Mog-Style Management

10 Aug 2016

Ever heard of a mog? I’m talking about John Candy playing Barf, the half-man, half-dog. He had an effective approach towards laser-slinging bad guys. To wit, this pic ¹:

Notice how all the shots smartly get routed right back to the bad guys. They get shot with their own lasers! Genius!

I’ve had managers that use this technique, and I think it is an anti-pattern.

Let’s take a hypothetical case and walk it through. Here is how it works for “Phil”, week 1:

1. Phil has a problem he can’t easily solve.
2. Phil approaches his manager because he needs help.
3. His manager responds with, “What do you think you should do?”
4. Phil answers with some ideas, which then turn into a list of things to do to solve the problem.

On face, this is a great approach, because it forces Phil to think through the problem he needs to solve, and the options he has available. The manager, likewise, can feel good about herself because she’s encouraging critical thinking.

Let’s remain optimistic. Let’s say the problem was solved. Yay! Maybe Phil really did need to think through things and come up with solutions. Ok, now onto the next problem. Let’s say it’s week 3:

1. Phil has a problem he can’t easily solve.
2. Because he’s learning, he thinks through all the options and even tries different solutions before speaking with his manager.
3. Phil approaches his manager because he needs help. He explains all the things he’s done to solve the problem, including the failures, the ideas and so on. He’s really thought this one through!
4. Manager responds with, “Hmm. Well, what do you think you should do?”
5. He gives more answers and he leaves with a list of tasks.

So, the Mog Defense continues. Phil has grown, but the manager is using the same approach. At this point, Phil really has done everything. Maybe some new ideas came up in the conversation, but I’m betting they were assigned to Phil.

It’s not so much that the manager is doing a bad job guiding the employee (although in my opinion that’s true, too). The problem is that the manager is not engaged and is barely supporting the employee. Perhaps this tactic can work if the manager follows up and ends up giving advice later, or helps the employee process it afterwards. However, someone that persistently uses the Mog Defense is probably not this kind of manager and is just trying to avoid getting lasers in the gut.

Eventually, Phil will learn how to handle this relationship. Here is how it works, week 7 and onward:

1. Phil has a problem he can’t easily solve, even after thinking through all the options.
2. Phil approaches his manager and says everything’s going well because he’s a great employee that can solve his own problems.
3. Either Phil finds someone else to give advice, or the problem goes unsolved, and is swept under the rug.

Now, you’ve got a broken system.