#9: Don’t only build your strengths
Many populist life-skills coaches promote the idea that you should concentrate on building your strengths, while ignoring your weaknesses. They argue that you are employed and rewarded for your strengths, not to work on your weaknesses.This is nonsense. And it is also harmful.
If you promote one or two strengths then you will be valued exactly for that and little else. Specialists are seldom credited as team players or leadership material, and they are often feared for the power their special strength gives them. And in a rapidly changing world, special strengths have a nasty tendency of becoming irrelevant.
Your strengths might make you a superstar for a while in one special area, but those same strengths might make you a dysfunctional manager, parent or spouse. In the end, you will be valued more for being balanced and well-rounded.
I’m james@nonsenseatwork.com
Copyright: 2006 James Henry McIntosh
#8: Exploiting knowledge workers
Work bit 1: It was easy to exploit workers during the industrial age because workers did not own their tools of production. That still applies in some sectors like manufacturing. However, knowledge workers do own the tools of their trade. If you try to exploit them, they can take their tools and leave.
Work bit 2: The workers have left the farm. Some time this year more than half the population of the world will, for the first time, be living in a town or a city.
Work bit 3: Did you know that flatter organizations can lead to job hopping? Flat organizations mean fewer opportunities for promotion.Work bit 4: You’re not really hired for your experience, skill, or knowledge. You are hired for your energy. Without your energy, you won’t do much. So get some rest.
I’m james@nonsenseatwork.comCopyright: 2007 James Henry McIntosh
James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am
#7: Why organizations struggle and fail
Remember August 14, 2003? On that day about 50 million people in the US and Canada had no electricity. The official task force blamed the blackout on overgrown trees.
But was that the cause or a nonsense symptom?Managers are taught to think in terms of productivity and efficiency. The more you produce with less, the higher your productivity and your efficiency. However, no electricity does not really show zero productivity. It simply highlights the huge contribution energy utilities make to our quality of life.
I wonder what the linesmen would have done about the trees if they were taught to think in terms of contribution instead of productivity and efficiency.
That is why I say organizations struggle and fail when they focus on productivity and efficiency at the expense of contribution and effectiveness.I’m james@nonsenseatwork.com
Copyright: 2006 James Henry McIntosh
#6: Gross National Happiness
Work bit 1: According to the British Household Panel Survey ‘91-2003, the most miserable period for most people is in their 40s. After that levels of happiness climb.
Work bit 2: In Bhutan, a country near Tibet, China and India, government policy is based on Gross National Happiness. How does your country measure your happiness? Does it even care?
Work bit 3: No organization can poison its environment without ultimately poisoning the health of its workers and therefore itself, irrespective of whether the environment is physical, emotional or spiritual.
Work bit 4: Did you hear the one about the woman who was spanked in front of co-workers as part of a team-building exercise? I’m sure you have your own examples of the nonsense of most team building exercises. If you do, please send them to me at james@nonsenseatwork.com
I’m james@nonsenseatwork.comCopyright: 2007 James Henry McIntosh
James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am
#5: On setting goals
When setting goals, be clear and specific. Obvious, isn’t it? Maybe not, for how often have you read “safety is our goal” on the back of a big truck? No, sir, your goal is to deliver your cargo; how you do so is another matter.And how you do so does matter. For the more your staff understand ‘the way we do things around here’, the less direct supervision they need.
‘The way we do things’ should help people ‘get it’ so that they can get on with it. And in your absence, it should help them deal appropriately with unexpected nonsense.But make sure that The Way never becomes ‘but we’ve always done it this way’, for then you’ve stopped learning. And once you’ve stopped learning, safety as a goal begins to make sense.
I’m james@nonsenseatwork.comCopyright: 2007 James Henry McIntosh
James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am
#4: Feeling powerless corrupts
Work bit 1: According to traditional thinking, power corrupts. Yet, it is feeling powerless which truly corrupts, for people who feel powerless tend to invest their energy in dysfunctional behavior.
Work bit 2: Why do you have rules at work? According to Dr Laurence Peter of the Peter Principle fame: “Capable individuals need only general guidelines and clearly stated objectives in order to function competently. Inept employees require rules limiting their actions. Rules will not produce competence, but will protect the hierarchy.”
Work bit 3: Why did CEO Ricardo Semler make radical changes at his company? According to him, “One day I woke up and I saw the people working for me were adults.” Read his book titled “Maverick”.
Work bit 4: Apparently, more than 80 000 new blogs are created each day. My question is, who has time to read them?
I’m james@nonsenseatwork.comCopyright: 2007 James Henry McIntosh
James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am
#3: Dealing with the expected
Were you expecting to hear Dr Wally? If so, then you are probably now paying attention, because something unexpected has happened. I am obviously not Dr Wally.
Dealing with the unexpected is said to be the most difficult aspect of business life. My experience has taught me the opposite. The most difficult thing to manage is the expected. Let’s face it, business is boring. It’s the same nonsense over and over, day after day.
It’s like driving the same car on the same road to the same destination at the same time every day. You must do it. And if you take your eye off what you’re doing, bad things can happen.
The most successful managers I have worked with were the ones who had the discipline to focus on the same detail, over and over, day after day.
I’m james@nonsenseatwork.comCopyright: 2007 James Henry McIntosh
James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am
#2: Paying attention to the expected
Work bit 1: Were you expecting to hear Dr Wally? If so, then you are probably now paying attention, because something unexpected has happened. Paying attention to the unexpected could be another reason why sales people give more attention to new customers than to their existing ones. Doing so is not only bad for business, it’s bad manners.
Work bit 2: Make sure your measures of success measure the outcome you want. Even some experienced salespeople make the mistake of being more impressed with the number of sales made in a day than with the profit contribution per sale.
Work bit 3: One of the main differences between a manager and a leader is that a manager seeks to control, whilst a leader seeks to convince.
Work bit 4: Remember, seeing is not believing. We tend to see what we already believe to be true.
I’m james@nonsenseatwork.comCopyright: 2007 James Henry McIntosh
James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am
