Elizabeth,
You suggest, "If you have an organization that fits the 'so-called' bell
curve with a small percent of outstanding performers, many average
performers and a small percent of "bad" performers, The focus should not
be on the individuals but on the process."
There's another place I'd like to put at least a little bit of focus, at
least temporarily: on the measurement. What specifically is the
measurement measuring? What meanings do we make from our measurements?
What other interpretations are possible? What significance do we attach
the results? Does this measurement measure something that is essential
for ALL employees to be, do, create, or have? How does the measure
distort our perception? How does it distort people's behavior? What
messages are being sent by our measurement of this? What important
qualities are we not measuring? What messages are being sent by our not
measuring them? What important qualities might the "bad" performers have
that we aren't measuring? How could we learn to use and appreciate those
qualities? How are the "bad" performers evaluating themselves?
My boss once asked me about someone in my group who he thought was a
marginal contributor, and who worked "only" 40 hours per week. "Is he
worth what we're paying him?" I told him that though Jeff perhaps was
producing less software than others in the group, it was his personality
and cheerfulness that made the rest of us want to come to work every day.
Robert Bacal said, "No bad managers, no bad employees, only bad systems."
(I don't have Robert's original message, so I'm tagging my reply on here.)
How about this: No bad managers, no bad employees, no bad systems -- only
managers, employees and systems behaving in ways that where appropriate to
another time and place.
Dale
--Dale H. Emery | 27 Tall Pine Road Consultant | Berwick, ME 03901 Relationship and Communication | (207) 698-1650 For Successful Organizations | 72704.1550@compuserve.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>