There must be thousands of books on management and the bit that worries me most about this situation is the fact that they are actually books. I have managed people for around 25 years and something that never ceases to amaze me is the amount of complexity that has built up over this time. I firmly believe that complex systems are negatively impacting businesses and organisations due to ill-advised target setting and over blown HR processes. My belief is therefore that we need to simplify as much as we can, so instead of a book here are my 8 Simple, Straightforward Guidelines for Successful Managers;
- Quality, not quantity. Any measurements that are put in place should be quality based and not quantity based.
- Your team are the experts and you are there to provide support & guidance to them, in line with the goals of your organisation.
- You are dealing with people who have the same hopes and fears as you. Empathy is therefore key.
- Performance Management should be kept as simple as possible and should not be aligned with Bonus or Pay Rises. I would recommend no more than three categories
- Doing more than the pay grade asks – Earmark for promotion
- Doing the job. Fantastic
- Not doing the job. Look at development needs or it could be that this is not the right for them
- In finding solutions for problems don’t add too much complexity and as Einstein allegedly said “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”
- Understand the motivations of your team and recognise when this changes. Peoples motivation will change, constantly.
- Be as flexible and adaptable as you possibly can.
- Be brave. Don’t be afraid to go against the flow if you believe in an idea or concept which is considered off the wall.
If you read this and disagree then that’s really cool but I also bet that you won’t comment either and dismiss this post as naive, and may be taking a too simplistic view of the art of management. Happy to have the debate.
On the flip side if you agree with some, or all of this post I’d like your comments and anecdotal observations as that would be really helpful. Who knows I might even write a book………….
Simple Straightforward & Successful
May 17, 2011 at 10:02 am |
I don’t fully agree with you, and I am posting:) the measures should be relevant if quantity is what’s need then measure it. I agre that the measures should be simple though. I have seen companies where doing your objectives takes a week every quarter not very productive at all
May 17, 2011 at 11:15 am |
Thanks for your comments and a bit of disagreement is always a good thing. There are a lot of examples where quantitative measures are important but I feel they have to have a quality measurement alongside. So if you were stuffing letters into envelopes a measure would be to do 200 per hour with a quality measure that all paper is folded neatly and not just rammed in. A story I heard back in the Soviet days were that targets were set for a Sunglasses factory on quantities. The number of glasses were duly produced and delivered but unfortunately you couldn’t see through them. I think my statement may have been a bit too black & white and I should have said that any measure should have a quality measure attached as well
June 13, 2011 at 3:41 pm |
I agree with the some of your points. However, every business needs a pace and this is driven by the market the business operates in. The hardest thing in business is to maintain a steady state – you either grow or you decline. If you wish to grow you must exceed the average in the industry (or just be content to go with the flow). If you can choose your own team from the outset (and providing you are good at getting square pegs in square holes) then you stand a better chance than inheriting a fractured, under performing team.
With regard to incentives, if these are appropriate (and very often they are not) then they can be a powerful motivator. The skill of a manager is knowing which tool to use and when. Good luck