Giving and Earning 300% Credit

The awful boss that is often spoken of who steals his employees ideas, robs them of recognition for accomplishments and hard work, and passes the blame for failure is the poster child of bad management.  I support a view point that is often brushed off by colleagues as too radical but in reality it is quite simple to believe, follow and implement.

First we must agree on what is management?  What is it really?  I prefer the view point of Drucker who clearly expressed that management is getting someone to do more than they ordinarily would on their own.   Not radical by any means.  If workers could organize themselves and accomplish a yield of X, then clearly adding professional management should yield an output greater than X.  If the yield is equal to or less than X, then the presence of management did not create value to cover their own cost.    Agreed?  Management is getting workers to produce a greater output than they ordinarily would.  Simple concept.

When an employee or work team accomplishes something great under your supervision you can confidently give them credit and praise, they earned it.  This is giving the workers 100% of the credit.  Yes, 100%.   Now, since you are such talented management these workers accomplished this fabulous achievement under your direction, leadership and managerial prowess.  Your boss then aptly gives you 100% credit, good job.  We have now given out 200% credit for the same accomplishment.  Your boss can then take this same accomplishment to his superior and point out how well you (100%), your team (100%) and himself (100%) have done with this accomplishment.  You achieved this accomplishment only because your boss provided you with such great management so he too gets 100% credit for the accomplishment.   The management chain and the line work all share equally in the accomplishment for each has contributed to the overall success of the organization.  300% credit can be shared for the accomplishment and each is built up for the success.

The same holds true with failures.  If a line worker fails to deliver the results expected it is not merely a failure of his, but also a failure of the management structure above him for allowing it to happen.  It is also a 300% failure for the organization.  When an employee fails management did not do its role of getting that employee to deliver results greater than they ordinarily would.

The only way this concept can be accepted is to first accept the role of management is to engage a workforce and have them achieve more than they ordinarily would on their own.  With this perspective you can spend your time building people up as their accomplishments are yours and the organizations.  It is far more productive to build up than it is to tear down trying to take credit for someone else’s efforts.