day 418: Recognizing Capabilities

Anyone who has ever been in a leadership position knows that the assignment of work against the capabilities of people is one of the trickier management problems. It would be great if one size fit all and everyone had the same capability because that would mean that there wouldn't have to be any picking and choosing between the better or not so good employees. It would also mean that we wouldn't have to sit down with people and explain why they didn't get the bigger assignment and why what they perceive as smaller is still just as important. Trying to nail down what is the best for the business, the work and the people is the balancing act that every leader has to learn. Those who can do it well are the leaders that others want to work with, around and for. Those who don't it so well get less responsibility over time. The first lesson is that everyone is indeed different and has different capabilities and that we shouldn't try and make everyone the same. Those who do this end up marginalizing great people as they round them down to the average and the average doesn't really grow or get better, they just stay the same. The best leaders intimately know the capability of each person and then apply the work against that capacity. We read this in Exodus when Moses provides us with one of the earliest examples of division of labor. When he chose the judges to take over from him he did this; "And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people; rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties; and rulers of ten." I am sure Moses had to explain to the ruler of fifty why he was not over hundreds, etc. and we can see that Moses did this and it worked. Today, you may be having a hard time doling and assigning work. Start first with your own assessment of capabilities and work from that outward. If you do start there, then you will be able to defend and promote the decisions based on capabilities, which someone may argue, but ultimately can only defend by proving they can do more. That is a nice place to have everyone thinking.

Reference: Exodus 18:25 (New Kings James Version)