The Hierarchy of Value

 

As you already know, I've been reading Seth Godin's book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?. I'm almost done and am a real fan. I am enjoying the book so much, I bought copies for all my adult children to read. I can highly recommend it to you as well. I'm sure over the coming months, topics from this book will wind up here. I think much of what Godin has written fits well with my opinions about empowering the team, managing work and providing value.

In the past, we have talked about the need for projects to provide value to the organization. I think it's universally accepted that the point of pursuing a project in the first place is to provide some kind of value to the organization. Today, I'd like to briefly talk about what the value we, as project leaders and team members, can provide to the team.

Godin describes the "Hierarchy of Value" like this, starting at the bottom:

1. Lift
2. Hunt
3. Grow
4. Produce
5. Sell
6. Connect
7. Create/Invent

"There are always more people at the bottom of the stairs, doing hard work that's easy to learn," he writes. "As you travel up the hierarchy, the work gets easier, the pay gets better, and the number of people available to do the work gets smaller.

"Lots of people can lift. That's not paying off anymore. A few people can sell. Almost no one puts in the work to create or invent."

I suggest that what we should be empowering each other to do is create and invent. In project environments where all we ask of project teams is to lift or even produce, individuals are so far down on the hierarchy ladder that team members will find it difficult to provide real value individually (let alone collectively as a team), making it problematic to produce real project value. The more we can empower those closest to the work, the better able we are to execute on projects that produce value.

Whether we accept it or not, the way organizations look at how we manage projects specifically, and all work generally, is changing. It might make us uncomfortable, but the more successfully we adapt to the change and assume the mindset of creating and inventing, the more valuable we will become to our organizations and we will enjoy a rewarding and satisfying career.