|
Accountability is all about what is measured.
In
reality, you measure what is easily quantified. You reward what is
measured. You get what you reward. So, you get what is easily
quantified. There is something VERY wrong with that.
What
happens when something very important is difficult to measure? Well,
let’s think about that. Let’s look at old Soviet Russia, two factories
making cars. The Kremlin has decided that production is low, so they
measure the success of each factory manager on how many cars his factory
produces. One manager brings on a lot of extra employees (which makes
the local town folks happy!) and cranks out bunches of cars with no
regard for quality. The other manager encourages his employees to work
more efficiently and take pride in the quality of the cars they build.
Which manager do you think gets put in charge of all of the
manufacturing for the whole country – the one using tons of labor to
produce lots of cars that don’t run, or the manager with higher
productivity and great quality? What was the easy measure? Volume.
What got ignored? Productivity and quality!
Sure,
that would never happen in the real world…not here, in the USA….not at
your company! So, why is it that someone is more likely to get fired
for showing up late 15 times and working hard all day than they are for
showing up punctually every day and doing a marginal job? On the left
side put all of the employees given raises for going a year without
getting fired – on the right side put all of the employees given raises
for doing superior work – which side has the most employees?
There
is something very wrong with this.
|
