It is ten minutes into the status meeting. The pressure is on because deadlines and milestones are looming large. The Person In Charge is reading off a list – could be action items, project plans, Gantt charts, it doesn’t matter. The PIC then pours on what they perceive as their value-add. It consists of three steps:
1. Asking the question “will you meet the schedule?”
2. Shooting the messenger if the answer is anything but yes
3. Berating and belittling anyone whose stuff is late
Oh there is a fourth step. 4. Wondering why nothing ever gets done right or on time.
Here we have a typical example of one of my least favorite management techniques, what I call “Management by Piñata”. Hanging some poor messenger “out there” and metaphorically beating them with a stick while blind to the realities of what is actually going on. Let’s contrast Management by Piñata with one of the best descriptions of company leadership I have found, from “Execution – The Discipline of Getting Things Done” by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan:
“Execution is a systematic way of exposing reality and acting on it.”
“Exposing reality” is at the heart of successful execution. Exposing reality means getting good data, and to get good data, you have to build and embody a culture of reality. A culture of reality is a culture of connectedness and trust. No one is going to tell you anything until it’s too late if you build a company using the piñata method. Even worse, they are going to tell you want you want to hear, not what you need to know. Remarkably, Management by Piñata is very popular. Piñata style managers believe they are “doing something” and “holding people accountable.” But it’s not effective, and it’s not a winning strategy.
Your job as company leadership is to anticipate and remove barriers. Startups, even more than large companies, need proactive leadership, not reactive bullies. So don’t even think about sticks and blindfolds.
