One of your many challenges as a manager is determining who on your team has the capacity to be effective in their current role or an open position they want to take.
In Traction, capacity is the last measurable in the GWC equation and is defined this way: “Capacity means having the time as well as the mental, physical, and emotional capacity to do a job well.”
You have probably heard the saying: “fly by the seat of your pants.” You can actually fly a plane by “feel,” but not when visual references are gone (i.e., flying through clouds).
Prior to entering the clouds, every pilot is taught to reference their instruments and ignore what’s going on outside the window. Simply put, our body indicators are not capable of providing accurate feedback with the absence of visual references. Trusting your instinct at this point could be deadly.
Seth Godin wrote a post recently called “The Illusion of Control.” As with all Seth’s posts, it prompts great thoughts.
The gist of the post is that we delude ourselves when we tell each other, tell our children, tell our employees, tell our management team that we have control over the future. We don’t. Plain and simple.
All we can control are our actions. The things we choose to do. If we choose wisely, we can greatly influence the future. But that is all. Just like with your cholesterol. What you eat will influence whether your bad cholesterol goes up or down. Not what the exact number is. And exercise, of course.
Ever seen a diagram of a football play? Players are represented by X’s and O’s, and their movements and responsibilities are specifically and carefully detailed — block this guy, run this direction, throw the ball there. When everyone executes, the play is successful. Run enough successful plays and you win the game. Win enough games and you have a successful season.
Seth Godin told us in his book Purple Cow that marketing is that outstanding product or service which gets people talking about you. I was reminded of that the other day when my wife and I ate at Not Your Average Joe’s restaurant for the first time. The owner, Steve Silverstein, has created a business casual experience at blue jeans pricing with from scratch foods and value priced wines. It’s home base is in greater Boston (15 locations) and it’s Glen Mills, PA location, where we ate, is it’s first in Pennsylvania.
While reviewing the company scorecard during a Level 10 Meeting, a member of the leadership team asked that two items be dropped to the Issues List. Both were related to revenue and had been off track for more than one week. When the issue came up during the resulting “IDS” portion of the meeting, several people tried to downplay the issue pointing to bad weather, increased competition, market pressure – even calling the person who raised the issue a pessimist and naysayer. “Well”, said the naysayer, “facts are facts, and we should understand what’s really going on here.”
