MBWA v DBWA
Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA
President and CEO, Society of Physician Entrepreneurs, another lousy golfer, terrible cook, friction fixer
The management by wandering around (MBWA), also management by walking around, refers to a style of business management which involves managers wandering around, in an unstructured manner, through their workplace(s) at random, to check with employees, equipment, or on the status of ongoing work. The emphasis is on the word wandering as an unplanned movement within a workplace, rather than a plan where employees expect a visit from managers at more systematic, pre-approved or scheduled times.
The expected benefit is that a manager who employs this method, by random sampling of events or employee discussions, is more likely to facilitate improvements to the morale, sense of organizational purpose, productivity and total quality management of the organization, as compared to remaining in a specific office area and waiting for employees, or the delivery of status reports , to arrive there, as events warrant in the workplace.
Doing by workaround (DBWA) is one unintended consequence of how managers and leaders make it hard to do the right things, and easy to do the wrong things. Anyone who works for someone else, at one time or another, has done a workaround.
Michael is a registered nurse with a baccalaureate degree who began working three years ago at a hospital which was part of a large health system. Last month he transferred to another hospital within the health system to take a job in a specialty ICU. The health system has an integrated, enterprise-wide health information system, so that all hospitals within the health system share the same basic electronic ordering, charting, and medication administration systems. In many ways, this made the transition easier, since he was familiar with the various technological applications. However, one problem he encountered was that he was unable to print lab specimen labels with his user-ID and password, although he was able to execute all the other functions like order entry, clinical charting and medication administration. As a workaround, Michael has another nurse or his preceptor enter her user-ID and password to print out the labels. However, Michael expresses discomfort with this solution, since it is another nurse’s name that is attached to the blood draw or specimen collection in the electronic record. Despite multiple calls to the IT help center, the problem remains unsolved. Michael would prefer not to use this workaround, but is not sure what other options he has available at present.
The incident described above is commonly referred to as a workaround . A workaround is defined as an action that is performed by an individual to circumvent a block in workflow and thereby achieve a desired goal; yet the action deviates from the protocol, culture or expected practice established by the organization. Organizational roadblocks are pervasive, so be prepared.
Trade people, like the plumbers, electricians and HVAC people who come to fix things in my house, are experts at finding the workarounds. Surgeons and nurses have the same mindset.
The next time you have to solve a problem that defies a conventional solution or guidelines, try these things:
Friction, according to Bob Sutton ,“ is simply putting obstacles in front of people that slow them down, that make their jobs more difficult and maybe a little bit more frustrating.” Sutton has written multiple New York Times bestsellers, including The No Asshole Rule , and Scaling Up Excellence with coauthor and Stanford colleague Huggy Rao . His upcoming book with Rao is all about the friction that typically arises after companies scale, and it is appropriately titled The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder .
Seven Masterclass Takeaways
Adopt a trustee mindset.
According to Sutton, “Leaders should be trustees of other people’s time.” This means not just trying to find ways of saving people’s time, but also being aware of how you’re imposing on their time.
Don’t be oblivious.
“Leaders need to be aware of the power and influence they have,” says Sutton, because an offhand comment can send employees on a wild goose chase that costs time, energy, and money. “That’s what happens when people in positions of power…are unaware of their cone of friction.” Leaders also need to acknowledge their blind spots. Many assume that because of their success, they know everything that matters about their organization; what Sutton calls the “fallacy of centrality.” Either way, what you don’t know can certainly hurt you.
Avoid power poisoning.
“When people feel powerful or more powerful than others they tend to focus on their own needs over others and then they act like the rules don’t apply to them,” Sutton says. Friction is almost always the result.
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Embrace inconvenience.
Leaders often get the VIP treatment. They don’t have to stand in line or wait on hold. But Sutton says that this “absence of inconvenience…is protecting you from the experience that your customers are facing.” If you don’t feel the friction yourself, how can you address it?
Play the subtraction game.
Sutton suggests approaching problems with a subtraction mindset as an antidote to what he calls addition sickness. He says, “First, make a list of stuff that’s getting in the way and driving you crazy. Okay, so now what are you going to do to get rid of it?”
Fight friction as a team.
“Friction is often an orphan problem that we point at other people, and we tell them it’s their job to fix it,” Sutton says. Given the high-friction nature of friction fixing, he suggests a team effort.
Remember that not all friction is bad.
Sutton acknowledges that some things should be hard, like cheating, stealing, and making stupid decisions quickly. He says “Sometimes, being fast — all that does is get you killed off more quickly. The goal of getting rid of mindless, unwanted friction is to clear the way for the things in life that are hard and should be hard.”
People who take care of patients do workarounds every day, be they medical staff, front office workers, IT managers or environmental service workers.
Navy SEALs operate in dynamic and unpredictable environments, where plans can change rapidly. Their ability to adapt to evolving situations, think on their feet, and make swift decisions is a testament to their leadership agility .
It is part of the hidden curriculum and means sometimes forgetting what you learned in your MBA organizational misbehavior course because you certainly didn't learn it in medical or nursing school.
Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs on Substack