The story
Our intrepid Cubicle Warrior is charged with completing a technical document so that programmers can program the code to meet the important date needed by the business. It’s a critical document, so says the technical owner, and our Cubicle Warrior is under the gun.
Great first meeting, getting the parameters of the document down. Our Cubicle Warrior goes and works through all that can be worked through without some help on the details. Details like the exact definition of how the reporting numbers are computed. Details like which countries belong to which regions so the regional numbers add up correctly.
When our Cubicle Warrior needs the help from the technical manager, the technical manager is suddenly no longer available. The request to talk to the business — who is, after all, the owner of the reporting — is denied. They are too busy.
Now, if our Cubicle Warrior were an employee, this would be entirely disconcerting. Being shut out like that sends a big message. But, instead, our Cubicle Warrior is a consultant. A consultant specifically brought in to solve this problem by this company. This company that is paying good money for the services of the consultant.
And yet, this priority thing, is apparently not such a priority and time and money can be easily wasted because the company doesn’t have it’s management practices together. Will the business get the reporting by it’s critically important date? No, but apparently that doesn’t matter.
The result
This kind of stuff drives me crazy. The management team says that something is critical, we won’t succeed if we don’t get this done, and then — when you need the help to do the very task asked of you — it is suddenly no longer important.
Managers wonder why there is lack of employee engagement. You could easily start here:
If you want to get a haircut, you have to make time to get a haircut.
Have you ever experienced the “get it done now, critically important” task only to have it die on the vine?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Scot,
Always love the articles here on Cube Rules. You are definitely a “voice in the wilderness” of little square fabric-covered prisons.
I have been with my current company for over 8 years and I’d say I get at least one “hurry up and stop” project every two months. I think a lot of people like to pull a Pontius Pilate and wash their hands of tasks and say they are done when, in reality, they are still a resource to complete the tasks.
Beyond that, the lack of true results management (I am a ROWE junkie!) probably causes most of these deadend projects. They end up being busy work that someone needs done to show something was done to meet a “business initiative” or “personal development” checkpoint. Unfortunately, because such things rarely are quantified to achieve results, they are forgotten over time or actively ignored because the next initiave or checkpoint has already been started. Even when there is obvious value to a project, there may be little incentive to complete it when the attention of higher ups gets focused on something else.
Matt,
Your examples are what I’m talking about. There are times where I think managers are so task oriented that they fail to think through what they are asking people to do. And how long it will take. And whether it really is important to the business.
Yet, the excuse is that “business changes so fast we have to be flexible.” Sure, once every thirty years business moves that fast. But when you can’t plan your day because of the inability of managers to manage, it is no wonder that employees lose their engagement to the work. And ROWE rocks!