04/15/2015
"All but the smallest of businesses have their share of Crew Members. They are the engines of the good ship Enterprise, the ones who actually *do* the work. They don't discover it, define it, manage it, sell it, or evaluate the work. They just do it. And, in general, they do it because it brings in a steady paycheck.... Crew Members view themselves as part of a team and are willing to contribute by working as hard as the next guy. The flip side of this is that the typical Crew Member is *only* willing to work as hard as the next guy.... Crew Members also believe promotions and raises should be based on years of work and seniority. Like many business owners and managers, I struggle with this idea." -Richard Warner on handling workers' (mis)conceptions of fairness in his book, All Hands on Deck: Choosing the Right People for the Right Jobs.
Veteran business owner Richard Warner uses the metaphor of a voyaging ship and its crew to identify six workplace personality types–Explorer, Navigator, Captain, First Mate, Crew Member, and Stowaway–and teach managers how to assemble a sea-worthy set of shipmates. The lessons of this thought-provok…
