Re:The Thermocline of Truth
by mleonhard on Thursday July 29, 2021 @01:29AM
(#27993082)
How can one eliminate a thermocline of truth from an organization? Ideas:
- Have every exec spend one day a week with leaf-node workers, just learning and asking questions.
- Rotate all middle managers regularly. When a project has problems, blame is shared by several managers, making it easier for the current manager to admit failure. When a manager rotates off a project, they lose their influence and ability to under-report problems. The new manager is incentivized to look closely for problems and over-report them.
- Do not allow middle managers to determine promotions and bonuses of managers and leaf-node workers. Have the execs do it, or hire someone specifically to do it. Without this influence, middle managers lose some ability to suppress bad news.
- Split your company into several smaller companies and eliminate all middle managers. This limits the size of the organization to about 1,000 people: CEO x 10 VPs x 10 managers x 10 leaf-node workers.
- Have execs and board members interview exiting leaf-node workers.
- Hire an outside company to provide an anonymous whistle-blowing service with big cash rewards for being the first to report false progress reports and covered-up problems. Does a company like this exist?
- Have every exec spend one day a week with leaf-node workers, just learning and asking questions.
- Rotate all middle managers regularly. When a project has problems, blame is shared by several managers, making it easier for the current manager to admit failure. When a manager rotates off a project, they lose their influence and ability to under-report problems. The new manager is incentivized to look closely for problems and over-report them.
- Do not allow middle managers to determine promotions and bonuses of managers and leaf-node workers. Have the execs do it, or hire someone specifically to do it. Without this influence, middle managers lose some ability to suppress bad news.
- Split your company into several smaller companies and eliminate all middle managers. This limits the size of the organization to about 1,000 people: CEO x 10 VPs x 10 managers x 10 leaf-node workers.
- Have execs and board members interview exiting leaf-node workers.
- Hire an outside company to provide an anonymous whistle-blowing service with big cash rewards for being the first to report false progress reports and covered-up problems. Does a company like this exist?