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JUL
2010
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22
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The Smartest Guys In the Room
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I know… I know… I’ve been missing in action for awhile. What started out as a short stint of national service working for the US Census turned into a longer than expected tenure with the Bureau accompanied by some research on my part and then into some good lessons I can pass on to you.
I borrowed the title of this blog entry from the book by the same name authored by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind (Portfolio Hardcover, October 2003) that detailed the Enron scandal and collapse with the people involved. The Enron executives, financial managers, and oil traders displayed a level of individual and institutional arrogance (along with their greed!) that hadn’t been seen in a successful modern business. They dismissed criticism as ignorance or sour grapes by their competitors and financial analysts. These folks had a reputation for being smarter than other people. But the problem started when they began believing their own press clippings and told outsiders they either wouldn’t understand their business model or to give too much detail would be disclosing their proprietary information.
This arrogance is not a gender specific problem. I’ve seen these same traits in women. Although the number has been fewer, I suspect the percentage may be lower even though I don’t have any statistically valid data to base it on. Arrogance is simply not limited by gender or the working environment. I’ve seen it at the top of the corporate hierarchy and on the front lines of a business. Arrogance can be displayed in several different ways.
I found working at the US Census Bureau to be a far more interesting experience than I ever expected it to be. It was fascinating to learn how the “counting” process works and the number of different operations that were involved in it. It was far more complex than sending out surveys to all the people living in the United States and then tabulating the results. And I got to work with a bunch of very interesting people!
People interested in working for the Census were instructed to contact their local Census office, complete an application, take an employment test, and undergo a background check. The employment test measured a person’s ability to follow directions, reach logical conclusions, read maps, simple math, and basic supervisory skills. Employment was then based on test score results, multi-language skill, and veteran’s preference without any personal interviews. People with the highest scores were called first and offered a particular job. If accepted, you were scheduled to go to the office for several days training. My job was in the office as part of Field Operations doing all the mapping, assignment preparation, tracking, and reporting.
It’s the people part that I found most fascinating. Without question, the quality of the people working for the Census this year is higher than it’s ever been and not just because I was working there. I’m sure it was a direct result of a troubled economy with high unemployment. All of the people I was working with all had perfect test scores and were either multi-lingual or had a veteran’s preference, or both. They were very bright folks… senior level managers, financial professionals, and engineers. And perhaps some of the smartest guys in the room!
From the beginning, we were told to carefully follow directions and not try to improve any part of the processes. The biggest problem with getting really bright people to do some fairly mundane tasks is that they want to improve things – change processes and bypass steps. That isn’t necessarily bad if people are aware of the entire process. On the surface, some of the processes did seem superfluous and a waste of time if you didn’t know how a task fits in the whole process. But there was never time to learn the entire process from start to finish. These were smart people but we were told only what we needed to know in order to perform the current task of the operation we were performing. We went from one operation into another with a bare minimum of training and using fairly antiquated computer systems in the process. It was only in hindsight after having been a part of several of the operations that we might realize why we did some of the things we did in previous operations.
The people that had problems working at the Census were those folks that took it upon themselves to change things without knowing why things were done in a certain way and without telling anyone that they were making changes! Several times we would have to start reprocessing some of the work we had done because someone decided to make a change without the proper approvals.
It seemed like there were a few people who had been unemployed and wanted to show the other folks at the Census that they were the smartest guys in the room because they knew their changes would make things better when in reality it made things worse! I had one person who always wanted to show me how they had improved the process. I kept telling this person just to do it the way we were instructed… no improvements! My job wasn’t to change the Census but to get it done the way it was directed by the Census officials.
So here’s where I discovered the lesson. I should always focus on being of service – whether it’s to my employer, my fellow workers, or to my customers. Do what’s asked of me to do… to the best of my ability… with a good, positive attitude. Make suggestions but not changes unless it’s agreed to by the appropriate, responsible people. Focus on understanding how this piece fits into the puzzle of what you’re doing. I know it sounds hokey but it’s amazing to me what happens when I do all of those things.
I think this lesson translates directly into sales. Focus on understanding your customer’s problems. Understand those problems from the customer’s point of view. Then apply the solution you offer to help them solve their problems. It’s extremely arrogant of me to assume I understand what my customer wants before I give them the opportunity to help me understand their point of view. The real “smarts” are used to understand their problem… not explaining or telling them how my solution works. Smart people listen.
Give it a try and see what happens!
Until next time…
DF
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