The Cranky Middle Manager Show #312 The Future of the MBA Ken Starkey
I’m on Dead Serious
Posted on 29. Jan, 2006 by Wayne in General
A pox upon me. I was recently a guest on Show # 24 of Dead Serious.
I should have said something earlier but my computer died about a week ago, so I was out of touch with the outside world. Meanwhile, Molly Carlisle- the charming host of “Dead Serious” on TPN spoke to me about stuff her show is interested in- spirituality, death, life all that stuff. I’m completely unqualified to utter a word and she listened anyway.
My apologies for not plugging her show when I should have, but a dead computer knows no reason. Thanks for being such a great host, Molly!
Treat Your People More Like Machines
Posted on 26. Jan, 2006 by Wayne in General
Below is my latest column for Management Issues. Check out the website here….
Thanks to David, Nicole and team. If you’d like to quote this article or link to it, please include their link and url….
“People are our greatest asset.”
“Our Human Capital is our strategic advantage.”
Sound familiar? You’ve heard these lovely, fluffy clichés – maybe even uttered them in moments of weakness when you didn’t know quite what else to say. You may even (although it’s between you and your conscience) mean them. If you want to prove it, though, you’ll have to treat your people more like machines.
I’ll pause for a moment while the cognitive dissonance sets in.
The more charitable among you are confused. The more cynical are wondering what kind of substance abuse program we have at my company. How can someone honestly suggest that we demonstrate our commitment to people by treating them like soulless, inarticulate machines?
Because most businesses are set up to treat machines better than people, that’s why. The reason is pretty basic. In most organizations, machines are investments, people are costs.
Most businesses are set up to treat machines better than people Let’s take a company that makes gizmos. You go out and buy a Gizmo Processor 3000 (The newest model GP 3000). You will invest in it, maintain it, budget for it and protect it.
Not only that, but accounting principles and the laws of most countries encourage you to do so.
Investing
Your GP3000 is going to cost you a lot of money, but that’s okay, because by capitalizing the costs you can classify this as an investment, rather than a cost. You can amortize the costs, write off the payments, and include it as a company asset. Your accountant loves you.
Furthermore, the costs can be planned for at the beginning of your fiscal year and properly assigned. The budgeting process and General Accepted Accounting Practices make it easy to invest in machines.
Where do your “people costs” go? Against your bottom line. Even though for most companies now, Human Capital is by far the biggest expense, there is no legal mechanism to invest in them as assets.
Maintenance
Your GP 3000 is an expensive critter to maintain, so you’ll probably get a service agreement (which is an acceptable cost), budget for parts and downtime, and know exactly how much you’ll spend to prevent problems you know will happen.
How do organizations maintain people? We all know that training, reward and recognition, comfortable work environments and networking opportunities are all vital factors in recruiting and retaining. They are the “maintenance” components of a people-centric business.
Try telling your accountant you want to put “reward and recognition” as a top-line cost. The resulting tantrum is more fun to watch than chimps playing rugby.
The Budget Process
One huge challenge to treating your team as well as you do the GP 3000 is the way most companies budget. There are two major hurdles.
First, budgets are done once a year and set in stone. Second, line managers are then held responsible for every variance from that number
If our GP3000 springs an oil leak, or production is down it’s pretty easy to get it fixed. Either you already have money budgeted for that possibility, or the line manager knows they have to suck it up and take a hit that month- the ramifications are too grave not to.
People problems are harder to get money for. First of all, the problems are often not as immediately visible. The odds of an employee suddenly stopping all production and spewing oil everywhere are remote – although I did see it once after we cut staff in Accounts Receivable but bought a golf club membership for the sales force.
Training, Benefits and Reward and Recognition are key components in keeping your people functioning at a high level, but where does the money come from in your company? Are you set up to identify and fund problems that occur in your “people processes” as easily as you are with your capital investments?
Even when you do decide to spend the money, you’ve got managers who are trained to protect their individual department budgets like rabid Dobermans.
“You want to pull some of MY budget and spend it on those lunkheads in IT? Not likely….” Sound familiar?
Protecting Investments
You have a Quality Control department to monitor GP 3000 output and any variations are investigated and fixed right away. Not only that, but if you found someone mishandling the equipment, or using it in a way that could cause breakdown you’d be on them pretty quickly.
Seven out of 10 people who leave their jobs blame their managers. Who is keeping an eye out for your employees, making sure they are not being mishandled, mistreated otherwise serviced improperly?
Again, where’s the budget support and investment to do that?
Until organizations realign their internal business practices to meet the realities of the modern service economy, there will continue to be a massive disconnect between their words and actions.
As for me, on my last job review I was asked what I wanted my next position in the company to be.
I said I want to be a GP 3000 when I grow up.
If you’d like me to speak to your organization or company on this topic, check out my website www.achismarketing.com
The Cranky Middle Manager Show # 32 Changing Workstyles with John Blackwell
Posted on 22. Jan, 2006 by Wayne in Podcast
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #032
Welcome to the wonderful world of Show 32. Our guest is John Blackwell, who is one of my fellow Thought Leaders on the Management Issues site. I still can’t say that without giggling.
0:00 This show is dedicated to Lt Thomas Hardy of The Royal Navy. He served under Nelson and knew how to be a team player while still getting what he wanted from his career.
3:25 The quote of the week from US President James Garfield (1831-1881). Learn to interview, but try not to burn bridges, okay?
4:45 Welcome John Blackwell. What’s keeping our bosses/overlords awake at night? How about finding good people like us…..
8:17 What’s the deal with e-mail… it was supposed to make our lives easier. John talks about the real costs of virtual communication. How do we get an effective workplace when we’re not in the same workplace?
11:20 What are Work Styles and why does it matter? Does everyone have to work the same way? Do ANY of us work the same way and how do you manage around that disparity?
14:30 The workplace is shifting and our performance indicators aren’t keeping up. A change is gonna come…and it’s based on hard science and research. John tells us about some of it.
17:00 You’ll be shocked to discover I need a hard example. Life at HSBC is a good case in point…
23:00 The communication continuum is the way we effectively collaborate and communicate. It was an article on this that brought John to my attention in the first place. You can check it out here.
26:30 New tools are fine, but is anyone training us how to use what tool when? It’s a huge need for companies. John offers some excellent practical examples.
30:10 John tells us about some of the research his company and others are doing. If you’d like to read some of the papers you can find them here. He also tells us about Theseus in France….
That’s it for this week’s show. Don’t forget, if you’d like to be a host of your own podcast, contact Cameron Reilly at The Podcast Network
Drop me a line or check out my website www.achismarketing.com. Don’t forget to post to the blog as well, we love comments from you- who would you like to hear from? What topics do you want to discuss?
Don’t let the weasels get you down.
The Cranky Middle Manager Show # 31 ” Creating We” With Judith Glaser
Posted on 15. Jan, 2006 by Wayne in Podcast
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #31
Today we take on bullies, Martha Stewart and bosses who are more “I”- centered than “We”-centered with our guest Judith Glaser. We also start a couple-of-week examination of Horatio Nelson and stick out our tongue, metaphorically, at a Roman Praetor.
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome everyone. Today’s lesson is partly taken from John Sugden’s book on Horatio Nelson, Nelson, Dream of Glory 1758-1797, in which I have learned several lessons all managers should learn:
1) Be good to your troops and they’ll be fanatically loyal to you and
2) Know when to go over your Superior’s heads….but pick your shots wisely
2:50 The Podcast Network is looking for hosts! We’re looking to expand to over 100 shows in the next couple of months. Do you have a podcast? Would you like one? I’m living proof any dang fool can get their own show….. happy to be your motivation.
3:40 A quote for all of us who face idiots who won’t listen to new ideas. After all, what was there to learn after the Roman Empire?
4:15 We meet Judith Glaser, one of my favorite interviews so far. It starts out by talking even more about bullies at work…since you seem endlessly fascinated by the topic. She actually says some nice things about bullies to start with but the coolest part is her story about confronting Martha Stewart on an airplane. Judith Glaser is my new hero- you gotta hear this one.
10:53 Most bullies are pretty easily busted. It’s alpha behavior run amok.
13:15 Tips for dealing with bullies. Step one- find out what their button is. Why are they bullying?
16:45 Judith talks about her book, Creating “We”, Change I thinking to We Thinking and Build a Healthy, Thriving Organization
20:26 You can get a copy of her 2-page document “I vs We -Centric Leaders” by emailing her.
23:19 Making the move to management and why great individual contributors can suffer in the transition. Tech managers, take notes. You can be a good person AND get big ole bonus checks….
27:25 Judith’s Resources
Built to Last
Good to Great
First Break all the News
Discover Your Strengths
Anything by Warren Bennis
Leadership Presence
The Tipping Point
Blink
Please subscribe to the show and tell your friends. Also we have a new url…. http://cmm.thepodcastnetwork.com
Don’t let the weasels get ya down…..