Bosses Tend To Not Really Want Check-Ins And Questions. Is That, Uh, Good?

An approach that we claim could work but probably never would.

Roger L. Martin, a relatively respected figure in the general business world — believe he was a former dean of University of Toronto business school — wrote this article recently about how to design job roles. Somewhat unsurprisingly, I’ve written similar articles, although I am not nearly as well-known or regarded as Martin.

Companies need to do better at defining job roles (MUCH better)

Martin starts by saying something that is smart, and almost universally true:

Whether a CEO has delegated a mission to the president of a business unit, or a business unit president has handed over an initiative to a category manager, or a category manager has entrusted a brand manager with a project, the sequence of events is eerily consistent. The subordinates do an enormous amount of…