Measurement Stifles Organizational Growth

"Tell me how you measure me and I will tell you how I will behave." That's how people go to work when they know they are being measured. Think what happens in a meeting once you bring a video camera into the room. What was once an honest discussion and exchange of ideas becomes a watered-down, preening for the camera. That is exactly what measurement does to an organization. Measurement stifles creativity.

Measurement forces people to only do what they are being measured on. After all, if you're not being measured to be innovative (and that can not be measured because in order for measurement to occur there needs to be a benchmark) then employee's attitudes are, "don't waste your time with stuff you won't get points for."

Organizations have for years done exactly the opposite of what science knows. Dan Pink points out that research clearly shows that rewards and incentives do not work and, in fact, retard performance. The bigger the incentive, the worse the performance. Yet, business still insists on hanging onto the attitude that offering rewards and incentives works regardless of what the science says. In the same way, an argument could be made that measurement stifles creativity and forces people to do only what is in their box. In the same way, the argument could be made that those who are at the top of a heavily-measured organization scored the best scores inside the box.

How in the world can you encourage creativity by being overly-measured? Measurement requires a benchmark before it can be considered a measure. If there is no benchmark (because you've never done it before) then any time, creativity or activity spent outside of the scope of measurement would seem like a complete waste of time. If people appear to be wasting time, they will not score well on metrics. Conceptualizing ideas, daydreaming, thinking, studying and watching can not be measured as productive. But that's where innovation comes from. Innovation comes from an Instigational® Attitude.

It is those of Instigational® Attitude who are the innovators, pushers of boundaries and agents of change within an organization. They don't stand on tradition and actually abhor it. They go in search of new ways to operate more efficiently. But innovation is where an organization gets to jump out in front of the mediocre pack and do something different, daring and divine. Measurement retards that same innovation.

If you're working on things outside of the measurement scope then you appear to be wasting time. People don't want to be seen as time-wasters working on stuff that isn't being measured. Therefore, the very act of measurement retards organizational growth and innovation.

Organizations are painting themselves into their own corners by hanging onto the attitude that measurement is necessary. It's how the consultants have had too much influence over organizations and their employees. It seems fairly simple to me: measurement or innovation but you can't have both. Develop your Instigational® Attitude and go find new ways, better ways to serve your organization and your customers. Make your measurement off the charts.
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Do You Have Instigational Attitude?

This morning, on Seth Godin’s Blog, he featured a video which you will find below.



Guy #1 is the Instigator. He has the Instigational® Attitude – the “who cares what other people might say” attitude.

Instigational® Attitude takes chances and instigates events just to see what will happen. The Instigational® don’t form committees hoping that there will be enough people joining in so as not to embarrass themselves. Instigators don’t wait for others to get on side. They act because they can. Instigators usually have a lot of leadership ability and a great deal of self-confidence. It’s why there are so few people capable of holding an Instigational® Attitude because it requires confidence and the willingness to take risks, to stretch yourself and have no concern about how it will end up.

The Instigational® know that however things end up, they’ll be OK. No biggie. Nothing ventured - nothing gained. The Instigational® usually end up having more colorful lives not because they attract more fun stuff (which they do) but because they are willing to step out of the collective average mentality and try something different. The first guy sure did.

During the video, initially, not much happened, other than the first guy dancing. But then along came an “influencer.” An influencer may not necessarily be a resident of the collective average because his job requires a little stretch too. When an influencer sees a good idea that he may not have had the creativity to conceptualize or the courage to carry it out alone, he is willing to join along and also, “see what happens.” But at this point, it’s just a couple of guys having a party all by themselves.

Then along comes Guy #3 who has been wrestling with joining in. Guy #3 is not as willing as the Instigational® but just a little less willing than the Influencer. But once he’s decided, he’s all in. This guy makes all the difference. As Seth Godin says, Guy #3 takes the dancing from being an experiment and makes it the beginning of a movement. As soon as Guy #3 jumps in, others follow. There is no distinction between Guy #4 and Guy #40 is there?

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: What is it you’re doing to make your workplace different or your life-experiences different? Do you have the Instigational® Attitude? If not, do you at least have the Influencer Attitude? Or are you sitting back waiting for someone else to turn it into a movement so that you can join in?

It’s sad that you care more about being judged by others than you do about doing something meaningful for yourself. Take a look around your workplace and see it for yourself: only a handful of people are prepared to step out and make their mark. Everyone else is just a follower. As much as you may believe you have the Attitude of Leadership, if you’re waiting for someone else to go first, you’re not leading. Leaders lead. Followers follow.

The great thing is that you get to pick which of the two you will be.

Boss Tip #8 - The Credit Score

Is this column about financial background checks and credit scores? Well, not in the way you might think. This column is about credit scores but not about qualifying for credit as a consumer. It’s about how much credit you give as a boss.

Take a survey of your people and ask them what they want from their work and their boss and you will find this answer in the Top 5 every single time: recognition. People want to be acknowledged for the work they do – not just when they need to be raked over the coals for a screw-up.

People want to be recognized for their contribution, their diligence and the quality of their work. If the only time you talk to your people about the quality of their work is when you dump on them, well then you’re the village idiot aren’t you? Don’t believe me? Just ask your people. No better yet, secretly listen to what they’re saying about you in the coffee room.

Just because you’re the boss, don’t believe for one second that your people are doing everything in their power to make you look good. That’s just not true. People are doing a great job likely because of the personal satisfaction they get from doing a great job. If you overlook this fact, and regularly steal the credit for a job well done, you will be spending more of your time training new people to replace the people who left than you will on having the spotlight shone on you.

If you want the spotlight and the credit, then take the credit for attrition numbers being on the rise, training budgets being escalated because you have to train more new people and also poor morale.

Nothing knocks the morale out of people faster than stealing the credit from them after they poured their heart out on a project. People want a reason to take personal pride in their work and if you’re going to steal it when they do go above and beyond for you, or at the very least not acknowledge their effort, you are going to be a very lonely boss working by yourself.

If you work by yourself, well then you’re really not the boss are you? You’re just an employee who no one wants to work with. And that would be no surprise either. You brought it on yourself.

Are you giving someone credit for their work daily? I’m not referring to just a “Good job” in the hallway, but something public and heartfelt. The more you let your people know they will get the credit for a job well done, the more you will have a job well done from your people. What goes around comes around.

Publicly acknowledge and privately criticize. Make sure the rest of the staff know when someone has done a good job. Don’t play favorites and don’t blame someone else for a shortcoming in your department. More on that next time.

Boss Tip #5 - Lunch Menu Leadership Test

There have been a lot of questions this past week on what the Lunch Menu Leadership Test is all about. No one, it seems, is able to find any reference to it on-line anywhere. That’s because it’s MY test. So stop looking. This is the only place you will find that information.

So whom is the test meant for? The test is applicable if ever you are in the position, or even on a selection committee, to hire for any of the following positions: CEO, CO, Mr. Big, VIP, administration, administrator, baron, big brother, big cheese, big man, big wheel, boss, brass, businessman, chief, commander, director, directorate, don, entrepreneur, exec, godfather, government, governor, head, head honcho, head man, heavyweight, hierarchy, high priest, higher-up, industrialist, key player, kingfish, kingpin, leader, leadership dude, management, manager, meal ticket, number one, officer, official, point man, skipper, supervisor, top, top brass, tycoon or any other position in the upstairs upper echelon.

The test is relatively simple. Hey, it would have to be. I thought of it.

Take your management/leadership candidate for lunch, nothing really fancy just a place where the menu wouldn’t be too foreign to an average Joe. Once seated, either your host/hostess or a server will swing by with menus and say something like this: “Good afternoon and welcome to the Monkey Bar & Grill. My name is Peter and I will be your server today. Can I start you folks with a couple of beverages before I tell you about our fantastic luncheon specials today?”

(Jeez, did you order a story? I don’t remember ordering a story.)

Anyway, back to the test. Once Peter drops the menus on the table and rattles off the luncheon specials for the day, once he turns his back and runs to fetch your beverages, start the clock and say nothing more. Simply open your menu, pretend you’re looking at it and observe what transpires next. This IS the test.

If the candidate closes his/her menu in under sixty seconds with a decision made for lunch, you have a winner. Here’s my thinking, if someone about to be moved into a leadership position can not make a decision for themselves in under sixty seconds, a simple decision about what to eat, then how in the world would they be able to make far more important decisions affecting the entire organization?

The key to the Lunch Menu Leadership Test is the following philosophy: How we do one thing is how we do everything.

If the candidate can make quick decisions on unimportant stuff, then he/she can likely make quick decisions on important stuff.

If the candidate takes more than sixty seconds with a simple luncheon menu, you’re going to have problems with him/her.

If the candidate says, “I’ve never eaten here before, what’s good?” I hear, “I’m not comfortable with new surroundings. I might be able to become comfortable with a little help from someone who’s experienced this before, but right now, I don’t know what to do (have).”

“Hmm, I’m not sure what to have. What are you having?” means I will be making the vast majority of my decisions based on consensus. That means I will be polling people so I can decide what I should do next.

Studying the menu and flipping pages back and forth several times means they can’t decide. They are indecisive.

During the meal if I hear “Maybe I should have ordered what you did,” he/she spends too much time on second guessing their decisions. Likely, direction will change like the wind.

There are many more things that can be translated from the test but the key here is if you are going to place someone in a position of leadership, they had better be able to stand on their own two feet, accepting the results of their decisions and not afraid to make them.

This test never fails, unless the candidate knows about the test in advance and knew where they were going to be eating.

Want to find out what your boss is really like? Take them for lunch. You’ll see what I mean.