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More Than and Less Than

By Don Phin

Throughout my entire life, and I guess yours as well, I’ve been bombarded with the message that I am either more than or less than somebody or some group of other people. That was certainly the case through my schooling years. My performance was either more than or less than someone else’s, usually based on some bell curve. Then, when we got out of school, we were bombarded with the more than/less than message at the consumer level. Someone is “more than” because they have a nicer house, fancier car, etc. You are “less than” because you do not.

The more than/less than message can leave us running towards false idols. The problem is, this thinking has deeply affected our workplace. First of all, it focuses our judgments about what path we should be taking in life. I know many doctors and lawyers who wish they were doing something else but came into those professions because they got the message from their parents that they would be “more than” if they became a doctor or lawyer. Then they would get the approval of their friends and family. They would be “accepted.” Never mind that you might not love what you are doing. Just make sure that you are “more than” somebody else. Never mind that what you really wanted to do was be paid to train dolphins, just make sure that you have a bigger house and drive a fancier car than somebody else.

The other problem with more than/less than thinking is that it seldom improves productivity or commitment. Yet we rely on it all the time. A classic example is the use of the performance appraisal. Let me ask you this: Did more than/less than thinking ever really cause you perform to better in school? And if by strange chance it did, was it because you really wanted to perform better or because you were so afraid that if you didn’t you’d be punished? And if the latter, then it was the threat of punishment, not the willingness to perform better, that motivated you. Problem is when the threat goes away, so does the motivation.

Well, the same thing applies in the workplace. Does giving somebody a 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 on a performance evaluation really help them perform better? Or, does it really get the entire workforce trapped in a more than/less than game where fear is the dominant motivator and office politics is the game that’s played?

A number of years ago a gentleman by the name of Alfie Kohn wrote a book called No Contest: The Case Against Competition. He eloquently stated how competitive forces within a company can destroy team fabric and eventually undermine the very productivity that they’re after. Let me give you a classic example. I had a client who offered their top salesperson of the year a trip to Hawaii. The same woman won that award three years in a row. I asked the company owner how much of the “best practices” she developed to make her the star salesperson were shared with the rest of the salesforce, at the risk of not returning to Hawaii the next year. The predictable reply was “probably not much.”

In the book Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie was at a basketball game where everybody was cheering, “We’re number one! We’re number one!” He stood up in the middle of all of it and yelled, “What’s wrong with number two?” All of a sudden the crowd grew silent, not knowing how to handle this statement. The sad fact is if you are not number one in this country, then you get labeled a loser. You could be a 16-year-old kid in the Olympics that comes in second place and you are labeled a loser. That’s how deeply this more than/less than thinking is ingrained in our society.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being number two if you feel good about yourself. Sure, it’s nice to be number one. But only if being if number one also means that you feel better about yourself and the relationships surrounding you. If being number one is only a trap, where you are running for your life, then what is the point?

If you or other persons in management are caught up in a more than/less than game, you or they could be expecting that everyone else be caught up in it as well. The reality is more than/less than thinking is not sustainable. In the end it’s a destructive force in our lives, organizations and communities.

To conclude, look at your company and ask where more than/less than thinking is taking place. If you have a performance appraisal process or a ranking system, you may want to consider eliminating it altogether. If you have incentive programs that focus on the more than/less than, you may want to eliminate those as well. If your company focuses on hiring only the best, there is no need for less than thinking. What’s great about this is you will be able to liberate yourself and others from those aspects of the workplace that cause people to not feel good about themselves and the jobs they are doing. I guarantee it will be a profitable result for all. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Don Phin is an attorney who for more than 16 years, has specialized in the litigation of employment and business cases. He has represented hundreds of employees, partners and companies in that time. Don has litigated wrongful termination, race and age discrimination, sexual harassment, whistle-blower, trade-secret theft, fraud, partnership dissolution and many other cases to a successful conclusion. In 1995, Don obtained the status of a Certified Professional Consultant to Management (CPCM). Since then, he spends a large part of his time consulting, writing, speaking and coaching.

Don’s seminars, workshops and reports have been delivered to such groups as the International Risk Management Institute, Insurance Marketing and Management Services, The Executive Committee, The CEO Club, The Society for Human Resource Management, Foundation of Enterprise Development, The National Human Resource Association and The National Association of Professional Consultants to Management.

Risk management is about possibilities and probabilities. It’s about assessing the 80/20 of exposure and then committing the strategies and tools needed to protect yourself. I hope these insights will help those of you battling on the front lines. If you have any questions regarding the trials and tribulations of managing in today’s high-risk environment, e-mail or give me a call at 800-234-3304.

riskVue | The webzine for risk management professionals
May 2001