Machina

There's nothing worse than when you have to do something that's difficult. Having to do something that's easy? That's not so bad. Wanting to do something difficult? That's not so bad either, after all, you want to do it. But if you really don't want to do something that you have to do, and on top of that it's extremely difficult, it's not going to happen. Instead, you'll find ways to alter the task such that the person handing down the orders won't notice, and then do the task, which is now easier or more enjoyable, and if the results pass muster, you're left with what you should have been asked to do to begin with.

A human being will never be a machine. If you try to get a person to behave like machinery to produce a complicated product, it's not going to come out right. Sure, it might be good enough, but the human aspect of the production process will work its way in somehow.

So how do you, as a leader, circumnavigate such difficulties? You alter the task in a way that makes it suitable for a human to process. And you may not be able to specify things perfectly in terms of this new framework, but if you can, the results will be much more reliable.

The problem is it's too inefficient to treat a human being like a human being. Too inefficient to judge people by their merits. So we treat them like machines, not realizing that we've only offset the inefficiencies directly into the workplace.