Category Archives: Business Book

Destructive Internal Competition

Work cooperatively with others for the company’s welfare and not just your own

This week is the final post in the series where we look at why there is a gap between knowing and doing something in business.

Competition within and between businesses is widely thought to be a good thing.  It is widely thought to promote innovation, efficiency and higher levels of organisational performance.  It is a zero sum game where we have winners and losers and the winner takes all type thinking.  I can just imagine Donald Trump in the apprentice pointing his finger at me saying “your fired!”.

The problem with this type of zero-sum winners and losers type thinking is that it focuses on individuals while at the same time undermining teams.  Where people are rewarded for their individual performance this goes against the idea of sharing information so that best practices are shared.  Competition for rewards and status undermines knowledge sharing.  The type of thinking: “I am not going to help the next guy – he is my competitor for a bonus”.  Competition between units within the organisation can also undermine sharing of knowledge which will benefit the whole organisation.

One of the best ways to overcome too much internal competition is to reinforce a common organisational identity by highlighting external threats and enemies.  Workers should be able to work cooperatively for the overall organisation’s benefit and these workers who put the organisation’s welfare ahead of their own should be rewarded.

In summary, team work skills and skills around building groups where members cooperate, share information and help each other are vital skills needed to make any business or organisation successful.

Ref: ‘The Knowing-Doing Gap – How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton. Harvard Business School Press, 2000

Measurement that Creates Problems

“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”

Albert Einstein

This week we continue our look at the knowing-doing gap and how it relates to our personal lives and not just to businesses.

Measures need to be about developing knowledge and turning knowledge into action. Measures by their nature focus attention.   There is an old saying that what gets measured gets done and what is not measured gets ignored.  We have to be very careful therefore what we measure. For example in business if there is a quarterly focus on results then this will divert the focus away from long term results to short tern actions.  Another problem with measurements is that they can become too complicated.   Remember to Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS).  If you are trying to measure too many things at once (e.g. performance indicators) then people cannot focus and are likely to give up.  Measurement systems need to be simple enough to focus attention on key elements and also be objective.   Attention also needs to focus on in-process measurements and not on outcomes.  If I am sitting for exams I should not focus on the final results but focus on how many hours of study I did today (that is an in-process measurement).   Focusing on in-process measures of performance is much less stressful.   Measures should also not be fixed in stone – they need to evolve and be refined depending on the needs of the business.

So what can we learn?

What can we learn to apply in your own life?  How do you measure your own performance?  Choose carefully what you measure because that is where your attention will be.   Keep it simple – if its too complicated you will likely give up.   An example is writing three key things to get done today and doing them.  That is simple and actionable.  Focus on what you can do today because you can only live in today.  Make each day great and you will have a great life!  These are your in-process measurements of performance – your inputs today.  If you are writing a book don’t focus on having the book written by X date.  Focus on how many pages you will write everyday.  Don’t focus on the outcomes (the book).  Finally is what you are measuring serving you?  If not change what you are measuring.  Your weekly AAR (After Action Review) is a good time to reflect on that question.

Next Week:  When internal competition turns friends into enemies.

Ref: ‘The Knowing-Doing Gap – How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton. Harvard Business School Press, 2000