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> Where Technology Fails

We’ve hired the best people for the jobs.  We have good products and plans but we keep falling behind.  Our product introductions seem to be a little too late and frequently miss the marketing projections.  Although we have good products, plans and processes it appears that everyone is not pulling together to meet our goals.

Does this scenario sound familiar?  It is not an uncommon occurrence in today’s business world, particularly for technology-based companies.  We rely heavily on product and service technology to help position our businesses for the best competitive advantages, yet many companies, despite superior technology, fall behind their competition when it comes to executing their plans.  So, what goes wrong?

It is my belief that we rely on technology for many of the wrong things.  Technology provides us outstanding new products and services and many companies have pursued technological advances to produce outstanding new products and services and to become world-class leaders; and some have been gobbled up by their competition.  What makes the difference?  The difference lies in the approach to technology and problem solving.  And guess what?  Not all problems have a technical solution.  This discovery often eludes many of the brightest technical minds.  This is particularly evident when it comes to leadership and management in the technical environment.

Many times we promote the brightest technical minds to leadership based on their outstanding technical accomplishments.  So now that wonderful technical mind not only has to worry about his or her own technical achievement but also how to lead others in the same direction.

So where do supervisors and managers get the knowledge necessary to fulfill their leadership roles?  It is estimated that fewer than 20% of managers and supervisors receive any formal training in management and supervision.  A recent management study found that 75% of senior managers lack the necessary people skills to be effective in the jobs.  In most cases managers and supervisors approach leadership by trial and error, and the errors can be disastrous and costly.  Consider the costs to and organization due to attrition.  Management studies have found that the single highest cause for employee attrition is not compensation, or the lack of challenging job assignments; it is dissatisfaction due to poor management and leadership.  Consider also the costs associated with poor communication (delays, customer returns, missed deadlines etc.) which are primary function of management and leadership.

Now, there is nothing that says that a good technical mind cannot also be capable of good leadership practices, and there are many examples of people who possess both capabilities.  Those people frequently rise to the top levels of their companies or industries, very often without realizing that it was their leadership ability rather than their technical ability that got them there.  So if the cream naturally rises to the top, what happens to rest?  What becomes with those who have not naturally developed their management and leadership abilities, but are still promoted based on their technical ability?  As you might guess, they continue to make mistakes that cause their companies considerable waste of resources.

So what can be done to avoid this waste?  Do we have to live with ineffective leadership in order to capitalize on technical acumen? Of course not!  We have often heard the paradigm of the “Born Leader”, but this is just a myth.  As an example; think of someone who you recognize as a good leader.  Now list four or five qualities that that person possesses which make him or her a good leader.  Now, consider how many of these characteristics was that person born with and how many were learned or developed.  I think you will find that with the possible exception of intelligence, all of them were learned or developed.  This is to make the point that leadership is something that can be developed, even in highly technical minds.  Another key feature of leadership is that it is highly connected with our attitudes.  Our basic attitudes were largely formed at an early age, but they too are subject to development, refinement and improvement, which can occur unconsciously or consciously.  Our attitudes form a filter through which we view the world and form a pattern or “paradigm” by which we form our opinions and make our decisions.

Consider the following comparisons of four important success factors as viewed through the technical and the leadership paradigms:

It is apparent from this comparison that the technical paradigm deals mostly with things while the leadership paradigm deals mostly with people.  What should also be apparent is that now matter how important those technical issues are, they are totally irrelevant without the leadership paradigm to guide it.  Technology does not exist for its own sake, it is totally dependent on, and subservient to people.

But, we’re too busy to spend time on people development efforts.  Most technology based companies are so involved with their technology that they have little time for anything else.  This is abundantly obvious if you can observe the amount of effort spent on product development, production, marketing and all the support activities inside a technology company.  So how do you find the time for developing leadership and management abilities.  Well, you don’t find the time, you make the time, or as the Nike ad says “Just do it”. It may not be easy, and you won’t get results overnight, but the time you invest in developing people and helping managers provide the leadership they require will be rewarded with better communications, clearer roles and goals and above all better results.

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