Most Times Good Management Is “B-o-r-r-ring”!

By Rod Collins

 

Our picture of business leaders is influenced to some extent by the stereotypes continually reinforced by the mainstream media, who are especially fond of celebrity leaders because they often make for great entertainment. Unfortunately, entertaining leaders are prone to creating a great deal of consternation and confusion – a point that was poignantly brought home during a week-long management training course I attended several years ago.

At one point in the training, the instructor divided the class into two groups to complete the task of ranking a list of items in the order of their importance to the accomplishment of a prescribed mission. Each group was videotaped as they worked the exercise in separate breakout rooms. When we reassembled in the main training room, we weren’t long into the playing of the first recording before we were doubled over with laughter. The numerous attempts by an overbearing leader to take control and the jockeying for dominance by the different members of the group played out like a “Saturday Night Live” skit. Amazingly, despite their continual conflicts, the group somehow managed to complete the task while providing the class with a recorded vignette that was a truly entertaining experience.

When the laughter subsided, the instructor cued up the second recording. The leader of the second group opened the discussion by suggesting a process the team might use to complete the task. After several modifications by the group members, they proceeded to employ their agreed upon method and collaboratively began ranking the items. When the group was about half way through the list, the instructor paused the recording and asked the class, “What do you think?” After a couple of seconds, one person responded, “B-o-r-r-ring!” The instructor then turned to one of the members of this second group and asked her, “How were you feeling when you were working on this task?” She responded, “I was feeling pretty good. People were engaged and listening to each other, and we were getting the job done.” The instructor then asked one of participants of the entertaining first group the same question. He replied, “I know it was funny to watch us, but I was feeling awful while we were working on this. People were competing, not listening to each other, and talking over one another. I didn’t like it.” After a thoughtful pause, the instructor pointed out, “I think that we’re watching an important management lesson here. Good management is not very entertaining to the outside observer, but it feels good for the participants. Likewise, when management isn’t working well, it’s often more entertaining to the outside observer than it is for the participants.

Good management, unfortunately, doesn’t make it to the popular media because it has no entertainment value. The media prefers conflict and competition mixed in with a little dysfunctionality. The Apprentice, for example, would not have been a popular show if, week after week, we watched the participants discover new ways to achieve harmony and collaboration. People tuned in to see who as bickering with whom and to find out who was getting “fired” at the end of the hour. While shows like The Apprentice are indeed entertaining, they aren’t entirely representative of the way businesses, especially well-run businesses, work. Most times good management is “B-o-r-r-ring”!

 

Rod Collins is Director of Innovation at Optimity Advisors and author of the upcoming book, Wiki Management: A Revolutionary New Model for a Rapidly Changing and Collaborative World (AMACOM Books, November 1, 2013)