Seeing Around the Earth – That’s a Manager’s Job

Did you know that you can’t see around the earth?

Of course you did.  The earth isn’t flat.  The curvature of the earth stops you from seeing all the way around.  Don’t ask me why I thought of this the other day, but if you are about 6 feet tall you can only see about 3 or 4 miles before the curve of the earth makes it impossible to see further.  That’s the horizon – it’s about 3 miles out.

Note to science geeks:  I know there are things like refraction which changes the calculations and could either increase or decrease that distance – but in general terms this is a true statement.

The Need for Crow’s Nests

You can see further if you’re taller.  That’s why they have Crow’s Nests on boats.  The Crow’s Nest is about 30 feet in the air.  If you do the math at 30’ in the air you would be able to see about 6 miles ahead – doubling the length of your horizon.  For avoiding islands and icebergs this is good.

Imagine the crew of the Mayflower or the Santa Maria.  There they are working away on the ship’s deck – seeing a mere 3 miles ahead.  But the guy in the Crow’s Nest is seeing 6 miles ahead – and now can see land.  He communicates that to the deck hands and they are excited.  They are going nuts after 6 months at sea.  They’re thinking, women, men, oranges, coconuts, gold, oil (okay only the ones from Britain are thinking oil – sorry couldn’t resist a BP reference.)  

To those on the deck the objective is closer because the guy in the Crow’s Nest can see it – even if they can’t from their vantage point.  They work harder, pulling the lines, toting the whatever.  They are motivated because someone told them the objective was close.

What if Chris Columbus Had a TomTom?

Now image we go up higher – like a plane – or even a satellite in space like a GPS satellite (about 300 miles in altitude.)  Now the horizon is around 1,400 miles – a factor of 500.  With the satellite we can now see 500 times further than if we’re standing on the deck of the ship.

Think about how the deck hands might react if they knew that 1,300 miles out is land – and that the satellite is seeing it.  Then they hear from the guy in the crow’s nest he sees it… then they see it.  In this scenario the objective is never really out of sight – someone is seeing it and communicating to the deck hands.  They are always connected to the goal. 

Executives/Managers/ Employees

Here’s why this has application in your business world.  

Executives should be acting like the satellite – seeing further over the horizon – communicating to the managers what’s going on – communicating whether the course they are on will get them where they need to be – from about 1,400 miles out.

Managers on the other hand – are worried about the next 6 miles – they are in the Crow’s Nest – taking the information from the satellite – comparing that to the next 6 miles and communicating that down to the deck hands.  The deck hands in turn worry about the next 3 miles and connect that to the information from the Crow’s Nest and the satellite.  Now everyone has similar information.  From space to sea-level the entire chain of command is in the loop on direction and objective.

Managers and Executives provide the vital link between long-term and short-term goals.  Without them – the employees are only seeing 3 miles into the future – and that – over the long haul is very tiresome.  Not knowing if you’re making progress.  Not knowing you’re almost there – or in some bad instances – that you’re moving in the wrong direction.

Too often the managers and executives spend all their time talking to employees about the stuff they do in the last 3 miles – meaning the guy in the crow’s next is spending his/her time supervising the deck crew instead of scanning the horizon looking out 6 miles.  

Let the employees do the 3 mile work – as a manager – do the 6 mile work.  And if you’re an executive and you’re worried about what your managers are doing every day – you can’t be looking out 1,400 miles – you must be looking down.  That’s no way to plot a course for the future.

If the entire management staff is looking down instead of out – I’m betting you’ll eventually run aground!