Your Organization is Damned. What Would You Bet to Save It?

I have said that there is no such thing as a business process that isn’t delivered through technology for years. How is it then that organizations cling to models for promotion and compensation that damn not only the organization, but also the people who deliver that technology?

Damned might seem like a strong word.

But who hasn’t struggled with the global talent shortage? The pandemic of disengaged and overburdened staff? Retaining talented people? These are problems leaders in organizations face every day. How can we build the teams who deliver the technology, products, and services our customers need without the people who deliver them? It took me over a year to recruit my team to full strength. Today, the nightmare that wakes me up in the middle of the night is the one where one of them has left…

And I’m the lucky one!

Several of my colleagues still struggle to recruit the technology talent they need. In the past few weeks I’ve only seen my colleague Carlos as he staggered from interview to interview like a zombie. Aaron had two key people poached and won’t be in next week as he heads onsite to ensure we deliver on our commitments to our members.

It might not feel that way right now, but my colleagues are lucky too!

Info-Tech is one of those rare companies that offers the people who deliver their products and services the same opportunity for advancement and compensation as the management team. Top people on my team not only have the opportunity to make more than I do. They actually do! Sooner or later, Carlos and Aaron’s teams will be back up to strength and humming along. Talent attracts talent, and our model gives them room to do what they love to do. Does yours?

Organizations are offering the wrong bargain.

Jeff Watkins is a colleague at AND Digital in the UK and contributor to our research. AND is organized around similar principles to Info-Tech. That shared context created an novel insight in our conversation this morning. I proposed that most organizations offer their best technology people a modern day version of Faust’s Bargain. If you’re not familiar with it, the Bargain goes like this. “You can have wealth, position, and fame… as long as you give up your soul.” Their soul, in this case, is delivery of exceptional, innovative technology, products, and services. In return they get to manage people, sit in a boardroom, and have some extra zeros on their pay stub. It’s a bad bargain for them.

The bargain is worse for their organizations.

When we pull our best and brightest out of delivery we’re damned seven ways from Sunday. We create a vacuum in the teams that actually deliver the technology. It takes time to backfill. Delays ensue. Bolman and Deal also found we also create disruption, conflict, and often burn out both the teams and the newly minted “leader.” We also create waste as the precious knowledge in their heads is now only available in dribs and drabs. It’s a bad bet all around.

There is a better bet.

Jeff proposed we replace our Faustian Bargain with a new take on Pascal’s Wager. “Technology and the people who deliver it are the soul of a modern, digital, organization. We need to break the damnable bargain that forces our best and brightest technology people to give up what they love best in return for the paltry rewards of position.” If we’re going to save the soul of the digital age, we need to be ready to bet everything on the people who deliver that technology.

What do you need to do to make this happen?