We had an enthusiastic pile-on to yesterday’s question from the Ask Tom mailbag. It was kicked off by a response from Michelle Malay Carter. Michelle is one of the principles of a company called Peoplefit. You can read more from Michelle at Mission Minded Management. My thanks to all those who posted yesterday.
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So, I am in Cincinnati this morning. Cold up here for a Florida boy. Working with 50 managers from a company interested in the research of Elliott Jaques. I am often asked, “What is your workshop about?”
Elliott’s research spanned more than 50 years exploring the notion that each of us has an innate capability to handle varying degrees of complexity, in both our personal and business lives.
We, as Managers, have an intuitive sense about this capability, especially in others. Yet, we have no language to talk about it, nor a way to measure it.
- Charlie has a post-it note mentality.
- Sally just doesn’t get it.
- Sam is in over his head.
- George is in the weeds.
When I say these things, you know exactly what I mean. Yet these descriptions don’t help us pinpoint a person’s capability. Elliott’s research gives us that language and defines the scientific measuring stick. Tomorrow, I will talk more about its application in the workplace. -TF