Kanban to the rescue!

Why do managers sometimes make such odd decisions, and why do employees become disengaged? Yves Morieux of the Boston Consulting Group has some insights in this TED talk. Stop the video at just after eight minutes. You won't need to see any more if don't follow the first of his ‘Six Simple Rules’.

Yves Morieux

That first rule is understand what your people do. Not their official job description, but the actual processes. Without this deep understanding, what good are the other rules? How could a manager help her employees improve if she doesn't appreciate their viewpoint? 

Of course, you say. This makes perfect sense, and the solution is straightforward. Create a safe, private environment and take as much time as you need. Turn the lights down. Talk with your people. Get them to open up without fear of bad consequences. Invoke the spirit of Carl Rogers if that helps. 

Although sensible, this advice misses some important realities. It's far less helpful than it appears, and it’s a gamble whether it would help or harm. But how could this be? Isn't this the standard advice given to managers?

Behavioral economics makes a sharp distinction between stated preferences and revealed behavior. The former is what people tell you they do. The latter is what they actually do, and there’s often a wide gap between them. Moreover, employees aren’t covering up the unsavory details. They might not be so aware of what they do, nor how they do it. At least not in as much detail as either of you assume. You’re asking for trouble if you take them at their word. Ask Timothy Wilson. He wrote the book(s) on just this sort of thing. 

Kanban is more than stickies on a whiteboard!

That’s where kanban comes in. It’s a tool you can use to fulfill Morieux’s first rule. Kanban has a first rule too, and it’s visualize your work. Doing this can be quite an eye opener. So ask someone to do this. Get a stack of sticky notes and a marker. What are all the steps involved in their job?  Write them all down, then arrange them from left to right on a white board. Does this resemble what’s in their official job description? Next ask them to explain how a recent project followed only these steps. Any inconsistencies?  Don't forget to ask how things moved between each step. Did it involve handoffs to others? Waiting for others to hand it back to you?  You’ll discover the hidden wellspring of much employee frustration, mediocrity, and disengagement. 

Morieux has that first step correct all right, but it's not so easy! It's the age old question of how do you know that? If employees don’t quite understand their own work, managers are flying blind. Only they don't know it. That misinformation will result in damaging but well intentioned decisions. Managers and employees alike become angry and frustrated. The cycle of disengagement and nonperformance takes another downward turn. And so on.