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Add You - Managing or Coping?
Tales have been told of how eccentrics and other people of an inventive mind have stored up treasures in a variety of places - under mattresses, under loose boards in homes, in secret or not-so-secret compartments in cupboards, or simply in a hole in the woods. But it seems with each passing year you hear fewer such tales. For now, there are few old timers around who remember when banks went bust. For every one who keeps their money in an insured bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures each individual or joint account up to $100,000. A self-directed retirement account is insured up to $250,000. With more money you just simply go to other insured banks or credit unions and open new accounts. National Credi
Recent national and international disasters have shown that governments or individuals cannot work alone, but need support in implementing humanitarian non-profit programs. As a result, non-profit or not for profit organizations are today playing a major role in providing service through private and public concerns. Started by individuals or groups, these organizations are funded by personal wealth and donations from private and public sectors. There is an understood line of control, as revenue generated is non-taxable.A non-profit organization could be the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute hospitals, universities, non-governmental organizations or NGOs, plus charities with global o
I asked this question on a recent seminar and got into an intense argument with one of the attendees who was a large employer! I like to mix it a little and what fun it was to ask an employer to justify the existence of his managers:
Vernon: Why do you have managers?
Employer: To manage
Vernon: You mean, to cope
Employer: I mean, to manage
Vernon: If not "manage" as in "to cope", "manage" as in ...what?
Employer: Our managers are not just coping, they are making judgements and making decisions based on those judgements
Vernon: Do your staff, including managers, have procedures to follow?
Employer: Yes, everything that could happen has a procedure
Vernon: So, why do you need managers?
Employer: Er, to deal with exceptions
Vernon: Not covered by the procedures?
Employer: Well, for instance, if there is a split decision to be made - say a late delivery is going out and one customer has to be disadvantaged over another, the manager will decide which customer to let down and may decide how to appr
Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations. The sin is limitations. As soon as you once come up to a man’s limitations, it is all over with him.EmersonTo build a successful organization, leaders need to understand the importance of group dynamics and team chemistry. In other words, members in organizations need to respect each other and get along. Yukl, the author of Leadership in Organizations, maintains that a high-exchange relationship contains high mutual influence. Clearly, good chemistry is vital in achieving any level of organizational excellence. Leaders need to build relationships with followers in a constructive manner.King, author of The Moral Manager, explained t
Vernon: Why do you have managers?
Employer: To manage
Vernon: You mean, to cope
Employer: I mean, to manage
Vernon: If not "manage" as in "to cope", "manage" as in ...what?
Employer: Our managers are not just coping, they are making judgements and making decisions based on those judgements
Vernon: Do your staff, including managers, have procedures to follow?
Employer: Yes, everything that could happen has a procedure
Vernon: So, why do you need managers?
Employer: Er, to deal with exceptions
Vernon: Not covered by the procedures?
Employer: Well, for instance, if there is a split decision to be made - say a late delivery is going out and one customer has to be disadvantaged over another, the manager will decide which customer to let down and may decide how to app
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation and innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. From this simple definition, it is clear that certain cultural characteristics ought to be prevalent if creativity and innovation are to be maximised. And maximisation of these ought to be a priority for senior leaders, as those organisations that take them seriously, tend to be leaders in their field, tend to maintain their leadership position longer and are quicker to bounce back when competitors leap frog.There are many blocks that prevent expression of problems and hinder idea generation. Some solutions include:a) An environment of psychological safet
Employer: Our managers are not just coping, they are making judgements and making decisions based on those judgements
Vernon: Do your staff, including managers, have procedures to follow?
Employer: Yes, everything that could happen has a procedure
Vernon: So, why do you need managers?
Employer: Er, to deal with exceptions
Vernon: Not covered by the procedures?
Employer: Well, for instance, if there is a split decision to be made - say a late delivery is going out and one customer has to be disadvantaged over another, the manager will decide which customer to let down and may decide how to app
It used to be that we poor, run-ragged employees could routinely expect ongoing intimidation from our bosses for a long litany of reasons, quaking in our boots those bleak mornings when we had to call in sick (even when legitimate!), quivering at the knees while pleading for a much-deserved, long-overdue raise, wishing for simple praise for a job well done but winding up instead with “constructive” feedback. Even taking time off for a joyous trip to the dentist or (God forbid!) picking our children up at school might provoke visions of the gods raining hellfire down upon us the very moment we dared to asked for permission.So my, my, my, how times have changed! Now it’s employers and bosses who wrestle with such del
Employer: Yes, everything that could happen has a procedure
Vernon: So, why do you need managers?
Employer: Er, to deal with exceptions
Vernon: Not covered by the procedures?
Employer: Well, for instance, if there is a split decision to be made - say a late delivery is going out and one customer has to be disadvantaged over another, the manager will decide which customer to let down and may decide how to app
You may wonder if the car dealer has gone overboard with his service and perhaps he has in a way. The customer can decline his offering at any time but at least he is there to offer it. You can go overboard with your willingness to please but you cannot go overboard with a good customer service policy. You really want to over deliver your promises but you do not want to under promise what you will do.There must be value attached to everything you do for the customer. If they do not perceive a value in the service, then you will not keep that customer for life. I recently had a contract with a company in the Bay Area; their motto was "To Thrill the Customer Everyday". Each person that came on board was also asked to
Vernon: And would your company look into the failure - the late delivery - and put it right for next time? Would your company write into its procedures how to prioritise customers if such a failure occurred again?
Employer: I know what you're getting at, but not everything can be set to a procedure.
Who won the argument? The employer did of course, not that it was an argument in the true sense - I just enjoyed posing some awkward questions. I don't believe that we can ever completely do away with managers. What I do believe is that we can dramatically reduce the amount of managers out there making ad-hoc decisions that could have been covered by a more systemised approach and at a lower level. Staff would often be perfectly capable of following a pre-planned decision tree or some other systemised way of coming to decisions without the need to refer to a manager. You could
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