receive as expected, you feel resentment.
The one habit breeds optimists and the other breeds pessimists. I wonder, what habit have you developed? More importantly, what habit are you passing on to your children?
I’m James McIntosh at nonsenseatwork.com
June 6, 2008
06:39 am | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
The key aspect of leadership:
What is the key aspect of leadership? I bet we could come up with a bucket full of words, like visionary, inspiring, commanding, and so on. Yes, these attributes are necessary for effective leadership.
But is there one aspect that is critical above all others?
I think so. It is the ability to see the overall picture. Not only to see it, but to understand it, to make sense of it and to share it in a way that enables others to act appropriately.
That’s why I prefer my leaders at the top of the organizational pyramid. The higher the pyramid, the better the view.
But be warned. Being on top means that you had better stay on top of things because others depend on your view of the bigger picture. Never forget that you are up there because you are standing on their supporting shoulders. Let them down and they will let you down, hard.
11:03 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
The updated Trojan horse in your organization
Last month I was told to update my thinking. Specifically, my thinking about the Trojan horse.
I had explained to a group of leaders that although most people know the Greek legend of the Trojan horse, not many people know that at least one senior person in the hierarchy of Troy was suspicious of that horse. His name was Laocoon. We know that he was ignored.
In my years of working closely with top management teams, I have realized that there is almost always at least one person on the team who sees a trap where others see an opportunity. Often this person suffers the same fate as Laocoon: no one wants to heed the warning. Instead, he or she is often labeled unreasonable, pessimistic and so on.
When you consider a Trojan horse incident in your own organization, you can tell with hindsight that one of the following situations existed at the time:
A - No-one spotted the threat.
B - Someone did suspect something, but kept quiet.
C - Someone did suspect and did speak out, but was not heard.
D - Someone did suspect and was heard, but ignored.
No organization or team can be effective if any of the above four points apply to it. Obviously, it is difficult to do anything if no-one spotted the threat. But a key aspect of leadership is to make sure that every voice is heard and heeded. If not, then be ready to welcome a Trojan horse into your organization.
Well, that’s when I was told to add a fifth point. Someone did suspect, was heard... and was fired for speaking out.
Ouch!
02:52 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
The parking lot as measure of performance
Why do some executives prize an office that over-looks the parking lot? Some simply want to know when it’s time to go home.
I recently sat in on a discussion about a junior executive. One senior executive complained that although his own car was always one of the last three remaining at night, junior’s car was always long gone. Excuse me? That’s a measure of performance?
Answer this and then decide: Do you feel obliged to create the impression that you work hard (for example, by arriving early and leaving late)?
Now answer this one: Do your colleagues reward those who work hard, while suspecting those who work smart of being lazy?
Oh when, oh when will organizations stop rewarding people for their physical presence and reward them instead for their contributions!
Here’s when: when we finally shrug off the management practices that were developed during the industrial revolution... long before the parking lot was created.
06:05 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
Why working from home is impossible:
Have you wondered why so many people treat coffee shops as workstations? I’ve finally figured it out.
According to statistics and experts-in-the-know, more and more people are working from home. And according to Jeffrey Hill, associate professor of business at Brigham Young University in Utah, working from home increases performance. I don’t believe it, not for a minute.
Here’s why.
One of the basic laws of physics is that work equals force times distance. Now, if you work from home, then distance becomes zero. We all know that if you multiply with zero you get zero. Therefore, working from home means that force times no distance equals zero work.
In other words, it does not matter how much you force yourself to get work done at home, you will get no work done unless some travel is involved, even if only to the coffee shop around the corner.
I should know, I often work from home.
May 5, 2008
03:40 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
The lobsters holding you back
Do you have lobsters on your team? For your sake, I hope not.
I recently suggested on my radio show and on my blog that you must fill your position if you want to keep it and more than fill it if you want to be promoted. The responses varied from ‘thanks for wasting my time’ to the following tale of woe from a listener.
He once worked in union shops where if you even got close to filling your position, you would be told to slack off. As he put it, ‘it’s a real morale killer’.
That reminded me of a fisherman’s tale from my youth. A fisherman, walking along with a bucket of lobsters, is stopped by a friend. The friend asks if the lobsters won’t escape by climbing out of the bucket. ‘No’, replies the fisherman, ‘You know what lobsters are like. When one gets near the top, the others pull him back down’.
Now you know why those climbing the corporate ladder often behave badly. Sometimes that’s the only way to kick free of the lobsters holding you back.
As to the reader who complained that I wasted his time... well, I would normally agree with him. To me it is rather obvious that you should fill your position or more than fill it to be promoted. And yet, I still meet people who don’t ‘get it’. These are people who visibly never extend themselves at work and then complain that they never get offered ‘a bigger job’.
So, to the reader who felt that I wasted his time I have this to say: My comments were obviously not meant for you, because you obviously ‘get it’. Do you think you could help others ‘get it’? Because, quite frankly, I am tired of people who don’t get it, don’t fill it and then don’t zip it.
To my way of thinking, only lobsters behave worse.
07:52 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
Time to be domoted?
I recently read about senior executives who removed themselves from the payroll to keep their construction company going. This got me thinking... what’s so wrong about being demoted?
Dr Lawrence Peter is famous for pointing out that people are promoted until they reach their level of incompetence. In other words, if you are good at your job you will be promoted. If you are not, you won’t be.
Here’s the catch. If you are rewarded with a promotion only to struggle at the higher level, you will be fired. The company loses your skill and you lose your salary. Surely, a better option would be to demote you back to where you were a star performer.
The same should happen in times of trouble. Better to be demoted in terms of salary than to be fired. The company retains your skills and you keep most of your income.
After all, that’s what a recession really is - a shrinking, not a vanishing.
