The Idiot in the BS-Machine
0.02%
I remember it vividly, I was in a sales leadership meeting a few years ago. I was sitting there with my peers and the leader of the group went around the room to inquire about the state of each business.
Is was my turn, I explained what happened in the business over the last week, gave context to the numbers and provided a forecast for the next week.
The leader then made a crunched up face and asked me “What about this metric!? - It seems to have shrunk 0.02% week over week - What is happening here!?”
Now for context - this metric has nothing to do with how successful, happy or stable our business is. It has nothing to do with how much our clients succeed. It’s a purely internal metric that someone came up with as an ‘indicator of growth’. Likely someone who has no clue what our clients even expect from us. 0.02%
If in doubt, make a spreadsheet
I answered with a question “Why does it matter!?” And was then promptly tasked to have my team fill out a spreadsheet with every single client in our portfolio to analyse how we could raise this (totally meaningless) metric for next weeks meeting.
Rather than focussing on building a strong and resilient business, we were tasked with busywork, so that my superior could report to their superior how well we were doing on a list of bs metrics. So that their superior could report it to their superiors.
That’s when it hit me: THAT IS MY LIFE NOW! I am a well paid idiot who reports weekly on bs-metrics so that some bs-machine keeps spinning. Do I really want to do this for another 20.. maybe 25 years!?
I can’t do this any longer
It started eating me up. At first in very subtle ways. Feeling of dread for these type of meetings. Feeling of dread for certain days of the week. Certain people. Certain questions.
Don’t get me wrong, I am happy to be challenged. I am happy to find my place in a hierarchy. I am happy to play along - but it has to make sense. It has to mean something. It needs some sort of purpose. I ended up leaving.
In my daily work, I get to work with folks from a variety of backgrounds and the themes are eerily similar. No matter whether in Japan, Singapore, Ireland, USA or Germany. People are tasked with bs-work all over the place to keep the bs-machines spinning.
It got me thinking - could it work any differently?
The solution is not complicated
That’s when I remembered my early days at Google in 2012. What was particularly interesting about working there at that time was this: You were given a big goal. Sometimes stress inducing, hairy, audacious and really bold.
However the path there was largely left to your creativity. I felt like the mantra was this: “Here’s a big f*ing goal, it definitely won’t be easy. Figure out how to get there! Let us know how we can help.”
Notice the pattern:
- big hairy, interesting goal = purpose
- figure out how to get there = autonomy and trust
- Let us know how we can help = support and more trust
Today this has been forgotten in many organisations. The meaningful, supportive, creative and autonomous work has been replaced with micromanaged tasks. Like a modern era-digital production line. One screw at a time. No purpose, no trust, no autonomy and very limited support. Henry Ford would be proud.
As a result, smart, ambitious and driven people lose their spark. They end up quiet-quitting or leaving altogether.
It starts with Leadership
It does not have to be this way. Change is possible and it starts with leaders who must learn to lead again. Leadership is not about obsessing over bs-metris or micromanaging tasks. It is about setting a vision, empowering and inspiring their teams, fostering an environment where meaningful work thrives, where smart collaboration is celebrated!
Sure, it’s not the easy path. It may even take longer to really get the machine well oiled and humming. You may get a few perks along the way though: A creative, innovative, resilient organisation with people who respect each other and drive each other to peak performance. People may even have fun at work and may look forward to spending a couple of days in the office. Imagine that! Worth it? You decide.