Bulldozer00's Blog

Assume that you’re on the third level or higher in a hierarchical corporate (dis)organization. If you want to know what’s really going on so that you can take action to keep improving the org’s performance, ask the people below you, one level removed. Do it frequently, and do it periodically. If you have lots of people that indirectly report to you two levels down, you could listen to their inputs in small groups or, even better, randomly pick a different person every week to listen to.

Why should you do this? Since you hand-picked your direct reports and you directly control their salaries, they’ll naturally tend to distort the truth if it makes them or you look bad. You’ll tend to unquestioningly believe them just so you can continue to feel warm and fuzzy inside. If you don’t have a machismo culture of fear that hierarchical structures auto-instill into the lower segments of the org, then at least some of the courageous people two levels down will tell you the truth as they see it. Otherwise, they won’t tell you anything of substance, so don’t waste your time trying to find out the true state of things.

Why don’t most managers frequently survey those people one level removed? Because as one rises up the corpo ladder: they usually get lazier, they get disconnected from the real work that creates and sustains value, and their head expands. Bummer.

“The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded that you don’t care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” – Karl Popper