There are pigs and then there are sloths.
- Image via Wikipedia
Pigs want to stuff themselves. Sloths want to avoid work. Management that want to avoid being involved in the work, have somehow become twisted in their glorification of their slothenly ways.
You hear all the excuses, like “I did that once in my career” or “I would just screw things up like that idiot CEO on Undercover Boss.” Such lamenting qualifies them for my new category of Management Chauvinist Sloth.
What kind of message are you sending to workers when you avoid the work? Hierarchy is more important than work that customers value. Get over yourself and your position . . . slothy management person.
I am engaged with a company that is finally putting it together. The pilot team has done some amazing things, but up until today management has done the equivalent of looking at themselves in the mirror . . . “do I still look pretty? I didn’t chip a nail being too close to the work did I?” Until today, illness forced workers from the pilot team and one contractor IT guy and one supervisor rolled up their sleeves and took on the work.
This is the shot heard round the world. Someone finally understands what is important to customers and it isn’t the $2 million toga party or 99 ways to manipulate this month’s financial numbers. It’s real and honest work that adds value that is lasting . . . even better, you won’t get jailed for doing it.
So, if you want to get in there and do the right thing, how about shedding the label of management chauvinist sloth. You will be amazed at how doing things that matter can be rewarding and morale boosting. Set an example, not a meeting.
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Make the new decade a profitable and rewarding one, start a new path here. Download free from www.newsystemsthinking.com “Understanding Your Organization as a System” and gain knowledge of systems thinking or contact us about how to get started at [email protected]. Reach him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TriBabbittor LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/trippbabbitt.
Tripp Babbitt is a columnist (Quality Digest and IQPC), speaker, and consultant to private and public service industry.



