At home, if we do not clean out our refrigerators or our food storage cabinets, after time, we will undoubtedly smell something going bad.
In companies, it is no different. Every time I enter a company for the first time, I can almost smell the trouble brewing. Perhaps “smell” is a strong word, but I can definitely sense problems. The signs are there by the looks, or lack of looks, I receive from the employees as I enter their assigned work space. In some cases, I may get the “What did I do now?” look, or “Great, they Know What I did!” look. One of my favorites is “If I can stay still and not make eye contact, they will not know I’m here” look.
Body language in companies tells quite a story about the stability of a company’s management system. Recently, I was dealing with a Quality Assurance Manager who, with his most serious face, explained to me how every person in the company was not following his procedures. He also used every quality acronym ever written in his explanation. I think that this was mostly to assure me he read all the books about quality management systems. After my tour of all the departments in his company, only one person made eye contact with us, and it was the “What did I do now?” face.
After the tour, a feeling of anger at the management and pity for the employees, suddenly came over me. Yes, this company stank of outdated cheese, milk, meat, and whatever else was rotting within the ranks of the company’s employees.
How does this happen? Most often, it boils down to “The Peter Principle.” As stated in the book of the same name “In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.” (Source: Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull, The Peter Principle. Souvenir Press, 1969).
How does a person rise to their point of incompetence? Some people are Duck People, some people are Eagle People, and some people are Rabbit People. You are a Peter Principle person if you assume that a good floor worker (Rabbit) can be a good manager, and soar like an Eagle without training, experience and the inherent ability to lead. You cannot train a Rabbit to swim like a Duck, a Duck to soar like an Eagle, or an Eagle run like a Rabbit.
My 20 years in the military gave me the opportunity to combine my Italian Jersey City survival street skills with the systematic approach, which guided me from Apprentice to Chief Petty Officer and a NAVSEA Level III Examiner and Instructor in Management Systems. What this did for me was to help me recognize where my strengths and weakness lie in my leadership skills. Personally, I have a lot of trouble tolerating complacent employees, or employees who do not care that their decision caused collateral damage to other employees or departments. I am best suited as a consultant who can go into a company, identify the problem, call a duck a duck, set my sights on the problem and remove the problem while training a new style of employee. I do not have any allegiance with any of the employees, so my motivation is only for the good of the company as an integrated system. And, while the employees love it, the managers either love me or hate me, no in-between.
Every company needs to clean its refrigerator on a regular schedule. How do we do this? With an outside assessment from an impartial consultant with no affiliation to middle or lower management. The consultant must be hired by the CEO, president or owner to assess the following:
1.) Company Vision and Goals – Long and Short Term
2.) Managers Job Descriptions – Clear Statements of Primary and Secondary Responsibilities
3.) Manager and Lead Lines of Responsibility and Authority – Clear, Defined and Followed
4.) Leadership Effectiveness – Is the Peter Principle active in the company?
5.) Perform a Short Gap Analysis – To identify the Problems and Recommend Adjusts to put the train back on track.
What’s in your refrigerator? Can I help your organization get back on track?
