Are We Using The Wrong Maps

Are we using
the wrong
maps?
A map is not the territory it
what should we do
represents, but, if correct, it to go from current
has a similar structure to the
territory, which accounts for practice to where
its usefulness.
we need to be?
Alfred Korzybski

The confidence of maps
Daniel Kahneman tells the story of a group of Swiss soldiers
who, on a training exercise, got lost in a blizzard in the Alps. After
several days of anxiety, one of the soldiers realised he had a
map of the region. The group followed the map and made their
way back to safety.

At base camp they were asked by their commanding officer,
“How did you find your way back?”

The soldiers explained: “We had a map.” The officer checked the
map and said, “You found a map all right, but it’s not of the Alps,
it’s of the Pyrenees.”

We feel more confident when we have a map, even when the
map may be wrong.

This short article summarises how we use frameworks in
assessment and development to outline how we need to improve
our maps, and get better at reading them if we are to navigate to
improved talent and organisational performance.

It’s possible that there is simply
no map of the Alps.

Daniel Kahneman

© AM Azure Consulting Ltd 2012 2

The fundamental problem: we’re here but not getting there
On the one hand, the last two to three decades has seen the
emergence of a substantial assessment and development Maps are generally accepted as precise
enterprise. Psychometric profiling determines who is and isn’t and accurate, which is true, but only
recruited, assessment centres shape decision making about who
is and isn’t on the fast track for rapid promotion, programmes of
to a point. A map of the entire world,
business education and executive coaching are deployed to without distortion of any kind, has yet
accelerate development, and audits are conducted as part of
succession planning reviews.
to be produced, therefore it is vital that
one questions where that distortion is
On the other hand, organisations remain keenly aware of the on the map that they are using.
difficulties they face in employee engagement and trust, the lack
of breadth and depth of professional and management capability
within the talent pipeline, and significant succession exposure for Review of How To Lie With Maps, by Mark
key technical, professional and executive roles.
Monmonier
So, why do we have a gap between inputs and outputs, and a
gulf between activity in assessment and development and the
outcomes of capability?

Is it that organisations have raised their game and the
competition is becoming more intense? This is the Red Queen
argument: “we’re running faster to stay in the same place”;
employee expectations have risen and firms have become more
demanding in their resourcing requirements.

Alternatively, we are getting it wrong. In the journey from here to
there to identify and develop the kind of talent that builds future
organisational capability, the problem may lie with the maps
we’re using and how we use them.


The problem with our maps
Mapping is a powerful way to Cartography is the practice of constructing representations of our
world. Everything from road systems, rivers and waterways, and
summarize and communicate data. underground stations, to shifts in tectonic plates, changes in
Unfortunately mapping is also an climate and population patterns, and the expanse of the heavens
has and is being mapped.
excellent way to confuse them.
Maps summarise important information, indicating spatial
relationships that help us make sense of the world. And in
David Walbert providing insights of “what goes where”, they help us get from
where we are to where we want to be.

For talent management professionals, our maps are the models
we use of individual and team performance, the processes of
personal change, and the measures we deploy to identify and
develop current and emerging talent.

Here we summarise the problems in assessment and
development when:

our map is fundamentally wrong and we become stuck

our map is out of date and lacks precision

Our map is the wrong scale and we lose perspective

we forget how to read maps and become lost


The map is fundamentally wrong
The Flat Earth Society was founded in 1956 by Samuel Shelton
who proposed that the earth is a flat disc centred at the North
Pole and bounded by a 150 foot wall of ice at Antarctica. In the
astronomical map of the Flat Earth Society, the sun is only 400
miles away and the stars not much further than the distance
between Boston and San Francisco.

The map of the Flat Earth Society is an appeal to the ancient
cosmologies that predated the Greek philosophers’ early
attempts at trigonometry and the astronomical observations that
suggested the earth was a sphere.

Sometimes our maps are fundamentally wrong and the
application of these maps can only create a distortion of realities.
Like the Flat Earthers who maintain their belief system only
through a complex set of conspiracy theories (e.g. the moon
landings were scripted and filmed on a Hollywood set), some
ways of thinking about assessment and development are simply
wrong and can be defended only by appeals to faith rather than
established by evidence and logic.
To look around, the world
Faulty models of individual differences, personality and
motivation and the process of personal change result in does appear to be flat so I
inadequate measures and interventions that are at best think it is incumbent on
irrelevant, and at worst take organisations backwards rather than
forwards.
others to prove decisively
that it isn’t.
Daniel Shenton, current
President of the Flat Earth
Society


The map is fundamentally wrong
It is human nature to try to make sense of human nature and to
find ways of explaining the causes of individual differences, and
in turn, to use this knowledge to make predictions about who will
or won't be more or less successful in future.

The history of assessment in the last century has been the
promise of improved insight, better prediction and improved
selection and promotion decision making. Great gains have been
made, but some of this initial promise has failed dismally.

From the early days¹ of the projective techniques of graphology,
the Rorschach ink-blot test, the Thematic Apperception Test
based on quasi-psychoanalytical theory, to the more recent
attempts to integrate pseudo neuroscience within personality
testing, the recurring theme has been a mistaken theory that has
created maps that are fundamentally flawed.

Similarly in the case of personal development² we can work to
the assumption that we can be whatever what we dream, that the
only barrier to the realisation of this dream are our self limiting
beliefs, or accept “The Secret” and tap into cosmic forces that will
“give if we only ask and believe”.

If we’re reverting to the equivalent of Flat Earth maps in the way
we assess and develop current and emerging talent, we
shouldn’t be surprised if we end up hitting the “wall of ice at the
Antarctic”.

We can do, have, and be exactly
¹ “The Brain Watchers”, Martin Gross; an account of the testing business in the period
between the ‘40s and early ‘60s
what we wish.
² “Positively Misguided: The Myths & Mistakes of the Positive Thinking Movement” Tony Robbins
Steve Salerno; http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/09-04-15/


The map is out of date
The first maps in early history were based on personal experiences
of the immediate locality, and a way of recording routes to “where Maps by their very nature
water, game, salt and other necessities might be found, and the
locations of enemies and other dangers.” Nomadic life and are discarded when a new
excursions across deserts and mountains presumably motivated the and better one comes
development of more extensive mapping. Hence the appearance of
maps of Mesopotamia as far back as 3800 BC. along. Even their name
But it was the discovery of the wheel and the ability to travel greater
suggests this, which
distances that prompted the beginnings of serious cartography. means Latin for napkin.
By 196 BC, the Greek scholar, Eratosthenes was charged with the
task of mapping the whole world. It was astronomer and Ray Talson
mathematician Ptolemy however who through a series of ingenious
experiments, created the first world atlas: the “Geographia”.

When translated from the Greek into Latin an astonishing 1500 years
later, the “Geographia” replaced the medieval maps, maps which
had been drafted based, not on mathematical calculations, but on
the principle that the more important a place was the bigger it
appeared on the map.

A huge improvement on existing maps, the “Geographia” also
incorporated a number of mistakes (Scotland was rotated by 90%)
and omissions. When, for example, Columbus set sail for India using
a Ptolemy map he was surprised to “bump into America”. The map
said it couldn’t be there. It took until 1607 before “America” replaced
“Unknown”.


The map is out of date
The early attempts of the cartographers were of course inaccurate.
The map is language, and But these initial attempts to chart the world and map out countries
this language is a system and seas did make a practical difference for explorers and
navigators. With scientific and technological progress, maps
of assumptions. improved.

In the world of assessment and development we often navigate the
Ray Talson complexities of individual differences and personal change by
accessing maps that are now looking quite antiquated.

Examples here include the popular Myers Briggs Type Indicator and
the range of DISC based instruments. It’s not that they are “wrong”;
they do provide an insight into personality. But assessments
developed over 50 years ago have been superseded by a better
“representation” of individual differences. Unsurprisingly, the
navigational power of these “old maps” has been overtaken by more
recent instruments¹.

In the world of management development, the Gallup perspective of
“play to your strengths”, for example, provides a useful counter-point
to the conventional strategy for development. But it is not as Marcus
Buckingham suggests “the one thing you need to know”. As a map of
personal change² it is already dated and a reliance on this map -
identify and deploy your innate talents - lacks precision in designing
the kind of development interventions that will help individuals face
the challenges of the 21st century.

¹ A comparison of Big Five against other assessment models;
http://www.usefulcharts.com/psychology/big-five-mbti-eysenck.html

² “Did our strengths lead us to this point of weakness” Randall White, Business Leadership
Review, 2009


The map is the wrong scale
A 1:25,000 map is ideal for walking, one of 1:190,000 works if
we’re driving, but if we want to see the whole world, a map
scaled at 1:24,000,000 is the better option.

We lose perspective when we choose the wrong scale of map for
our purpose.

The “big five” framework of personality provides an economical
large scale map of individual differences, with well established
correlations with an array of work and life outcomes¹.

But as Dan McAdams² points out these five factors “operate at
such a general and abstract level of analysis they may not
always be useful in the prediction of specific behaviours”. Here
he argues that the Big Five gives us a first read on the
“psychology of a stranger” and a guide to our future interactions
with the person. But as we get to know that individual we need to
shift our perspective to gain a better understanding of the
“texture” of the individual’s life in a way that goes beyond any
mapping of five dimensions.

Here it helps if we move to a different scale of map and one that
provides details of the “contours” of the individual; their past and The Big Five makes me think of
the life experiences they have and haven’t faced, the present and being in a spaceship, looking
the current challenges they face, and the individual’s fears and
hopes for the future. down at the planet below and
seeing five continents. That’s
useful to know, but once you’re
back on earth it won’t help you
find your way home.
¹ See for example, Ozer D J & Benet-Martinez V (2006), “Personality and the prediction of Annie Murphy Paul
consequential outcomes”, Annual Review of Psychology, 57

² “The Person” Dan McAdams


The map is the wrong scale
In the review of organisational talent, we can rely on an overall
evaluation of “potential”. We know what this means; it’s a If you use a model that is the
summary of future contribution, or more typically a statement of wrong scale, it will be very
“good egg-ness”.
hard to make good decisions.
We conduct that annual exercise in which we plot our people
against the nine box grid of performance vs. potential. And a few
months later we may wonder why nothing much has changed¹. Tim Kastelle
“Potential” is too big a scale of map to help us review the future
contribution of our people. An evaluation of potential may filter
those individuals who require organisational attention, but it
doesn’t help us pinpoint the specifics that will inform the career
development activity that makes a difference.

The “potential” word lacks the granularity to answer: potential for
what (presumably not anything or everything), or what issue is
helping or hindering current performance or readiness to
progress?

Here we need a smaller scale gap to identify the specific career
patterns that connect individual aspiration with experience and
capability.

¹ Seven Battle Grounds to Fight and Win A New Talent War
http://www.amazureconsulting.com/files/1/30518455/TalentManagement-
7BattleGrounds.pdf


We’ve forgotten how to read maps
A woman on the verge of death was rescued after being stranded
for nearly two months on the muddy back roads of a remote area
of Nevada in the United States. Her husband is still missing. The
“baffling part of the story: the couple had a GPS device. And they
were following its directions when they got lost.”

Bill Borrie, a wilderness researcher at the University of Montana,
said, “Armed with a GPS many people ignore ridgelines, stream
routes and landscape contours. The scary thing is that people
don’t even realise they have become so reliant. Anything that
takes you away from paying attention to nature and instead has
you paying attention to a gadget is going to get in the way of
seeing, noticing and learning from nature. You wonder how
people can stop thinking, but they do.”

Satellite navigation technology has transformed our ability to go
from A to Z. But it has also made it easier to stop thinking about
geographical realities.

You know when people have a Sat
Nav on as they’re not looking at
anything; they’ve no idea where
they’ve gone or where they are going.
Hugh Dennis


We’ve forgotten how to read maps
There is a real danger that in the world of on line technology,
complex algorithms, expert systems and 50 page reports that “cut
and slice” data from the permutations of analysis, we forget the
Use lots and lots of maps.
realities of human nature, processes and constraints of personal Use as many maps and as
change and development, and the dynamics of individual, team
and organisational performance.
many different kinds of
maps as you possibly can.
The sophistication of the output of the assessment report
becomes our reality, and we forget the uncertainties and David Walbert
complexities of the input.

We forget:
the limited predictive power of assessment. There are
genuine gains to be made in selection, but they don’t
approach the over hyped claims of many assessment
map makers

the realities of personal change and the realities of
“different strokes for different folks”

there are no “no brainer” solutions in talent management
and career development. The design and
implementation of any effective intervention hinges on
an insight into context and timing

humility about our maps is a wiser strategy than
confidence in any one map to guide us through the
assessment and development challenges we face


Some alternative maps
4 C Leadership Business Career Futures Career Tactics
Challenges
Credibility, Capability, 6 tracks for career 12 tactics for career
Character and Career 8 patterns of strategic development progression
Management decision making

Business
Challenges Career Career
Futures Tactics
Four C
Leadership Development
Personal
Report for
360º Feedback
Name of Organisation
Planning Personal Report for
Report Mollie Smith
Date for Name: Mollie Smith 16 November 2010
Name Mollie Smith
Mollie Smith
Name
Date 20th October 2011
Date: 11th November 2011

Date 18th December 2011

OVERALL SUMMARY

Focus on Technical Excellence A focus on your current technical know-how
allows you to play to y our existing strengths,
Lo High making it easier to build proficiency and
optimise your impact; occupy ing that niche
w whic h is in demand rais es your
organis ational profile and enhances your
marketability

Building Professional Mastery The ability to make connections across an
important professional discipline prov ides a
Lo High platform to think strategically and develop
coherent plans that make a business impact;
w professional mastery also opens up a range
of options in the market-place, giving you
freedom to mov e across different sectors
and industries

Developing as an Organisational Problem Solver The potential to progress to a position of
pow er with the scope to make critical
Lo High decisions about the organis ation’s future;
operating with the status and financial
w security to “call the shots” and ex ert personal
influence

Moving to Business Leadership Building organis ational credibility as the
“trouble-shooter” who can take on any
Lo High challenge; opening up career options –
internally and in the market-place – as
w someone who knows how things work and
how to get things done

Maintaining Creative Options An overall strategy which keeps all options
to ex plore possibilities in life; achieving that
Lo High balance of financial security, organis ational
status and personal freedom through
w ongoing development of your talents and
skills

Planning an Early Exit Planning a career move to open up new
options outside of conventional corporate
Lo High life; the opportunity to pursue different life
possibilities in line with your own deep-
w seated values and interests


About Us
AM Azure Consulting Ltd works with a broad portfolio of
clients in the design and implementation of on line services in
recruitment and selection; management assessment,
development and career management; on line leadership tool
kits, 360° feedback, performance management; and talent and
succession management.

If you are interested in accessing our maps for assessment
and development, or integrating customised versions within
your talent management and career development processes,
contact us:

call: 44 (0) 1608 654007
email: admin@amazureconsulting.com

And if you have found this article useful, visit:

www.amazureconsulting.com/new-thinking/articles/


Are We Using The Wrong Maps

More Related Content

What's hot (6)

Similar to Are We Using The Wrong Maps (20)

More from Talent World Consulting (8)

Are We Using The Wrong Maps