Producing the best!

In his buzz, Why the Best Make the Worst?, Ali Anani challenges us with the following question and statement:

“Why the best fail to produce the best? In fact, they could produce the worst.” 

Dr. Ali goes on to say that, "...each of us require a meaning that we can hang on to and master..." I find that in these few words Dr. Ali lays the foundation from which the best can develop. Alongside meaning we can then redefine criteria; what makes this person qualified, which qualities, which area of knowledge, which abilities, are we looking for to achieve the outcome we seek. The best may turn out the worst because we possess our worst criteria to measure the best; or the worst reflects the best of our criteria. And that takes us back full circle to meaning.

A discussion ensued and Dr. Ali mentioned the value these comments would have in a human resources content. As someone who has worked with Human Resource/Personnel Departments with issues related to team building and conflict resolution, I was encouraged to see Dr. Ali highlighting defining and clarifying of meaning and criteria as a vital process within the department. A department that is defined as:

"The resource that resides in the knowledge, skills, and motivation  of people. Human resource is the least mobile of the four factors of production, and (under right conditions) it improves with age and experience, which no other resource can do. It is therefore regarded as the scarcest and most crucial productive resource that creates the largest and longest lasting advantage for an organization.” - www.businessdictionary.com

This definition answers the “what’, but it is in the “how” that the potential of bringing out the best of people, will take place.

From my perspective, the “how” is straightforward; one do, and one don’t.

DO: Begin with the person. In order to understand what “knowledge, skills, and motivation” reside in the people, go to the people with an open mind to learn about them as individuals.

DON’T: When you approach the people, do so without presumption. Invest in discovering what makes that person unique.

"A worker may be the hammer's master, but the hammer still prevails. A tool knows exactly how it is meant to be handled, while the user of the tool can only have an approximate idea."
Milan Kundera

Example: For any manager or team leader, bringing out the best begins by putting meaning in your criteria. When defining and clarifying criteria, avoid open general statements such as: Able to take initiative. What does this mean? But if you define the criteria as, the individual can demonstrate that he or she is able to take initiative, then you are able to produce the best because you understand how and under what circumstances the individual can thrive.

Investing time in people producing the best people will result in a much better ROI than investing a lot of money on preset models or frameworks that are supposed to produce results.

As Einstein succinctly stated: “Invest in the success of others.”