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Articles on Management Matters:

Problem Solving Success Tip: Whatever You Do, Do It On Purpose

Decision-making shows up throughout the problem-solving process. The decisions may be difficult or unpopular, so it's very tempting to ignore some of them. Imitating an ostrich, however, is a wimpy way to decide not to change anything--and is quite likely to leave you making awkward explanations later.

* Make conscious decisions: whether to proceed or not, which path to take, etc.
* Know why you made the decision you did,
* Be able to explain it (and offer alternatives).

The first big decision in problem-solving is deciding whether or not you'll tackle a particular problem. Take the time to gather the information you need to know to make an informed decision, then decide. If you are asked to solve a problem, be sure you at least have a reasonable chance do it successfully before you agree to lead the project. Otherwise you're setting yourself up for failure.

Of course, if you're going to tell your manager or an executive you can't do it, you want to be careful how you present it. A flat "no" or "I can't" is usually not the best approach. Be prepared to explain why the project can't succeed the way it's defined. Have the facts organized to present a clear, reasonable explanation. Propose alternatives that make the project viable. For example, perhaps somewhat less ambitious success criteria will remove enough of the pain from the problem in the time allowed, or perhaps the deadlines can be extended. Perhaps the success criteria are reasonable, but only if certain resources are available to you.

Once you've agreed to take on the problem-solving project, you and your team will have many more decisions to make along the way, including choosing which root causes to address and determining what action plan you'll follow to eliminate each root cause. When you make these decisions, always know the reasons behind your choices and document them.

You'll eliminate unnecessary rehashing of decisions already made if you have good notes. Of course, sometimes it's appropriate to reconsider a decision. When that happens, if you have written down the logic behind the original decision, it'll be easier to figure out what has changed and choose a new path or confirm that the original decision should stand.

Copyright 2006. Jeanne Sawyer. All rights reserved.

Jeanne Sawyer
26 Nov 2006

Jeanne Sawyer helps her clients solve expensive, chronic problems, such as those that cause operational disruptions and cause customers to take their business elsewhere. Find out about her book, When Stuff Happens: A Practical Guide to Solving Problems Permanently, and get more free information on problem solving at her web site: www.sawyerpartnership.com

Management Lessons

Lesson Number One
A crow was sitting high on a tree, doing nothing all day. A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?" The crow answered: "Sure, why not." So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, bound on the rabbit and ate it.

Management Lesson: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very high up in the management.

Lesson Number Two
A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree" sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy." Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. "They're packed with nutrients." The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the first branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fortnight, there he was proudly perching at the top of the tree. Soon the turkey was easily spotted and shot down by a hunter.

Management Lesson: Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there for long.

Lesson Number Three
When the body was first made, all the parts wanted to be the Boss. The brain said, "I should be the Boss because I control the whole body's responses and functions." The feet said, "We should be Boss as we carry the brain about and get him to where he wants to go." The hands said, "We should be the Boss because we do all the work and earn all the money. And so it went on and on with the heart, the lungs and the eyes until finally the asshole spoke up. All the parts laughed at the idea of the asshole being the Boss. So the asshole went on strike, blocked itself up and refused to work. Within a short time the eyes became crossed, the hands clenched, the feet twitched, the heart and lungs began to panic and the brain fevered. Eventually they all agree that the asshole should be the Boss, so the motion was passed. All the other parts did all the work while the Boss just sat and passed out the shit!

Management Lesson: You may not need to process special quality to be a Boss - any asshole will do.

Contributed By,
Eileen Koo
Singapore
12 Dec 2006

Cargo Cults and Management Practice

During World War II, US forces took over islands in the Pacific where the residents had never see airplanes, or canned food, or any of the tons of material that a military force needs. The islanders were careful observers, though, and they figured out what the military did to cause the goods to show up.

This is what they saw. The military folks would go up into towers they'd built and talk into a box. Soon the material, or "cargo," would arrive.

When the war ended, the military went away and the cargo stopped coming. But some of the islanders figured that they could make the cargo come back. All they had to do was exactly what the US military people had done.

So they went up in the abandoned towers and talked into the dead radios that were there. Sometimes they "built" radios from wood or other available materials. They did everything just like the military and they waited for cargo to arrive, but it never did.

Those islanders were members of something we call "cargo cults." They were bright, observant people who copied a behavior they believed would bring back the cargo. It seems silly to us, because we understand what airplanes and control towers and radios are.

But it was magic to the cargo cultists and they tried the best they could to make it work. Just like lots of managers do with the practices of other companies.

Everybody, it seems, copies General Electric (GE), often in the area of forced ranking. At GE, managers are required to rank their employees into three groups. Twenty percent should be top performers. Seventy percent are in the middle. And 10 percent bring up the rear.

The idea is that you treat the top 20 percent as stars and they get the lion's share of the bonuses, stock options and rewards and opportunities of all kinds. You work to keep the middle 70 percent engaged. And the bottom 10 percent have to go.

This system works at GE, much to the chagrin of many commentators. Because it works at GE and because GE has been a successful corporation for decades, some businesspeople decide to introduce forced ranking in some form into their organization. They want to get some of that GE magic.

The science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke has said that "Any sufficiently advanced technology will be perceived as magic." When you don't understand what goes behind the success of the forced ranking system at GE, it looks magical, and magic always looks better than hard work.

So companies adopt the forced ranking system without paying attention to any evidence about how it might work in their place. But, alas, there is evidence that forced ranking is more likely to create problems than to magically create profit.

The Novations Group surveyed two hundred human resource professionals who worked at companies with more than 2500 employees and asked them about how forced ranking worked. Half of the companies used some kind of forced ranking system. Respondents to Novations' survey found that forced ranking caused lower productivity, lower levels of employee engagement, and increased distrust of leadership.

If you're going to adopt the practices used by another company, no matter how successful, you need to do some research into why it works there. In GE's case, the answer may involve things you can't replicate overnight.

Forced ranking works at GE because there are two characteristics of the company that support it. First, there is a culture of candor. Unlike most other companies, GE values and rewards candid conversations about performance.

GE also has used an extensive and rigorous evaluation system for years. Combine candid communication with rigorous evaluation and you get evaluations that don’t come as a surprise. In other words, people know when they're not performing and don't fit.

There's one other thing. Despite the rhetoric, GE doesn't automatically fire people who are in the bottom ten percent. There's often the opportunity to improve or try a different assignment before firing becomes the option.

If you want to adopt the practices of another company or industry you have two choices. You can do it like the cargo cults, mimicking behavior and hoping it will get the same result. Or you can do a little due diligence and increase the odds that you'll make the right choice.

Do a little research. Academics, consultants and graduate students are doing research all the time about what works and what doesn't. If you read the Novations' study as part of your due diligence, you'd know that forced ranking isn't the magic it might appear.

Check out the companies where the practice works and a few where it hasn't worked. What are the differences between them? Which companies are like your company?

If you're still not sure about adopting a practice, review the history of how it came to work in companies where it's successful. Tracing that history will often help you see organizational and cultural pre-cursors necessary for success.

In this age of management fads, it's easy to take a cargo cult approach to adopting some new practice. But with a little bit of work and research you can choose wisely which practices you'll adopt and how you'll adapt them to your own company.

Wally Bock
03 Jan 2007

Wally Bock is an author, speaker, consultant and coach who helps leaders improve the performance and morale of their teams. Wally is the author of Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership (http://www.performancetalk.com/) and the Three Star Leadership Blog (http://blog.threestarleadership.com/). You'll also find tips and resources about all aspects of leadership at the Three Star Leadership site (http://www.threestarleadership.com/).