The Invisibility Paradox
I was thinking about how some of the most useful stuff is generally invisible to me. Not totally, magically invisible, just inobtrusive invisible. I don’t notice it until I need it. The plumbing in my house, for instance. I don’t need to be concerned with fetching water. If I want water, I get some. I don’t have to plan for it. That’s a good thing. I got to thinking about invisibility today after reading the current issue of NetFuture (yet another great and free newsletter). In that issue, Steve Talbot contemplates the human/machine interface and the apparently conflicting message we’re getting from many technologists that machines of the future will be both more human-like and also invisible (imagine your ATM spitting out your money, mumbling, "Don’t mind me…").
Anyway, the article got me thinking about what else is invisible to me, and what the implications are. I realized that when things are going really smoothly, my staff are invisible to me. That’s a scary realization because I’m also committed to letting them know how valuable they are. I know I have a tough time doing that, but when they become "invisible" it gets even more challenging. Seemed paradoxical to me. When the staff are doing a great job, I ignore them. When things go sideways, everyone suddenly pops up on my radar again. That’s not the kind of attention I want to pay to people. That’s what Jeffrey Phillips calls "fighting fires" and that’s not how I want to work.
I’m not sure what the solution is. I can make followup notes pop up in my Palm, essentially reminding me to go notice the good work people are doing. I guess that’s one option. Since I’m a "reader" (per Drucker), I could include encouraging comments when I email folks. Maybe periodic individual meetings, outside of the formal performance appraisal process, where we work together to unearth the good work that’s been happening. I guess there are lots of ways to do it, but I’d be curious to hear what others are doing…
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POSTED IN: management
4 opinions for The Invisibility Paradox
Cat
Dec 9, 2004 at 11:33 am
You have hit upon one of the primary problems of working for an automation department. When we are doing our jobs correctly, we are invisible to the staff. This invisibility leads to lack of recognition, and sometimes even budget cuts–because the staff doesn’t realize they need us (our computers work fine! what do we need support for?). We end up putting something flashy in our plan every year just so we can draw some notice.
alan herrell - the head lemur
Dec 9, 2004 at 12:56 pm
it’s situational transparency.
Consider the following.
2002 ford contour 4DSD, need a left quarterpanel, cut high on the sail, including the rocker to the b pillar and the rear finish panel.
You have no clue what I just said, but any auto junk yard in the world will know exactly what that is.
Fighting situational transparency is relatively easy.
tape the following note to you screen.
have you thanked the folks you have not thought of today?
K. Todd Storch
Dec 9, 2004 at 2:19 pm
Spend time with your employees during the course of their regular day. Make this a focus and appointment that they plan on. Make it fun, make it “regular”.
Recap them in writing what went great, what you saw that needed improvement and what you wished you would of seen.
If this becomes regular, and you implement it correctly, it isn’t a threat. It is development.
Todd
Bren
Dec 10, 2004 at 11:48 am
Those are great tips…thanks guys (and I like the phrase “situational transparency”). I’ll probably try both approaches in the days to come.
Knowing myself, I’ll have to change my prompt from time to time–start with a sticky note on the monitor, then go to a Palm alarm, then to something else, etc until the habit is set. If I don’t do that, I’ll become desensitized to the prompt and ignore it.