Considering the state of the economy and the unrelenting news about high unemployment I’ve been quite surprised to encounter a number of people who are either quitting their jobs or in process of finding a new position before they quit. What is even more interesting about this situation is the consistency of reasons given for leaving and the theme that has emerged – managing for the status quo. In the midst of a bad economy when most businesses have their backs up against the wall, many mid and high level managers are not looking for innovative solutions to improve their business – they are clinging to the status quo trying to get ahead on the backs of their employees and at the expense of the business.

The theme sounds like this:
• Senior VP X is focused solely on a promotion to EVP but refuses to acknowledge innovative opportunities presented to him that could actually facilitate his chances of that promotion for fear of rocking the boat
• Manager Y rejects every suggestion brought to her – she seems beaten down and gets frustrated when recommendations for improvement are brought forth
• It’s obvious to the whole team what needs to be done but no one above them wants to hear it – collaboration and engagement are resented and rejected out of hand
• Staff is continually told they need to work smarter but management won’t entertain any proposals for ways to do so – which is interspersed with ‘just be glad you’ve got a job’ and threats of downsizing and demands to increase productivity and customer satisfaction
• ‘Seat warmers’ are ignored while other staff members are expected to put in more hours to make up for their lack of productivity
• Management just doesn’t get it – it’s like they want the organization/business to fail

When you’re managing for the status quo rather than results you are locked in a dysfunctional perspective of your business as well as of your role and responsibilities. That perspective is so skewed and so narrow that it only sees what’s in it for you and is colored with beliefs like: same problems, different day; this is the way we’ve always done it; nothing will ever really change so it pays to go with the flow and not rock the boat – and, if I can just keep my head down (and my people quiet) long enough to live through this I will be rewarded. Internal politics rule the day and ruins the business.

A terrific quote attributed to the late, great Satchel Paige sums this up pretty well – “It’s not what you don’t know that hurts you, it what you think that just ain’t so.”

These managers are destroying morale, killing innovative ideas in their cribs and just plain wearing people down. This results in lower productivity, poor customer service and decreasing profits. Your best and brightest – mid-level managers and highly performing staff members – are polishing their resumes and using vacation days to interview elsewhere. Soon you’ll be left with the people who are there only because they are too afraid to leave the known or too comfy warming that seat everyday because it’s all they have to do to collect a paycheck.

This is a wake-up call. If a copy of this article lands on your desk, take note. It’s time for a shift in perspective – to resuscitate your confidence, passion, character and integrity. It’s time to do the job you were hired to do – manage. Leadership means you have a responsibility for making your business successful. Engage and empower your staff – listen to them, seek out best solutions, look for innovative ideas, communicate and motivate and support your people, manage for results not the status quo.

Fortune Magazine ranks NetApp as the number 1 best company to work for in 2009 and asks the question, “What makes it so great?” The partial answer: Employee enthusiasm for the legendary egalitarian culture helped catapult NetApp to No. 1 after six years on our list. Typical of its down-to-earth management ethos, NetApp early on ditched a travel policy a dozen pages long in favor of this maxim: “We are a frugal company. But don’t show up dog-tired to save a few bucks. Use your common sense.” Rather than business plans, many units write “future histories,” imagining where their business will be a year or two out.

One dozen pages on travel policy alone tossed out and replaced by three sentences that include the radical concept of ‘common sense’! As a business consultant who is passionate about common sense business practices, policies and processes I’m considering some travel of my own to Sunnyvale, California to meet with NetApp and see their common sense in action.

Common sense seems to be in short supply. Most companies are focused more on rules than results. Take the case of a leading global financial services firm that has a local office staffed with 80 underwriters in their home loan division. Currently each of those 80 underwriters has between 150 and 240 mortgages in their queue each morning. To put this in perspective, the most highly skilled and experienced underwriter can ‘decision’ (AKA approve/decline) 8 to 10 loans per day. Day in, day out, week after week, this group comes to work knowing they can barely make a dent in the ever growing backlog.

This is obviously a challenge for the company and its employees – but there’s more. New underwriting guidelines have been flowing into the system all year long. This impacts not only the underwriters but the processors who prepare the mortgage packages and the originators. The company has also initiated mandatory training and a new quality initiative as well as rolling out a new (and de-motivating) incentive plan for the underwriters. New rules were put in place that severely restricted overtime and the ability to take work home as well. At the same time the stress is building, the company froze salaries at the beginning of the year and those who questioned it were told to ‘just be glad you’ve got a job’!

The company wants results but is focused on rules. This is typical fear based reactionary management – instead of relaxing your grip you hold on tighter. You put more rules in place trying to control the situation. When people feel overwhelmed, out of control or threatened they forget the first rule in all emergencies – stop, take a deep breath. The answers are all there but you can’t see them when you’ve got a death grip on ‘the rules’.

Within every crisis lie the seeds of opportunity and most people only become aware of that opportunity when their backs are against the wall. Fear is actually a great motivator – you must creatively adapt to survive. When this company can step back and get some perspective – and I can recommend a great business consultant to facilitate that shift – they’ll find they are surrounded by opportunities. The answers are right in front of them – they just can’t see them for the fear – and another rule is not one of the answers. It’s time to focus on results from an entirely different perspective.

Shift the perspective to engaging and empowering the staff to collaborate in ‘owning’ the creation of best practices and processes to create a results driven business. Companies hire people for their knowledge, skills, creativity and enthusiasm. If they then put them into an environment that’s counterproductive – siphoning off only the knowledge they want and squelching creativity and slowly eroding enthusiasm by tightening the rules noose, everyone loses. You cannot be an innovative company if you are not innovative in your business practices, processes and policies.

Unless your company makes and sells rules and is profitable at it – it’s time to focus on results. When you start focusing on results and incorporate common sense, you are on a winning and profitable path.