Creating Problems In Order To Solve Them

If you have been in management or HR for any period of time you have probably encountered an employee who always seems to encounter more problems than others, but seems to always successfully solve them. Sometimes you are happy they have taken care of them, other times you wonder why that employee always encounters the problems. Sometimes people get rewarded or promoted for their problem solving skills. Sometimes people make their reputations on their ability to solve problems and become known as turn around specialists.

It is always good to have a problem-solver in the fold, but sometimes you are suspicious. Just a gut feeling that things are not quite the way they seem. You suspect that the person is creating as many problems as they solve and in fact seem to be making them up to look good. Maybe to get a promotion, a raise, or just to get the praise. Well it turns out that this may be a more widespread problem than thought. In an article in the Monday, August 25th issue of the Wall Street Journal writer Phred Dvorak discusses a phenomena called 'Munchausen at Work.' Georgia Tech business professor Nathan Bennett coined this term to describe work behavior that resembles a rare psychological disorder called Munchausen Syndrome.

Munchausen Syndrome (click for the Wiki) is a disorder in which people make up illnesses or diseases in order to get sympathy or to draw attention to themselves. It is named after a real person, Baron von Munchausen, who used to make up fanciful tales about himself. (His story was actually made into a movie The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.)

Some of the symptoms of 'Munchausen at Work', according to Dvorak, include withholding help or key information until the last moment and then stepping in to save the day. Other examples include things like creating rumors among employees and then dispelling the rumors after having "talked to the boss" or "saving your job." Another example was a manager undermining relationships in his work group and then holding group sessions to improve relations. Managers create the workplace "illnesses" in order to cure the illness and thus draw attention to themselves.

Part of the problem may be of our own creation. We usually get the type of behavior we reward. So if we consistently reward problem solving behavior we may have created an "attention junky" (my term) who now has to create problems to solve in order to get the attention for solving the problem.

So, HR Manager, take a look at your managers. Do you have one that is always the "hero"? The White Knight who comes dashing to the rescue? If so you may want to look a little closer and see if what they are saving you from is not of their own creation. Hopefully not, but it doesn't hurt to be a bit skeptical and investigate. You might cure some more headaches. Then of course we would have to worry about you craving that attention too!!

Attracting Employees: Great Job and Cool Red Shorts

How would you like to have an organization where people not only wanted to work, they actually trained to compete for the positions that were open? Sound unreal? It is not. It is the L.A. County Lifeguards! There is an article in the June 6th issue of the Wall Street Journal entitled Sink or Swim that describes the competition and the training that rookies go through to get the job that inspired Baywatch. Lifeguarding at this level is not just a simple summer job. Many of the lifeguards fulltime employees and the lifeguards are assigned to the fire department. All are athletes, some with military experience, some with Olymipic aspirations. The benefits are good and the pay starts at over $20/hr with some guards making close to six figures. The contenders for the job go through a competition that washes the less than able out. But the rewards are there.. the coveted red shorts and the orange lifesaving "can" and the glamour. Great employment branding here!

So what are some the lessons we learn from this as employers that will help us attract the "best?"

• Have a hiring process that promotes "We hire the best", a competition.


• Have a vision and rules that support it... for lifeguards it is "Always Face the Water"


• Pay well


• Have some sort of "glamour" associated with the position


• Give something to them that indicates publicly they are part of the "best"- That coveted pair of red shorts.

Do you have an organization where people are clamouring and competing to get in the door? If not you may want to rethink how you can position the company to be the "lifeguards" of you industry.

Cornucopia of HR Topics: The Wall Street Journal

The Tuesday, March 4, 2008 issue of The Wall Street Journal has a plethora of topics dealing with HR issues. In the MarketPlace section you will find the following:

• The New Workplace Rules: No Video-Watching: This article talks about companies clamping down on employees watching videos online during work hours. The primary reason is the amount of bandwidth the videos take, negatively affecting the performance of the company's entire network. YouTube and Yahoo are the main culprits. Missing in this article was the comment that employees must be taking a tremendous amount of productive time to do this as well. Yes, some of this may be productive, but my guess is that much of it is not.
• How to Hunt for Jobs As Time Out of Work Drags On and On: This article points out that some people are having a hard time finding work and it is taking longer and longer. The article does point out that alot of this is due to poorly presented skills requiring rewriting resumes. One point made was that many people spend way too much time using the Internet for their job hunt.
• Smaller Firms Offer More Responsibility, Credit: This article bascially points out that not everyone has to work for a big company, not even the "high powered." People find that small companies may not offer as much money, but they may "... provide alluring tradeoffs, such as shorter workweeks, less travel, and work-life balance incentives including telecommuting arrangements and flexible schedules." It is nice to see the "big" world discovering what many of the rest of us know.

In the book review section of the Personal Journal section you will find a review of Critical, a book written by Senator Tom Daschle. It provides a glimpse of what the next "solution" to the healthcare crisis may become. Another crisis in the making in my opinion and not much of a solution. But read the review and form your own opinion.