Why Dishwashers are a Great Management Lesson

What the heck does a dishwasher have to do with management? Everything – stick with me.  Think about how many managers (including us!) struggle with micromanaging, criticizing (vs. critiquing), taking vs. giving credit and giving vs. taking blame.  It takes maturity, desire and compassion to unlearn these habits.

That’s why dishwashers are the perfect example.  How many of you have asked your kids to load and unload the dishwasher? Raise your hands.  How many of your kids took a thoughtful, systematic, geometric approach to loading the dishwasher? I don’t see many hands. Bet this drove you nuts! Your kid gets an A in geometry and can’t load the dishwasher???? You have a few options:

1. Watch them as they load it and tell them where to put the bowl, the pan, the spatula – basically loading it yourself with their hands;

2. Load it yourself so it’s done right, all the dishes are in; your dishwasher-compulsion is satisfied;

3. Let them load it their way and when they go to bed, rearrange everything the way you like it;

4. Let them load it their way (best to leave the room), put in the soap, run it, and unload it.

But what are you trying to accomplish by using the dishwasher in the first place? Have dishes washed, dried and put away without anything breaking. So, what management lessons can we learn from the above 4 options? 

1. You’re micromanaging!!!! The loader has no say, no choice.  They learn how YOU like it done, but your way isn’t the only way. They don’t learn from doing it themselves, which is how most of us learn; they don’t find other (better?) ways to load; they don’t feel free to try and experiment, and I bet they don’t want to load the dishwasher again for fear of criticism (and, ok, it’s not a ton of fun to do);

2. You’re not giving loaders the chance to load and learn! Very similar to #1 above, if you do it for them, they never learn, they don’t grow, they don’t become independent, and maybe they don’t discover new ways to redesign the dishwasher for more efficiency (and room!), or take risks and try in other ways;

3. You’ve taken away their sense of accomplishment and self-sufficiency.  The minute they open the dishwasher to unload it, they see you changed it.  They interpret this as not doing a good job, as failure (vs. they didn’t do it your way).  They won’t be too eager to do it (or other things) again;

4. They did it! Mission Accomplished!! You wanted the dishes loaded, unloaded & put away, hopefully with nothing broken.  And let’s assume that you told them you wanted all that done by 10pm and its 9:59pm. What more can you ask? You asked them to load, run & unload by a specific time and it’s done!!! And you didn’t have to do it!  Sure, maybe it wasn’t as full as it could be, but that’s not your problem – the more they have to load/unload, the better they’ll get at putting more in because that means less loading/unloading!

Céleste Boursier-Mougenot: clinamen  at the SF MOMA

Do any of these situations sound familiar? You tell your employees WHAT you want done by WHEN, but then harp on them about HOW?  Sure, there’s a lot to learn from your HOW, but is that more important than learning for themselves? How would you want to be managed? Like this?

Are you developing your people’s skills, independence, creativity, knowledge, expertise? Or are you undermining them? Next time you give an assignment, stop and think about the dishwasher.  What do you really want done, and by when … and what is best for your employees and the organization? Maybe clean dishes, put away with breaking.

Critique, Don't Criticize!

NYC Guggenheim Museum’s Oculus ℅ Guggenheim Foundation

In my first year of college, I took an upper level course on Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, filled with philosophy majors. I was totally over my head. But, I still love Critique! Usually relegated to the design world, it is a technique we should be using in business (and life!). In business, we usually criticize…and personalize.  Maybe we can adopt a Critique process in business ~ giving an opinion about the ‘thing’ done, how it was done without criticizing the person who did it.

An approach I’ve used for critique separates the HOW (process) from the WHAT (project) first and then assess how they inform each other:

1. In HOW, we assess the methodology used, steps taken, and lessons learned along the way in each step, each iteration.  We discuss things like other possible HOWs and any other potential research. 

2. In WHAT, we assess the “deliverable” itself ~ the project, concept, model, prototype.  We discuss the context and framework in which the deliverable lives, ways to describe the deliverable, and/or other potential deliverables (variations on a theme or totally different ones).

Jackson Pollock, Number 5, 1948

Even though the HOW and WHAT are intertwined, critiquing them separately, understanding the inter-dependencies, usually leads to new insights, new approaches and new, better solutions.   

In a critique, the Critiquer and Critiqueé are both responsible for success.  It’s best if the Critiqueé clearly communicates their ‘design’ philosophy, adapts their communication style to the critiquer’s style, and isn’t defensive but open to feedback, understanding and assessing if, how, and what to adapt and adopt.  The Critiquer should have a helpful, refining attitude; this isn’t to boost their own ego! They start with positive comments, ask thoughtful questions to understand, and provide clear, actionable feedback tied to the ultimate user/customer.*

Of course there is a ton more to learn critiques, but this is a start.  Think about how and when you can try this in your organization…and see what kind of difference it can make!

*Many thanks to Michael Donohue for sharing his lecture on Critique in our newly created Intro to Engineering class, ENGN 32, at Brown.

It’s Not Just Semantics: Managing Outcomes Vs. Outputs

Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit at the Arsenal Contemporary Museum, Montreal

This post was originally published in Harvard Business Review (ages ago, but still relevant). It has been getting a lot of re-reading lately so I thought I’d repost it here. The difference between outcomes & outputs is still critical! ~~~~~~~~~~~

What’s the difference between outputs and outcomes? Some think the question is merely semantics, or that the difference is simple: outputs are extrinsic and outcomes intrinsic. I think otherwise; the difference between outputs and outcomes is more fundamental and profound.

In the non-profit world, outputs are programs, training, and workshops; outcomes are knowledge transferred and behaviors changed. In the for-profit world, the distinctions are not always so clear. Let’s define outputs as the stuff we produce, be it physical or virtual, for a specific type of customer—say, car seats for babies. And let’s define outcomes as the difference our stuff makes—keeping your child safe in the car. Borrowing an example from the Innovation Network, a highway construction company’s outputs are project design and the number of highway miles built and repaired. Outcomes are the difference made by the outputs: better traffic flow, shorter travel times, and fewer accidents.

Outcomes are the benefit your customers receive from your stuff. This starts with truly understanding your customers’ needs—their challenges, issues, constraints, priorities—by walking in their shoes and in their neighborhoods, businesses, and cultures. See what’s inconvenient, taking a lot of time, money, and/or effort. Your customers are too busy to plan, shop for, and cook healthy meals. What if you made a healthy, reasonably priced, fast-cooking meal so a family could eat better? Create a solution that your customers can sustain, and you enable life-changing outcomes, big and small.

Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit at the Arsenal Contemporary Museum, Montreal

Outputs are important products, services, profits, and revenues: the What. Outcomes create meanings, relationships, and differences: the Why. Outputs, such as revenue and profit, enable us to fund outcomes; but without outcomes, there is no need for outputs.

Steve Denning makes this distinction exceedingly clear in his emphasis on the outcome of delighting our customers instead of just making more stuff. Steve encourages us to tell stories about our customers, about who they are and what they want, so they can achieve.

Let’s take the story of Deb, who wants a new car and is very busy. She’d like to buy a car from a dealer who will make buying and, more importantly, servicing the car as easy as possible. She doesn’t have the time to wait at the dealer while the car is being serviced—or even time to get to the dealer for service. Since she travels, she’d like to go on a trip and have the car serviced while she’s gone. What if a dealer picked up and serviced her car, returning it all clean and detailed, without Deb having to alter one moment of her schedule?

Another story, for example: A food company has a new product, all the s’more ingredients in a box, and wants to make a big splash for the upcoming spring and summer seasons—but it’s up against some formidable competitors in the market whose brands are synonymous with s’mores. What if a packaging company could help them strategize not just how to package the product for higher acceptance into the mass retail markets, but also where to place it on store shelves to get the most exposure?

Yayoi Kusama, ICA BostoN

Through stories, we are able to empathize with our customers and recognize the outcomes they need. Business in the 21st century needs more focus on outcomes than outputs. We all can see where focusing on outputs got us: In education we’ve focused on test results (outputs) and ended up with some high-scoring kids who don’t know how to apply what they’ve learned to the world at large (outcome), like how the reasons leading to the American Revolution are similar to those that led to the Arab Spring. We have a plethora of apps for our smartphones and tablets (output), but how many do we consistently use—and how many actually improve our lives (outcome)?

We may not yet have all the right tools, methods, and processes to recognize and measure outcomes, but that’s no reason not to try. Let’s create them together while we change our world.