TOH: Delusional Process Management Syndrome
Many of the managers I come into contact with suffer from Delusional Process Management Syndrome. They become such a slave to their emotional reaction(s) to events, they can’t strategically analyze their management processes for effectiveness.
Case in point: bad hires.
A manager hires a new _____ (insert position here) and after a short time becomes acutely aware that for one reason or another, the new hire just won’t work out. Terminated. However, instead of critically and strategically analyzing what went wrong, the manager lays blame at the feet of the employee saying things like, ‘I took them at their word…’ and ‘I gave them the benefit of the doubt…’ or some other such deflective nonsense then uses that experience as the underlying emotional justification for not ‘…trusting people until they’ve earned it…’
The real problem is that they allowed themselves to circumvent (if they used one at all) any serious process for attracting, interviewing, checking, hiring, training, Coaching, etc…to ensure a more successful outcome for both the business and the employee.
Then when they experience failure, they respond emotionally instead of critically looking at their process and deciding where they had gone wrong and make the necessary strategic or tactical adjustments.
Also, unable to accept blame and correct their thinking and their process, they double down by using emotional resolutions to justify future behavior: ‘I’ll never let that happen again. I’ll stand over their shoulder and watch their every move if I have to!’
This also manifests itself in how the manager deals with other existing employees: ‘I’ll be damned if I let anyone else pull the wool over my eyes!’ Then they go out and raise expectations for every employee, usually without communicating this to them or adding the necessary tools for the employee to reach them.
Successful managers use (and stick to) a smart, behavioral development process for their people which is critically important for ALL positions – from dish washer to Director of Operations. Fine tuning it is just as important (maybe more so) after every opportunity.
Can you guarantee that you will never make another bad hire? No.
Can you mitigate the churn caused by a bad hiring process? Yes. And in an industry with historically high turnover in both the employee and management ranks, it’s both strategically and economically important for creating the proper culture in which to build long-term success.
