Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

A basic questions that managers should ask above the noise and bustle of the day.

Every group needs a person who asks a nagging question or two every day or week or month or two.

Is this working?

Of course this is working. What do you think? We are all busy; we are all working hard, and we are all accomplishing things.

Yes, but is this working? We gained 2% in efficiency last week, but how about over the last year? Have we lost weight? Have we gained salary? Did we help employees learn? What can we do now that we couldn’t do a year or a decade ago?

If you (me) are the person asking this question, expect bad things to come back to you. Frowns, scowls, derision, calls to “get a real job” and the like are coming your way. Folks are busy and working hard and don’t want extra questions to cloud their thinking.

Smile. With all due respect, directly and clearly ask, “Is this working?”