Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Job Remix


In any work situation people will have things they like to do and things they don't like to do. Over time, and left unchecked - the job will change shape to minimize its less pleasant aspects. After a while - your employee having decided what he doesn't like to do, will have fit his efforts comfortably into the new shape. The original recipe and quite possibly a key ingredient will get tossed aside. I'm not talking about improving a process by reviewing it and making an intentional change. I'm talking about wild weeds taking over our garden. Eventually, it's a mess.

It's management's fault if the employee's naturally occurring task remix erodes the effectiveness of the business. We have to be aware of what's going on, understand what pieces of the process develop resistance, and take steps to keep the original plan intact.

It doesn't mean the reshaping, or remixing of the job description and your business process were done maliciously, or even intentionally. This just happens to be the way it is with us humans. As management, if one of the things you avoid is tending to this issue, you'll end up with everyone performing their own customized (remixed) version of their job. Yes - you are human too. This is often the reason why people fail as managers. How ironic.

No comments: