Don’t hire sheep
February 14th, 2007 | Published in career
A second article that caught my attention earlier was from Seth Godin and talked about sheepwalking.
I agree with Seth that the employee can’t be faulted initially, but after the typical probation period I think it’s entirely the employee’s fault if they aren’t able to break from the flock of average performers and demonstrate some initiative. As much as I’d like all companies to have creative cultures like Google’s or that of a startup, it’s not going to happen. Once the company is established the happiness of the shareholders or funders inevitably becomes the primary concern.
Thankfully, I think as long as a company is willing to allow people to innovate for a few hours a week that’s enough. If you’ve hired the right people they’ll take the initiative and locate or create opportunities to be innovative and make the most of that time.
When I first started full-time at IBM I quickly got bummed that my manager wouldn’t let me go off and work on any project I wanted to. After several months I’d had enough and started working on small projects on my own in my spare time. Once I’d demonstrated to him that I was able to accomplish my regular work as well as my side projects, he started suggesting other opportunities to me and giving me more freedom.
Since then I’ve worked on two redbooks (and am scheduled for a third), started writing an article series for developerWorks, signed up to teach a weeklong workshop in Ontario, and participated in two “patent farms”.
The point? As long as you’re willing to take the initiative being creative shouldn’t be a problem. An easy place to start is to determine where the boundaries are between your job role and your coworkers job roles and then fill the gaps (don’t try to take over their roles).
If you’re not willing to step outside your comfort zone, be prepared for a very boring 9 to 5 job and an equally mindnumbing career. If you’re looking to change that behavior you might check out Robert E. Kelley’s How to be a Star at Work (thanks to Bryan and his “How to Kick-Ass at Work” discussion group). I highly recommend reading it.
