Page 134 - The Drucker Lectures

Knowledge Lecture III [ 115

you contributed that really makes a difference, and what do you
plan to contribute that should make a difference?” That isn’t the
end of it, but you put the responsibility for this on the people.
Somebody asked me about salespeople. I don’t know whether
you realize it, but salespeople are probably the area where produc-
tivity in the American economy has gone down the most. If you
adjust for inflation, the saleslady of today in the department store
sells about half of what she did 50 or 60 years ago. One reason
is that we have loaded her down with all that paperwork. She
doesn’t serve the customer anymore; she serves the computer.
Meanwhile, the few retail chains in the last few years that have
shown outstanding success—the Gap and so on—all follow the
same procedure. They go to the salespeople and say, “What should
we expect from you?” And then: “What do you need by way of
tools and information?” And also: “What impediments do we cre-
ate?” Most organizations make it difficult for people to perform.
And so it is important in managing knowledge people—and not
just knowledge people—that we go to them every nine months
and say, “What do we do in this organization and in this depart-
ment, and what do I do as your boss, that helps you do the job you
are paid for? And what do we do that hampers you?” And then it’s
your job to get rid of as many of the impediments as you can.
When you enable people to perform, you can demand perfor-
mance. And so put as much of the responsibility on people, and
keep it on them. And say, “Well, it’s no better than you did two
years ago. Haven’t you learned anything?” And then you will
not have much trouble, especially if you accept responsibility for
enabling people to do the work they are already paid for.
You know, you could fill this room with books on motivation,
and you would still have some 50,000 volumes left over. The
trouble is, we don’t know how to motivate people—that’s why
we have to write books about it. But we do know how to quench
motivation.