“50 Police Staff Resigned After Being Caught Keyboard Jamming to Fake Productivity”
Inc. Magazine reported that one officer reportedly held down the ‘Z’ key for 103 hours over four months so monitoring software would register “activity.”
It’s easy to read that think, “Why were the officers so lazy”, but the real question is, “Why was leadership so lazy?”
This shows up everywhere in growing companies:
• Measuring hours instead of outcomes
• Measuring responsiveness instead of effectiveness
• Measuring activity instead of productivity
When the underlying issue is usually something deeper: a systematic lack of clarity and accountability.
When organizations measure surface-level activity: keyboard movement, online status, etc. people learn quickly what the system rewards.
To define the culture in an organization, ask yourself, “What rules of behaviour, spoken and unspoken, are rewarded, which are punished, and which are simply ignored.”
The fix isn’t to start with surveillance, it’s to start with building the right foundation first.
In the book Traction, Gino Wickman lists seven main tools and the order in which they should be implemented in order to build the right foundation:
1. Accountability Chart
Everyone has a clear set of roles and knows who owns what.
2. Rocks
The most important priorities every quarter.
3. Meeting Pulse
A consistent weekly and quarterly meeting rhythm where issues get surfaced and solved.
4. Scorecard
A handful of measurable numbers that tell you whether the business is on track.
5. Vision/Traction Organizer (VTO)
A simple framework that clarifies the company’s vision, strategy, and priorities.
6. Three-step Process Documenter
The core ways your company operates are defined and followed by everyone.
Only after these foundations are in place does the final domino fall:
7. Everyone has a number.
Not activity, not appearances, but one to three numbers that reflect a real outcome they own.
When this discipline is in place, something changes. Leaders don’t have to watch keyboards, and the organization shifts from ‘being busy’ to ‘being effective.’
For founders and leadership teams scaling companies from 10 to 250 employees, this is often the turning point between an entrepreneurial start-up and a truly scalable business.
Which measurable in your organization is most likely being gamed right now?
Link to the article: https://lnkd.in/gu5j6Abc
