Issue #8: Good Management (December, 2006)
What is it about management that makes it so hard - hard in the sense that few people get it right? Last month, surprisingly, I had several conversations on the topic, and why this topic came up in completely different spheres escapes me. The sample size is small, but the consensus was: We each had very few really good managers; about half of our managers were terrible; and the rest were "fair".
After a conversation or two on the matter, the natural thing to do these days is Google "good management". One article offered the six top tips of good management. Another offered best practices - reviewing processes (plan, implement, evaluate), human resource management, and good policies. (The skeptic in me noted that this was produced by a governmental agency, few of which are noted for good management.) A third focused on predicting, not reacting. Googling "good managers" yielded one article that suggested focusing on strengths rather than weaknesses. Another commented on caring and good management development practices. A third distinguished between managers and leaders.
One key attribute stands out in my experience, and none of the these articles mentioned it: Ability to delegate.
Great managers don't get great things done by doing it themselves. They get great things done by building organizations of individuals who can get smaller pieces done without much supervision, and by managing the interdependencies.
Most highly capable individuals want to pick up the ball and run with it. Good delegators enable them, cultivate them, and enjoy the outcome.
Reflections on Good Managers
The conversations that started all this made me reflect on managers I've had in the past. You can surmise the cumulative score: I'm an independent consultant who prefers to serve clients.
One of the best managers I ever had allowed me to negotiate a half million dollar overrun on a quarter million dollar government project, something I naively thought was rather straightforward. After all, the client made some assumptions that turned out to be off the mark by a wide margin, and the client knew it. So I didn't think I needed my manager's help in the negotiations. He bit his lip, sent me off with the contracts admin support I needed, and hoped for the best. In retrospect, I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.
As negotiation day wore on, I had to learn a few things - fast. Ultimately, we only lost $1600 of the half million up for negotiation. I'll never forget how far my manager went out on a limb and the ultimate value it had to me. And of course, my personal development allowed me to do more for him.
I also remember one of my worst managers: Nothing written by my team escaped a complete overhaul by his editing pen (all in the interest of developing the "best possible deliverables" for this "critical" client). In the end, everyone in his department became too hesitant to deliver anything, and all moved on to other more fruitful jobs. As you would expect, he was never able to build a business larger than what he could personally deliver.
Perhaps the best way to sum this up is a telling "test" question I heard when I was in the reserves 30+ years ago. The question is put to Second Lieutenants, the lowest ranking officers, and hence the greenest "managers" the military has. The question: "You are given a sergeant, two privates, a flagpole, a post-hole digger, a wheelbarrow, a hoe, 3 bags of cement, and all the sand and water you need. What is the correct sequence of instructions necessary to erect the flagpole?"
The answer? "Sergeant, erect the flagpole."
Recently Published
The Journal of the American Water Works Association published our article "Getting Your IT Systems to Work Together: It's Not a Technical Issue" in the November 2006 issue. In my experience, integration technology takes center stage when integration topics arise in conversation. But after the technology choices are made, you're arguably no closer to integration. The article discusses the five steps needed to integrate systems, and choosing technology is #4.
