Positioning Systems Blog

It’s a small book, yet it’s packed full of very powerful ideas that will change and upset your mind about what you thought and perhaps what you’ve practiced in the past. You’ll need to approach Oops – 13 Management Practices That Waste Time and Money [and what to do instead] by Aubrey Daniels with an open mind. 

 

In our Rockefeller Habits coaching, this book looks at the People Decision, what Jim Collins would suggest is the first and most critical aspect of building your business. “First who than what,” is Collins quote from Good to Great. So don’t diminish the importance of building a business where you and your people are happy. 

 

Why are these ideas not widely known or accepted? Daniels suggests there are two reasons. First there’s been very little exposure to the science of human behavior. If you’ve been to college you probably won’t have difficulty believing what Daniels states, “what business schools teach about psychology has little to do with the practical challenges which manager's face, and most of what they teach about behavioral psychology is wrong.” In fact there are very few universities that teach business students behavior analysis.

 

Daniels believes that the behavioral approach when understood and mastered is significantly more efficient and effective in producing results in the workplace than other alternatives.

 

His second reason why the ideas he provides in the book are not widely known and accepted is that the systems were designed by those concerned with the financial aspects of the organization. This may seem flawed since most would agree that if these behavioral techniques get better results wouldn’t it make sense that companies would jump on them? Yet we only have to re visit the recent debacle in the mortgage and banking industry to see that bonuses and payments to employees have not fit the norm for some time, and that receipt of a large incentive is not always tied to performance.

 

Daniels cites Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball showed how had been managing and rewarding the wrong behaviors for over 100 years.  It took this book and the work of Oakland general manager Billy Beane to change how measures of effectiveness and compensation were finally changed in major league baseball.

So let’s give you the 13 Management Practices That Waste Time and Money to stir you up some and in future blogs we’ll discuss each further.

 

Here they are: [Remember the titles refer to the Practices which shouldn’t be followed]

 

 

Okay, I told you some of these would be controversial.   Before you jump to any conclusions let me tell you that each of these Daniels does a compelling job of convincing us why these have been handled wrong in the past and how to fix them.

 

First we’ll explore Daniels rules for making behavior work and how contingency shaped behavior and rule governed behavior works and why one is much more effective than the other.

Need help implementing these ideas?

Positioning Systems helps business owners and entrepreneurs transform their business.   We provide the tools and coaching to help you take control of your business -- rather then having your business control you.