Remember the phrase "Atomic Age?" Sounded so modern and zippy at the time -- and sounds so hopelessly retro now. With the workplace becoming more global and more virtual by the femtosecond, atoms are out and electrons are in. As every working person knows, we can create more value electronically in a few minutes now than our grandparents' generation of workers could do in a week. But organizations haven't caught up to the knowledge-worker reality. Way too many employers still manage their troops as though it's 1945. Is your organization clinging to any of these leftover Atomic Age leadership mechanisms? Ditch them now. They're slowing you down, and you won't get access to your most talented team members' gray matter by managing them like old-fashioned worker bees.
Atomic Age Vacation Rules It made perfect sense in 1950, when my dad was hired straight out of Georgetown, to give each newbie two weeks of vacation and let him work his way up to three and four weeks' vacation. But today, when the War for Talent is in full swing, how can a hiring manager offer a talented midcareer pro two weeks of vacation with a straight face? We should key vacation allotments to years in the workforce, not to years spent within our walls.

When I think about Atomic Age vacation rules, I think of those electric fences people plant in the ground to keep their dogs in the yard. Here's the problem: When Fido jumps the fence and gets a shock, the last thing he wants to do is jump back into the yard and get another one. So he runs away. When we offer prospective team members with 10 or 15 years of experience a measly two-week vacation package, we're making it mighty unappealing for them to jump over the fence into our yard.

Chain-of-Command Mentality

The chain of command -- the notion that you report to your boss, she reports to her boss, and so on -- is the basis of military leadership, the Catholic Church, and most other hierarchies we know. And for sure, if you're asking for a raise or announcing that you're expecting twins, your boss is the go-to person. But for questions about work requirements, how-to inquiries, information on a customer's history, or a million other topics, it's ineffective and slow to be bound to a system where the boss must be consulted. Surveys say most workers get 70% to 80% of their on-the-job instruction from other workers. Thank goodness! How could a manager manage if he had to answer questions all day? Save the chain-of-command mentality for administrative and career-development topics and empower employees to help one another get the work done.

Management by Policy

Supposedly, when Moses walked down the Mount with those two tablets, it was the first incidence of written law. Today, we're drowning in it -- from ISO 9000 documentation to elaborate do's and don'ts on everything from business travel to escorting a visitor to the Customer Briefing Center. Enough, already. Companies that manage by policy slow their knowledge workers down by requiring them to check the book before making a move too many times a day. The rule, "use your good judgment, and ask if you're not sure," could eliminate half the policies in Corporate America today.

Classroom Training

If you're conducting CPR training, I'll concede that you have to have people in the room. But the millions of person-hours spent in classroom training cost our organizations a bundle while limiting our learning to what's on the class agenda. And then there's the question of how does that know-ledge get integrated into our daily lives back at the desk. Peer-to-peer mentoring is faster, stickier, and more customizable than traditional classroom instruction. Plus, it keeps people on the job, where we want them.

Face-Time Addiction

Possibly the most pervasive and destructive artifact of Atomic Age business management is the fixation with hours in the office, when much if not most of our work could be done from the car, the playground, or Starbucks (NasdaqGS:SBUX - News). Smart companies are establishing core hours -- say, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. -- when everyone's expected to be in the office so meetings and face-to-face check-in can happen. Apart from that, the mantra is "do your job."

Too many managers can't identify their own staff members' deliverables, leaving only the face-time metric as a way to evaluate whatever they value, be it performance or docility. Companies that persist in exalting face time will bleed talent as their brightest stars go to organizations where knowledge is the operative word, leaving the worker bees behind.

還記得“原子時代”這種說法嗎？它在以前那個時代聽起來倒是既時髦又帶勁，但時過境遷，如今已是老掉牙了。隨著工作地點以驚人的速度日益全球化，虛擬化，原子時代早已過去，電子時代已經到來。每個工人都知道，我們利用電子技術在幾分鐘里創造的價值比祖輩們一周創造的價值都要多。但很多公司或組織對于工人已經知識化這一現實情況還沒轉過彎來。許多雇主還在以1945年的模式管理他們的“員工部隊”。你所在的單位是不是也沿襲著原子時代殘留的領導機制呢？趕快把它們扔到吧。這些東西會降低效率。如果你用管理一群工蜂的舊方式管理你的天才團隊，那么你永遠也別想把他們的才能發揮到極致。

原子時代的假期制度

在1950年，也就是我父親從喬治城大學畢業后參加了工作那會兒，公司會先給一個新手兩周的假期，然后讓他好好干，以后再加到三到四周。這種做法在當時可謂合情合理。但在人才之爭如火如荼的今天，人事部門的經理怎么能板著臉去給一個正值事業頂峰的干才僅僅兩周的假期呢?我們應該側重于依據員工從事工作的年限給假，而不是把他們在本公司所待的年限作為給假的關鍵依據。

說到原子時代的假期制度，讓我想起了人們為了把狗圈在院子里，在地上豎起帶電柵欄的做法。其中的問題在于：當狗跳過柵欄被電著后，它決不會想跳回院子再被電一下，所以只好一走了之。當我們用兩周可憐巴巴的假期打發有10－15年從業經驗的應聘者時，正是在讓他們覺得跳回我們的院子毫無吸引力。

指揮鏈式管理心態

你向你的上司匯報，然后你的上司又向他的上級報告，這樣依次下去，就是所謂的指揮鏈。它是軍事領導機制，天主教，和我們所知的一切等級機構的基礎。當然，你要是想升職或宣布要有孩子了，你的上司就是該找的人。但遇到有關工作要求，工作方法咨詢，客戶歷史信息等許多其他的問題時，機械的因循上報制度不僅慢，而且效果不佳。調查顯示多數工人從同事那里獲得了70%到 80%與工作相關的指導。這真是要感謝上蒼啊！要是一個經理一天到晚忙著回答各種各樣的問題，他又怎么做好管理工作呢？指揮鏈式管理只能適用于行政機構和事業發展方面，我們要做的是讓員工相互幫助，從而使工作得以完成。

通過律條管理

想想看，當先知摩西從西奈山上帶著兩塊刻有”十戒”的石碑下來時，書面的律法便產生了。如今，我們卻淹沒在各種各樣的律條中，大到ISO 9000質量標準管理文件，小到針對商務旅行或護送訪客到客戶簡報中心等一切事物的細致規定，真可謂浩如煙海，已到了多余的地步。通過條條框框進行管理的公司會降低知識工作者的效率，因為每次有什么動作之前他們都得多次查看公司的各種條例。“先獨立判斷，如不明白再去詢問”這個做法可以減少美國公司中一半的規章制度。

課堂式的訓練

若是你要做心臟復蘇培訓，我得承認把人召集到一個房間里很有必要。但課堂式訓練花費掉數百萬人力小時，卻把學習內容僅僅限于課程表，這種做法讓我們的企業付出了昂貴的代價。同行一幫一比傳統的課堂式教學來得更快，更能對癥下藥，更容易讓學習者接受。另外，這種方法還能讓員工不離開工作崗位，這也正是我們想要的。

熱衷于強調辦公室上班時間

原子時代留下的公司管理方法中影響最廣泛，破壞力最大的或許是硬性規定辦公室上班的時間。然而，我們的工作中很多一部分，是可以在車里，操場上，或是星巴克（納斯達克：SBUX-個股新聞）咖啡廳里完成的。明智的公司只規定必要的核心上班時間，比如上午10點到下午三點。這期間，大家都應呆在辦公室里以便于開會和面對面交流。在這段時間之外，唯一的規定就是“干活！”

太多的經理們弄不清他們的下屬有多大的產能，不得不用上班時間這把尺子來衡量他們所看重的方面，不管是業績還是遵守紀律。特別強調固定上班時間的公司會讓人才傷痕累累，他們最耀眼的明星不得不另擇信奉知識第一的明主，留下的只是些工蜂一樣的工人。