Capability under your Nose?

Matt Groening always did fine in school, getting good grades and passing all tests. He however, found himself terribly bored.  In order to keep himself awake and amused, he started to draw during classes.

He would draw constantly and he got good at drawing that he was able to draw without looking. For Matt, art classes were an opportunity to pursue his passion.

He had the thrill of making something that didn’t exist before. Then he realised that his drawing was not getting any better so he started concentrating on stories and jokes. Matt Groening, known around the world as the creator of The Simpsons, found his true inspiration in the work of other artists whose drawings lacked technical mastery.

His teachers and his parents tried to encourage him to do something else with his life in spite of the fact that his father was a cartoonist and filmmaker. They suggested that he go to college and find a more solid profession. His first-grade teacher saved paintings he did in class. She saved them for years. She appreciated his talent and he liked her very much. Her name is Elizabeth Hoover and Matt named a character on The Simpsons after her.

Things turned out rather differently from thereon. Matt moved to L.A., eventually placed his comic strip Life in Hell with L.A. Weekly and began to make a name for himself. He was invited to the Fox Broadcasting Company to create short animated segments for The Tracy Ullman Show. During his presentation to Fox, he invented The Simpsons on the spot. The show evolved into a half-hour programme and has been running on Fox every Sunday for 21 years as at date. In addition, it has generated movies, comic books, toys and countless other merchandise. It has become a pop culture empire.

None of this would have happened if Matt Groening has listened to those who told him he needed to pursue a ‘real’ professional career.

This is a predicament that befalls our children, our subordinates and our associates. We decide what the other has to do and therefore, encourage him/her to get into line, be it career or academic progression. How often do we pause and consider what talents the other person has, what capability and potential exists in the other?

Going beyond the Letter of Appointment

Several managers derive their power and ‘organisational security’ from their letters of appointments. The position power, terms, authority and remuneration is what they derive their management comfort. What is sad is that these managers do not have the skill of managing, worse still, have no clue about identifying and developing the capability that exists around them.  

With the prospect of the country’s post-war economic upward trend, time is opportune for managers to make use of capability (latent potential of subordinates) to grow speed, quality, growth and sustainability of organisational business throughputs.

Addressing the Talent Management Conference – 2007, organised by GLA Group, Mathura, India, I stressed the importance of helping managers and executives to go beyond their letters of contract. Capabilities of people get locked inside these types of letters and hardly manifests. Then, where is initiative and creativity? Where do they find the field to play their initiative?

Look at your letter of appointment. See the wording. Aren’t the letters of appointments worded as “You shall not do this”, “You shall not do that”, and it goes on and on. Where is the encouragement to work? Where is the encouragement to try out new things?

Seen any capability around you?

How many of you, managers, go into and come out of your offices day after day without noticing the capability waiting to be grown? These are the managers who are tied down with routines and deadlines. Do they have time, or rather, find the time to think? I don’t think so. They are so psycho-motor to the extent it turns my stomach. Too busy?... Remember seeing stray dogs on the road? Do they walk or do they run aimlessly? Of course they run and, in fact they are very busy running around except when they are lying down or sleeping. Yet, they are very busy! What do they produce at the end of the day? Well, ‘zero’ results. How many of us are like dogs… very busy but not producing results?

My advice is, “Get out of ‘busy’ start taking quality time to ‘think’ and to identify potential capability in your people. There is so much capability around you. The more you neglect to identify this talent, the more you will have to do the tasks each time they pop up. Weariness takes out the passion from what you do. This is fatigue. If managers get involved with everything, their effectiveness will diminish. There is lots of idle talk of delegation and empowerment. Isn’t it all a joke? One cannot think of delegating or empowering unless the capability around is identified and developed to an extent that one can delegate or empower. When the cause is greater than your pride, you get into action without ego.

“If you have the capacity for 1000 people and you are given 100 people, 900 will come to you. But, if you have capacity for 100 people and given 1000 people, 900 will go away” – T.D. Jakes.

Leave yourself room to be wrong, for if you don’t, you will not have room to grow.

(Nalin Jayasuriya is the Managing Director & CEO, McQuire Rens & Jones (Pvt) Ltd. He has held Regional Responsibilities of two Multinational Companies of which one, Smithkline Beecham International was a Fortune 500 company before merging to become GSK. He carries out consultancy assignments and management training in Dubai, India, Maldives, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Nalin has been Consultant to assignments in the CEB, Airport & Aviation Services and setting up the PUCSL. He is a much sought-after business consultant and Corporate Management Trainer in Sri Lanka. He has won special commendation from the UN Headquarters in New York for his record speed in re-profiling and re-structuring the UNDP. He has lead consultancy assignments for the World Bank and the ADB. He has addressed the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Selangor on several occasions. Nalin is an executive coach to top teams of several multinational and blue chip companies.  Email: [email protected])