Art Petty on Management

From Imperial Court to Learning Organization

Today’s post was stimulated by a great article in the July/August 2008 Harvard Business Review, The Competitive Imperative of Learning, where Professor Amy Edmonson of Harvard Business School outlines the differences between organizations that focus on execution as efficiency—doing things better and faster than your competition versus execution as learning—focusing on learning and adapting faster.

In brief, Professor Edmonson compares and contrasts the approaches used in the traditional industrial age model of motivation and performance evaluation processes versus those required for today’s knowledge-worker dominated organizations.  The approaches required for success in the two models are dramatically different.

In the Execution as Efficiency model, Professor Edmonson indicates that leaders provide answers, employees follow directions and optimal work processes are designed and set up in advance.  In the Execution as Learning model, leaders set direction and articulate the mission, employees discover the answers and work processes are highly fluid, adapting at the speed of organizational learning.

Practical Applications: A lot of Executive Talk, but...

When it comes to driving change, words and actions must match. Few organizations are immune to the massive forces constantly reshaping the world around us, and few organizations can afford to live solely by the Execution as Efficiency model.  We live and work in a world increasingly dominated by knowledge workers, and while one part of an organization may be dominated by an efficiency orientation, other areas, marketing, sales, research and development, must move towards a learning approach or face dire consequences in the marketplace. 

In my own experience working with organizations that have grown up with an emphasis on efficiency but are talking about the need to become more flexible and adaptable, it is often the people doing the talking that are serving as the barriers to change by failing to revamp outmoded systems and processes.

Five Barriers that Get In the Way of Developing a Learning Organization:

1. The Imperial CEO and Royal Executives: A class system that puts undue weight on the import of executives.  Instead of the executives serving the organization, it seems like the organization exists to serve the executives.
2. Strategy by Edict and Set According to the Calendar: Every year at about the same time, the organization stops and waits while the royal court sits behind closed doors working out the new organizational structure and lofty statements that provide the masses inspiration to work hard until they receive fresh inspiration next year.
3. Strategy by Default: “We have a strategy, and it’s to sell more,” is a commonly heard phrase in this tuned-out environment.   Another is, “Strategy is for the big boys, and we’re too small to worry about anything other than doing our jobs.”
4. People as Expenses: the words coming from the mouths of executives might be saying “People are our most important asset,” but the systems supporting the identification, development and retention of talent are saying, “People are our biggest cost.”
5. The Functional Structure: specialization works in some areas, but in general, the silo structure of many/most orientations is the greatest impediment to shared learning.  While the phrase, “we’re all in sales” is commonly shouted by salespeople frustrated with the lack of organizational support, the fact is that, “marketing is truly too important to be left to just the marketing department.” 

What to Do If Your Organization Needs to Learn:

• Take the royalty out of the royal court.  This culture shift has to start at the top—the non-CEO Chairman of the Board and the other independent board members have to step up and overthrow the caste system and monarchy that pervades so many executive environments.

• Recognize and act on strategy as a process that involves everyone.  (I’ve posted on this one seemingly a thousand times, so I’ll spare you the details and direct you to the Strategy category on this blog.)

• A robust execution process with plenty of accountability and constant evaluation of performance and consideration of lessons learned is the fastest way to pump up organizational learning.

• Make the identification, development and retention of talent the job of every manager or supervisor in the organization.  Challenge HR to create systems to support these activities and start living up to the notion that people are your greatest assets.

• Break down the walls by at least moving towards a strong matrix or a project environment for major initiatives.  Cease and desist with throwing initiatives over silo walls, and build a project culture with the charter to execute and to educate the organization on lessons learned.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

It’s time to quit talking about becoming a learning organization and start knocking down the time worn conventions, institutions and processes that stand in your organization's way.  In an ideal world, this change starts at the top with an insightful leader or leadership team that understand what it takes to move from an efficiency orientation to a learning focus.  In reality, a lot of this change will need to be driven by leaders in the middle that clearly see what is happening in the external environment as well as what it takes to win in that environment.  If necessary, let the royals executives posture and play while you go about the business of changing the business one initiative at a time.

Capturing Talent and Creating Great Customer Experiences: They Go Together

The Poor Interviewing Habits of Many Managers

You would think that we would have this problem crossed off the list by now.  I wonder how organizations and leaders in good faith can let managers recruit talent without teaching them HOW to interview and holding them accountable for executing this task effectively. 

Most organizations offer some cursory training in the compliance and legal issues of interviewing, but I’m hearing from too many job seekers with hilarious (sad, but true) examples of miserable interviews.  Consider the slob that took two smoke breaks while interviewing a talented professional.  In-between breaks, his focus was on convincing the individual that he should come to work for the firm, even though they could not pay him what he was making now.  Great recruiting!  Impressive.  This person has no business interviewing. 

Questions to consider:

• Are the interviewing skills of your managers helping or hindering when it comes to recruiting talent?

• Do you know what your managers are saying in interviews?

•  What’s your organizational batting average on landing the top recruits (and then keeping them)?

Great Marketing: Building Value with The Complete Customer Experience. 

I received my new 24” Apple iMac yesterday and once again, marveled at how hard this company works at creating an incredible experience for the customer.  The unpack to on-the-internet time is about 4 minutes, but the experience transcends the simplicity of set-up.  My wife helped me with the unpacking she marveled at the detail and quality of the packaging materials.  “It feels like we are unwrapping something very special,” was her comment.

It’s hard not to be awestruck by the beautiful design and the spectacular display on your desk, and I’m going on five years with our stable of Macs growing as our two sons head to college.  The products always work and it’s still exciting to use one. 

Questions to Consider:

• Are your customers saying the same things about your offerings?

• Are your employees obsessed with creating great customer experiences?

The Bottom-Line: Talent Fuels Performance:

There’s no way that an organization that accommodates sloppy interviewing habits is landing and retaining the best and brightest.  As a business leader, you want your customers to constantly be surprised and delighted.  A manager that takes mid-interview smoke breaks and badgers a talented candidate about salary expectations is someone that I want working for my competitor. 

My suggestions:

• HR, get it in gear as the trustee of talent and create systems and tools to ensure best interviewing practices are developed and reinforced. 

• Leadership Team: It's not all HR's job.  Set high standards and demand excellence at all levels in the hiring process. 

• Managers at all levels: evaluate the interviewing habits and track records of your managers and supervisors. 

There are no excuses for getting this wrong and just one reason for getting it right: success. 

The Art and Approach of Asking and Encouraging Great Questions

Learning how to ask compelling questions in a non-threatening manner is one of those unexciting but absolutely critical skills for an emerging leader to develop.  Questions are the leader's lifeblood of information, and like most skills, learning to ask great questions in the right manner is something best learned through repeated practice. 

I'm not certain if my perspective is widely shared by those that measure intelligence and assess people for leadership potential, but I place a premium on observing an individual's style and comfort in asking questions.  And while asking questions for clarification is a great habit, and something that every leader must encourage, the type of questions that I am looking for are those that I've not thought about before or that show that the individual is looking at a problem from different angles.  For lack of a better phrase, I will call these strategic questions.

Strategic questions tell me a lot about an individual's and a team's command of a complex topic.  When assessing new investments or new business directions, there will never be complete certainty for decision-making (and in fact, it may approach near-uncertainty).  In addition to understanding assumptions, I want to understand what it is that is not known...and what questions people wish they could answer with better clarity.  There is a great deal to learn in the unanswered questions as it relates to assessing risks and anticipating success or failure.

I've observed the questioning styles of many leaders, and some of them are...well, they are truly questionable.  These include: asking questions in rapid fire fashion, tagging on personal commentary and veiled insults, assuming a prosecutor-like pose where the receiver is certain that he or she is guilty of something, not waiting for an answer and many more.  Unfortunately, people learn from observing their leaders, and these bad habits and styles are passed on from generation to generation. 

The alternative is for you as the leader to develop and exhibit a positive style for asking questions and to reinforce this approach at every opportunity. 

Eight Suggestions for Developing Effective Questioning Skills (for you and your team):

• Manage your tone and your facial expressions.  Focus on being calm and thoughtful when asking questions and make certain that your face does not betray you.  Any hint of irritation or impatience in your voice and you've damaged the communications event.

• Ask open-ended questions and then be quiet until the answer is complete.  Sometimes it takes people a few seconds to form their thoughts or even to parse through your question to understand your request or intent.  Silence as the questioner is your best friend.

• Ask clarifying questions to the answers.  This is a great active-listening technique and shows the other party that you are working hard to pay attention.

• Summarize what you think you heard in the answer.  Another active-listening technique that allows the receiver a chance to clarify their answer.

• If someone offers "I need to think about it" as an answer, provide them that opportunity, but don't forget to close the loop.  Your willingness to not embarrass the individual into a spontaneous answer and your accountability in looping back for the follow-up will help strengthen your team's working environment. 

• Encourage people to ask you questions...and provide them opportunities to do just that.  This is not the "Any questions?" comment at the end of one of your meetings, but rather you creating opportunities for people to ask you compelling questions on key issues.  Of course, this only works more than once if people see that you are genuine.  Don't show irritation if you don't like the question or can't answer it, and don't judge the question.  The same rules apply for you..., you can think about a question, but make certain to loop back with an answer.

• Build on one person's questions in a group setting.  "Great question, Sarah.  Let's answer that one first and then I've got another that jumped to mind based on your question.."

• Encourage and reward intellectual curiosity that links to action.  Questions are great, and actions drive performance.  Turn great questions and subsequent ideas or directions into tangible actions as you pursue innovation or experimentation.  This will help fuel an innovation-oriented culture.

The Bottom-line for Now:

The right questions in the hands of a skilled practitioner yield new insights and new ideas.  It behooves you as a leader to develop your skill in this area, and it certainly behooves you to create a culture that encourages and rewards questions and ultimately actions.  We learn by asking, listening and doing, but it often starts with being smart enough to figure out the right questions.  Too many leaders are great talkers and lousy listeners.  How skillful are you at asking and learning from your own questions?

What to Do With a Lousy Boss

More often than not during a workshop, someone will raise their hand and ask, "All of this stuff about being a good leader is nice, but what do I do about my lousy boss?"  Being fairly fast on my feet, I resort to the facilitator's fail-safe of "asking the audience" before offering my own suggestions on this dicey issue.  Not surprisingly, there are few satisfying answers (that don't include jail-time for you as a possible outcome) to this dilemma shared by so many. 

Generally, the complaints fall into one of the following categories:

Doesn't support me

Offers plenty of criticism

Criticizes/berates in public

Contradicts himself/herself

Micromanages and then criticizes me for not making decisions

Takes credit and dispenses blame

Loves his ideas...won't listen to our suggestions

And so on...

The fact is that as the subordinate you don't have many good options unless you have grounds for complaint based on harassment, discrimination or other legal concerns.  For sake of discussion, let's limit the complaint list to the interactions and issues highlighted above.

What's An Emotionally Abused Employee to Do?

The responses back from other workshop participants fall into similar categories and reflect the limited number of options that the victimized employee truly has in this situation.  (My value-add in italics.)

Approach the manager and provide feedback on the disturbing behaviors.

I like this one, because it reflects that someone is thinking about applying the workshop content to a real situation.  Some well-intentioned managers are not aware of all of their bad habits, and the properly constructed feedback conversation can be a valuable coaching tip for the manager.  Less enlightened managers will respond with anger and/or retribution.  My advice...read the situation, read the manager and it might be worth a carefully constructed conversation to raise the topic.  If the manager views you as wanting to help him/her improve results/performance, you may pull this off.  If you start softly and the conversation quickly deteriorates, bail out.

Take your complaint(s) to HR

HR professionals everywhere may rankle, but I hate this suggestion.  Setting up HR to be the father and mother confessor and creating the expectation that HR can fix all of these issues is poor practice in my opinion.  I've worked with a few deft HR professionals that can help individuals and teams navigate this type of a situation, but they are in the minority. 

Leapfrog your boss

This is another risky proposition, and people employing it need to keep in mind that in a "he said/she said" debate between you and your boss, you lose. 

Approach the boss en masse

This, "safety in numbers" strategy has a high failure rate, because when push comes to shove everyone is more concerned about their job than trying to get the boss to change.  If you are leading this charge, be prepared to go it alone.

Transfer within the company

If you like and are committed to the organization, a transfer can be one way to potentially escape a lousy boss.  Follow your firm's posting rules, don't do anything behind your manager's back and hope that he/she doesn't make the process more difficult for you.  Also, if you apply for and don't get a job in another department, remember that you still have to work for the lousy boss. 

Leave the organization

This is often the path that good people take, and it certainly solves the immediate problem.  If you do not believe that you can escape the clutches of this lousy manager and if you are not committed to your organization for your near-future growth, exiting stage right is great.  However, look before you leap.  Choosing a job just to escape a boss is an emotionally charged situation that can have you making a bad and potentially career damaging choice.

The Bottom-line for Now:

I suspect like most of the workshop participants seeking wisdom from their peers, that you might leave this post feeling like you didn't find the answer you were looking for.  My polite rebuttal is that the easy answer you are seeking doesn't exist.  Most of us have worked for leaders that we've not respected and have probably tried some or all of the above approaches along with a "Wait and See" tactic.  Choosing your approach depends a lot upon your situation.  How badly do you need the job?  How comfortable are you in dealing with potential repercussions?  Is your organization's culture tolerant of aberrant leader behavior or are those types eventually flushed out and eliminated?

My guidance is to take personal stock of your situation, recognize the risks that you are taking in pursuing any line of action (or the psychic damage in doing nothing), prepare and act.  I offer polite, constructive feedback (I coach upwards) and if that doesn't work, transfer or leave.  Life is short and you should not let your career or your self-esteem be held hostage by some chuckle head of a leader.

Leader: What's Your Strategy for Managing Your 30 and 40-Somethings?

After too many conversations to count with talented individuals in their late thirties or early forties that are asking, "Is this it?" about their professional lives, I am compelled to offer some advice for their leaders.  I'll start with: "Wake Up and Pay Attention!"

Professionals in this age range are at a critical juncture in their careers.  They are experienced, hard working and confident in how to contribute.  They've made and learned from many of the mistakes of youth and they've begun to develop something so critical for organizational success: wisdom based on experience.  They've also generally decided what motivates them, what they like in a leader, the type of work that they are best at, and that life is too short to spend time in the wrong place or working for the wrong person. 

The common theme that I am hearing in my discussions with these talented and motivated professionals is frustration over the inability of their superiors to leverage their skills and experience.  It's not a whining theme...it's an "I am capable and experienced and want to be treated as such and contribute more" lament.  It is very different from the whining that many people engage in about the person that they work for. 

Comments include (paraphrased):

Instead of the challenges that we talked about when I interviewed, I jumped in to fill a gap in operations and now I can't get out of this mundane role.

The charisma of the CEO during the interview process is gone now that I'm an employee.  His general response to every idea or suggestion is anger.

They didn't need someone with my experience, they needed a college graduate or someone fresh out of the service that wouldn't know any better about constantly having orders barked at them. 

There's no reward in this work.

I've been doing the same basic things for 20 years...it's boring and I can't take it any more.

They need to decide if they are going to use me or they will lose me.

My life is racing past me but my career is stuck in futile mode.

I kept offering to help on the big issues and I was told I was overstepping my boundaries so I gave up.

And so on.

The Leader's Suggestion List for Managing 30 and 40-Somethings:

• Recognize and leverage the growing need of people in this age range to contribute at an increasing level.  Figure out how to do this and watch the accomplishment list grow.

• Design positions and assignments that are challenging and provide these professionals the latitude they need to succeed.

• I've noticed that after 15 years of working, many professionals develop a hunger for learning.  Feed this hunger through professional development and even better, feed the hunger and leverage the experience by asking these professionals to teach in the organization.

• Work on your self-awareness and emotional intelligence.  Frankly, you shouldn't treat anyone by typically responding with anger as was cited above, and especially don't treat experienced professionals like that and expect to keep them. 

• Provide opportunities for mid-career professionals to mentor younger employees.

• A few months after hiring an experienced professional, sit down and genuinely seek their input and perspectives on issues and improvements.  Let them take ownership of some of their ideas and drive the improvements.

• Use judo on the situation and let the individuals set their own stretch goals. 

• Tune in to an individual's mid-life career objectives and work together to develop a program that supports achievement of those objectives.

• Match mid-career professionals with both early-career and nearing retirement employees to collaborate on problem solving and project development.  The mixing of the generations is beneficial for all parties involved.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

As a leader, you cannot afford to allow the best, brightest and most-experienced employees to feel detached and unmotivated.  I suspect that more often than not, you as the leader have a hand in creating this problem, and you definitely can help solve it.  It's time to sit down, talk and most importantly, listen to what your thirty and forty-somethings have to say.  These are the leaders in your immediate future.  Don't come up short just when these talented professionals are ready to pay off. 

Ironically, Mid-Level Managers May Save Your Business

Ever since terms like reengineering, right sizing and downsizing became part of the corporate lexicon; midlevel managers have been taking it on the chin.  This once populous class has been synergized and right-sized almost to extinction.  Those that remain often struggle with spans of control as wide as the Golden Gate Bridge and limited authority that is constantly challenged from above and below.  I find it just a bit ironic (and appropriate) that this much-abused class of leader may just hold the key to surviving and prospering in tough times.

In a great article in the July 7. 2008 Wall Street Journal, entitled: In Search of Growth Leaders, authors Carr, Liedtka, Rosen and Wiltbank offer the results of their multi-year study of the role that midlevel managers play in fueling organic growth.  Their conclusion: "most companies have managers who can turbo charge results.  The trick is finding—and nurturing—them.  Read the article for some great insights on finding and developing these critical midlevel leaders. (And read my post: Management By Jane: Leading Effectively from the Middle for some additional thoughts.)

The Power of Great Managers in the Middle:

• Appropriately trained and armed, midlevel managers are directly focusing on strategy execution—they lead the teams that do the work that drives performance. If your organization is failing to execute on strategic objectives, look to the middle, not to place blame, but to identify what you can do better to help your managers succeed.

• As the article authors highlight, a tremendous amount of innovation comes from the middle.  In my own experience, the managers that fuel innovation are the ones that are relentless about creating the right conditions for their associates to succeed.   Breaking down barriers and taking the heat for bending the rules are common and comfortable tasks of the innovative midlevel manager.

• The most important talent scouts and developers are often found in the middle of organizations.  The savvy manager recognizes the import of identifying and developing emerging leaders, competent role players and potentially brilliant individual contributors. While top management might want the organization to become good at this talent scouting and development, like strategy execution, the majority of the heavy lifting takes place in the middle.

Five Ideas to Strengthen Your Support and Success In the Middle:

1. Change your perspective on the midlevel management layer.  Instead of looking
at the organization chart and seeing cost to be minimized or taken out, look at this group as resources to enable strategy execution, fuel innovation and scout and develop talent.  Quit broadening spans of control to the point of ridiculousness, and begin setting goals around strategy, innovation and development, and suddenly the cost perspective starts melting away.

2. Involve midlevel managers in strategy formulation...not just in rubber-stamping the strategy formulated by executives.  Remember, the people in the middle likely understand your customers and your organization's capabilities at a much more detailed level than those of you with V's or C's in your title.

3. Create systems to help midlevel managers experiment with and implement new ideas.  Provide key managers and manager groups with executive sponsors charged with cutting through corporate clutter to help get things done.

4. Reward successes, provide visibility and learn from misfires.  Easy words to write and speak, but realizing this environment takes discipline. 

5. Recognize the fact that new classes of virtual leaders...Project Managers and Product Managers have emerged over the past two decades to replace the former middle level.  These critical positions often carry tremendous responsibility burdens with little real authority across functional boundaries.  If these positions exist in your organizations, strive to create the sponsors, systems and infrastructure to allow them to perform.

6. As an executive, get over yourself.  No one said that you are required to have all of the answers.  It's a sign of strength, not weakness if you are emotionally secure and intelligent enough to recognize that your strength comes from your ability to get the best from willing contributors. Take the time to invest in reinventing your leadership style.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

The article referenced above is must reading for every executive looking to solve the challenges of how to fuel organic growth.  Innovation doesn't occur on command, and while good accidents happen (e.g. think 3M and Post-Its), hope as we all know is a lousy strategy. 

I teach, train and support midlevel managers in all forms of organizations and by and large, I find them generally miserable about their tasks and their ability to positively impact their organization.  The majority of their frustration stems from working for leaders that succeed in stifling the conditions required for innovation and execution to flourish.  The opportunity is in the middle...not the problem.  For the source of the problem, take a long, hard look in the mirror. 

Can You Create A Mission-Driven Focus in a For-Profit Business?

Leaders from the top on down in Not-For-Profits hold an unfair advantage over their erstwhile counterparts in the For-Profit world.  Managers in Not-for-Profit are driven by a powerful sense of purpose that delivers meaning and context for even the most mundane of activities.  As one young Not-For-Profit manager in my recent Leadership Mastery workshop indicated, "I can't imagine not having the mission to inspire and energize me everyday." 

My question: Can For-Profit organizations replicate the motivational and contextual power of "The Mission" through other proxies like goals, strategies, bonuses and targets all focused around competitors, financials and metrics like market-share and compound annual growth rate?  

My short-answer: It's hard to simulate a mission and develop a sense of purpose in an environment focused on issues that are significantly more mundane than human welfare.  Difficult, but not impossible.  I'll explore some ideas for this below. 

First, a sidebar on my observations about leading in Not-For –Profit:

Having spent my entire career in the For-Profit world, I learn something every time I have the good fortune to work with the dedicated professionals that staff and lead the organizations that do so much good in our communities.  It's refreshing to work with people laser-focused on serving their customers and motivated by the belief that they are making a tangible difference everyday. 

I have also been impressed by the level of leadership maturity and sophistication that I see in the younger leaders in these organizations.  Many Not-For-Profits run on volunteer workforces, and honing great leadership skills at a young age is a survival skill for a manager in this environment.  The sophistication and good practices that I have seen displayed by managers with less than five years experience are impressive.  Important habits and concepts including professional development, goal-setting, providing feedback and establishing genuine connections are well understood and readily applied by many of these young leaders. 

Last and not least, it's hard to look at the good work being done in many Not-For-Profits and not acknowledge that these dedicated and capable leaders might earn considerably more money if they were plying their profession in a profit-driven organization.  The skills that they are developing and honing are the very skills critically needed by almost every organization attempting to grow and win in the market.  And yet in many cases, the lure of money is not a driving force for those serving in Not-For-Profit.

What For-Profit Leaders Can Learn from Their Mission-Driven Counterparts:

• People thrive and commit when they feel a greater sense of purpose in their activities.  Leaders in For-Profits must strive to connect the firm's activities and offerings to the benefits that they provide to customers.  Even seemingly mundane offerings contribute to improving someone's life, making hard tasks easier or solving other problems.  Leaders must connect the dots between these benefits and an employee's reason-for-being.

• Mission statements should not be a gobbledygook of pie-in-the-sky motivations, but rather, brief, meaningful descriptions of the reason-for-being of an organization.  Additionally, instead of the poster on the wall proclaiming the lame mission, the content and context of this mission should be taught, reinforced and referenced liberally.  Just like corporate values, statements of mission are useless unless practiced and ultimately embedded in the organization's DNA.

• Leaders should ply their trade as if they are operating with a volunteer workforce. Imagine having to walk in the door everyday and reach out to your employees, support their professional development, provide them with timely feedback, encourage them to strive for new levels and help them find the lessons-learned from mistakes.  Armed with the context of "my workers are volunteers and it is my job to keep them happy, motivated, learning and here," I suspect that many leaders will suddenly discover their true priorities.

• Just as people require context and purpose to do their best work, they tend to thrive in environments where success breeds more success and big, new challenges are viewed as great new opportunities.  In my informal polling of several hundred managers over the past few months, I have only found a handful that feel as if they've been a part of a high-performance team at some point in their careers.  What a shame.  I suspect that most leaders don't preoccupy on the notion that their goal is to create an environment that results in a high-performance team....one that is highly innovative or one that is operationally excellent (or both).  Not-For-Profit leaders understand that the mission will only be successful if the team gets it right, and they naturally focus on the tasks needed to support team development. 

• Many (not all) Not-For-Profit leaders stay close to their mission by working with and serving their clients in the community.  Sometimes out of necessity and other times out of the sheer joy of serving, this is an outstanding way of staying Tuned- In to customers.  For-Profit leaders would be well served to push away from the desk and spend some time helping and learning from their customers. 

The Bottom-Line for Now:

Working in Not-For-Profit may not be for everyone, and in fact, while I've painted a picture with the positives that I have observed, there are many familiar challenges as well.  Large organizations struggle with politics and bureaucracy, "lifers" suffer from chronic "We've always done it this way," and turnover and burnout are common maladies plaguing many organizations. 

However, in spite of overwhelming challenges and never-ending pursuit of funding, many of these organizations persevere, in large part due to the incredible dedication of the people working and leading at all levels.  Most For-Profit environments lack the sense of purpose and mission that I've observed in Not-For-Profits, yet managers everywhere have the same set of tools at their disposal.  For-Profit leaders are well served to take a few tips from their lower-paid and in many cases, more effective counterparts. 

Yeah, "Why Don't Managers Think Deeply?"

There's an interesting post today in the Harvard Business Review Working Knowledge newsletter entitled "Why Don't Managers Think Deeply?"

Professor James Heskett highlights GE CEO Geoffrey Immelt's recent pronouncements that he is: looking for managers to think deeply about innovations that will ensure GE's longer-term success. He has vowed that he will protect those working on the breakthroughs from the "budget slashers" focused on short-term success.  (Professor Heskett also reviews the book Marketing Metaphoria and the perspectives of the authors: Gerald and Lindsay Zaltman on why managers don't think deeply.)

As I leader, I've wrestled with this topic for years, and have worked around and with many individuals perfectly content to let their days unfold in a transactional nature, with no time to think deeply or even strategically.  Days pass into months and months to years, and still these individuals prefer conquering the issue of the moment versus wondering whether they are even working on the right issues.

I look forward to learning more about what the Zaltmans have to say about this issue above and beyond what Professor Heskett highlights in his post when I read their book. For now, here are a few of my perspectives on why managers don't think deeply:

• Personal characteristics: some people are not great strategists but excellent operators and they focus on where they are most comfortable making a contribution. 

• Poor leaders above them that don't create the forums and opportunities to think big.  This fits with my strategy-fueled theme where in my opinion; the best leaders involve everyone in sharing insights and developing ideas for strategy.  This provides ample opportunity for individuals to contribute and teaches otherwise task-oriented people that it is OK to get out of the moment once in awhile.

• Bad personal time management habits.  Some managers like crossing off a bunch of lower-level, "C" priorities than focusing on one "A" priority.  This can be corrected.

• Fear of being accountable for something.  I worked with a sales manager that absolutely hated to work on anything beyond the deals of the month.  While his focus on results created some good outcomes for us, as the business changed and evolved, his ability to contribute dropped dramatically.  When it was said and done, he admitted that he was uncomfortable considering big changes when it was so hard to drive short-term results.

• Frustration with impediments to change.  If Immelt is imploring his people to innovate, the GE culture better darned well be willing to turn ideas into actions or the creative flow will shut down quickly.  I've observed cultures where the leader preaches change as the rest of the team nods and then proceeds to do nothing.

The bottom-line for now:

It's hard for most of us to think creatively on command.  Moving from a transactional model to a state of lateral or divergent thinking requires making and taking time.  As leaders, we can help improve and support Mr. Immelt's suggestion (hard to argue with the intent) by creating opportunities for the right types of discussions and by supporting the movement of ideas into actions, products and services.  Try holding your leaders accountable for creating a culture of innovation and then let them loose.  The results may surprise you.

Staying Strong in the Middle While Your Company Is Falling Apart

I wrote a post a few months ago about how the best leaders and teams leverage economic downturns to strengthen their business.  Surviving an economic downturn is one thing, surviving while your company is in the process of slowly imploding offers a completely different set of challenges.  Especially if your vantage point is from the middle of the management ranks.