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March 27, 2007
I'm Not with Stupid
Our society seems to be dumbing down, and this lack of critical thinking skills results in serious business mistakes. When you convert a half-witted workforce into power thinkers, you retain your best talent and increase both customer satisfaction and product quality goals.
Last May, in a speech that marked the launch of the North American Occupational Safety and Health Week, OSHA Assistant Secretary of Labor Edwin Foulke displayed pictures showing how careless adults can be when it comes to safety. Blunt and perhaps insensitive, nevertheless the pictures illustrated some downright stupid people in the workplace. We even have awards for such people.
Also last year, and perhaps the mother of scary employee goofs, German utility EnBW admitted that its employees lost the keys to the most highly secure areas of its nuclear plant in Philippsburg. Failing to find the keys after months of searching, the company announced plans to change the locks.
Blame poorer education, blame lack of training, blame reality television; it seems society has been dumbing down for years — and its effect on the bottom line in business should have us worried. The most common reason/excuse heard today when anything goes wrong is that someone didn't think.
As a recent white paper entitled "Creating Smart Organizations" from Ascendant Consulting, recently noted:
A lack of critical thinking skills results in product recalls, bumbled sourcing decisions, new product failures in the marketplace, plant implementations gone awry and the general torpedoing of sound strategies by flawed execution.Consider just a handful from last year:
1) In May, Bausch & Lomb issued a global recall of its ReNu with MoistureLoc contact-lens solution after tests showed it could leave users susceptible to a potentially blinding infection.
2) Defects in batteries made by Sony for portable computing caused a handful of notebooks to burst into spectacularly photogenic flames. The result was the biggest computer-related recall ever, as Dell replaced the batteries in more than millions of laptops, as did Apple, Lenovo/IBM and others.
3) In August, Natural Selection Foods, a grower whose produce is sold nationwide under well-known brand names such as Dole and Ready Pac, distributed bagged spinach contaminated with E. coli. After hundreds fell sick, Natural Selection announced it would lay off 164 workers in the face of a 70 percent drop in revenue.
4) Ham by British food processor H.R. Hargreaves & Son included "dog sh*t" on the packages' complete list of ingredients. Hargreaves fired the employee responsible for the prank and began a recall of the mislabeled packages.
5) Owner's manuals in more than a million Honda vehicles listed a toll-free number to help drivers reach the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; however, Honda incorrectly printed the area code as 800 rather than 888, leading callers to a recorded message in which a woman's sultry voice encourages them to "call 1-800-918-TALK for just 99 cents per minute."
(It is worth asking why the auto industry, which may be the most "process-happy" manufacturing sector in existence, very well may top the list in product recalls.)
Personnel at all levels of the organization — from shop floor workers through senior managers — are not thinking at the level necessary to out-pace competition, according to David Fields, managing director at Ascendant Consulting.
Experience shows what makes some people the best in their field is power thinking, notes Fields. They may not be more experienced or even better trained in technical skills. Rather, according to Fields, "It is what they do with the three pounds of gray matter between their ears.
"Create a company of power thinkers, not just a cadre at the top, to exceed your growth expectations."
Companies staffed top to bottom with power thinkers make fewer costly mistakes, develop solutions that are more creative, spend less time and money creating detailed processes, experience less inter-departmental antipathy and enjoy higher sales, Fields says.
Consider the following:
1) Develop thinking skills
Strive to develop these six key traits in personnel at every organizational level: perspective, curiosity, flexibility, courage, tenacity and, of course, creativity.
2) Create a learning environment
In order to look beyond the obvious and challenge the status quo, the company must adopt two cultural commitments: a belief that "mistakes are distinct from demerits"; and open, problem-focused communication across departments and levels. Do not embrace failure; learn from it.
3) Organizational alignment
The single, overarching objective for the entire organization should be to increase sales efficiently. "When everyone in your company is focused against the same ultimate goal, then every mistake can be discussed in terms of its impact on sales," says Fields. Production line workers sometimes feel removed from the company's singular goal, but, in fact, they are not.
4) Consistency over time
Critical thinking skills are not created overnight or at a weekend seminar. "Plan on at least six months of consistent coaching before the new habits take root," writes Fields.
Likewise, William Taylor, the founding editor of Fast Company and author of Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win, recently told Workforce Management that "good managers in today's world must enlist everyone in the business to drive change and move things ahead." Ideas aren't the province of CEOs or top managers only; they can come from anywhere and anybody. That kind of thinking must be fostered, and everyone must be pushed "to think of how to do things better."
"You can't always outspend the competition," Taylor said, "but you can out-think them."
Of course, no matter how much employees and employers think, no matter how smart, mistakes will happen. Even fostering critical thinking skills across the entire organization and drawing on the brainpower of the entire workforce will not eliminate goofs 100 percent — but perhaps, at the very least, we wouldn't have to second-guess the location of the keys to the nearest nuclear plant.
Resources
Creating Smart Organizations
by David A. Fields
Ascendant Consulting, 2006
How To Stop The Dumbing Down Of Your Company
by David A. Fields
IndustryWeek, March 7, 2007
Best Brains Win
by John Hollon
Workforce Management blog, March 23, 2007
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23 CommentsFor too long, people have had an attitude of I'm not getting paid to think, when in reality if they helped the bottom line by thinking, they could justify an increase in pay.
I know it works.
March 27, 2007 2:51 PMI think you're on to something there, Ben. Last year, we posted a piece called "I'm Not Paid Enough to Fully Engage In My Job. But That's Only Half the Point" (1/17/06). There, many IMT readers pointed out the lack of loyalty to employers on the employees' half based on pay.
It would seem safe to hypothesize (even presume?), then, that in addition to lack of loyalty, there is a lack of accountability of the company on the employees' part because they are not paid to think -- or think they are barely paid at all.
Anyone else?
Thanks for the feedback. Cheers.
-DRB, IMT editor
March 27, 2007 3:06 PMTeach people to think? That's like trying to tell someone with an MBA that business models don't always work. "But it's in the book!" they say.
Therein lies the problem. We've raised a society of "book smart" college grads who couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were on the bottom. Video games will never teach common sense and neither will lazy, self-absorbed parents. Our public schools are mandated by the government to do everything except educate. Critical thinking is supposed to be left to Phd's, most of whom haven't had an original thought in decades. We're taught in school to be lemmings and follow the crowd... right to our death.
Original thinkers are looked upon as not being "team players," rebels that will only disrupt the corporate mission statement (aka B.S.). We don't teach college students to be leaders. We teach them to be "team players", followers without a clue. They aren't allowed to THINK for themselves. To think would disrupt the alleged assumption of power that executives flaunt. That's why we have a U.S. President without a clue. That's also why this country better study Marx because we are already in a socialist society and most can't or refuse to see it.
So no matter how far out the idea is, express it to it's fullest, without fear, for at least you've had an original thought. Something I assure most of your colleagues will never have.
March 28, 2007 8:13 AMIt goes both ways. I work in a company that on the surface requires ideas and suggestions from its employees. On the other hand, when they get these ideas, they will not only ignore them but also would look at the employees that suggested them as being anti-management. Therefore, the employees developed the attitude of "I only work here" or "I'm here for the paycheck" or "I'm not paid to think" or "I only do what I'm told to do"
Is hypocritical to believe that the company's PR is actually what the management thinks.
As far as the idea that people over all are getting dumb, or I should say dumber, remember Murphy's Law. "If the amount of intelligence is a constant and the population is continually increasing...?"
March 28, 2007 8:40 AMMore Power to you, JEA.
The only thing I want to add is that one can see it coming, that is the time when you will not be able to express your opinions because of political correctness, various special interest groups, or fear of the perception of not being a team player.
Communists would intimidate with jail, we intimidate with lawsuits. Communism would ostracize you in Communist Party meetings, we put independent thinkers on the black list for not being "Team Players". In Communism, opportunistic nonbelievers would avoid free-spirited people just the same way now the same free spirits are avoided because they are not politically correct and being seen together would make the social climber somehow associated with the anti-management crowd.
Intimidation existed always. I don't think that is free thinking or smarts that are missing from our work force or society at large, but the courage and moral integrity to recognize a mistake when we see it, to tell the truth and to stick to your principles in good times and hard times. People always tend to bend to power. Maybe we should get some of that power back so that we don't need to bend, or to nurture our moral fiber into strength that will make us stronger.
March 28, 2007 10:27 AMYou are with stupid -- you are dumber by design:
Although much said here is true (especially Nick S) the major point gets lost. The management/worker relationship is really just a smaller model of reality. The owners of this country (whether they live in Beijing or Jackson Hole) want a true two class system, butchers and sheep. The current game plan appears to be: destroy the middle class, blend the remants with third-world invading forces, and all without a shot fired. Nothing gives us better evidence than the massive invasion of illegal aliens from Jimmy Carter's time to now. While the press does a soft sell and uses language like "jobs that Americans won't do","hard working" and "undocumented immigrants," the politicians are making excuses why they can't be deported and talking points of how we should accomodate them.
Where's the moral integrity to recognize the mistake and fix it? How about the insult to every soul whose blood was spilt and countless more that have, or now, sacrifice treasure through taxation (which is a piece of their liberty and perhaps happiness). So much for sovereignty, so much for the citizenry trusting the "gummint" to do its job, and so much for tradition and the law of the land.
You, the middle class, are outmoded. America's highly skilled worker is thing of the past, that quasi-legitimate invasion (read: H1 visa), not to mention outsourcing (better termed sell-outing) is gaining ground at a geometric rate. The only thing that matters to the owners is the bottom line. It is paramount that people remain complacent, lazy, and most importantly, consumptive. God bless your retard brain if you think any politician, party or corporation has
your best interests at heart.
The only weapon of the little people is their collective pocketbook.
--- Try to find the answer to these questions ---
1. Why is government money policy tied to a private consortium misnamed the Federal Reserve rather than elected officials who are accountable?
2. Is personal income tax constitutional?
3. Why did we go off the gold standard?
4. Even though more people are killed by Big Macs, cars, and suicide, why is your right to bear arms is constantly challenged and infringed upon? In a sense we are worse than communists, we have a choice collectively.
A choice to fight the wanna be New World Order.
But we seem to have no sense of personal responsibilty or self control to resist the people planning freedom's demise. It's a crying shame.
Phrase "can't fix stupid!!!!" refers to a lot of our politicians! They just want to make laws that will take away rights of the voting public! They want to do the thinking for us! Sorry -- am more educated than most of them!!!!
April 19, 2007 4:21 PMGreat job. Present an article on "stupid people", allow comments, and wait for us to show up to prove your point.
April 20, 2007 12:22 PMMOST companies say they want intelligent input from their employees... innovative ideas, efficiency improvements, process changes, etc... BUT they really don't.
Management must start to listen more effectively, actually encouraging employee input, and demonstrating respect for the employee's effort, even if the suggestion is actually stupid. The idea is to get 10 great ideas from every 100 the shop floor suggests. Although management intuitively realizes the benefits from employee input, we HAVE to get over the idea that only the managers are smart enough to offer positive contributions to the business.
April 20, 2007 3:48 PMGreat article, great posts.
I am semi-retired and working for my last boss -- ME -- for the very reason that critical thinking has become unacceptable in our "dumbed-down" society.
i raised my children, especially my two daughters, to think honestly and make choices accordingly. i felt like the lone ranger doing it. i still feel like that because of nonacceptance of my business inclinations by people around me. The best benefit of critical thinking is, it does not matter what other people are thinking. You feel sorry for the "herd", but they want to be there just as bad as you do not want to. Sad but no sympathy here.
America has the most freedom of choice in all areas of life in the world. Do not complain when you do not want to do the work of thinking for yourself and others take over and do it for you. If you want to see who is at fault, go in the bathroom and look long and hard in the mirror.
Best to all.
April 23, 2007 1:05 PMNice article -- interesting comments. And do you really think companies want us to be independent thinkers when we are constantly be told to follow procedures, flowsheets,QA, ISO regs, etc.?
April 23, 2007 4:38 PMFor a manager to consider and describe his employees and workforce as half-wits displays a fundamental weakness. How can one who lacks respect for his employees be an effective leader? Blaming subordinates rather than taking responsibility shows a special kind of vision.
May 23, 2007 1:03 AM
