How Much is too Much?
From Tom Peter's blog, by Mark Neiss
Billy Bragg was coming through my car speakers singing, "A virtue never tested is no virtue at all." That pretty much summed up the two coaching sessions I had just completed. Both of the leaders I have been coaching have been identified as high potential candidates for the executive team. They are highly principled men with a track record of superior results, including building a wonderful high-performance, high-satisfaction team.
But, both are now receiving feedback that they have micromanaged, and that they've become very controlling with their team. The only significant change they could identify was the ever-increasing workloads and the reduction of their workforce in the name of efficiency and cost control. At the same time, there has been pressure on them for ever better performance from their team. In their minds, they have not enough people and no room for error. Their virtue as leaders had been tested, and they both felt they had failed the test.
Read the rest of the article ...
Billy Bragg was coming through my car speakers singing, "A virtue never tested is no virtue at all." That pretty much summed up the two coaching sessions I had just completed. Both of the leaders I have been coaching have been identified as high potential candidates for the executive team. They are highly principled men with a track record of superior results, including building a wonderful high-performance, high-satisfaction team.
But, both are now receiving feedback that they have micromanaged, and that they've become very controlling with their team. The only significant change they could identify was the ever-increasing workloads and the reduction of their workforce in the name of efficiency and cost control. At the same time, there has been pressure on them for ever better performance from their team. In their minds, they have not enough people and no room for error. Their virtue as leaders had been tested, and they both felt they had failed the test.
Read the rest of the article ...
posted by mick yates @ 2:33 PM permalink
1 Comments:
At 1:47 AM,
Chuck Anastasia said…
Hi Mick,
Thanks for linking to this post on Tom Peter's blog which I found has a universal ring. I recently attended a presentation in the Boston Area by Naomi Karten on customer satisfaction.
http://icoolspark.blogspot.com/2007/03/naomi-karten-on-customer-satisfaction.html
Naomi made a light bulb come on for me when whe quoted Nicolas Epley from University of Chicago
on the psychology of customer satisfaction and economics.
"While breaking a promise is bad, exceeding a promise is often not worth the effort."
Experience has shown that the higher, unexpected level of service quickly becomes the standard by which each subsequent interaction is judged, although the customer, in many cases the employer, is not willing or able to pay for a higher level of service, but that doesn't stop them from expecting/demanding more.
Companies are using this lesson to increase profits and employees might be well served to keep this concept in mind with respect to managing our careers.
Thanks for sharing your ideas!
Regards,
Chuck
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