Meritocracy is great, except when it isn't... then it's a @$%# train wreck.

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

Up front I will tell you George is no one person but a "mashup" of people and situations I've experienced over the years.

The organization from the top down made a point of saying the culture was one of meritocracy; people were rewarded for ability and performance be it merit, incentives or the coveted promotion. If you exceeded your goals and objectives you were rewarded. Straight forward enough when you see it on paper.

And now for a bit of a tale:

The reasons for George's promotion can be summed up as "he was good at his old job", the organizational structure was trying to keep up with growth, George had experience with the organization, and his boss to be liked him (minimizing the risk of problems down the road).

A couple of years went by with George's performance being somewhat average; as some of his peers were promoted around him he began to notice and asked about being "promoted" to a senior manager (reflecting his hard work and tenure with the organization). The feedback was his performance and current competencies did not warrant a promotion; development plans to one degree or another were put in place.  

Over time, the bemoaning turned into overt complaining about the situation, he dismissed his 360 degree feedback outright, George's people began to talk behind his back, his peers began to question his behaviour and his lead and lag indicators continued to be average at best - And then... he was promoted. SCREEEEECH, BANG, BANG, CRUNCH, BOOM, BOOM.... KABOOOOOOOOOM!! What a @$%# train wreck

Granted, the sound effects may be suspect but that doesn't make the imagery any less accurate; let me offer some perspectives as to why, and let's start with George.

• George is really happy, as you would expect; all of his questionable behaviour and average performance has been re-enforced as a good thing... I mean, he did get a promotion after all!
• George's boss is relieved that she doesn't have to listen to George complain anymore but unfortunately she has just re-enforced all of George's behaviours (not only with George, but all of her other reports). And what about those average performance results? There was no reason to expect they would change and in fact they didn't.
• George's peers started to question the credibility of reward for performance and what is needed for the "next promotional opportunity". Also, George's behaviour seemed to be effective, so why not include it in the "toolbox".
• Employees emulate their boss, as she (or he) is their direct role model for success. George's thinking and behaviour will spread to his direct reports.
• The company sees a malaise of mediocrity has settled into the organization with regard to performance and true leadership; it wonders why there is an ever shrinking pool of high performance people and can't understand why great people are leaving. All of which comes with a heavy cost.

As fun as it can be to play the "blame game", it is more constructive to drill down to the root causes(s) and this particular "train wreck" was the result of poor leadership (be it the noun or the verb... you choose).

• Leadership had not established an "objective talent management process" used throughout the organization to promote people, and if they had, it was not robust enough to ensure that everyone understood what it is and adhere to it. In other words, "Talent management helter skelter"
• Leadership could not, would not, or did not engage in appropriate management to "develop George up or out".

I suppose George's promotion could have been the result of using "promotions" as a retention strategy; or that some analysis was done that determined "moving on George" was at the very best a zero sum gain so to "promote him and move on" was the best course of action; or maybe the leader simply knew something that "everyone else did not", and the promotion was very much justified in her mind. 

Again, we find ourselves back to "poor leadership" as a root cause.

And by the way, the real sound of this @$%# train wreck was not the loud SCREEEEECH, BANG, BANG, CRUNCH, BOOM, BOOM.... KABOOOOOOOOOM, but the nearly inaudible swoooosh as Meritocracy collapses into a trite and hollow word.

iamgpe  

I put out a call for blog ideas and this is what I got...

I thought it was a stroke of genius* on my part to put out a call for new blog ideas so I could expand my scope of topics, challenge my thinking and develop myself - One of my oldest friends got back to me rather quickly.

After reading what she sent me twice, I actually muttered, "WTF am I going to do with this?" As I said, she is one of my oldest friends and a real sweetheart, so it would simply be wrong of me not to give it that ol' college try.

BTW, this is what she sent me:

"We're all about lightness and novelty in our society, but sometimes there's merit to keeping 'things' as totems, or physical reminders of good times in the past. I think sometimes, we're all about the pristine and sterile and we shouldn't be afraid of the layers of treasures and detritus that build up over the course of a lifetime." 

I like to tell everyone that on a daily basis I work with a 1000 word vocabulary; holding true to this conviction, I had to look up "detritus" [dəˈtrīdəs] which is defined as waste or debris of any kind. I will say literary interpretation has never been a strong suit of mine but then again I did say "I wanted to expand my scope of topics, challenge my thinking and develop myself", so I guess I got what I asked for.

No doubt there is innuendo regarding the youth culture and beautification of everything around us, with the "novelty" of fresh faced potential being preferred to the weathered face of experience; continually trying to retain order in what is believed to be an "unspoiled" image before the chaos and layers of a life lived has settled in. To this, there is a reminder that a life truly lived has both treasures and detritus (see above definition) and reflects our journey - All of which should be embraced and not feared.

But the question has to be asked, "Why only totems for the treasures when a life truly lived embraces the detritus as well?" I get that keeping 'things' as totems of the good times is much more enjoyable then that of the bad times - I mean, who needs the pain?

However, if these "totems" are seen more as signposts of a life lived and not as good or bad memories, they become "markers" of where we have been, what we have accomplished, the sights we've seen, and are forever reminding us of how far we've come - All to be celebrated as a life being lived.

And if we are willing to share our totem's stories, they become signposts for those who are finding their way.

I hope I have done well by my old friend,

iamgpe

* An example of a real stoke of genius is the 3M Sticky Note... what I did, not so much.

"Around the table advice" for new entrepreneurs...

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

A short while ago I found myself "around the table" engaged in the conversations of business and the opportunities to be found in an ever shifting economy; the odd bourbon*, MBA's, CA's, CPA's, Six Sigma functional excellent "black belt's", CFA's and decades of leadership fuelled the discussion.

I suppose it was inevitable that someone would eventually blurt out, "Is it me, or is everybody today an entrepreneur?"

This, along with another round of bourbon, ignited passionate discussion that ebbed and flowed around the topic of entrepreneurship; opinions and examples seemed endless.

With most of the conversation still fresh, and my memory holding up as much as could be expected (after a bourbon or two), I wanted to get the highlights down "on paper" - I might as well start with what one of the entrepreneurs said:

"Just because you don't want to work for someone does not make you an entrepreneur" - He went on to say it's also not something you call yourself between "gigs" while you look for a "job"; he was rather emphatic as he said it's all about a fire inside to create and own something sustainable that you can call "yours". He did admit he couldn't work for someone though. 

Although an "idea or invention" is important, it is all about creating a viable business that "generates revenue" - Revenue will catch the attention of investors and will "feed" cash to your insatiable business.

There is a big difference between being "CEO of a company" and being "CEO of a business" - The CEO of a company entails less than $100 dollars and half an hour on a government web site to register, whereas being the CEO of a business entails building out a product or service to sell, creating a process from order to cash, involves an endless amount of time to expand the business, hiring people to lead, etc, etc, etc.

There was a good amount of discussion and examples of how entrepreneurs needed to really, really, really understand the cost structure of managing their business - There were more than a few examples of CEOs who quickly ran out of "cash" because they didn't understanding their processes, didn't understand the cost structure of the business and assumed there was an endless amount of "easy" money to be raised. Declaring bankruptcy, having to tell investors there is no return on their investment, and having to lay off people is a ghost that may haunt you longer than you think; people will remember and think twice the next time.

As an entrepreneur you have to be honest with yourself and ask, "Is my idea a solution looking for a problem?" - If you do not have a clear line of sight to the problem you are solving for and if you can't plainly articulate it, you will most likely have great difficulty selling your idea because there isn't a customer need - The harsh reality is you may think you have the "greatest idea ever" but no one else does.

Entrepreneurship is not predicated on age and thinking an entrepreneur has to be under 30 is asinine - More than one person pointed out that they've seen entrepreneurs of all ages and the most successful ones were those who had cross pollinated age and experience in their business.

And this leads to the final point...

Self-awareness; the best entrepreneurs seem to be self-aware - They understand their strengths and weaknesses and hire people who can fill in the business gaps.  

In the end, someone pointed out that much of what we were talking about applied just about everywhere, but as an entrepreneur the "tolerance for mistakes" is so much less because there's little insulation to absorb them. From there I think we shifted to our "selfie ready" Prime Minster and the next round was ordered. 

Feel free to join us around the table the next time we get together. You can buy the first round.

iamgpe

* I'm not advocating the need for alcohol to have a good discussion but I will add there is something about having a Woodford Reserve in hand that just makes the conversation a little bit more enjoyable.