On occasion I go back and read some old favorite books that helped shape my thinking.  Peter Scholte’s book, The Leader’s Handbook, was one such book that gave a me pause.  The history of what became known as the Quality Movement is well-described.

One such concept from the book is for whole management to move from a state of unconscious incompetence to a conscious competence.  Too many executives do not understand how poor their systems are performing.  One of the great breakthroughs in service industry (my perspective) is the idea of failure demand – a failure to do something or do something right for a customer (95)  – this measure alone begins the process of unwinding myths and legends that exist in organizations and opens a new way of thinking.  A move from unconscious incompetence to conscious INcompetence.  More ways are need for management to understand the damaging effects of poor thinking.

Once management understands they have a problem that is steeped in their thinking, with the right guidance and being empirical an organization can begin to achieve conscious competence.  It still requires work to be competent and reinforcement of new thinking to make improvement.  Unpacking old and damaging thinking takes time.  Management must learn that it takes patience, persistence, humility and a period of ineptness – something most managers are uncomfortable in doing as confidence (even wrongly achieved) is a trait embraced.

But managers are incompetent and part of competence is learning an organization as a system . . . outside-in from a customers point of view.  This requires knowledge of the work and competence in doing the work and/or the ability to defer to those that do have competence in the work.  And in service, the work is the interaction of customer and front-line employee to satisfy customer demands.

Why is being in the work so important for management?

Because this is the place the business fortunes are won and loss.  This is where you can see the effects of the unintended consequences of policies, rules, mandates, standadrdization and other management driven measures and programs.  This is the best way to move from unconscious incompetence to conscious INcompetence.  Otherwise, management tends to rationalize the situation without seeing and hearing for themselves.

Tripp Babbitt is a speaker, blogger and consultant to service industry (private and public).  His organization helps executives find a better way to make the work work.  Read his articles at Quality Digest and his column for CustomermanagementIQ.com.  Learn more about the The 95 Method for service organizations.  Reach him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TriBabbittor LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/trippbabbitt.