Is your focus on the bummock or the hummock of your organization?
In one of the early presentations I gave to City Council, I put together a graphic that I called the Public Works Iceberg. The graphic was nothing overly creative or super innovative; I simply designed a huge iceberg with just the tip sticking out of the water. The tip showed all of the responsibilities Public Works had that were visible, things like running water, beautifully maintained parks, and well-kept roads. Obviously, the huge underwater portion of the iceberg included the daily responsibilities and other tasks we were accountable for. These tasks are the things nobody thinks about, and, in most cases, even knows about. Until there is an issue or we screw up. By no fault of the City Council or the public in whole, the majority of our iceberg is entirely invisible and not even considered in our variety of duties.
We all have invisible things that take up massive amounts of our time; be it the stay home parent whose time is spent grocery shopping, preparing meals, running kids to school and practice, helping with homework, and cleaning or a schoolteacher who after devoting a full day of instruction to their students fills their evenings with lesson preparation, and grading of papers. Success is truly built in those moments that are invisible to everyone else; like the athlete that wakes up and trains while no one else is watching, the artist who spends hours by themselves perfecting their craft, the leader who is reading books and working extra hours to become better at their job. The use of invisible time is where both individual people and organizations become great and build substance. It is also, unfortunately, where most fail to find their greatest success.
The invisible underwater portion of an iceberg is called the bummock. The interesting thing about when organizations do a great job of managing this underwater portion, more of the iceberg is underwater and unseen. For example, if a city is doing a consistent job of street sweeping most residents won’t even realize it has been done. The successfully managed items are rarely noticed or even thought about it, they are invisible.
The hummock is the visible portion of an iceberg. It goes without saying this is what gets most of the attention because this is what people can see. This is the evident or visual portion of any organization or employee responsibility. Residents of a city will notice if roads are in disrepair, if parks are not maintained, or if water isn’t running from their tap. When these visible problems occur sometimes it is because the organization has mismanaged the invisible, the bummock, but often they are circumstantial situations and out of the control of the organization. Regardless of the reason, they are viewed negatively by residents and this can create distrust.
Elected officials also typically gravitate towards the hummock because, again, these are items that they can see and get noticed by others. Building a new park and having a ribbon cutting is much more fun and memorable than replacing a failing irrigation system in an older park. The old irrigation system is invisible to everyone, except for the employees who are constantly fixing leaks. While an entire new system is expensive and inconveniences the park goers who cannot during utilize the park during the construction of the new irrigation system. Even great improvements cause some delay in citizen satisfaction.
Gravity also leads employees to focus on the hummock because they understand what gets noticed and what doesn’t. While I don’t believe most employees are consciously trying to be manipulative, I do believe this is a natural byproduct in most organizations. It’s not unlike a dog that will continue to perform a trick because it is met with positive reinforcement or a treat, people understand that what is rewarded with praise and attention will be repeated. If no one notices the “other stuff” you are doing, then why do it?
The truly high performing employees and organizations understand the worth of that underwater work, and build systems to make sure they are taking care of it and making the work and successes visible. Many would argue that Steph Curry is the greatest shooter in NBA history and his practice routines have become well known in the basketball world. Steph shoots a minimum of 250 shots per day, around 2,000 shots per week, and an additional 100 shots before every game. During the offseason he shoots even more; putting in more effort for growth and improvement. He does innovative dribbling routines and other workouts to make sure that his basketball performing game is elite. All of his work has helped him attain 4 NBA Championships, two NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, and 10 All Star Appearances. Steph understands the value in invisible work.
Steph’s underwater work has earned him fame and accolades as he has reached the pinnacle of his profession and is certainly headed for the Basketball Hall of Fame. Fans see the impact of his hard work and pack arenas each game to witness the skills he has developed from his hard work in the bummock. What are your employees receiving for all of their great underwater work? Do you give them any notoriety or recognition? Do you even know what their routines are? Are they even doing great work or are they only focused on the hummock because they know that is what others are paying attention too? Bringing focus to their routines, duties, successes, and room for improvement, gives value to their contributions within your organization. This added value directly relates to the citizens, the organizations reputation, and the success of your employees’ confidence in their role.
As a leader, I have been guilty of not fully understanding the positive contribution an employee was making and I have also experienced the realization many times that one of my employees was only taking care of the visible and placing little or no energy on anything that was underwater. But how can you build your organization to focus on the bummock and the invisible when all energy seems to be directed at the hummock?
With our kids my wife and I decided to make the invisible visible with what we call “Growth Jars.” When learning the piano or practicing baseball, improvement is barely visible, growth is usually slow and often met with frustration. Our kids add a rock to their jar for every 15 minutes of growth they do. Rules apply, but this can be practicing a dance, the violin, or even reading. The effort they are putting in now is something that they can see, their siblings notice and even compete with, and as parents we can reward the most important thing….their effort.
Poor performing or “just enough” employees like to hide under the guise that they are working in the bummock. In my opinion, this is the most common problem in organizations today. I believe it is actually much worse than most leaders realize because our primary focus is the tip of the iceberg. I can admit times when I perceived I had a problem and starting really looking at what was going on, the problem was much worse than I expected. Giving energy to understanding this proactively should be our goal as leaders. Many leaders fall victim to the ostrich approach of sticking one’s head in the sand as ignorance is bliss and managing the hummock is so much easier. Intentionally focusing on the underwater bummock and less visible hummock will lead to greater success and results within your organization.
Typically it takes a crisis or emergencies surfacing for management or leadership to begin asking questions. Questions usually lead to a deeper dive to find out what was actually going on under the water inside their own organization. These deep water dives often unveil an entire mess of concerns, poor performance that has been going on for years, and the consequence of these negative elements finally surfacing. These moments are embarrassing, frustrating, and often met with criticism and disappointment from residents and elected officials. More often than not, these moments would have been preventable had we been more proactive at understanding the bummock.
As leaders, it is our opportunity and responsibility to make the invisible visible. We need to focus on the bummock, and figure out how we can illustrate the amount, and value of this work that is being done that nobody can see. Not for the sake of the elected officials, not for the sake of residents, but for the overall health of our organizations. In order to create a methodology to make this happen, in my organization the supervisors and I worked together to track how time was being spent. We coded the basic time categories in each department and began to have the team record how they spent their work day. This exercise gave us a record of where our valuable time was going and it began to shine a light on what we are doing well and what we need to do better, this was a game changer. We needed to understand where our organization was in order to challenge the iceberg of change.
In our organization this called for implementing work orders, building new systems of accountability, and many other methods to track our work so not only our employees could see the “rocks in the jar,” but so could everyone else. We created recognition programs for our employees so that this invisible work would be recognized and rewarded, making their effort more visible to everyone including elected officials. Greatness, within individuals and an organization, is made in those times when nobody else is watching; it happens in the deepest darkest parts of the organization too. Achievable growth happens in the bummock; changing the dynamic of the iceberg creating more visibility and credibility to the work.
Questions of the week.
1. Pay attention to the work you and your team are doing that nobody else is seeing. Is it quantifiable? If not how should it be recognized?
2. Are you managing the hummock or the bummock? Be honest with yourself.
Challenge for this week
Pay attention to your team and acknowledge someone for the deep bummock work they are doing that nobody else is seeing.
Thoughts from others
“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching”
~C.S. Lewis
“The hardest thing to do is work hard when no one is watching”
~Ray Lewis
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