Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Instead of averaging, trying multiplying to judge the effectiveness of your group.

We tend to average things. I’m not sure why, but it seems to make sense.

Consider a team of four people. We assign the ability of each person a number: 1.2, 1.0, 0.7, and 1.1. The average of these four numbers is 1.0. Hey, we are doing pretty well here. The stronger persons are compensating for the weaker persons. With time, the weaker persons will learn, and we will have an excellent time some time real soon now.

Let’s reconsider this team. Instead of averaging the team’s numbers, let’s multiply them. The product is 0.92. Uh, oh, uh, the team is not so good.

There must be something wrong with multiplying numbers when some are less than one?

This multiplication example shows that perhaps a manager should devote more attention to the weaker members of a team instead of the stronger members. Also, when considering only myself, I should devote more effort to my weaknesses instead of strengths.

Then again, surely there is something wrong with multiplying numbers when some are less than one?