Jun
26
Managing or Meddling; Which Is It?
Submitted by Jack Pate under Business | Leave a Comment
The principle of presidency developed as a philosophy after years of observation and reflection. Initially my interest was piqued by a writer who contrasted the power of Lorne Greene in “Bonanza”, flanked by his two sons, Hoss and Little Joe, compared with Barbara Stanwyk in her role with her family in “The Big Valley.” I am not sure today that the particular author was necessarily correct in his observations. However, I was to learn by paying attention to such matters, that the principle of presidency seems to rest on a leader subdividing all tasks in his or her organization and assigning them to two lieutenants or counselors.
A major philosophical shift must occur to be successful as a president. One must dismiss any guilt for handing off all responsibilities to the henchmen, lieutenants, or counselors. A president is thus free to first secure resources needed by the lieutenants. For example, in an industrial organization, schedule, time, money, tooling, and the like often lie outside the authority of a lieutenant to command. Accordingly, it is the job of the manager or president of that organization to fight the dragons, whether political or otherwise, in order to bring down the resources of other management to be used by the lieutenants. This is no small task, and is well worthy of the efforts of a manager (president).
Meanwhile, the president secondly acts as a sounding board for the lieutenants. Being able to brainstorm, pierce plans full of holes, help guide the lieutenants to plug up those holes with good solutions, and otherwise strengthen the plan of the lieutenant is a valuable role not to be ignored in favor of performing “one’s fair share” of the execution.
Finally, hauling water is beneath the dignity of no one. A manager acting in a presidential capacity in his organization, when he has time or need, is not above hauling water for the troops. Digging in and helping out with execution of any task, whether it is writing, engineering, copying, stapling, or any other seemingly menial task, is not below a president. When it comes time to ship a proposal out the door or ship a product off the dock, a president who has fulfilled all the higher needs, is still an intelligent, motivated set of hands to help get the job wrapped up shipped. Asking “What can I do to help?” and then taking direction from the lieutenant is completely appropriate at such times.
Jun
19
Reading Between the Lines, The Principal Functions of Management
Submitted by Jack Pate under Business | Leave a Comment
Distilled to its essence, management may not have an essence. I recall attending a management workshop years ago in one of America’s largest multinational corporations. A management chart, strictly in terms of functions, was displayed. The discussion facilitator asked for opinions on which of the various items in the diagram were the functions of management. Various forms of planning, execution, evaluation, and the like were illustrated in various boxes connected by lines. After several people had opined on which of the boxes they considered to represent the purview of management, the discussion leader suggested management is not the boxes. It is the lines.
I have often reflected on this very pointed lesson. If management is burdened with the individual tasks, when can it find time to coordinate and communicate between tasks. It has been my experience that one can delegate almost every task of management to somebody within an organization. I found I had all I could do in communicating, coordinating, and supporting, particularly by counseling, trouble shooting, listening, and brain storming with my engineers, technicians, and shop personnel.
Marketing and sales people may require even more communication, because the link between activity and results is sometimes much more tenuous, even nebulous, in a large, industrial organization. Typically, in a smaller organization, the performance of a sales and marketing organization is directly tracked by weekly and monthly sales figures. In big-ticket items, such as major contracts and development projects, such a correspondence is often impossible to correlate day to day.
Jun
12
Trading, Managing, and Delegating While Trusting in a Good Result
Submitted by Jack Pate under Business | Leave a Comment
One of the most enabling expressions I learned in industry was “If you were king, what would you do?” After all the discussions, debate, piercing and plugging all the holes in an idea or project, one must move forward.
I once had a young engineer in his early 20’s whom I appointed to be responsible for a 2 million dollar portion of an 8 million dollar contract. After discussing his plan with him I simply asked, in view of our lengthy discussion of plans, weaknesses, backfill of weaknesses, and so forth, “if you were king, what would you do?” In response he respectfully laid out a revised plan. I asked him, “can you get there from here?” He assured me that he could meet the time and budget constraints. Therefore, I instructed him to go ahead. From that time on he was following a picture in his own mind that he had established, and that I had authorized.
I have never been one to micromanage an organization. There are too many details. I cannot think of them of all, remember them all, and follow up on them all. Envisioning every permutation and combination that a project may take is actually easier than following up with all of the people, all of the tasks, at all of the times required.
Accordingly, I have found it most important for the individual responsible for a task to have a clear picture, well explained to management, and well vetted by probing questions. Then, that individual is operating to a vision in his or her own mind. That vision is clear, has been explained to and understood by management, and includes reasonable, acceptable deadlines and benchmarks. Those deadlines and performance benchmarks are not imposed by management but offered by the visionary person who is executing his or her own plan.
Jun
5
Encouraging Employees to Own-Their-Own Vision and Execute On It
Submitted by Jack Pate under Business | Leave a Comment
I once had a supervisor we will call Flossie. Flossie maintained time controls over all projects and all information. I remember working with John who had a doctorate in chemical engineering from a major university in Texas, who joined our organization. Having felt frustration for years, I had been stripped of much enthusiasm and initiative. I thought that the drudgery of working in a blind, black box for Flossie was simply the way industry operated. As I talked to John I learned that his experience in other organizations included much more freedom, individual responsibility, and initiative. I came to learn that it is nearly impossible to create a vision in one’s own mind, communicate that vision to another, expect that other person to act on the vision and implement it, and then to observe the result of their work and recognize it as the original outcome envisioned.
Instead, it is more productive and efficient to work with someone else who has a vision, help them develop a plan for that vision in their mind, and then support them in accomplishing it. Thus, trusting their vision, and periodically updating one’s own knowledge by conversation keeps one apprized of how the implementation is tracking the plan. This is far superior to trying to dictate one’s own vision and hope to recognize it in the execution and ultimate output of another.