Identifying Workplace Ignorance

By Larrywomack.com

On an early morning trip from Nashville to Memphis, I stopped about half way for coffee and a sausage biscuit at Hardees.  I picked Hardees out of several fast-food places because there was only one car in the drive-through.

Two large strapping teenage fellows, either high school football players or new hires at the textile plant, occupied the car.  I heard them eventually order four sausage-and-egg biscuits, hash browns, and two large colas, after changing their minds several times.  When they got to the window, they changed their order again, much to the consternation of me and the server at the window.  The young men seemed to find great humor in the confusion and delay they were causing.  One even looked back at me, just to let me know he was aware of the circumstance they were creating.  Their constant laughter and revelry rocked the little Chevette they were stuffed into.

When I arrived at the window, the server looked harried from the experience and was shaking her head as she poured my coffee.

“Those boys seemed to enjoy the problems they were creating,” I said.

“Aw, them boys enjoy doing that every morning,”  she replied.  “If it wasn’t for some people’s ignorance, they wouldn’t have no fun at all.

As I drove along consuming my biscuit and coffee, her words played over and over in my mind.  ”If it wasn’t for some people’s ignorance, they wouldn’t have no fun at all.

Ignorance is bliss.  Take away some people’s ignorance and they wouldn’t have anything to occupy their time.  That is true in the workplace, especially in the front office where critical decisions are made.  For some reason, many who run businesses are afraid to admit they are not well versed on a subject, yet make weighty decisions without study or the knowledge required to select the appropriate action.  They just go on their merry way, oblivious to their own ignorance.

The CEO of a small tool and die shop in Nashville is a friend of mine.  He is an educated man, originally from Pakistan, and once the owner of a large tool and die company that went into bankruptcy.  He bought his current shop out of bankruptcy.  My friend has a penchant for hiring the wrong people, giving them too much freedom early in the relationship, and then exercising too much control once they become acclimated to the job.  This company is now on the verge of bankruptcy.

One day he called and asked if I would visit and give him some advice as to what to do next.  The bank has expressed concern that the company had made no profit for several months and wanted a demonstration of viability; otherwise the loans would be called.  He told me that he must be able to show a profit in the coming month.  I suggested that everyone in the organization must be made aware of the dilemma and that he call an all-hands meeting, explain the seriousness of the circumstances, and ask everyone to work extra hard to make a profit in the coming month.

Though admitting the problem openly was not his style, he agreed to my suggestion and had the meeting.  He reported that the meeting went well and everyone seemed to understand the need for putting forth the extra effort.

He also told me that he had a potential buyer for the company who was to visit late in the upcoming pivotal month.  I suggested that he delay the visit because the preparation for it might impact productivity.  He thanked me for the advice in his charming Eastern fashion.  But I could tell that he was going ahead with the visit anyway.

A couple of weeks into the extra effort, I called to see how things were going.  My friend wasn’t there, so I talked to the plant manager.

“How ‘re things going?” I asked.

“Not too well.” he replied.  “We’re not going to make it.  Last weekend, the boss wanted to spiff up the plant for some visitors, so he told Mark to clean the die presses.  Mark told him that it would take almost a week to tear down the presses, remove the electronics, move them outside for cleaning, and reassemble them.  The boss said we didn’t have time.  He ordered Mark to clean them where they sat and to just be careful with the electronics.  Over the weekend, Mark followed the orders and damaged the electronics on three of the seven presses.

“We’re going to be down on those presses for at least five more days while we repair them.  We’re dead in the water, so to speak.”

Then there are those managers who don’t want to hear the bad news.  They’d rather operate from their ignorance than solve problems.  I had a production line supervisor tell me, “They didn’t hire me to solve problems.  I was hired to get the work out.”  A plant manager once said, “The turnover here is so high, we don’t have time to do no training.”

Obviously these men have developed an attitude and understanding about work that is allowed to flourish in the organizations they serve.  Their seemingly ignorant approaches to their jobs may be a sign of what is measured and expected by their superiors.  Though most of those persons working for the tool and die company, in the above story, knew the company was in serious trouble, I found no one trying to do anything about it but the boss in his own inept and feeble way.  They knew their jobs were in jeopardy long before the all-hands meeting, but they were choosing to ignore the company’s dilemma, in hopes that it would go away or the boss would solve the problem by himself.  The office manager told me that everyone had a feeling that the company was going under and each person was posturing himself to be the last one out the door.

Is ignorance really bliss?  Maybe it is when you’re creating confusion at the drive-through window at Hardees, but not in the workplace.  There are several types of ignorance found in organizations:

• Arrogant Ignorance. Acting mean-spirited to cover up a lack of knowledge on a subject. Or assuming that the knowledge one has is more valuable than the knowledge one could acquire.
• Educated Ignorance. Thinking that the little letters after one’s name on a business card confer expertise in all subjects
• Historical Ignorance. Believing there is “nothing new under the sun” and that yesterday’s knowledge is sufficient for today.
• Intentional Ignorance.  Deliberately pleading ignorance to eliminate the possibility of increasing one’s workload.
• Blissful Ignorance. Lacking even the slightest interest in a subject. Or being totally unaware that a subject exists.
• Genetic Ignorance. Being mentally incapable of learning anything about a given subject.
• Pooled Ignorance.  Forming teams or committees to determine, with little or no preparation, the direction of a company or project.  

Though there is no such thing as chance, our ignorance of the real cause of an event has the same effect as chance.  When one operates intentionally or unintentionally out of ignorance, the chance of choosing the wrong answer or the least effective action increases.  Though ignorance in life may or may not bring on vicissitudes, ignorance in the workplace will always bring dire consequences.  This is especially true in large corporations, where the consequences of ignorance may take longer to manifest.

The late quality guru W. Edwards Deming said, “At least 80 percent of opportunities for improvement in any organization are found at the top.”  The higher the ignorance the greater its consequences.  A stupid decision from the boss will almost always carry greater risk than a dumb action from a line worker.  Yet most organizations spend 80 percent of training dollars on staff and line workers and the balance on continuing education for executives.  Show me a company that is attempting to eliminate ignorance at the top, and I’ll show you a company gearing to meet the demands of the present and future.

Eliminating ignorance at work may take away someone’s fun and somebody else’s security blanket, but it’s the surest way to continuity and prosperity.