Managers Don't Trip Over Mountains

You’ve likely heard the old saying, “People trip over anthills, not mountains.’ Well, ok, so maybe I've been around the block a few times, but that’s what my father always used to tell me. What he meant was, don’t focus so much of your attention on the horizon that you can’t see what’s right in front of you. Right in front of you is what can trip you up, right now. What's in your face can bring you more trouble, more headaches and more hassles than what might be around the corner or farther down the road.

You wouldn't drive your car that way, ignoring your immediate surroundings, so why would you behave that way at work?

Those "anthills" can vary from organization to organization, but as a group they usually involve what critics call "administrative" tasks; getting job descriptions right, handling routine procedures consistently and equitably, creating metrics databases, determining FSLA exemptions, correcting for title inflation, ensuring employee communications, (employment letters, expatriate agreements, reward plan documents, etc.) are accurate, complete and understandable, training managers to understand performance management, and most important putting out fires (employee issues) that seem to crop up everywhere and all the time.

The Small Stuff Isn't Sexy

Sad but true, but what are often perceived as small issues (call them the "background") are hard to get excited over. They don't merit a line on your resume, and even doing a great job probably won't advance your career. You won't become a "Star" by going back to basics. So few employees will want to work the small stuff, that which is also less visible to management. Therefore those tasks are usually delegated to the newbies. Because the other practitioners want to be seen, they want to rub shoulders with the high-and-mighty; they don't want to worry about getting the small stuff right. They don't want to be seen focusing on what they consider drone work.

Be honest, now. Most of us like to work on exciting projects, work that will gain us the right sort of attention, the work that could advance our careers. Most of us are staring at the horizon as we walk down the corridors at work.

If You Don't Get The Small Stuff Right . . . .

But someone has to handle the small stuff, or else the underpinnings of the organization first loosen and then eventually fall apart. Then it really gets exciting.

If you don't change your car's oil, or rotate the tires, bad news is going to happen - eventually.

What these big idea folks don't seem to realize is that often times you need to walk before you can run. You have to understand the basic principles behind your reward programs before you should start to tweak them.

I first learned about linear regression the hard way, by preparing charts manually. It would take two hours to do what a handheld computer / tablet / smartphone can do today in minutes. But through my efforts I came to understand the foundation of linear regression techniques, vs. simply memorizing a series of key strokes to get the same answer. By starting with the basics I learned about regression mechanics, and about how they could help my organization. And also the memorization technique usually fails to give users a practical understanding of what they're doing; which makes it harder to explain when the "Why?" questions begin.

So do yourself a career favor and work to become a well rounded professional. You can keep juggling more than one ball in the air, can't you? So don't ignore critical, though basic, compensation techniques (policies, procedures, communications, etc.) when chasing your home run reward programs. Getting both right will gain you both visibility and respect. And keep you from tripping over yourself.

. . . . They Trip Over Anthills

Chuck Csizmar CCP is founder and Principal of CMC Compensation Group, providing global compensation consulting services to a wide variety of industries and non-profit organizations.  He is also associated with several HR Consulting firms as a contributing consultant.  Chuck is a broad based subject matter expert with a specialty in international and expatriate compensation.  He lives in Central Florida (near The Mouse) and enjoys growing fruit and managing (?) a clowder of cats.

Creative Commons image,"Stumbled," by BlondInrlkard Froberg

Comments

[Chris Thom, University of Ottawa]

Sage advice