When Winning Becomes Losing: The Risks of a Competitive-Only Mindset

Anyone in management should be wise about those who game the system. If there is a productivity measurement, someone will figure out how to get the numbers, no matter the cost. The company, customers, and peers are sacrificed in the race to gain the number. All is lost if we aren’t careful about what we manage, measure, and reward.

I was recently involved in a training exercise for a new warehouse. The trainees were stock pickers. They were directed through their RF devices to pick barcode cards (faux inventory) in locations. We measure their productivity (number of picks and accuracy) electronically. Things were looking well until I did observations, I soon realized that some of the pickers pulled cards from remote areas and placed them closer. The gracious side of me could give them credit for thinking about how to make their job easier and quicker. But the process of knowing what their ability to find a location and pick from them was skewed until we put a stop to them gaming us.

It was an opportunity to teach integrity and honest work!

You may be interested in Seth Godin’s related blog on measures Speedometer confusion.