Monday, February 11, 2013

Telling the boss what he needs to hear

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Outstanding article on Connecting the Dots

Full article here:
http://seanheritage.com/blog/sixty-day-update/

My favorite part:

3) Stop Sanctioning Incompetence
It is no secret that there is at least one member on our team who is not contributing in meaningful ways.  Whether it’s incompetence, a lack of effort, or a unique combination of the two, we need to address this shortcoming.  Given our growing portfolio of responsibilities, we cannot afford to overlook anyone who is not contributing, we cannot passively endorse their behavior, and we owe it to the rest of the team that is working extremely hard to visibly partner with them to raise the bar.  Working around this individual is hurting our credibility as leaders, fracturing the unity of our team, and negatively impacting morale.  Though it is easy in the short term to work around an individual in the name of accomplishing our tasks, we are overlooking our mandate as leaders to develop those around us.  In a perfect world, our teammates will respond positively as we create specific opportunities for them to contribute, hold them accountable for delivering value to the team, and help them to realize their potential.  Of course, the world is not perfect and we may raise the bar by giving someone reason to join another team that may not have such high standards.  Either way, the bar is raised.

Too often, the bureaucracy of the Navy will tolerate incompetence. It's happy to pass along incompetent people that simply punch a ticket and move to the next job. Doing a poor job, so long as you don't break the rules, is often enough to allow you to stay in.

We need to have a new standard. If you AREN'T contributing, then you're below standards. Just occupying space and a title isn't good enough. Once we adopt this way of thinking, the folks that are simply a drain on resources will be rooted out, and the Navy better as a whole.