#181: The shared dilemma

Charles Darwin wrote that when they reached the islands around Cape Horn, the local people ignored his ship. Why? Because as a group they believed that something that big could not float, therefore it did not exist.

This illustrates a dilemma that all team leaders face. If your team members share a common perception of reality, then they will communicate easier. However, this increases the risk that, as a group, they will make the same perceptual errors.

In other words, if we see the same things out there, then we might find it easier to understand one another. But at the same time, we are likely to ignore the same threats and miss the same opportunities.

How do you solve this dilemma? Encourage diversity.

Diversity at work may be uncomfortable, but it helps you to spot more opportunities, to uncover more threats and to see your ship when it comes in.


I’m james@nonsenseatwork.com

Copyright: 2008 James Henry McIntosh

James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am

#180: Mentoring or meddling

Are you mentoring or meddling? Here’s how you can tell.

You are a mentor if you are using your experience to coach someone who is less experienced. The aim is to help the inexperienced person play a 'better' role or to lead a 'better' life.

And there you have the catch. What does 'better' mean?

That’s where meddling comes in. You meddle when you try to control the nonsense you see in another person's life.

On the other hand, you mentor when you allow nonsense to nudge others to make meaningful life choices, appropriate to them and to their circumstances, not to yours.

Some people believe that you can only mentor that which you have already mastered. Don’t you believe it, because this might make you nervous of being a mentor to someone who needs it.

Remember, we teach best that which we have yet to learn.


I’m james@nonsenseatwork.com

Copyright: 2008 James Henry McIntosh

James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am

#179: The hole team building exercise

Advertising creative Norman Berry once explained that people don’t want a drill bit. They want a hole.

Remember this when you plan your next team building exercise. Then you will have a specific purpose in mind before you even think about whether your team needs sharpening.

It’s easy to be trapped into sharpening without thinking. Here’s why. The most visible result of poor team work is often inefficiency, whether in the form of wasted resources, wasted time or wasted effort. This is why we unthinkingly tackle team work from an efficiency perspective and end up trying to fix symptoms instead of causes.

Instead, look to the desired outcome of working together. A focus on expected results tends to uncover underlying causes, such as inappropriate systems, procedures or management style.

Poor team work is a symptom, not a cause. Team work is the drill bit – don’t focus on it. Focus on the outcome you want.


I’m james@nonsenseatwork.com

Copyright: 2008 James Henry McIntosh

James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am

#178: Change with mirrors

Here’s a medical trick you can use to make change easier. People with missing limbs sometimes feel pain where the limb used to be. Doctors now treat this with mirrors. The mirror tricks the brain into "seeing" the amputated limb and ignoring the nerve signals.

In the same way, we see the world not as it is, but through the eyes of memory. What you see out there is a projection of what you believe and remember.

Here’s the catch. Until you replace what you currently believe and remember, you will project your old habits into the future.

What can you do to make change easier? Begin by living the change in your mind. In your mind’s eye, see the new you in action. Mirror the change so vividly that you can believe it and can remember it.

Do this often enough and you’ll see it reflected out there. And when it appears out there, it’s because you’ve changed.


I’m james@nonsenseatwork.com

Copyright: 2008 James Henry McIntosh

James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am

#177: Team building makes me nervous

Spring is in the air and I can almost hear consultants and HR people planning this year's team building events.

Team building exercises make me nervous.

At best, they teach people how to do meaningless things together; at worst, they produce the opposite effect.

This happens when the focus is on team building instead of on a work-related outcome. You don’t want people who are good at liking each other and trusting each other and paddling well together. You need people who care so much about the outcome that they overcome their liking to deal with any member who is not performing.

A friend was once told to improve teamwork with her client by going river rafting together. In her own words: “Before, I thought he was an idiot. Now I know.”

So much for team building. What should have mattered was the work they produced together, not whether they could paddle together.


I’m james@nonsenseatwork.com

Copyright: 2008 James Henry McIntosh

James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am

#176: Designed for trust

When trust breaks down, relationships become strained and people fall back on rules and regulations, policies and procedures. Time to play the red-tape blame-game.

This insane behavior is actually encouraged by poor organizational design. Most structures promote trust in systems and procedures above a trust in people.

I know that most leaders and even a few managers will dispute this. Most will insist that they respect and trust their people to do the right thing. I say, ‘look to your actions’. Too often there is a disconnect between what we say and what we do.

At work, what matters most is what you do, not what you say.

Here’s what you can do to create a more effective organization or team: One, reward people who deliver on promises by including them in planning and decision-making.

And two, exclude people who over promise and under deliver.


I’m james@nonsenseatwork.com

Copyright: 2008 James Henry McIntosh

James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am

#175: Mutual exploitation at work

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, during a recession fear returns to the work place. And then? And then workers allow themselves to be exploited more than usual.

But at the same time, the insensitive boss can expect workers to retaliate with their own form of exploitation.

I am not referring to stealing, whether in the form of fake sick-leave, private phone calls, internet shopping, or taking home office supplies. I’m talking about workers who stick to the letter, and ignore the spirit, of the contract between workers and management.

Strictly speaking, there is nothing wrong with doing exactly what the boss demands - a practice known as malicious compliance. Nor is there anything wrong with not reporting something important; nor with knowingly allowing something to go wrong; nor with swamping a boss, who wants to know everything, with details, documents and reports.

Obviously, there is nothing right about it, either. It’s merely mutual exploitation at work.


I’m james@nonsenseatwork.com

Copyright: 2008 James Henry McIntosh

James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am

#174: Restoring trust

Here’s a riddle for you. What takes a long time to build, but can be destroyed in the blink of an eye? Many things, you say, but did you remembered that trust is one of those things?

Building trust takes time, destroying it does not. That’s why it’s important to know how to restore broken trust.

Try these three steps:

(1) View the break down as lack of competency and not a lack of honesty. Research shows that people forgive a break down in trust more readily if it is perceived as incompetence rather than dishonesty.

(2) Apologize. Even if you are not guilty, apologize for whatever you might have done, might not have done, or might have done differently. Don’t see an apology as weakness - know instead that sincere apologies are powerful trust builders.

(3) Now start talking. Honest communication is not a cliche - it is critical.

Enough said.


I’m james@nonsenseatwork.com

Copyright: 2008 James Henry McIntosh

James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am

#173: When workers cannot afford to spend

Not so long ago a middle-class income came from a single breadwinner. Then it took two breadwinners. Today even that is not enough. And this is before the latest recession.

Henry Ford so clearly saw the risks associated with low incomes that, to the horror of his fellow industrialists, he doubled the pay of his manual workers. What was he thinking? He simply wanted his workers to be able to buy the cars they were making!

How bizarre. And yet, if you hold down the salaries and wages of the middle and lower classes, while paying inflated executive bonuses, where will you find people with money to buy your products and services?

I find it amusing, and a little disturbing, when business leaders complain that people are not spending enough to boost the economy when the reason people are not spending is found in the short-sighted decisions of those same business leaders.

I miss Henry Ford.


I’m james@nonsenseatwork.com

Copyright: 2008 James Henry McIntosh

James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am

#172: Trust through diversity

Trust is a paradox. We trust people who are familiar even though familiarity breeds contempt, not trust.

We tend to trust people who are like us. But the more like-minded we are, the more we take one another for granted and the less attention we pay.

Like-mindedness encourages assumed trust, taken-for-granted trust. This is not real trust, but an automatic response based on expectations of the familiar. Real trust requires individuality openly expressed. And individuality expressed is diversity made visible.

Here’s the problem. Most organizations are institutions of sameness, intolerant of individuality and fearful of diversity. Hence all the rules and regulations.

If you want real trust in the work place, then encourage diversity. Diversity may be uncomfortable, but diversity is strength because it encourages trust.


I’m james@nonsenseatwork.com

Copyright: 2008 James Henry McIntosh

James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am