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May 24, 2005
Bosses who can't learn
Carol Hymowtz's Wall Street Journal column on leadership (In the Lead) today highlights an important problem facing companies and workers in the information age:
Executives talk a blue streak about the importance of developing talent. But many quickly form rigid opinions of staffers, and then resist changing those views despite evidence that employees have matured, become more seasoned or possess talents that weren't apparent when they were first hired. Conversely, some bosses continue to insist that an employee is a star even though he or she was just never that talented.
Companies that can not develop talent are wasting resources. It is an easy but deceptive practice. As Hymowtz notes:
Pigeonholing persists in part because it is efficient, at least in the short term. Top executives depend on certain tasks getting done, day in and day out. The easiest way to accomplish that is to assign employees to jobs and functions in which they have experience.
But rigid typecasting also discourages initiative and innovation, not only among lower-level employees but also among middle managers.
Talent and skills are the key resourse in the intangible economy. Skills and talent are not a set attribute but a dynamic phenomona. That dymanics is called "learning." There is a lot of talk in management-studies circles about the learning organization. Well, learning starts at the top. And if the boss can't learn (especially about developing talent), how do they expect the rest of the organization to learn?
Posted by Ken Jarboe at May 24, 2005 9:10 AM
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