Friday, September 16, 2005

The most valuable person in the room?

In all organizations, the most valuable person may not be the employee with the shiniest title or resume. Often the most valuable person is someone who has decided to avoid the politics and organizational noise that often go with HR defined leadership positions, and instead concentrate on the tasks that really matter to an organization. Unfortunately, these people may be perceived as "not career oriented" to the untrained eye.

Would the most valuable person in the organization degrade themselves by participating in arduous employee review processes? For example, many organizations have employee review processes that have more paper involved than actual content and true feedback. My review the past two years have both been over 20+ pages and I've not read either of them in full detail. Would the most valuable person in the organization engage themselves in such superfluous activities?

Would the most valuable person in the organization concentrate on politicking with the various HR defined Stewarts of the organization instead of concentrating on the fundamental organizational objectives? For example, if the neighboring vice president says jump, you force your team to ask "how high" so you "look good" instead of asking "what is the fundamental purpose of the jump and how does it give us a sustained competitive advantage over our competitors."

My whole point is, often the most value people of a organization are not the ones speaking the loudest in the room. They are often people who have decided to not deal with organizational noise and instead work on accomplishing organizational objectives. My hope is all organizations recognize this and ensure that all valuable people are rewarded as handsomely as the suites upstairs.

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