There is no Magic Pill.
Interesting response to the Magic Pill post last week. A story to make you think, about effectiveness, work-life balance, and the way you approach your role in your organization.
There is no Magic Pill.
Here is the reality. A manager has responsibility 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Your goals are not minute by minute, hour by hour. You don’t have a shift that ends.
This understanding was not lost on the Oakland Police Department. They measure effectiveness in crime statistics. Their organizational structure was oriented around distinct eight hour shifts and they experienced predictable communication and handoff issues.
Using Elliott Jaques principles in Requisite Organization, “the police department laid out smaller-than-usual precinct-like neighborhood boundaries in the southern third of the city (the area known as East Oakland), with a lieutenant accountable for all police activity in each neighborhood 24 hours a day, instead of one 8-hour shift (as is typical elsewhere). Recorded crime levels in that area rapidly dropped 25 percent.”
Of course, the lieutenant was not in uniform, at HQ 24 hours a day. It’s a different way of seeing the world, understanding that crime does not work in neat 8 hour shifts, and that crime reduction requires a 24 hour orientation.
What are you accountable for, as a manager? How do you become more effective, understanding that you have 24 hour accountability for your goals?
There is no Magic Pill.