Prosperity at All Costs
by Zoltán Dankó
Future-Proof Organization Practitioner -- Human leadership fuels high performance. If you have open mind, I help add open culture to leverage open-source - Change is risk: doing the same leads nowhere. Let's move on!
In 1989 the Partnair flight fell apart midair and crushed off the coast of Denmark. The investigation uncovered upsetting causes that led to the deadly accident. Three of the screws that fixated the tail of the aircraft to the main structure were bogus. The investigation proved that at least 40% of aircraft parts in suppliers' stores just seemed to be like the originals. Many bogus parts were found, even in the Air Force One.
The story of this accident made me reflect on why corporate organizations struggle to find the right path between PR success and real prosperity. Of course, there are many reasons why it is so challenging to lead a company, especially a humanistic organization. Let us start with the innovation. On paper, an innovative spirit is expected from employees. The higher we go in the hierarchy, the thicker the smoke will be, the more vital innovation spirit must be pretended.
A company is measured on profit. The measure of the leaders of how and how much bonus they get. Now, if a leader can push the costs down, a higher premium will be paid. This motivation, combined with the degree of personality development of the leader, can turn events into catastrophe. They don't care about the employees; a quick replacement would resolve if someone burned out. Since managers have not been measured by their destruction quotient, profit overrides other aspects completely. (For this topic, see more here: The Measure of Humanity)
I would agree with the statement: if you choose to do something, then do it wholeheartedly. However, mediocre activity does not make any sense. First, I define the word mediocre how I will use it here to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding. Mediocre action means that not all the effort will be put in during the activity, and consequently, the success won't be achieved either. Therefore, success and results are of less importance.
Despite the severe communication efforts by the individual that total energy burned, the fact would be inevitably obvious. A mediocre individual can be identified if we see someone stating with steely determination what is aimed at. However, a closer look will immediately prove that it just sounds impressive, though it is not in reality. The individual pretended to go for success, but the individual carefully made calculations to avoid any risk-taking.
A mediocre individual should not be regarded as an evil person. On the contrary, this individual follows a straightforward imperative: to exist and survive. We should not underestimate this struggle since we all care about it. The only thing we might object to is the clean transactional deal between the employee and the company—money for work. Now, we have arrived at the fundamental conflict. Top managers expect superhuman effort to get their bonus. Employees make do with stick and carrot.
In the middle of daily jungle fights at the company, employees have been overwhelmed by dark and graving fears of getting fired, which won't allow them to think about innovation. Even more, managers feel delighted only if employees do the same – faster. So how could these individuals take more risks?
Sometimes miracle happens. Employees find the time to think and get ideas. Either just for fun or because deadly bored of monotony. Specific processes could follow a different route. They could save time and resources for the company. I hear you're saying they deserve the rewards, right?
No. In our fictional world, these employees have mediocre managers. Employees and managers are alike in the struggle for existence. They are also common in their fears. The origin of their fears is, though, of diverse nature. Our manager is afraid of losing the chair, the position label, which provides a portion of power and a decent bonus arriving on time. Remember the unimaginable amount of stress caused by hiding a barren mind, feeling envy of subordinates if they can come up with ideas. Such ideas could mean promotion – for the manager. Promotion means a bigger bonus.
What can our mediocre manager do in this fearful situation?
Years of heavy corporate fights trained our manager on how to fight back. He knows best how to protect his chair. He scolds the employee, let's call him Fred, how he can be such a poor mind. The manager expects and demands a more thorough assessment from Fred. At the same time, our manager reports to his manager what a great idea could be to change the normal processes to gain the benefits: saving time and increasing profit.
To the surprise of Fred, within a brief time, the management announces the divine inspiration: the same idea which originally came from Fred. Great ideas don't go alone. Our manager, of course, gets the promotion and proper bonus. If Fred dared to ask our mediocre manager how to compensate him for the idea, it would unleash hell's fire. So the manager, fueled by fear and anger, figures out a creative retaliation. Fred obtains more tasks, shorter deadlines. The mediocre manager turns yellow of jealousy; he distributes well-proportioned disinformation about Fred. He lets go of lies around from different sources that no one suspects what is going on.
Our mediocre manager feels invigorated. Eventually a task, he can dedicate himself to it completely. He carefully goes on tour and asks the colleagues about Fred what they suspect, how he could help Fred get back onto the right path.
Poor Fred notices strange faces. Colleagues who trusted him had been converted to enemies. Former friends whisper secret words to each other. They shake their heads and feel sorrow about the course of the events. Finally, some of them came up with the idea that Fred should talk to his boss and apologize immediately. Everything will be okay again, eventually.
The mediocre manager looks around with great satisfaction. He managed to bring together the colleagues. But, day in, day out, the air runs short around Fred. The manager has been waiting for what Fred might decide to do. Either he apologizes, or he quits. Both ways, the colleagues, will learn the lesson. The only person who can have innovative ideas is the mediocre manager. Since his unfruitful minds are deprived of ideas, so it has been accomplished; nothing will change ever. Just this case: Fred. Hopefully, he won't decide to hang his head and stay. In this case, he may come up with another idea.
The mediocre manager has discussed the issue with his mediocre manager colleagues. They agreed that Fred's behavior was completely inappropriate. They confirmed and strengthened their pact that they would support each other in the fight. If a scary innovative idea may turn up, they defeat it unmerciful.
Peace and calm have waved in the company. Years have gone by until the next anomaly happened. Fortunately, internal regulations worked again perfectly. The issue has been resolved in days.
Uniformity prevailed without disturbance. Poisoned souls have lived their monotonous lives: no more humans, but just ghosts.
