MANAGING PEOPLE IS ENVIRONMENTALLY CORRECT!
This article was originally (and somewhat fanatically) entitled “Managing People Is For Suckers!”
Maybe I was just a bit too eager to grab your attention but it is definitely time to consider a meaningful shift away from the implausible notion that any one person, including a business owner, could ever effectively “manage” a fellow human being.
It may seem strange to be in the business world for so long now and come to such a seemingly radical conclusion but, if you read on, I think you’ll see that this declaration is not so out of line. It isn’t that I’ve lost faith in the role of managers and supervisors or that I now no longer support the work of our HR Departments; to the contrary I believe those positions are more vital than ever. I’ve simply come to realize that developing a creatively managed and appealing business environment where the right people can do what they do best, is where the talent and energy of management should go. It’s a different way to see things … a wisdom borne of never-ending people problems and insomnia hatched by a quest for high morale and 100% employee happiness.
The fact is managing people consistently well is nearly impossible particularly when you have a business that requires both technical skills and creative problem solving. Hint: These freethinkers are even less manageable than most. If you include all the people you’ve been powerless to “manage” in your personal life (mate, children, friends, parents, in-laws) it becomes clear that the concept of people management is a wildly self-delusional conceit that we have all bought into. It’s not hard to understand the disappointment that owners feel when the happy staff that they work so hard to assemble and care so much about, refuses to materialize. Often, the answer lies in creating the right environment first and then carefully stocking each position with remarkable people. These SELF-MANAGERS will be naturally aligned with the values for which you want your company known. With the right environment, they are good to go!
Defining Your Environment
Before you can begin to successfully manage your environment, you must give your business a careful and honest examination and diagnosis. Don’t fudge it. Be real in your assessment so that you know what you might need to improve. Some identifying questions include:
- How much do you reveal to your staff about the business and its prospects?
- Do you “partner” with your people or do you still stand guard as The Chief?
- Is Management intimidating? If so, beware of mistakes going unreported.
- Is your company warm, friendly, casually dressed and open or more policy-driven and formal?
- Do you feel a celebratory team spirit or are there appointed individuals assigning responsibility?
Why Does The Right Environment Matter?
Fifty years ago it didn’t. Simply put, our values changed – asset values --that is. The power shifted when great ideas became worth more than factories, forests, railroads and steel. Once, the workforce was more faceless – a cog in a low-tech machine run by owners using command and control directives. When the information age dawned, people (not machines or widgets) became the creators of value; bosses dropped the clipboards and whistles they used to control workers and, instead, facilitated trust exercises at retreats to empower their associates. Today, people are the prize and strong environments attract strong productive people.
Soap Bubble Management
The hard truth is there is no perfect way to manage wildly different human beings. They can be as fragile and free-floating as a soap bubble riding a jet stream-- susceptible to the slightest change in the wind. It’s a genuine miracle that, on any given business day, any of us can “convince” (through the power of as little as $100 per day) 5, 15 or 50 of these delicate soap bubbles to all work toward the same purpose without any of them popping! Of course its not just money that makes that everyday miracle happen. Your own personal conviction and (don’t laugh) charisma as a leader and “pride-builder” actually do the lion’s share of the motivating.
By the time you get them, most employees are fully formed human beings with their free will intact. Each is quite like its own unique weather system … some are hurricanes, some are cold fronts and every company has a few high-pressure systems (they do their best work in accounts receivable). Just one determined tropical depression could bring down an entire team or department and let’s not forget those F-5 twisters that show up when your biggest customer decides to let off a little steam. Employees are, in many ways, more different then they are the same and those are only the differences you can see … imagine how each staffer is also privately driven by their own quiet demons.
Having a Pang for P.A.N.G.
No, PANG is not the name of a pregnant panda in Beijing. It is an acronym for one of the central concepts found in modern organizational design. It is a critical step in the mind shift from people management to environmental management. P.A.N.G. stands for “People Are Naturally Good.” We’ll cover the Tao of PANG in a moment but first … a warning. If you can’t truly buy into the P.A.N.G. movement, then you cannot possibly embrace these concepts with the conviction necessary to make them work.
In a nutshell, P.A.N.G. asserts that most people share a strong desire to come to work everyday on-time, to be productive, to be friendly, well-liked and ready to work hard and contribute. No one wakes up and declares “Boy, I’m really gonna be a selfish rat-fink today at work. I’ll do nothing but make mistakes and get voted Company Jerk. Let me slow down so I’ll be extra late!” Most people are naturally good and so with few exceptions, your workers:
- Want to work hard and succeed
- Want to be liked and recognized
- Want to make coworkers happy
- Want to belong and feel approval
If you accept the premise that nearly all people have good intentions and no real desire to perform badly, then it makes sense that your attention go to the following areas: your assessment of the open position, your recruiting practice, your training and orientation process, your supervision, evaluation and feedback practices, your internal communications and so on. Do you see where this new form of thinking is taking you? Right back to the “environment” of your company … an environment that you can effectively manage!
Great Hiring Has a Great Impact or PERFECTION REQUIRES GOOD TIMING
The secret to managing people is in managing their selection. The Cake Walk: suppose you were a renowned baker and you were asked to produce your favorite cake. As a smart “builder of cakes”, you might opt to focus on the tasks that occur before baking. Managing the taste to your liking might center on choosing extraordinary ingredients – excellent eggs, the finest flour, etc. If viewed as a linear process you can see that a perfect step reached early on can have a far greater impact on the outcome than a perfect step achieved at a later stage (i.e. perfect cake slicing can’t fix much in the way of lousy tasting cake, can it?). Compare this concept to your team building and recruitment efforts. Have you ever had a queasy “buyer’s remorse” flash come over you while looking at a new hire. You know … the “What was I thinking?” jolt that hits you while you’re signing a too-fat paycheck for the quickly-hired, sharp-dressed idiot that is standing in front of you with his hand out? How could this person now represent your organization? Questioning your selection process, as well as the gut instinct you relied upon for that hire, at the moment you’re handing over his first paycheck is a great example of late process perfection.
If a strong attempt at perfection is made earlier it becomes elemental. With well-directed recruiting and interviewing (along with reference-checking), the chances of success are increased while the need for later managing is reduced. So, if you agree that Managing People can be a sucker’s bet and that managing your company’s environment is far more feasible because most people are naturally good (P.A.N.G.) then you can now employ a different method which has just two very simple SUPER-RULES (Note – Super Rules are bigger and more important than “regular rules” and, if you break a SUPER-RULE, you will truly suffer the SUPER-CONSEQUENCES – think of “Don’t eat those apples” as a SUPER-RULE):
The Two and Only Two SUPER-RULES of People Management
- You may ONLY HIRE REMARKABLE AND EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE TRAITS that you have correctly identified as ESSENTIAL FOR SUCCESS at every open position within your company.
- You may ONLY HIRE REMARKABLE AND EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE VALUES that you have correctly identified as ESSENTIAL FOR YOUR COMPANY TO THRIVE and attract even more REMARKABLE AND EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE.
Rule #1 is the great search for essential traits. These are individual attributes or qualities of a person’s character that make the candidate who they truly are. You can’t teach traits but if someone has just the right one’s they will shine. Remember, your company is different from every other company on this planet. Make certain that you know what traits are additive. Rule #2 has you hiring only those people who share the essential values of your company. Values are the deeply held beliefs and ideals of a group. Like traits, values can’t be taught but they can be emulated and still genuine. Remember, make sure you know exactly what works and find the people who, literally, drip the right traits and values.
Building this kind of workforce takes patience and an ability to search for things that others have missed.
Yes, REMARKABLE and EXTRAORDINARY people do fit your budget! Many small business owners believe that they don’t have the dollars or the standing to attract high-quality candidates. Wrong. Remarkable people come in all different shapes, sizes, colors and ages – don’t discriminate or put candidates into boxes too quickly. You can learn to ask amazing questions that locate these folks. Don’t presuppose that you know how much money they will need – compensation might be third on their list. Hone your edge! You will have much more than just salary to offer. Very few employers take their time and spend good money on great things to develop a remarkable and extraordinary environment. If you believe in yourself and then share that deep belief in a way that resonates with them – they will be all yours.
