Some organizations rely on the Superman principle to get things done.  The superman or woman use their powers of strength, agility and invunerbility to leap tall buildings, smash obstacles and whatever else is required to attain the goal.

Typically this approach is not sustainable.  It also creates a number of dangerous side effects.  Dangerous in the sense they increase the risk of low efficiency, high cost and most significantly, poor morale.

Pursuing the Goal or Achieving the Goal

The superman approach supports goal achievement but the the pursuit of these goals, how you attain them, can be very ugly.  Think of a field littered with bloodied dead bodies.  Holding the flag at the front is the superman declaring, “I won”.

Unfortunately, most of the team does not care at that point.

Key Pitfalls of the brute force approach

• single point of knowledge; superman leaves and the organization is in trouble
• high turnover; it is human nature to leave supermans shadow and people do in droves.
• ability to repeat; the methods employed by the superman are usually unique and intended to only work once.
• sustaining, even maintaining the change; superman moves on and the changes they wrought wither on the vine.

Most importantly, feeling good about the achievement.  This is very sinle threaded between the sponsor and the superman.  The others typically feel nothing but relief.

Take time, involve everone, use clearly defined processes and repeat them, pause and celebrate success. Don’t seek individual heroes, create an environment where everyone is a hero.