Talent Talk

This recent article by the folks over at Harvard has really touched a nerve. Asking why managers don't think more deeply, the article partly reviews the Zaltmans' new book on the subject, Marketing Metaphoria. At the time of writing, the article had generated a remarkable 134 responses.

So why the ballyhoo over such a seemingly mundane topic about how deeply we think at work?

There seems to be no obvious explanation. Judging from the responses, a number of people feel quite passionate on the subject and hold management, organisations, and the whole professional landscape squarely responsible for the malaise of 'shallow thinking'.

This problem has been around for some time. Deming decried the fact that workers would turn up to work but be paid to leave their heads behind and, no matter how much companies raise the battle cry of 'more innovation!' and 'more creativity!' many CEOs would concede that these states are below par in their own companies.

It could be argued that a company's own processes and perhaps lack of 'deep thinking' have put paid to any hope of these desirable states happening.

So what's really going on here?

The problem is a combination of two macro 'special effects':

Special Effect 1: The Division of Labour Effect

The problem goes back much further than today, to the dawn of commercial revolution itself.

Adam Smith observed that the removal of thought was a consequence of the division of labour - which in turn was a driver of economic growth. Not all was rosy with free market economics, even for Adam Smith it seems, and while the division and specialisation of labour led to greater prosperity, the observed that a worker 'generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human being to become.'

When writing this Smith did, of course, have manual labourers in mind. But the observation could equally be applied to the recent arrival of the much-vaunted 'knowledge workers'. Many knowledge worker jobs have been streamlined into the 'few simple operations' that Adam Smith talks about where the worker has 'no occasion to exert his understanding' and hence lapse into the throes of ignorance.

Smith also understood 'In the progress of the division of labour… The understandings of the greater part of men are necessarily formed by their ordinary employments'. In other words, whatever job you did would form your very consciousness. So if the job required only a very superficial level of thinking, as the Zaltmans in their book hold, then that would in turn inform your consciousness - in an ever-decreasing circle.

Special Effect 2: The Compression of Time

The Division of Labour doesn't stop there. Not content with seeing his factory now produce 1,000 widgets a day (instead of the 100 in the undivided production line), the factory owner now sees if he can further maximise profits by producing 1,500 a day.

When money is given as an incentive, this is the modern-day equivalent of performance management.

What does this really mean however?

Today as then, we have, or don't have, the choice to make these trade-offs. More money for harder work? Or fewer hours for less money?

This may seem a simple dilemma. But looking deeper, it is far more problematice. To paraphrase Smith, if someone does the same action often, he becomes that action. If that repetitive action leads to a lack of thinking, he will in turn habituate his own ignorance. Take away his remaining time to do other things, using other parts of his being, and it is not long before the man becomes a robot - or a ghost.

"Today we come across an individual who behaves like an automaton, who does not know or understand himself, and the only person he knows is the person that he is supposed to be, whose meaningless chatter has replaced communicative speech, whose synthetic smile has replaced genuine laughter, and whose sense of dull despair has taken the place of genuine pain. Two statements may be said concerning this individual. One is that he suffers from defects of spontaneity and individuality which may seem to be incurable. At the same time it may be said of him he does not differ essentially from the millions of the rest of us who walk upon this earth."

Erich Fromm

This is what happens when you accelerate the division of labour: you remove the opportunity for the worker to use all his faculties, which, over time, can only lead to the sort of psychological effects we see such as burn-out, constant stress, adrenaline addiction, as well as numerous other deeper maladies.

Many of the worker's other strengths atrophy and a deep inner dissatisfaction grows within him - the feeling is that is was not meant to be this way.

The Zaltmans revisited

The Zaltmans have drawn attention to deeper thinking and the link between the subconscious and personal behaviour. They have drawn attention to the way metaphors give clues to behaviour. However it's possible that in their work they have missed something, the import of which is profound - a master key to unlock the solution if you like.

The Master Key

That master key is a person's talents, or natural abilities, which are fully-formed in us by the time we reach our late teens.

This key is the connector between the two chambers so essential for use on a daily basis: our conscious and unconscious mind. This is more than just a metaphor. Talents are the synapses that connect the different parts of the brain.

Research conducted by Dr Johnson O'Connor and others have discovered that these innate talents not only determine what we can do best and with a passion, but also, if they are not used, that feelings of frustration, unfulfillment and emptiness arise.

Talents are far deeper than skills or knowledge. Skills and knowledge can be learnt. Talents are in effect your hardwiring which is extremely difficult to change. Yet most people do not know their own talents, as Peter Drucker famously remarked.

Your talents are like your internal mission statement or purpose which needs to be actualised.

So to return to the Zaltmans, deeper thinking can only be consistently utilised through an awareness of our talents - each day, and every day. It is to both a company's and an individual's benefit to discover these talents - yet it is pitiful the degree to which both ignore this highly significant performance and happiness factor.

In Don't Waste Your Talent, further studies have shown the importance of seeing each individual as a 'whole person' and not simply as a division or part of labour. That 'whole person' is a combination of values, family, interests and of course talents among other factors and problems arise when separation or atrophy in any one of these spheres occurs.

Remedy - what individuals can do to avoid the rat trap

To avoid the kind of situations the Zaltmans have described, we recommend you take the following steps:

1. Discover your talents here.

2. Once you have discovered your talents, contact us here to create a personal strengths plan.

3. Having done this, one of our professionals can then help you mould your job profile to fit your talents and your 'whole person', rather than you having to fit your job.

4. Following our process, you can then speak to your manager, colleagues or HRD as to how you can restructure your job and enhance value to your company.

Remedy - what companies can do to avoid the clone syndrome

To avoid the kind of situations the Zaltmans have described, we recommend you take the following steps:

1. Ask us here to lead a one-day programme at your company (Talent Factor) explaining talents and how they work.

2. Encourage those who are interested to discover their talents to do so objectively here.

3. Having done this, one of our professionals can then help your team to mould their job profiles to fit their talents as well as define likely career paths and development plans with them.

4. Following this, we can help you refine your talent management system to encourage greater use of your employees' talents and boost their productivity.

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