I was pointed towards this blog post today, from Dilbert creator Scott Adams.
He's being deliberately provocative with this statement, but it's a good one:
Or to put it another way, if you hire good people then they don't need managing.
Well, yes.
Easier said than done and very easily dismissed as a trite statement that's unachievable in reality. Of course staff need managing! To suggest that they don't is crazy, surely?
Except that the comments on that blog post link to a company that's done it. Valve software has a flat structure and everybody works on the thing that they, personally, think will add the most value to their company.
Valve isn't a here today, gone tomorrow, dotcom flash in the pan. It's worth billions and is more profitable per employee than Google or Apple.
Here's their employee handbook.
Superb.
He's being deliberately provocative with this statement, but it's a good one:
"Management exists to minimize the problems created by its own hiring mistakes."
Or to put it another way, if you hire good people then they don't need managing.
Well, yes.
Easier said than done and very easily dismissed as a trite statement that's unachievable in reality. Of course staff need managing! To suggest that they don't is crazy, surely?
Except that the comments on that blog post link to a company that's done it. Valve software has a flat structure and everybody works on the thing that they, personally, think will add the most value to their company.
Valve isn't a here today, gone tomorrow, dotcom flash in the pan. It's worth billions and is more profitable per employee than Google or Apple.
Here's their employee handbook.
"But when you’re an entertainment company that’s spent
the last decade going out of its way to recruit the most
intelligent, innovative, talented people on Earth, telling
them to sit at a desk and do what they’re told obliterates
99 percent of their value."
Superb.
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