In this blog we are going to talk about the traits that will work well in our doggy park and the traits that won't work well. A previous blog entry talked about how my friend was playing fetch which his doggy, and compared that to my cat who was pretty distant. Instead of talking about strategies to herd cats, this blog focuses on another approach to managing teams, enjoying a doggy park.
Kitty Traits.
As we talked about earlier, the concept of "herding cats" is a very x-theory approach to management. In x-theory management, the core idea is that employees are lazy and will do the bare minimum necessary to get thier paycheck. The vast majority of x-theory management strategies are focused on forcing or tricking employees to improve thier performance. The traits an x-theory expects to find in thier employees are what I call "kitty traits". They are laziness, unwillingness to perform, negative attitude, inability to learn, unwillingness to learn, unwillingness to work with others, arrogance, unwillingness over look past the individual shortcomings of teammates, and a desire to engage in company politics and rumor-mongering.
Now, for you cat lovers out there, you probably think I don't like cats very much! Well, I do like cats, but come on, we all know that a cat-owner is the pet, not the cat. And, you can expect a person with kitty-traits to view the team and their leadership that way. They will often try to "manage-up" instead of just working as a part of the team to achieve team goals. These folks will also engage in politics and rumor mongering in a way that is destructive for the team.
Doggy-Traits.
In Y-Theory management, the core belief is that people are inherently good, and the reason people work is to experience that good feeling they get from a job well done. A Y-theory manager will look at how they can remove obstacles, how they can mentor their teammates, and how they can assist thier team to succeed. But, before you can run a team in a Y-Theory manner, you first have to ensure that the members of your team share a common set of traits, "doggy-traits". These are a strong work-ethic, a desire to perform, a happy attitude, a desire to learn and share information with others, the ability work with others and add to the team, a willingness look past the individual shortcomings of teammates, a friendly spirit of competitiveness, and an unwllingness to engage in rumor mongering or company politics.
When you start staffing your doggy-park, its important in the qualititative interview that you look for indications of doggy and kitty traits. Everyone will exhibit some traits from each of these areas; however, as the interviewer, your job is to identify which they have more of, kitty or doggy traits.
Creativity is a necessary requirement for your doggie park. The next blog will be about hacking our brain to be more creative. And, unlike most of the junk-science folks who talk about creativity, we are going to be basing our creativity exercises on proven scientific studies.
Kitty Traits.
As we talked about earlier, the concept of "herding cats" is a very x-theory approach to management. In x-theory management, the core idea is that employees are lazy and will do the bare minimum necessary to get thier paycheck. The vast majority of x-theory management strategies are focused on forcing or tricking employees to improve thier performance. The traits an x-theory expects to find in thier employees are what I call "kitty traits". They are laziness, unwillingness to perform, negative attitude, inability to learn, unwillingness to learn, unwillingness to work with others, arrogance, unwillingness over look past the individual shortcomings of teammates, and a desire to engage in company politics and rumor-mongering.
Now, for you cat lovers out there, you probably think I don't like cats very much! Well, I do like cats, but come on, we all know that a cat-owner is the pet, not the cat. And, you can expect a person with kitty-traits to view the team and their leadership that way. They will often try to "manage-up" instead of just working as a part of the team to achieve team goals. These folks will also engage in politics and rumor mongering in a way that is destructive for the team.
Doggy-Traits.
In Y-Theory management, the core belief is that people are inherently good, and the reason people work is to experience that good feeling they get from a job well done. A Y-theory manager will look at how they can remove obstacles, how they can mentor their teammates, and how they can assist thier team to succeed. But, before you can run a team in a Y-Theory manner, you first have to ensure that the members of your team share a common set of traits, "doggy-traits". These are a strong work-ethic, a desire to perform, a happy attitude, a desire to learn and share information with others, the ability work with others and add to the team, a willingness look past the individual shortcomings of teammates, a friendly spirit of competitiveness, and an unwllingness to engage in rumor mongering or company politics.
When you start staffing your doggy-park, its important in the qualititative interview that you look for indications of doggy and kitty traits. Everyone will exhibit some traits from each of these areas; however, as the interviewer, your job is to identify which they have more of, kitty or doggy traits.
Creativity is a necessary requirement for your doggie park. The next blog will be about hacking our brain to be more creative. And, unlike most of the junk-science folks who talk about creativity, we are going to be basing our creativity exercises on proven scientific studies.
No comments:
Post a Comment