VERTICAL THINKING
MANAGEMENT
Are you thinking “up and down” — and getting nowhere?
As George entered the conference room, he thought back to the last time he passed through its doors. That was a stormy session with the same staff chiefs now seated around the table waiting for him… for “round two.” It wasn’t enough that the chiefs resented him for being commissioned by the mayor to conduct a finding study into personnel attitudes of the department; he had told them — to their faces — that they were poor managers. George considered himself to be a cool customer but at this moment couldn’t help feeling a little apprehensive and defensive.
All eyes were on the consultant as he moved to a vacant chair. The chief of department, with a gesture of his hand, invited George to sit down.
“The last time you were here,” John said, “you mentioned something about ‘vertical thinking,’ and accused us of practicing it.” He hesitated. “I’m sorry. I’m assuming that you remember all of us.”
George smiled wanly and quickly read their name cards.
John continued, “We’re interested in hearing more. That’s why I’ve asked that you meet with us again. I might add: I would like to apologize for what went on in our last meeting.”
Damned right you want to apologize, George thought. You’ve heard from the mayor’s office.
George kept his indignation to himself. He sensed some degree of sincerity in John; he did not, however, feel the same about Jack, chief of personnel, or Donald, chief of fire prevention. They didn’t appear to be too happy about his presence. Harold, chief of fire operations — the one who had angrily left the last meeting to call the union — displayed absolutely no expression. George had checked him out. Harold had the reputation as being the consummate bureaucrat. It was obvious that his presence had been ordered. Inquisitive Frank, in charge of the fire academy and the oldest of the chiefs, seemed openly pleased.
“In our last meeting,” John said to George, “you likened our department to a man digging a deep ditch. No, that’s not entirely right. You saw our department as going deeper into an already deep and narrow ditch. The man digging the ditch, you implied, reflected our department’s efforts and our ability to manage. And you claimed that the ditch was dug because of what you call ‘vertical thinking.’ Is that right?”
“You have a good memory.”
“Assuming that you are right — and I’m not sure that you are —I would like to fully understand what you mean by ‘vertical thinking.’ ” John looked directly into George’s eves. “And,” he continued, “I certainly do not want to bear any responsibility for putting this department into any kind of hole. So if you have any ideas, let’s hear them.”
Hindsight makes us brilliant
George looked at their faces. Well, he thought, why not? I’m the management consultant. I’ll give it a good try.
“Let me paint you a picture.” George directed his attention at John, but he also glanced around the table to include the group. “It’s 1910. You’re the chairman of the board of a very successful corporation that makes horse-drawn buggies, and you’ve called a meeting of your executive board of directors. Given the year and the business that you are in, what should one of your major concerns be? Why should you have called the meeting? And what should be your topic of discussion?”
George looked directly at the chief of department. “Indeed,” he continued, “what should you insist, even force your directors to concentrate on?”
There was a period of silence. It became apparent that John, perhaps losing patience over the consultant’s penchant for story telling, was not going to answer. Frank spoke for him. “Going out of business.”
“That’s what I would be thinking about,” George quickly agreed. “Why?” he asked Frank.
“The automobile is just about to make its impact on America,” Frank replied.
“That’s right,” George responded. “Now, let’s say you all just met, discussed the problems with your new line of horse buggies, and broke for an early lunch. You were genuinely interested in your product, but had no awareness of the upcoming automobile.”
“Stupid,” Frank replied.
“Well,” George said, “hindsight can make us absolutely brilliant.
The trick,” he slowly added, “is to have foresight.”
Committing suicide
“You’ve got me confused,” Jack remarked. “What’s this talk about automobiles got to do with us?”
That figures, George thought, but he let it go and said, “Let me give you another situation. Suppose at your 1910 meeting, you were made aware of the automobile looming on the horizon. And you all decided to concentrate on making better horse buggies and increasing your efforts to broaden your market by really fighting hard to service your customers in the best possible way.”
“I don’t think it’s fair to compare horse buggies with firefighting,” Donald quietly interjected.
George ignored Donald’s remark. “In the first case,” he said, “there may have been, as Frank has indicated, stupidity, or —to put it in a more digestible manner—a lack of perception. However, in the second case, a decision was made to commit economic suicide.”
Not knowing or caring, or just being lazy
Troubled silence filled the room.
George continued. “History is full of accounts in which a certain action was or wasn’t taken, and ultimately a negative outcome took place. For a variety of reasons peculiar to the human mind, the negative outcome was consciously or subconsciously chosen.
“Vertical thinking has provided the framework upon which thousands of decisions have been made. Decisions that are made daily, year after year. Decisions that ultimately bring the horse buggy face-to-face with the automobile in a competitive market — a market with limited resources, in which strong economic factors force hard choices.
“I can’t explain vertical thinking in exact terms. I guess vertical thinking is a habit, a habit based upon the way things have always been, based upon using the same thinking patterns with the same input factors that have worked for us in the past. A lot of it has to do with stereotyping. With being comfortable in doing what we know. With being too lazy to learn how to play in a new game, with not wanting to change. We fool ourselves into not seeing.
“What’s that saying…? ‘Don’t bother me with the facts.’ George thought for a moment. “I guess you could sum it all up by saying that vertical thinking comes from being lazy, not knowing any other way of thinking, not caring, and being afraid.”
A horse with blinders on
“That’s a harsh statement!” Jack blurted out.
George felt the impact. It was as if his words were deflected back at him. There was a need for further explanation.
“Your organization is really not structured to produce managers who’ll operate in other than a maintenance role. You’re expected to concentrate on making a better horse buggy. Your focus is on keeping the boundary’ fences up, high, mended, and strong. You’ve trained yourselves — indeed, you’ve been expected to train yourselves — to see in a particular fashion. From the top, you look straight down. From the bottom, you look straight up. In short, your trip to the top of your organization, in terms of what you have studied and what you have learned from your peers, has taught you to think in a straight line about a limited area in a very wide arena. And most of you have excelled in that function.”
“A horse with blinders!” Donald exclaimed. “He’s comparing us to a horse with blinders on!”
You stayed in your sphere
“What’s wrong with us paying attention to what we are supposed to be running?” Harold challenged. “Our job is to make the fire department run, isn’t it?”
“Do you like firehouses closing and firefighters being laid off?” George countered.
Harold’s face reflected genuine shock.
“Of course, you don’t. I know you don’t,” George said. “But that’s what vertical thinking has done. You just weren’t brought up in an organization where you got used to seeing or hearing about a chairman calling a meeting and forcing staff to think about the coming of the automobile. That’s kind of unfortunate. The people who designed the system that you’re in, either intentionally or accidentally, engineered it so you would remain within your sphere, and, like obedient servants, you have. Now, in a way, representatives of those same people may be about to say, ‘Gee, I’m sorry, but we may not need you anymore.’ Or words to that effect.”
“I have never heard anyone representing management speak about these things before,” Jack said. He looked about before adding, “I don’t quite know what you’re saying or how to take it.”
“It’s easy,” George replied. “I’m talking about top management’s responsibility to assure the survival of all that has been entrusted to their care. That not only involves maintenance, but rebirth, renewal. Use any term you like.”
He looked at the chiefs. “I don’t think I have to go any further. You’ve gotten the idea of what vertical thinking is all about. And I guess you know where it has gotten you.”
“Is there an answer?” John asked. “I mean, you must have some suggestions.”
George stood, buttoned his jacket, and took his briefcase in hand. The meeting went a bit better than he had expected.
“If you don’t mind,” he answered, “I would like to leave that for next time. For now, I’ll say that the ability to think laterally is necessary, especially for top management.”
This is the second installment of a three-part series focusing on management attitudes and the fire sendee. Next: “lateral thinking.”
