Managing is often equated with controls rather than leading and
developing a business. The manager feels more comfortable and secure
when they are able to put in strict controls on everything that happens
in a business organization. This is so especially of Senior Managements
where the controls and directing becomes so severe that it erodes any
creative freedom for the middle managers to work towards achieving the
goals set out for them.
"So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work."
- Peter Drucker
Here are a few simple prescriptions to get the best out of your managers.
Avoid Centralizing Decision Making
This is perhaps one of the best ways to achieve totals control. You
feel by centralizing decision making you will be able to avoid wrong
decisions. While this may be so to some extent who is to prevent your
own wrong decisions. Unless your managers are able to make mistakes and
learn from them you will never be able to develop expertise through
experience. Centralizing decision making is also the surest method to
kill your business growth.
Provide Working Space
The top management often entrust tasks and responsibilities to their
subordinate managers. More often than not any specific time frames
which are comfortable to achieve the given responsibilities or tasks
are discussed. However in their anxiety or aggressiveness and sometimes
over enthusiasm you start chasing your subordinate for action and
results. If you do it too soon and too often you are severely limited
the working space of your managers. They may be spending more time in
complying with your commands rather than focusing on operational
priorities and important tasks.
If you are not providing sufficient working space for your managers you
are surely heading towards disaster as important tasks may be getting
neglected to escape from your frequent and aggressive follow ups.
Listen to Your Managers
While experience is an asset it also makes one arrogant and conceited.
Sometimes one tends to believe because he is the superior, he always
right. The Boss Is Always Right principle looks good only on posters.
It doesn’t work if you want to build a Professional organization.
Cultivate the ability to listen to the voice of your managers. Most
times they know better as they are more familiar with the ground
realities. If you decide on their behalf and just issue orders, you
will have clerks in the guise of managers as you have killed their
initiative.
Don’t Get Into the Nitty Gritties
Once broad goals and objectives are set with specific time frames and
key results are outlined leave your managers to perform. If you get
into too many details and meddle with the execution at every stage, you
may be sure to mess up the entire process and ultimately the results.
The key to managing effectively is to empower people across the
management structure so that they feel part of the responsibility and
ownership.
