Wednesday, April 16, 2008

We Need to Reward Stopping

On Monday I shared in a post Stop It a quote by Peter Drucker on the importance of helping leaders to know what to stop.  I believe most of us are aware that there are things that have long past its usefulness; or where we have moved ahead with initiatives, that though we knew would have some benefit, the output would not justify the return -- so why is it struggle to stop or just say no or to simply pass on an opportunity?

Marshall Goldsmith gives further insight in What Got You Here Won't Get You There, he shares that one of the main reasons is that ... we do not reward stopping, nor do we take time to acknowledge good decision of passing on something that proved to be a disaster.  We do however, take time honor the things we "do" well.

Here are a couple quotes from his book:

"... the recognition and reward systems in most organizations are totally geared to acknowledge the doing of something.  We get credit for doing something good.  We rarely get credit for ceasing to do something bad. Yet they are flip sides of the same coin." p.36

"That's the funny thing about stopping some behavior.  It gets no  attention, but can be as crucial as everything else we do."  p. 37

Apr 16, 2008 8:27:54 AM | Books, Leadership

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