The Trouble with Disruptive Change
By Jeffrey Pfeffer | September 10, 2009
As my wife is fond of commenting, “change is seldom for the better.” A new chef at the highly rated San Francisco restaurant Ducca decided to make his mark by adding chili to some pasta dishes and grapes to others — with bad results. Mozilla’s latest browser version seems to crash more than their last. There is a company that sells software so that Microsoft Office 2007 works like 2003, for those that preferred the former version. A former senior official at an important federal government agency told me that each time a new head took over, that person undid what the previous person was doing and began something different — regardless of what was working.
The tendency for new leaders to want to put their “stamp” on the organization and its products is a natural result of the desire to self-enhance — to want to feel good about ourselves by showing what we can do. Continuing what has been successful in the past doesn’t feed our egos nearly as much as making a change that will be identified with us.
The problem is that all too frequently, change for change’s sake is harmful or worse for organizational performance. You need to know the data: although there is a lot of emphasis on the benefits of change and innovation in much of the popular press, the evidence shows that change is most often bad for all concerned. First of all, most new ideas — like most new products — aren’t very good, which is why there’s such a high failure rate for innovations in virtually every industry. Second, change, even change to a better way of doing things, is inevitably disruptive to existing routines and demanding of new competencies and skills. While a company is making the transition, things can go wrong and costs increase, literally threatening the survival of the organization.
A study of 150 entrepreneurial start-ups in the Silicon Valley by organizational behavior professors Jim Baron and Mike Hannan illustrates this phenomenon nicely. Baron and Hannan found that companies founded with a commitment model for managing their people were more likely to reach an initial public offering or be acquired at a good price and were much less likely to fail than companies managing their people using other approaches. But — and this is what’s important — companies that shifted to this more effective way of managing people were actually more likely to fail than companies than had begun with a different, less effective way of managing but stayed with it. That’s because the benefits of changing to a better way of doing things did not outweigh the disruptive consequences of the transition. There is a great deal of evidence in this intellectual tradition — the population ecology of organizations — showing the same thing: change, in leaders, in strategy, or in organizing models, almost always leads to a higher risk of failure.
Change for its own sake also causes cynicism and resistance on the part of the rank and file. Since employees know that management approaches come and go as leaders transition in and out, they don’t take the new initiatives very seriously. At a large bank Bob Sutton and I studied, branch managers and other executives knew that new initiatives would pass as leaders moved to new positions — so they never bothered to implement anything. Why should they, when the next person to take over would just undo it and try something different? Consequently, good ideas could not get traction and the work force was largely disengaged, watching the comings and goings and the initiatives of those in charge with bemusement.
Smart leaders understand these dynamics. They focus on changing only what needs to be changed because it isn’t working — the recipes that aren’t up to snuff or the product features that bother customers — and they keep what works, even if it’s a legacy from the past. Second, they understand the costs and risks of change and losing focus, so they don’t overburden the company by trying to do too many new things at once. Every business has a few core elements that make it successful, and the shrewd leader focuses on the minimum amount of change needed to improve those things, not making a bunch of other disruptions in activities that matter less.
The evidence from numerous studies shows that the aphorism “change or die” is incorrect. It’s more likely to be “change and die.” The best companies know this and act accordingly. As is often the case, keeping leaders’ egos in check is crucial for avoiding the “change stuff to make my mark” problem.
MY THOUGHTS
very timely. a reminder that not all change is good.look at our country. everytime a new administration takes over, people can hardly cope with the changes. because people are clamoring for change. and the new president and his team is all set to prove their "mark" and show that they are better. there's hope yet for this new government. you don't feel too many changes. yet. i hope they are using this time to assess what needs to be changed and what needs to be changed.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
10 Things That Good Bosses Do
10 Things That Good Bosses Do
By Steve Tobak | October 22, 2010
As we discovered in 7 Signs You May Be a Bad Manager, bosses aren’t usually aware that they are bad bosses. The fact is that nobody wants to believe they’re the problem. Nevertheless, there’s a bell curve for all things involving people, which means there are few really bad bosses, few really good bosses, and most of you fall somewhere in the middle.
To me that says, for the vast majority of you, there’s lots of room for improvement.
So, if you’re not exhibiting any of the 7 Signs, that’s great, pat yourself on the back. Still, if you really want to up your management game, maybe even vault into the executive or ownership ranks someday, you’d better start doing at least a few of these 10 Things That Good Bosses Do.
Incidentally, this isn’t from some academic study. These are real attributes of real bosses, culled from decades of observation, which motivate and inspire employees to perform at their best.
1.Pay people what they’re worth, not what you can get away with. What you lose in expense you gain back several-fold in performance.
2.Take the time to share your experiences and insights. Labels like mentor and coach are overused. Let’s be specific here. Employees learn from those generous enough to share their experiences and insights. They don’t need a best friend or a shoulder to cry on.
3.Tell it to employees straight, even when it’s bad news. To me, the single most important thing any boss can do is to man up and tell it to people straight. No BS, no sugarcoating, especially when it’s bad news or corrective feedback.
4.Manage up … effectively. Good bosses keep management off employee’s backs. Most people don’t get this, but the most important aspect of that is giving management what they need to do their jobs. That’s what keeps management away.
5.Take the heat and share the praise. It takes courage to take the heat and humility to share the praise. That comes naturally to great bosses; the rest of us have to pick it up as we go.
6.Delegate responsibility, not tasks. Every boss delegates, but the crappy ones think that means dumping tasks they hate on workers, i.e. s**t rolls downhill. Good bosses delegate responsibility and hold people accountable. That’s fulfilling and fosters professional growth.
7.Encourage employees to hone their natural abilities and challenge them to overcome their issues. That’s called getting people to perform at their best.
8.Build team spirit. As we learned before, great groups outperform great individuals. And great leaders build great teams.
9.Treat employees the way they deserve to be treated. You always hear people say they deserve respect and to be treated as equals. Well, some may not want to hear this, but a) respect must be earned, and b) most workers are not their boss’s equals.
10.Inspire your people. All the above motivate people, but few bosses have the ability to truly inspire their employees. How? By sharing their passion for the business. By knowing just what to say and do at just the right time to take the edge off or turn a tough situation around. Genuine anecdotes help a lot. So does a good sense of humor.
All this adds up to an environment where people feel appreciated, recognized, challenged, and appropriately compensated. So what do you think? How do you measure up on the good boss scale?
MY THOUGHTS
one of the things i will never forget about a leadership training i attended is the principle shared by a great Christian leader - that you have to have the right people on board first. all these 10 things that good bosses do are doable. and effective. except if you have the wrong people - people who do not have the right skill nor the desire to learn, people who are only there for the paycheck and passion for them is a fruit, people who cannot be inspired because despair is so ingrained in them,they need a shrink, people who think they are better than anyone else including the boss. when i'm hiring people, i take my time. it's very easy to have someone sign an employment contract. but it's so much harder to let them go.
By Steve Tobak | October 22, 2010
As we discovered in 7 Signs You May Be a Bad Manager, bosses aren’t usually aware that they are bad bosses. The fact is that nobody wants to believe they’re the problem. Nevertheless, there’s a bell curve for all things involving people, which means there are few really bad bosses, few really good bosses, and most of you fall somewhere in the middle.
To me that says, for the vast majority of you, there’s lots of room for improvement.
So, if you’re not exhibiting any of the 7 Signs, that’s great, pat yourself on the back. Still, if you really want to up your management game, maybe even vault into the executive or ownership ranks someday, you’d better start doing at least a few of these 10 Things That Good Bosses Do.
Incidentally, this isn’t from some academic study. These are real attributes of real bosses, culled from decades of observation, which motivate and inspire employees to perform at their best.
1.Pay people what they’re worth, not what you can get away with. What you lose in expense you gain back several-fold in performance.
2.Take the time to share your experiences and insights. Labels like mentor and coach are overused. Let’s be specific here. Employees learn from those generous enough to share their experiences and insights. They don’t need a best friend or a shoulder to cry on.
3.Tell it to employees straight, even when it’s bad news. To me, the single most important thing any boss can do is to man up and tell it to people straight. No BS, no sugarcoating, especially when it’s bad news or corrective feedback.
4.Manage up … effectively. Good bosses keep management off employee’s backs. Most people don’t get this, but the most important aspect of that is giving management what they need to do their jobs. That’s what keeps management away.
5.Take the heat and share the praise. It takes courage to take the heat and humility to share the praise. That comes naturally to great bosses; the rest of us have to pick it up as we go.
6.Delegate responsibility, not tasks. Every boss delegates, but the crappy ones think that means dumping tasks they hate on workers, i.e. s**t rolls downhill. Good bosses delegate responsibility and hold people accountable. That’s fulfilling and fosters professional growth.
7.Encourage employees to hone their natural abilities and challenge them to overcome their issues. That’s called getting people to perform at their best.
8.Build team spirit. As we learned before, great groups outperform great individuals. And great leaders build great teams.
9.Treat employees the way they deserve to be treated. You always hear people say they deserve respect and to be treated as equals. Well, some may not want to hear this, but a) respect must be earned, and b) most workers are not their boss’s equals.
10.Inspire your people. All the above motivate people, but few bosses have the ability to truly inspire their employees. How? By sharing their passion for the business. By knowing just what to say and do at just the right time to take the edge off or turn a tough situation around. Genuine anecdotes help a lot. So does a good sense of humor.
All this adds up to an environment where people feel appreciated, recognized, challenged, and appropriately compensated. So what do you think? How do you measure up on the good boss scale?
MY THOUGHTS
one of the things i will never forget about a leadership training i attended is the principle shared by a great Christian leader - that you have to have the right people on board first. all these 10 things that good bosses do are doable. and effective. except if you have the wrong people - people who do not have the right skill nor the desire to learn, people who are only there for the paycheck and passion for them is a fruit, people who cannot be inspired because despair is so ingrained in them,they need a shrink, people who think they are better than anyone else including the boss. when i'm hiring people, i take my time. it's very easy to have someone sign an employment contract. but it's so much harder to let them go.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Decision Making Time: to fire or not to fire
What If You Could Never Fire Another Employee?
By Margaret Heffernan | April 6, 2010
Until 2007, the oldest continuously operating business in the world was Kongo Gumi in Japan. A construction firm founded in 578 A.D., it began building Buddhist temples, and that’s what it was still doing when it was absorbed by Takamatsu. The last president was a member of the founding Kongo family, members of which still work as carpenters today. It shouldn’t surprise us that this is a family firm.
Two-thirds of all businesses are family owned: think Samsung, Fiat, Nieman-Marcus, Bacardi, Seagram and Ikea. We tend to think of family businesses as the stuff of soap opera — Dynasty, Dallas, even the Sopranos — and there’s no doubt that they are highly emotional. But that could be the secret of their success.
Why? Because the salient characteristic of family firms is that you can’t fire your family. The fight may be between siblings, between parents and kids — but they have to work it out. Neither party wants to walk away from a successful company that they own a big stake in, and it can be hard to avoid the family dinner where grievances leak out. Which means that the best of these firms become quite expert at resolving conflict.
Often these companies have one person — usually female — who is the chief diplomat and bridge mender. Some consultants even call this person the Chief Emotion Officer. She does all the interstitial work to repair hurt feelings and communicate detail, often fixing problems before they blow up. She’s in touch with the emotions inherent in every business, and her chief aim is to keep the peace.
I think there’s a great lesson here. As a CEO, it can be highly tempting to imagine that the solution to most problems is to fire one person and hire another. Sales director not delivering? Off with his head. Engineering team behind schedule? Find a new project manager. Employment conditions in the U.S. in particular give managers exceptional latitude in picking people up and throwing them out. Most managers love that because it means they don’t get stuck with their bad choices.
But I have to wonder how much better we’d all be at hiring if, like family firms, we couldn’t fire our failures. For all that we make our hiring practices lengthy and laborious, we still apply plenty of bias, instinct and wishful thinking — in part because we know we can get away with it. What if you couldn’t? What if you were stuck with that employee for life? How would that change your decisions? Here are five hiring practices we can learn from family firms:
1.Choose carefully at the start. Knowing this is a lifetime relationship, not a one-night stand should make you very thoughtful about your own biases.
2.When there are signs of failure, intervene early. Don’t let things fester, and don’t leave a struggling employee to fail.
3.Stop hoping they’ll be so unhappy that they quit. Your employee may meanwhile be hanging on in the hopes that you’ll pay them to leave. And that’s the worst of all possible worlds for everyone.
4.Ask whether the employee is in the right spot. Many companies hire great people but don’t put them in positions where they flourish.
5.Check that the problem doesn’t lie with the line manager. Employees often fail because they’re being mismanaged.
I’m not proud of the times I’ve had to fire employees. It’s a ghastly experience, and it ought to be. If the day ever comes that you don’t mind it, quit: you’ve lost the plot. But before you take this easy exit next time, imagine you’re running a family firm. You’ll see that errant employee for Sunday supper. How does that feel? Isn’t there an alternative to termination?
MY THOUGHTS
great advice. really great. it would certainly make a difference in our decision making if we think we're dealing with people that we can't let go so easily. unless the person in question is already such a burden that he/she is pulling the whole team down.
By Margaret Heffernan | April 6, 2010
Until 2007, the oldest continuously operating business in the world was Kongo Gumi in Japan. A construction firm founded in 578 A.D., it began building Buddhist temples, and that’s what it was still doing when it was absorbed by Takamatsu. The last president was a member of the founding Kongo family, members of which still work as carpenters today. It shouldn’t surprise us that this is a family firm.
Two-thirds of all businesses are family owned: think Samsung, Fiat, Nieman-Marcus, Bacardi, Seagram and Ikea. We tend to think of family businesses as the stuff of soap opera — Dynasty, Dallas, even the Sopranos — and there’s no doubt that they are highly emotional. But that could be the secret of their success.
Why? Because the salient characteristic of family firms is that you can’t fire your family. The fight may be between siblings, between parents and kids — but they have to work it out. Neither party wants to walk away from a successful company that they own a big stake in, and it can be hard to avoid the family dinner where grievances leak out. Which means that the best of these firms become quite expert at resolving conflict.
Often these companies have one person — usually female — who is the chief diplomat and bridge mender. Some consultants even call this person the Chief Emotion Officer. She does all the interstitial work to repair hurt feelings and communicate detail, often fixing problems before they blow up. She’s in touch with the emotions inherent in every business, and her chief aim is to keep the peace.
I think there’s a great lesson here. As a CEO, it can be highly tempting to imagine that the solution to most problems is to fire one person and hire another. Sales director not delivering? Off with his head. Engineering team behind schedule? Find a new project manager. Employment conditions in the U.S. in particular give managers exceptional latitude in picking people up and throwing them out. Most managers love that because it means they don’t get stuck with their bad choices.
But I have to wonder how much better we’d all be at hiring if, like family firms, we couldn’t fire our failures. For all that we make our hiring practices lengthy and laborious, we still apply plenty of bias, instinct and wishful thinking — in part because we know we can get away with it. What if you couldn’t? What if you were stuck with that employee for life? How would that change your decisions? Here are five hiring practices we can learn from family firms:
1.Choose carefully at the start. Knowing this is a lifetime relationship, not a one-night stand should make you very thoughtful about your own biases.
2.When there are signs of failure, intervene early. Don’t let things fester, and don’t leave a struggling employee to fail.
3.Stop hoping they’ll be so unhappy that they quit. Your employee may meanwhile be hanging on in the hopes that you’ll pay them to leave. And that’s the worst of all possible worlds for everyone.
4.Ask whether the employee is in the right spot. Many companies hire great people but don’t put them in positions where they flourish.
5.Check that the problem doesn’t lie with the line manager. Employees often fail because they’re being mismanaged.
I’m not proud of the times I’ve had to fire employees. It’s a ghastly experience, and it ought to be. If the day ever comes that you don’t mind it, quit: you’ve lost the plot. But before you take this easy exit next time, imagine you’re running a family firm. You’ll see that errant employee for Sunday supper. How does that feel? Isn’t there an alternative to termination?
MY THOUGHTS
great advice. really great. it would certainly make a difference in our decision making if we think we're dealing with people that we can't let go so easily. unless the person in question is already such a burden that he/she is pulling the whole team down.
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