Hi everyone!

Bill has brought to my attention an interesting article on “what makes a great manager”…

Are you ready for the magic recipe?

According to Gerard M. Blair, author of the article and Senior Lecturer in VLSI Design at the University of Edinburgh, “The first step to becoming a really great manager is simply common sense; but common sense is not very common. Management is about pausing to ask yourself the right questions so that your common sense can provide the answers”.

 STARTING A REVOLUTION

“As a manager, you actually have the authority to make a huge impact upon the way in which your staff works. You can shape your own work environment. In a large company, your options may be limited by the existing corporate culture [but you can] act like a crab: face directly into the main thrust of corporate policy, and make changes sideways.”

“For instance, when a British firm called Unipart wanted to introduce Japanese methods (Honda’s to be precise) into their Oxford plan (The Economist - 11th April 1992 - page 89) they sent a small team to Japan to learn what exactly this meant. On their return,

they were mocked by their workmates who saw them as management pawns. So instead they were formed into their own team and sent to work in a corner of the plant where they applied their new knowledge in isolation. Slowly, but surely, their example (and missionary zeal) spread through the factory and changes followed. Now Unipart have opened a new factory and the general manger of the first factory attributes the success to “releasing talent already on the shop floor”. Of course one can always find case studies to support any management idea, but it does exemplify the potential of a small cell of dedicated zealots - led by you.”

·         THREE FACES OF A MANAGER

“The manger of a small team has three major roles to play:”

PLANNER

“By thinking about the eventual consequences of different plans, the manager selects the optimal plan for the team and implements it, [while taking into account the needs not only of the next project but of the project after that.]”

PROTECTOR

“In any company, there are short-term excitements which can deflect the work-force from the important issues. The manager should be there to guard against these and to protect the team.”

PROVIDER

“The Manager has access to information and materials which the team needs.”

“That was rather formal. If you like formal, then you are happy. If you do not like formal then here is an alternative answer, a manager should provide:

VISION - VALUES - VERVE

Vision in that the future must be seen and communicated to the team; Values in that the team needs a unifying code of practice which supports and enhances co-operation; Verve in that positive enthusiasm is the best way of making the work exciting and fun.”

·         VISION

“The meaning of vision which concerns you as a manager is: a vivid idea of what the future should be. This has nothing to do with prediction but everything to do with hope. This implies two things:

-          you need to decide where your team is headed

-          you have to communicate that vision to them”

A vision can (and should) be illustrated by a concrete goal, a mission, which should have two important qualities:

        -      “it should be tough, but achievable given sufficient effort”

        -      “it must be possible to tell when it has been achieved”

·         PRESCIENCE

“Prescience is having foreknowledge of the future. Particularly as a Protector, you have to know in advance the external events which impact upon your team. The key is information.”

“A way of generating information is to play “what if” games. There are dreadfully scientific ways of performing this sort of analysis, but reasonably you do not have the time. The sort of work this article is suggesting is that you, with your team or other managers (or both), play “what if” over coffee now and then. All you have to do is to postulate a novel question and see how it runs.”

“A productive variation on the “what if” game is to ask: “what can go wrong?” By deliberately trying to identify potential problems at the onset, you will prevent many and compensate for many more. Set aside specific time to do this type of thinking. Call it contingency planning and put in in your diary as a regular appointment.”

·         FLEXIBILITY

“Stimulate fresh ideas from your team because they see that it is a normal part of the team practice to adopt and experiment with innovation. Thus not only are you relieved of the task of generating the new ideas, but also your team acquire ownership in the whole creative process.”

·         A GENERAL APPROACH

“In management there is always a distant tune playing in the background. It is a simple tune which repeats again and again in every aspect of your managerial life; if goes:  

PLAN - MONITOR - REVIEW

“Before you start any activity you must STOP and THINK about it: what is the objective, how can it be achieved, what are the alternatives, who needs to be involved, what will it cost, is it worth doing? When you have a plan you should STOP and THINK about how to ensure that your plan is working. You must find ways of monitoring your progress, even if it is just setting deadlines for intermediate stages, or counting customer replies, or tracking the number of soggy biscuits which have to be thrown away, whatever: choose something which displays progress and establish a procedure to ensure that happens. But before you start, set a date on which you will STOP again and reTHINK your plan in the light of the evidence gathered from the monitoring.”

“The review is not merely to fine-tune your plan, it is to evaluate the experiment and to incorporate the new, practical information which you have gathered into the creation of the next step forward; you should be prepared for radical changes.”

·         LEADERSHIP

“The workforce is rapidly gaining in sophistication as the world grows more complex. You cannot effectively control through fear, so you must try another route. You could possibly gain compliance and rule your team through edict; but you would lose their input and experience, and gain only the burdens of greater decision making. You do not have the right environment to be a despot;you gain advantage by being a team leader.

“A common mistake about the image of a manager is that they must be loud, flamboyant, and a great drinker or golfer or racket player or a great something social to draw people to them. This is wrong. In any company, if you look hard enough, you will find quiet modest people who manage teams with great personal success. If you are quiet and modest, fear not; all you need is to talk clearly to the people who matter (your team) and they will hear you.” 

“The great managers are the ones who challenge the existing complacency and who are prepared to lead their teams forward towards a personal vision. They are the ones who recognise problems, seize opportunities, and create their own future. Ultimately, they are the ones who stop to think where they want to go and then have the shameless audacity to set out.”

Feel free to share your personal experiences and/or opinions with us…