Peter Scholtes passed away on July 11th.  I remember attending (at least) two of his seminars that he put on in Indianapolis.  He was a very approachable and kind man that wrote two books that were classics . . . The Team Handbook and The Leader’s Handbook. 

Skeuomorph was a name he presented in The Leader’s Handbook as “an activity or artifact that continues in use long after its original purpose has disappeared.”  The example that was used was the granddaughter asking the grandmother why her mother cuts the shank of the ham to put it in the oven when the original purpose for doing so was because the ovens were smaller when the grandmother cooked.  But the tradition continued from generation to generation even though the purpose for doing so had long disappeared.  Similar traditions in business have long been followed even though the purpose has long been proven to be old thinking, but still followed.  Let’s look at the list:

  • targets and other management by results techniques
  • incentives, rewards and performance appraisals for managing people
  • reliance on inspection for quality
  • paying attention to the individual will improve performance of the organization
  • financial and productivity measures used to drive improvement
  • scientific management theory
  • making decisions about the work separate from the work
  • using financial reports as a way to improve the business
  • believing manufacturing and service can be treated the same when variety of demand separates the two
  • copying another organization’s processes and methods for best practice

There are many more than the above list, the problem is we need to break the tradition of poor thinking that is wasting resources.  The skeuomorphs have become like a bad tic that is uncontrollable, but the leadership strategy is to continue to ignore the thinking problem that prevails.  Something like in Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Suit . . . who will be the first to tell the emperor that he has no clothes?

We are not the first to travel down this path: W. Edwards Deming, Taiichi Ohno, John Seddon and many others like Peter Scholtes spent their careers trying to change the thinking for a better path to prosperity and profitability.  But it is a road less traveled with much work left to do.  In memory of Peter Scholtes, the path he cleared for many will be long remembered and God willing . . . . eventually widened and paved.

Tripp Babbitt is a speaker, blogger and consultant to service industry (private and public).  His organization helps executives find a better way to make the work work.  Download free from www.newsystemsthinking.com “Understanding Your Organization as a System” and gain knowledge of systems thinking or contact us about our intervention services at info@newsystemsthinking.com.  Reach him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TriBabbitt or LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/trippbabbitt.