Blunderful Management
MANY people ask me after my discourses how they can improve as managers, and I often wonder that sometimes even the most commonsensical things are overlooked by overworked executives struggling to cope with new responsibilities. Their common desire seems to be to construct a strong, productive and effective team but somewhere along the line they seem to have tripped up. To tell the truth, such questions coming as they do at the end of a workshop or a talk leaves me wondering whether I am making any difference and whether I should have started the lecture by allowing the audience to ask questions! I feel it most appropriate then to approach the point from the end and work backwards! Basically, there are problems and they have them. They find they have painted themselves into a corner and that they cannot go anywhere thereafter.
I think its best at that stage to tell them what not to do rather than tell them how to extract themselves from their personal mires!
`Muddle-some' managing:
Workaholism:
Very few senior executives have carte blanche careers. Unfortunately not all of them can extricate themselves from their blunders. This is because they look to their own abilities to solve problems. If they only looked to their teams or subordinates, they will have at least one solution to their hassles that is workable. So coming in at the crack of dawn and leaving close to midnight will never help solve anything. It makes them sick, jaded and maudlin. If they spent time instead meeting their own subordinates and their clients, they'd achieve so much more!
Laurel-resting gives you only crushed laurels!
Every manager will have had his successes big or small. However, like the many failures they will have had, they should not dwell on them to either brood or celebrate. Both are learnings! For instance, if client feedback indicates that the service has been satisfactory, it means only one thing. It means that the clients feel they have got what they paid for.
This does not guarantee a repeat order! It only puts the company in the running. It is only when clients are delighted that there will be repeat custom. When I deal with a customer (internal or external), I let him talk. I listen. Then if I find I can solve a totally extraneous problem he brings up, the customer will buy my product! This is normal, natural psychology. One always pays credence to other peoples' experience! Gloating over one's imagined successes only whiles away time; it does nothing constructive.
Don't gamble on proctoring!
Managers are not put on earth to invigilate! Proctoring is passé! Managers are there to see what is being done right and see that it is repeated everywhere. They are there to help things along, provide the direction and suggest improvements. If managers were policemen, they would be traffic points-men! They show people how to do things and when to surge ahead. They regulate, not pontificate! They indicate, not punish! Managers are there to see that those who do things the way they should be done are rewarded, not send those who don't do them right to the corner!
Time managing or managing time?
Do managers allow time to manage them or do they manage their time effectively. I know of several excellent people who patiently sit next to team members explaining where they went wrong and how to do it right. Repeatedly. They end up wasting their time getting poor performers to perform. And when they do, the performance needs further tweaking! This is an example when Time manages the Manager! It is far better for good managers to spend more time with high performers getting them to out perform themselves than with low performers struggling to perform at all!
Pumps work only when you prime them!
Do managers spend much time thinking about staff development? Well, only the good ones do! Most well run teams work because they have been given appropriate training at the appropriate times. Every effective manager must manage his team's constant development!
Power centres are vulnerable!
Centralised decisions always cause institutions to fail. That is why most successful institutions are de-centralised. Managers should look at the US and Europe to see how a federal system has worked! Delegation is the name of the game. If you allow people to be responsible, give them something to be responsible about! Ownership will surmount all obstacles since everybody looks for success and so will delegates!
Grindstones are millstones!
Many of my manager participants seem to think that keeping people slogging away leads to great productivity. Trust me, it most certainly does not! People need to relax at work so that work becomes a pleasure rather than drudgery. Every now and again people should be encouraged to mix around, pick up a coffee at the machine, indulge in friendly banter and actually have activities structured around their work. Research has revealed that such work breaks are actually better than having a staff picnic (which eats into the employees' leisure time) or staff parties after hours. Productivity in offices that allow considerable upwardly mobile downtimes actually has been known to increase exponentially! Your people should want to come to work, not have to come to work!
One man's food is...
Another man's poison. Or so the adage goes. Most managers seem to think that it's fine to clap one member of the team on the back with the same fervour as he claps another member. It isn't. At least not unless they have put in the same effort and had the same results. In most cases though, this may not always happen. What is infinitely more probable is that some people will have performed much better than others, in which case the `pat' should most certainly be far more `hearty'! The high achievers should be rewarded for doing the impossible, and the low performers shown that competency is secondary to excellence. After all if you do not put a premium on excellence, you won't get it! If you value mediocrity at the same level as excellence, you'll only get mediocrity - it's easy and less hassling to deliver!
Endspeak
I must have struck a chord when I say all this, albeit in bits and pieces, because I see my audiences nodding ruefully when I touch on these nuances. I only hope that they begin prophylactic measures to prevent further instances of blunderful management!
ABHIMANYU ACHARYA
abhi.hyd@cnkonline.com
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