Please Don’t Ask Me to Take It to the Next Level

Save that jargon for video games

Forgive me, but what does it even mean to “take it to the next level?” What is the next level, and is it “better” than the current level? How do we know? Is it higher or lower than where I currently stand? I guess higher is better if I’m on a sinking ship, but if I’m in a building whose upper floors are ablaze, I’m pretty sure that going down and out is the more appealing option.

Where and what defines the “next level,” and how will I know if I get there? And finally, can someone please tell me what I’m supposed to be taking there? Just what is “it” that so importantly needs to get to the next level?

Years ago our whole family got involved in tae kwon do with my wife and four of our children earning their black belts. All in all it was a positive experience, but my wife ran into a somewhat frustrating situation when it came time for her to start sparring as a green belt. She was matched against a black belt and told that she would figure out how to defend herself after she got punched and kicked sufficiently. The rationale was that somehow she would mystically know how to block and parry if she just got the you-know-what beat out of her enough. She just needed to “step it up.” She needed to “take it to the next level.”

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Comments

Climb a step higher?

I'm not sure I properly understand what you mean, Mr. Austin. If you mean that decision-making processes are more effectively done when directed up-stream or bottom-up, than when down-stream, or top-down, I am with you. I'm quite a peppery decision maker, I don't like anybody to interfere in my decisions, once they are made. But who does behave like this? In many organizations - private and public - the "next level" managers discourage autonomous decision making; only in very few organizations that I know, independent decision making is left by managers to their reports. I don't mean that in the former case managers are driven by the fear of losing (part of) their power, but the suspect that is so grows continuously. About jargon, I would rather name it "babble": always the same words, always the same sentences; and always ... useless. Thank you.

Thanks for your comment

Thanks for your comment Umberto. To clarify, my column is not speaking of organizational levels so much as it is discouraging the use of meaningless admonishments by supervisors and managers. Time and time again I have seen the destructive effect of telling people they have to "do better" without giving them the tools or training necessary to actually improve. Morale declines, productivity is lowered and the quality of the product or service is diminished. I believe W. Edwards Deming said management must "eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity" not because defects are acceptable, but because using slogans without real understanding and knowledge of the system of production does more harm than good.