Even if it ain't broken, fix it

The authors examine nine widespread corporate beliefs and practices, reveal their flaws, and offer alternative approaches

Nine lies about work
 

A freethinking leader’s guide to the real world
 

Marcus Buckingham & Ashley Goodall
 

Harvard Business Review Press
 

279 pages; Rs 999

A corporation's recruitment, training, evaluation and promotion practices have a far-reaching impact on its employees. Over the years, however, many of them become ossified, as they begin to be treated as settled truths. But examine them closely, say the authors of this insightful book, and you find that they have become divorced from reality. Far from boosting productivity, they have turned into hindrances. The authors examine nine such widespread corporate beliefs and practices, reveal their flaws, and offer alternative approaches. 

Consider the belief that people care which company they work for. Companies tout their pay packages, perks, facilities, and leave policies to attract talent. In the authors’ opinion, these are just plumage. Once in, how long a person stays at a company is far more likely to be determined by the environment within her team. Next time you think of joining a company, make a few discreet enquiries about the team you are likely to join. For team leaders this presents an opportunity. While they cannot influence their company’s policies on big issues, it is within their power to create a conducive environment within their team. 

The authors then scrutinise the notion that the best plan always wins. The reality, they say, is that in a rapidly-changing world most plans become obsolete by the time they are ready. Instead of a planning system, they suggest, companies today need to create intelligence systems, which gather the latest and most useful information and disseminate it rapidly and widely to those on the frontlines. Then leave it to the initiative of those in the fray to act on that information. 

The authors next train their microscope on the belief that the best people are well-rounded. Well, try telling Lionel Messi that. He is predominantly left-footed. No coach would dream of asking Messi to reduce his dependence on his left foot. But companies demand precisely that of their employees. They use the competency model, which consists of a list of attributes the ideal employee should possess. Each employee is measured against those competencies. Those with a low score on any one of them are asked to shape up.  

The underlying belief here is that well-rounded people are better. In the real world, the authors argue, each person is unique. Growth comes from figuring out the areas where your maximum ability lies and harnessing them to create the most impact. That should be a person’s priority, instead of spending his energies pulling himself up in all those areas where he is weak. Instead of asking team members to conform to a theoretical ideal, team leaders should assign them tasks that match their strengths. 

The book’s most inspiring chapter is the one that examines the belief that work-life balance matters the most. The widely-held assumption is that work is toil. It stresses us out. Unless we are careful, it could lead to physical exhaustion, depression, and burnout. Hence, we need life to rejuvenate ourselves. 

A survey by the Mayo Clinic found that 52 per cent of physicians are burnt out, and 15 per cent suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, higher than the level even among war veterans. But then the authors came across Miles, a UK-based anaesthesiologist who says he absolutely loves the stress of keeping a patient hovering between life and death. A person under anaesthesia is never stable. His consciousness keeps bobbing up and down, and the anaesthetist’s job is to keep him as stable as he can. It is like flying a plane--one wrong move could send it into a deathly downward spiral. But Miles says this stress is what gets his adrenaline pumping. 

The authors suggest that more than striving for work-life balance, finding love-in-work is what should matter most. The Mayo Clinic study found that physicians who reported spending at least 20 per cent of their time doing things they love had dramatically lower risk of burnout. The authors suggest the following exercise. Take a pad around with you at work for a week. Create a column for "loved it" and another for "loathed it". Once the exercise is over, next week onward try adding more of the activities you love to your workday. If you can spend more than 20 per cent of your time on such activities, you will feel stronger, perform better, and bounce back faster. For team leaders the opportunity lies in helping team members identify such activities.  

Some of what the authors suggest may sound idealistic. The real life work place is cut-throat. Will any of these idealistic nostrums work there? Robert Browning wrote that a man’s reach must exceed his grasp. If you are a team leader, read the book and try out what it prescribes. At the worst you will fail and be back to square one. But if you succeed you will gain a reputation for being a benevolent boss whom everyone will compete to work for.