Hi
Sorry to butt in you might want to take a look at Elliot Jaques work on
Time Horizons, were he has linked capability to goal seeking behaviour
hence Time horizon. This is one of the better works on capability and work
and complexity of mental processing.
Generally engineers have what I call away from motivation, away from
problems or problem solving capabilities, which are very task or
procedurally orientated. Most tasks even say the longest task in most
engineering positions are maximum 1-2 or even three years. This type of
task results in goal seeking behaviour will mean that the longest
strategic outlook might only be 3 years. So the company employs only these
types of capabilities ( reflection of ourselves) which is okay under most
circumstances. But what it can do is shorten the really long range ability
of the company.
One of the key things you have to do is ascertain what the people's time
horizons in the group are. How do they see things, systems or things i.e.
the forest or the trees. Managers generally live in the future that's why
they are managers, workers time horizons even doctors might only be 1
month or even only 1 day. This is a very intense subject one of my
favorites and too long to discuss here. Remember if your employees time
horizons are only one month you cannot get them to think in 5 years, that
is like asking a baby to run who can't crawl. One technique that might
work is get them to close their eyes and see a movie ten years into the
future and describe it, what the company will look like what type of
people will work there and the products it might produce. Then slowly work
your way back year by year to the present. Who knows?
Kindest
Gavin
--Gavin Ritz <garritz@xtra.co.nz>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>