Square peg, round hole

Most everyone has taken his or her turn with a mallet in hopes of driving that square peg into the round hole. Swinging with purpose, we are sure we can overcome geometry and physics. But any success is short-lived. The dissonant nature of angles and curves will eventually vibrate the two apart. When will we learn?

The question is more strategic today, particularly in business, than ever before. When the industrial organization was on the rise (thank you, Alfred P. Sloan) it was the trade-off between conformity and security that sealed the deal. In the era of the man in the gray flannel suit, economic and peer-group pressures aligned to help keep the peg in its place no matter how odd.

Today, though, those constructed societal forces are scattered, less aligned, less powerful and the worker/company compact has been abrogated in bankruptcy court. It is a fact of business life that organizations need to accommodate their people. And as the economy improves for the best of those people, organizations need to become more willing to accommodate them.

But how much individualism can a corporation tolerate? At what point will the need to accommodate overwhelm a company's culture? This is not another form of a "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" question without an answer. It is more pressing each day.

A former boss once said "it is a poor family that cannot afford even one sport" when pressed on the subject of a colleague who just did not fit the profile. But now the smart, motivated, results-oriented people we all seek are looking for settings, opportunities and rewards that are as different as their fingerprints. As a result, unless companies are willing to change, they will have a hard time holding onto the talent they seek. But if they change too much or too often, they lose the chance to build a bond with their employees. Ultimately, the choice each makes will have a direct effect on growth, reputation, opportunity and the bottom line.

The hardest problem facing a manager in this environment is whether there should be separate rules for some. Think of people you know personally or in public life. Do they get special dispensation? How does that make you feel? Whether wary, resentful, mad or resigned, it undermines any company's chance for market success. The better answer may come from former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden by way of a comment from former Bruin superstar Bill Walton. In a televison interview, Walton said Wooden did not have one set of rules for the team and another for the superstars -- he treated each player differently. They were pegs of all shapes and sizes who needed to be formed into a team.

He was able to do it because he was consistent, did not play favorites, expressed a clear "business mission" and had a track record of success. Managing today is a lot like his coaching then. The best people have highly developed views of the world and their place in it. If companies want to attract and retain those people, they need to have an equally firm grip of what they are and what they want to be. Success no longer demands that everyone fit the same shaped slot.

Getting the square peg into the round hole is no longer the true test of a manager today. The real test is getting all the round pegs to see the value of diversity.