The Common Management Wisdom That Does More Harm Than Good

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In yesterday's MGMT Accelerator, we went deep into diagnosing problems to the root cause. 

And while most people assume this process is about having good answers, it's actually about asking the right questions. And listening keenly to the answers. 

After leading 500+ of these diagnosis sessions, specific phrases always get my attention. 

And yesterday's word of the day: "Matrix reporting." (I know, ironic because it’s two words.)

Whenever I hear that multiple people are in charge, I'm certain no one is in command. People don't know who they work for or who can make decisions. And to keep everyone happy, they race for the shelter of the mediocre middle ground.

The root cause always leaves clues. And this is a big one, Professor Plum. 

And yet, despite piles of evidence that this seldom works, companies constantly design their organizations this way. 

This got me thinking:

"What other common wisdom is better in theory than practice?" 

Here are my big 5 management misconceptions.

1. Fire Fast

The cost of firing someone you hired is orders of magnitude more than just the dollars you paid to recruit them. 

• You invested time

• Your team invested in trust 

• And the clock to refill this role just reset

Even the best recruiting process occasionally misses. But if you're firing so fast that you haven't forgotten the pain of the previous fast fire, you have a problem upstream. 

You either:

• Don't have a clear role

• Don't know the right archetype to fill it, or

• Don't run a process that yields those types of stars

Fire fast is really just a signal to recruit right. 

Tip: Never compromise on character for credentials. Name the behaviors that give you an outsized chance to win. Those are the values to hire for.

2. Only Hire A-Players

This is fortune cookie management wisdom that's easy to say and hard to practice. 

First, this assumes you're a top 1% recruiter (everyone wants A-players) and have a top 10% opportunity to offer (A-players have choices). Very few leaders have one, much less both. 

Second, most organizations don't have enough growth and opportunity to support a team of only A-players. They want opportunity, growth, development, and outsized rewards. 

Finally, we have asymmetric information. We're much better at measuring hard skills (e.g., sales) vs soft skills (e.g., collaboration), but the latter make good teams great. Once you get hooked on a toxic performer's output, it's easy to rationalize the damage they do internally. 

Tip: Get A-players in critical roles. Learn which archetype of B-players you can develop into A-players. Never tolerate C-players.

3. Throw Experienced Hires In the Deep End

You hired this person because they've already proven they have the skills, experience, and network to upgrade your team massively. 

But what they don't have is context:

• The current state of the team

• The history that led to this moment

• The visceral understanding of the culture

And forcing (or in some cases allowing) them to make sweeping changes without a threshold level of understanding is borderline negligent. 

A question CEO Coach Matt Mochary asks all of his clients, "If you could wait 30-60 days and bring your new executive success rate from 50% to 100%, would you?"