By Frank Goley

As a company grows and matures, other factors in its successful management and growth become important. I will analyze a company’s Growth Stages and identify common issues, success factors and problems for each particular stage; identify Management Considerations and Challenges as the company grows and matures; and consider Future Planning Requirements. As a Company grows and matures, it is important the organization understands how to plan effectively for new challenges, issues, markets and problems.

Small Business Growth Stages

- Basic Existence Stage

- Main Issues and Characteristics

1. Obtaining Customers
2. Delivering the product and service
3. Viable Services
4. Expand from key customers to broader sales base
5. Have enough Cash on Hand to cover Cash Flow demands
6. Owner performs all Management functions
7. Often a lack of Planning & Systems
8. Business just trying to remain viable
9. Have yet to stabilize production or product quality
10. Trying to gain sufficient customer acceptance
11. Business has strong demand on the Owner’s time, cash and energy

- Survival Mode Stage

- Main Issues and Characteristics

1. Business demonstrates viability as business entity
2. Satisfies a base of customers
3. Focus shifts from existence to managing Cash Flow
4. Generate enough Cash Flow to break even, stay in business and finance growth
5. Focus on Market Niche exploitation
6. Simple organization and the owner begins to delegate to a manger. However, strong direction and control still rests with the Owner.
7. Planning concentrates on Cash Flow Forecasting
8. Systems development & implementation in early stages.

- Obtaining Success Stage

- Main Issues and Characteristics

1. Exploits its Market Niche
2. Obtain Strategic goals
3. Expansions is important but stability, control and profitability are key as well
4. Owner’s Options:
a. Expand and Grow the business
b. Maintain Stability as a means of support to the owner
c. Owner considers disengagement from the business
5. Market penetration
6. Competitive Edge
7. Functional Management & Owner Delegation
8. Management & Key Employee Competence
9. Generating sufficient Cash Flow
10. Planning for rough patches
11. Professional Staff: i.e. Controller, CFO, CEO
12. Production/ Service, Marketing, Strategic and Financial Systems established
13. Operational Budget Management
14. Growth Strategy Options
a. Consolidate Company, develop efficiencies and marshal resources
b. Use Retained Earnings and Cash Flow, leveraged with Finance, to grow the Company
c. Cash Flow Management & Profitability are key concerns to finance growth goals
d. Develop Key people and management
e. Strong Operational and Strategic Planning
f. Growth requires the owner’s deep involvement (verses disengagement)

- Rapid Growth Stage

- Main Issues and Characteristics

1. Committed to a Growth Strategy
2. Concerned with adequately financing the growth stage
3. Need good ownership delegation to improve managerial effectiveness.
4. Enterprise develops complexity. Performance Control Systems are important
5. Established Expense and Budget Controls to maintain strong Cash Flow.
6. Profitability Planning Systems are critically important
7. Effective Financial Planning, Forecasting, Modeling and Strategy
8. Very skilled, experienced and competent Management Structure
9. Company systems are tested, adapted and highly delegated, but there is strong Strategic Leadership from Top Management
10. Capacity to become a big business
11. Strong Potential for Business Sale Premium
12. Effective Delegation and reliance on talented Managers & Key Employees are keys to success
13. Founding Entrepreneur(s) can opt out of business and have a more advisory role

- Maturity Stage

- Main Interests and Characteristics

1. Consolidate and Control profits
2. Retain advantage of relative small size, nimbleness and flexibility
3. Quick market change response time
4. Still retains the entrepreneurial spirit
5. Growth causes inefficiencies so must ensure the Management Structure continues to grow and evolve. Strong Managerial Talent
6. Strong Budget, Operational and Strategic Planning capability and focus
7. MBO System (Management by Objectives)
8. Cost Systems
9. Extensive & well developed company systems and Management Structure
10. Strong Financial Resources
11. Convert Entrepreneurial spirit to a Formidable Market Force
12. Strong Market Niches and Competitive Edge
13. Exceptional Risk Management
14. Profitability boosted by successful Innovation
15. Strength in Market Branding and Recognition
16. Maintain Competitive Edge by anticipating Market changes and adapting better and faster than competitors

Management Considerations and Challenges

- Key Management Factors and Areas: The following are areas which change in importance as a company develops and grows, which often determines the success or failure of the enterprise:

1. Financial Strategy: Cash Flow and Finance
2. Personnel Planning: Amount, Depth, Structure and Quality of Key People and Management
3. System Integration: Product Development, Production Management, Cost Controls, Budgeting Systems, Marketing Systems, Quality Management, Customer Relations, Strategic Planning, Cash Flow Management, Profitability Analysis, Asset Management, and so forth.
4. Business Resources: Customer Service, Market Share, Market Growth, Market Penetration, Market Trends, Supplier Relations, Manufacturing Processes, Facility Efficiencies & Expansions, Distribution Systems, Sales Management, Innovation, Technology, Industry & Market Positioning and Business Reputation.
5. Company Goals and Objectives
6. Operational Planning and Abilities
7. Supply Chain Management
8. Owners Willingness and Ability to Delegate
9. Strategic Long-Term Outlook and Management

- The Role of Business Planning: A good Business Planning Structure will look at the mentioned factors (among others) and effectively plan, develop, install and implement systems and processes to manage and anticipate these challenges throughout the business enterprise. A company can grow, or for that matter, collapse, so quickly that it is very important to have Planning and Control Systems in place to manage all the numerous variables which a business encounters and considers. Therefore, as the business grows and changes, and as the markets and competitors change, the small business has established systems and resources in place to successfully handle and manage these changing forces and factors.

Future Planning

- Growth Considerations

1. Does the business have the quality and diversity of experience and talent needed to effectively manage a growing company?
2. Does the business have systems in place and in development to effectively handle the needs and demands of an expanding, diversifying enterprise?
3. Do the entrepreneur/ owner/ founder(s) have the foresight, inclination and ability to delegate decision making to management?
4. Does the business have the Cash and Finance structure, along with an understanding of the Risk Factors, to aggressively pursue rapid growth?

Application

In managing a growing, expanding and maturing Small Business, we presented a model by which to evaluate and plan for the current business situation and future concerns and challenges. By understanding the particular Growth Stage Characteristics and Issues, Management Considerations and Challenges, as well as, Future Growth Planning Considerations, a business can apply this planning format and model to anticipate problems and successfully sustain growth. This model should be an integral part of a Company’s Business Planning, Market Planning, Product Development Planning, Strategic Planning, Sales Planning and Financial Planning and Forecasting.

Conclusion

An imbalance of management factors and challenges can create serious problems for the entrepreneur and his/her growing enterprise. We illustrated how the problems faced and the respective skills necessary to effectively deal with challenges change and evolve as a company grows, expands, and seeks success. Therefore, it is vitally important for business owners to anticipate and strategically manage these factors as they become influential and important to the enterprise.

As I explained in this article on Small Business Growth Management Strategies, a company’s stage of development determines the managerial factors which are necessary and important. A Company’s Planning Structure is vitally crucial in determining which factors and issues must be faced and dealt with. Knowing its keys to success, development stage model and future planning needs, a company’s managers, entrepreneur, founders, executives, investors, advisors and consultants can make much more informed strategic decisions and plan for future challenges.

The Case for a Business Consultant

When an entrepreneur is starting and growing a company, it becomes vitally important from the outset to seek and obtain objective advice from experts. The Company Principals need expert advisors on their team to discuss decisions and obtain objective advice; challenge the founders’ venture needs appraisal; provide an honest appraisal of strengths and weaknesses; review decision making processes; identify survival tactics and needs; develop and implement a business plan, marketing plan, strategic plan, sales plan, and financial strategy; build market focus and niches; anticipate market trends; establish and sustain competitive edge; provide financial foresight and planning; focus on cost controls, budgeting procedures, cash flow management and maximizing profitability; along with obtaining the appropriate Financial Resources to augment self-investment and achieve growth goals and opportunities. In short, a Business Consultant, with an experienced track record, can fill this long requirement list, helping the entrepreneur and his or her advisory and management teams to successfully start, structure, plan, expand and profitably grow the enterprise.

By Marty Lasker

There are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are writers about the subject. This in itself informs the reader about the elusiveness of any consensus what makes for a good leader let alone, how to develop them. At its simplest, the leader is the one who has followers though it would not be accurate to say that “the one with the most followers is the best leader.”

Successful leadership characteristics will vary by organization, culture, age, circumstances, and many more variables. Successful leaders don’t use the same skills and behaviors on every occasion, but often draw from an array of arrows in their quiver to be successful.

Good managers are not necessarily good leaders as a manager’s title is conferred upon them by the hierarchy in an organization. The title of leader is conferred upon the person by those who will follow. So, how do you get people to follow?

Among the many characteristics of effective leaders are:

Vision - is the description of the future and preferably a future that is better than the present or one that will comfortably address anticipated events. The vision must be believable in the sense of being perceived as achievable. It must be a statement with which follows can identify and aspire to and it must be articulated by one who has the confidence and trust of the followers.

Trust - is likely the most critical characteristic to any leader. Once it is gained it is difficult to lose and once it is lost it is virtually impossible to regain. A trusting relationship is created through consistent experience that the leader is acting in the follower’s best interest. Once trust is established it is assumed that the leader is acting in the best interest of the follow until proven otherwise. As a result, it is not uncommon to find people being led in directions that are not in their best interest. However, once this is discovered, the leader is usually abandoned.

Communication - is the link or connective tissue between the parties. An effective and highly skilled communicator can make up for lapses in vision and trust and an ineffective communicator will often fail as a leader regardless of the wisdom of the vision or the integrity of the trust. While there are many more characteristics found in effective leaders, it is clearly the formulation of a vision, the ability to communicate that vision and the existence of trust are the three most fundamental skills required.

By David Javitch

Difficult people present no problem if we pass them on the street, in the supermarket or in a building lobby. Nevertheless, when we have to work with them difficult people can become major irritants.

It seems that some people are just born to be difficult. We have all worked with them and most of us dislike them. Difficult people are easy to recognize–they show up late, leave early, don’t turn their work in on time and have an excuse for every failing.

Wait, there’s more. These difficult people harass you and others, ask too many self-explanatory questions, neglect details, distract you and repeatedly challenge you and others. Even worse, when they interact with customers, vendors and people lower than them on the corporate hierarchy, they can be grouchy, impolite, condescending, uninformed, misleading, inappropriate or simply wrong. Do you know anyone like this?

Naturally, no one wants to work with difficult people. When dealing with problematic employees, productivity decreases, frustrations rise, morale goes down and customers and vendors get upset.

How to Handle Them

1. Don’t ignore the problem. Assuming that the employee provides value to the company and possesses redeeming qualities, there are ways to deal with difficult employees. Most often, managers will simply ignore problematic staffers. Managers who live by this rule hope the problem will just go away; that these people will somehow turn themselves around or stop being troublesome. Ignoring the situation is the wrong solution to what could likely become a progressive problem.

2. Intervene as soon as possible. It is important to take action as soon as the negative behavior pattern becomes evident–when left untouched, this problem will only escalate.
Occasionally, the difficult employee has no idea that his behavior is a problem or that others react negatively to his actions. This is because most people tend to put up with the annoying behavior and “go along to get along.” At the same time, some employees just consider it a “job frustration.” Just like some managers, employees want to be liked by colleagues and subordinates and are therefore reluctant to speak up when a problem arises.

Ultimately, it is the manager’s responsibility to take the appropriate action to correct the problem. Whether the concern exists due to the employee’s lack of knowledge of the issue, lack of feedback or projecting the difficulty onto someone else, the manager has the responsibility of addressing and turning around the predicament. The manager needs to gather information from employees to discern the extent of the problem and personally observe the employee interacting with customers or vendors.

3. Research the problem personally. Armed with accurate data and examples, the manager needs to then take this person into a conference room or office–away from others–and calmly address the issue. To begin, the manager needs to ask the employee if he is aware of any ongoing issues to determine if the difficult person is aware of the problems.

If the employee is “unaware,” the manager needs to describe the unacceptable behavior. The employee might interrupt to disagree or deny the existence of any issues. Nevertheless, the manager needs to continue by giving clear examples of the unwanted behavior.

The manager also needs to allow the employee to respond to the allegations. If the difficult employee refuses to believe that the allegations exist despite the evidence, the most the manager can hope for is an intellectual acceptance of the possibility that a problem exists.

4. Help the problematic employee to get back on track. Once the employee begins to understand that these negative behaviors are real and experienced by others in the organization, the manager or someone from human resources should begin to coach the difficult employee in displaying more acceptable and appropriate behaviors. The employee needs time and practice in “trying on” new, more suitable behaviors. HR and/or the manager need to provide specific feedback to this employee on the success or failure of his efforts in minimizing the negative actions and implementing ones that are more positive.

5. If all else fails, termination may be necessary. If the employee continues to deny his inappropriate behavior and refuses to try to improve the situation, the manager needs to place this person on the fast track towards termination. Often this involves recording a series of well-documented verbal and then written feedback about the behavior. Strictly following company protocol, there should be a period for the employee to address the questionable behavior. If this trial period does not result in improved behavior, then the employee needs to be terminated.

Most employees will recognize the negative behavior and will at least attempt to turn it around. This is especially true during tough economic times when unemployment is high and finding a new job is difficult. In any case, the manager needs to follow company guidelines in recognizing the unacceptable behavior, providing direct feedback, providing input to try to turn it around and ultimately taking action in a timely manner.

Not doing so is a disservice to the problematic employee, other employees and the success of the organization.

By Mark A Frohman

The fifth “new” myth that resembles pineapple upside down cake:

To Fix Things, Create a Team and Turn It Loose

This myth has lead to many teams that suffer from “aimless empowerment.” The team are not given sufficient direction and guidance to be successful. Managers can not step back - rather they had responsibility to provide direction, priorities, and structure for teams to be effective. Too many mangers let their teams blow in the wind. To be successful you need a stake in the ground to tether teams and help them move in directions that benefit individuals and the organization. This is right as far as it goes. But this is looking at teams as one way - what management has to do to make it work. Indeed most companies install teams as something management does for the workers. But teams are a two-way street. The team has responsibility to make the process work, too.

A large utility company introduced problem quality teams throughout the company with statements from top management and training. After eighteen months the program was deemed a failure because there had been no improvement in quality measures. Using a survey it was discovered the team members, while feeling more involved did not feel more responsible for results.

In a company that makes food preparation machines, teams were introduced by reducing the number of supervisors, training facilitators and establishing regular team meetings during working hours. The major outcome was that management was accused of being hypocritical about teams whenever it did not go along with a team recommendation.

Do not believe the myth that teams can be created and let loose. The expectation must be set t that teams are a two-way street. Management gives something - more say - to lower levels and expects something - better goal achievement and competitiveness - in return.

Teams are a basic exchange offering people more choice in return for a promise. The choice is about having control over the way work gets done. The promise is about results. Decision making is pushed down in order to get results up.

Teams requires open and ongoing communication about the goals, priorities and problems of the company
We find these conditions contribute to successful teams:

• Link their assignment to strategic priorities
• Integrate staff support into the process
• Provide a strong orientation
• Communicate clear expectations and timetable
• Receive regular reports
• Provide full information as needed
• Include teamwork as a performance factor and in evaluations

To sum up, Franklin D. Roosevelt said: “There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. To some generations much is expected.” Our generation requires both for teams to work!

Conclusion
The times are difficult, the answers are not easy, but subscribing to a new set of management myths is not the answer. Try this instead:

• Study your world and look for trends and issues to help become competitive
• Focus your management efforts on outside customers and select your efforts after a careful look at what you need to do to meet expectations in the market
• Give each unit clear direction and ground rules and let them figure out what needs to be done better and how.
• Encourage individual initiative. Ask for problem solving from everyone.
• Create teams with accountability for results and give them support.

By F. John Reh

Who better to offer tips and insight to someone just starting their management career than the seasoned professional manager. We are fortunate to have such a group of management professionals frequent the Management Forum on this site. Recently, I asked them this question:

“Remember way back when - when you got your first management job. What do you wish someone had told you then? What would be the one tip you would give to a manager just starting out?”

Their answers reflect the character and style of these individuals; their wisdom; their experience.

Here’s a list of Ten Top Tips:

* (M) Consult, consult, consult.

* (A) You are managing people, not projects or product development or customer service or any other departmental mission. People are complicated and messy. They aren’t machines any more than you are; they won’t be the same every day, no matter how much you’d like them to be. So stay alert to what’s going on with them.

* (K) For the first couple of days, sit down and get to know your staff. Find out what they do, what their goals are, what they like to do in their free time, etc. Several years ago, I watched a new manager start with a company and for the first month or so, didn’t talk to any of his staff. A month later, he wondered why people were handing in their two week notices.

Get to know your staff!!

* (R) Learn how to deal with problem or resentful employees. I was promoted into my position over a longer-term employee. She was made my assistant. (Before everyone raises the sexism issue, I was the ONLY male manager and was promoted on performance.) She had a great deal of resentment and worked against me at every turn. After floundering around for a while, I finally took her into the office and calmly explained the facts of life to her, that I was the manager and if she couldn’t work with me one of us would be leaving and it wouldn’t be me. She straightened out after that and we eventually developed a good relationship.

Avoid re-inventing the wheel. Everything doesn’t require your unique hand-print. Some things probably work just fine already. Also don’t think or act like you know everything, nothing breeds resentment more than arrogance. You may be smart, but there’s always someone smarter.

* (MC) You are responsible for everything that happens in your scope of authority. Don’t ever think that just because you may not be doing the actual work, you are not responsible—you *are*. Unless you are comfortable with this basic fact, management is *not* for you.

The rewards come at a price. You will have to make decisions that will benefit the company as well as your staff….and quite often they are in direct conflict with each other. (You cannot be all things to all people….)

You do have a right to be human. Just because you are now management, does not mean that you can (or should) throw emotion out the window.

Laugh with your people….let them know that you are not a humorless troll.

Be honest with your people…you expect the same from them. Even if it’s bad news, honesty does help lessen the blow.

Defend your people! They will reward you with their loyalty.

As exciting and as insightful as these tips for new managers are, there is one more we should add. Management is not for everybody. As (A2) put it “it’s never too late to say thanks but no thanks….I’m happy where I am.”

Why Retention? Four Tips for Employee Retention

By Susan M. Heathfield

Key employee retention is critical to the long term health and success of your business. Managers readily agree that retaining your best employees ensures customer satisfaction, product sales, satisfied coworkers and reporting staff, effective succession planning and deeply imbedded organizational knowledge and learning. If managers can cite these facts so well, why do they behave in ways that so frequently encourage great employees to quit their jobs?

Employee retention matters. Organizational issues such as training time and investment; lost knowledge; mourning, insecure coworkers and a costly candidate search aside, failing to retain a key employee is costly. Various estimates suggest that losing a middle manager costs an organization up to 100 percent of his salary. The loss of a senior executive is even more costly. I have seen estimates of double the annual salary and more.

Employee retention is critically important for a second societal reason, too. Over the next few years while Baby Boomers (age 40 to 58) retire, the upcoming Generation X population numbers 44 million people (ages 25-34), compared to 76 million Baby Boomers available for work. Simply stated: there are a lot fewer people available to work.

Employee retention is one of the primary measures of the health of your organization. If you are losing critical staff members, you can safely bet that other people in their departments are looking as well. Exit interviews with departing employees provide valuable information you can use to retain remaining staff. Heed their results. You’ll never have a more significant source of data about the health of your organization.

I’ve provided retention tips in earlier articles, but will add ten more retention tips to your arsenal with these top ten ways to retain a great employee.

* Management thinkers from Ferdinand Fournies ( Why Employees Don’t Do What They’re Supposed to Do and What to Do About It) to Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman (First Break All the Rules agree that a satisfied employee knows clearly what is expected from him every day at work. Changing expectations keep people on edge and create unhealthy stress. They rob the employee of internal security and make the employee feel unsuccessful. I’m not advocating unchanging jobs just the need for a specific framework within which people clearly know what is expected from them.

* The quality of the supervision an employee receives is critical to employee retention. People leave managers and supervisors more often than they leave companies or jobs. It is not enough that the supervisor is well-liked or a nice person, starting with clear expectations of the employee, the supervisor has a critical role to play in retention. Anything the supervisor does to make an employee feel unvalued will contribute to turnover. Frequent employee complaints center on these areas.

–lack of clarity about expectations,
–lack of clarity about earning potential,
–lack of feedback about performance,
–failure to hold scheduled meetings, and
–failure to provide a framework within which the employee perceives he can succeed.

* The ability of the employee to speak his or her mind freely within the organization is another key factor in employee retention. Does your organization solicit ideas and provide an environment in which people are comfortable providing feedback? If so, employees offer ideas, feel free to criticize and commit to continuous improvement. If not, they bite their tongues or find themselves constantly “in trouble” - until they leave.

* Talent and skill utilization is another environmental factor your key employees seek in your workplace. A motivated employee wants to contribute to work areas outside of his specific job description. How many people could contribute far more than they currently do? You just need to know their skills, talent and experience, and take the time to tap into it. As an example, in a small company, a manager pursued a new marketing plan and logo with the help of external consultants. An internal sales rep, with seven years of ad agency and logo development experience, repeatedly offered to help. His offer was ignored and he cited this as one reason why he quit his job. In fact, the recognition that the company didn’t want to take advantage of his knowledge and capabilities helped precipitate his job search.

* The perception of fairness and equitable treatment is important in employee retention. In one company, a new sales rep was given the most potentially successful, commission-producing accounts. Current staff viewed these decisions as taking food off their tables. You can bet a number of them are looking for their next opportunity.

In another instance, a staff person, just a year or two out of college, was given $20,000 in raises over a six month time period. Information of this type never stays secret in companies so you know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the morale of several other employees will be affected. For example, you have a staff person who views her role as important and she brings ten years of experience, an M.B.A. and a great contribution record to the table. When she finds she is making less money than this employee, she is likely to look for a new job. Minimally, her morale and motivation will take a big hit. Did the staff person deserve the raises? Yes. But, recognize that there will be impact on others.

* When an employee is failing at work, I ask the W. Edwards Deming question, “What about the work system is causing the person to fail?” Most frequently, if the employee knows what they are supposed to do, I find the answer is time, tools, training, temperament or talent. The easiest to solve, and the ones most affecting employee retention, are tools, time and training. The employee must have the tools, time and training necessary to do their job well – or they will move to an employer who provides them.

* Your best employees, those employees you want to retain, seek frequent opportunities to learn and grow in their careers, knowledge and skill. Without the opportunity to try new opportunities, sit on challenging committees, attend seminars and read and discuss books, they feel they will stagnate. A career-oriented, valued employee must experience growth opportunities within your organization.

* A common place complaint or lament I hear during an exit interview is that the employee never felt senior managers knew he existed. By senior managers I refer to the president of a small company or a department or division head in a larger company. Take time to meet with new employees to learn about their talents, abilities and skills. Meet with each employee periodically. You’ll have more useful information and keep your fingers on the pulse of your organization. It’s a critical tool to help employees feel welcomed, acknowledged and loyal.

* No matter the circumstances, never, never, ever threaten an employee’s job or income. Even if you know layoffs loom if you fail to meet production or sales goals, it is a mistake to foreshadow this information with employees. It makes them nervous; no matter how you phrase the information; no matter how you explain the information, even if you’re absolutely correct, your best staff members will update their resumes. I’m not advocating keeping solid information away from people, however, think before you say anything that makes people feel they need to search for another job.

* I place this final tip on every retention list I develop because it is so key and critical to retention success. Your staff members must feel rewarded, recognized and appreciated. Frequently saying thank you goes a long way. Monetary rewards, bonuses and gifts make the thank you even more appreciated. Understandable raises, tied to accomplishments and achievement, help retain staff. Commissions and bonuses that are easily calculated on a daily basis, and easily understood, raise motivation and help retain staff. Annually, I receive emails from staff members that provide information about raises nationally. You can bet that work is about the money and almost every individual wants more.

Take a look at your organization Are you doing your best to retain your top talent? Employ these ten factors in your organization to retain your desired employees and attract the best talent, too.

by Gerard M Blair

The first steps to becoming a really great manager are simply common sense; but common sense is not very common. This article suggests some common-sense ideas on the subject of great management.

The major problem when you start to manage is that you do not actually think about management issues because you do not recognize them. Put simply, things normally go wrong not because you are stupid but only because you have never thought about it. Management is about pausing to ask yourself the right questions so that your common sense can provide the answers.

When you gain managerial responsibility, your first option is the easy option: do what is expected of you. You are new at the job, so people will understand. You can learn (slowly) by your mistakes and probably you will try to devote as much time as possible to the rest of your work (which is what your were good at anyway). Those extra little “management” problems are just common sense, so try to deal with them when they come up.

Your second option is far more exciting: find an empty telephone box, put on a cape and bright-red underpants, and become a SuperManager.

When you become a manager, you gain control over your own work; not all of it, but some of it. You can change things. You can do things differently. You actually have the authority to make a huge impact upon the way in which your staff work. You can shape your own work environment.

In a large company, your options may be limited by the existing corporate culture - and my advice to you is to act like a crab: face directly into the main thrust of corporate policy, and make changes sideways. You do not want to fight the system, but rather to work better within it. In a small company, your options are possibly much wider (since custom is often less rigid) and the impact that you and your team has upon the company’s success is proportionately much greater. Thus once you start working well, this will be quickly recognized and nothing gains faster approval than success. But wherever you work, do not be put off by the surprise colleagues will show when you first get serious about managing well.

STARTING A REVOLUTION

The idea of starting alone, however, may be daunting to you; you may not see yourself as a David against the Goliath of other peoples’ (low) expectations. The bad news is that you will meet resistance to change. Your salvation lies in convincing your team (who are most effected) that what you are doing can only do them good, and in convincing everyone else that it can do them no harm. The good news is that soon others might follow you.

There is precedent for this. 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 manager of a small team has three major roles to play:

Planner
A Manager has to take a long-term view; indeed, the higher you rise, the further you will have to look. While a team member will be working towards known and established goals, the manager must look further ahead so that these goals are selected wisely. By thinking about the eventual consequences of different plans, the manager selects the optimal plan for the team and implements it. By taking account of the needs not only of the next project but the project after that, the manager ensures that work is not repeated nor problems tackled too late, and that the necessary resources are allocated and arranged.

Provider
The Manager has access to information and materials which the team needs. Often he/she has the authority or influence to acquire things which no one else in the team could. This role for the manager is important simply because no one else can do the job; there is some authority which the manager holds uniquely within the team, and the manager must exercise this to help the team to work.

Protector
The team needs security from the vagaries of less enlightened managers. 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. If a new project emerges which is to be given to your team, you are responsible for costing it (especially in terms of time) so that your team is not given an impossible deadline. If someone in your team brings forward a good plan, you must ensure that it receives a fair hearing and that your team knows and understands the outcome. If someone is in your team has a problem at work, you have to deal with it.
Version Two
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. If you do not think your work is exciting, then we have found a problem. A better word than Verve might be Chutzpah (except that it does not begin with a “V”) which means “shameless audacity”. Is that not refreshing? Inspiring even? A manager should dare to do what he/she has decided to do and to do it with confidence and pride.

VISION

One of the most cited characteristics of successful managers is that of vision. Of all the concepts in modern management, this is the one about which the most has been written. Of course different writters use it in different ways. One usage brings it to mean clairvoyance as in: “she had great vision in foreseeing the demise of that market”. This meaning is of no use to you since crystal balls are only validated by hindsight and this article is concerned with your future.

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. It is a focus for the team’s activity, which provides sustained long-term motivation and which unites your team. A vision has to be something sufficiently exciting to bind your team with you in common purpose. This implies two things:

* you need to decide where your team is headed
* you have to communicate that vision to them

Communicating a vision is not simply a case of painting it in large red letters across your office wall (although, as a stunt, this actually might be quite effective), but rather bringing the whole team to perceive your vision and to begin to share it with you. A vision, to be worthy, must become a guiding principle for the decision and actions of your group.

Now, this vision thing, it is still a rather nebulous concept, hard to pin down, hard to define usefully; a vision may even be impractical (like “zero defects”). And so there is an extra stage which assists in its communication: once you have identified your vision, you can illustrate it with a concrete goal, a mission. Which leads to the creation of the famous “mission statement”. Let us consider first what is a mission, and then return to a vision.

A mission has two important qualities:

* it should be tough, but achievable given sufficient effort
* it must be possible to tell when it has been achieved

To maintain an impetus, it might also have a time limit so that people can pace their activity rather than getting winded in the initial push. The scope of your vision depends upon how high you have risen in the management structure, and so also does the time limit on your mission statement. Heads of multinational corporations must take a longer view of the future than the project leader in divisional recruitment; the former may be looking at a strategy for the next twenty-five years, the latter may be concerned with attracting the current crop of senior school children for employment in two-three years. Thus a new manager will want a mission which can be achieved within one or two years.

If you are stuck for a mission, think about using Quality as a focus since this is something on which you can build. Similarly, any aspects of great management which are not habitual in your team at the moment could be exemplified in a mission statement. For instance, if your team is in product design, your mission might be to fully automate the test procedures by the next product release; or more generally, your team mission might be to reduce the time spent in meetings by half within six months.

Once you have established a few possible mission statements, you can try to communicate (or decide upon) your vision. This articulates your underlying philosophy in wanting the outcomes you desire. Not, please note, the ones you think you should desire but an honest statement of personal motivation; for it is only the latter which you will follow with conviction and so of which you will convince others. In general, your vision should be unfinishable, with no time limit, and inspirational; it is the driving force which continues even when the mission statement has been achieved. Even so, it can be quite simple: Walt Disney’s vision was “to make people happy”. As a manager, yours might be something a little closer to your own team: mine is “to make working here exciting”.

There is no real call to make a public announcement of your vision or to place it on the notice board. Such affairs are quite common now, and normally attract mirth and disdain. If your vision is not communicated to your team by what you say and do, then you are not applying it yourself. It is your driving motivation - once you have identified it, act on it in every decision you make.

PRESCIENCE

Prescience is something for which you really have to work at. 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 and there are three type:

* information you hear (tit-bits about travel, meetings, etc)
* information you gather (minutes of meetings, financial figure, etc)
* information you infer (if this happens then my team will need …)

Information is absolutely vital. Surveys of decision making in companies reveal that the rapid and decisive decisions normally stem not from intuitive and extraordinary leadership but rather from the existence of an established information system covering the relevant data. Managers who know the full information can quickly reach an informed decision.

The influences upon you and your team stem mostly from within the company and this is where you must establish an active interest. Let us put that another way: if you do not keep your eyes open you are failing in your role as Protector to you team. Thus if your manager comes back from an important meeting, sit down with him/her afterwards and have a chat. There is no need to employ subterfuge, merely ask questions. If there are answers, you hear them; if there are none, you know to investigate elsewhere. If you can provide your manager with suggestions/ideas then you will benefit from his/her gratitude and future confidence(s). You should also talk to people in other departments; and never forget the secretaries who are normally the first to know everything.

Now some people love this aspect of the job, it makes them feel like politicians or espionage agents; others hate it, for exactly the same reasons. The point is that it must be done or you will be unprepared; but do not let it become a obsession.

Gathering information is not enough on its own: you have to process it and be aware of implications. The trick is to try to predict the next logical step from any changes you see. This can get very complicated, so try to restrict yourself to guessing one step only. Thus if the sales figures show a tailing off for the current product (and there are mutterings about the competition) then if you are in development, you might expect to be pressured for tighter schedules; if you are in publicity, then there may soon be a request for launch material; if you are in sales, you might be asked to establish potential demand and practical pricing levels. Since you know this, you can have the information ready (or a schedule defence prepared) for when it is first requested, and you and your team will shine.

Another 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

One of the main challenges in management is in avoiding pat answers to everyday questions. There is nothing so dull, for you and your team, as you pulling out the same answer to every situation. It is also wrong. Each situation, and each person, is unique and no text-book answer will be able to embrace that uniqueness - except one: you are the manager, you have to judge each situation with a fresh eye, and you have to create the response. Your common sense and experience are your best guide in analysing the problem and in evolving your response.

Even if the established response seems suitable, you might still try something different. This is simple Darwinism. By trying variations upon standard models, you evolve new and potentially fitter models. If they do not work, you do not repeat them (although they might be tried in other circumstances); if they work better, then you have adapted and evolved.

This deliberate flexibility is not just an academic exercise to find the best answer. The point is that the situation and the environment are continually changing; and the rate of change is generally increasing with advancing technology. If you do not continually adapt (through experimentation) to accommodate these changes, then the solution which used to work (and which you still habitually apply) will no longer be appropriate. You will become the dodo. A lack of flexibility will cause stagnation and inertia. Not only do you not adapt, but the whole excitement of your work and your team diminish as fresh ideas are lacking or lost.

Without detracting from the main work, you can stimulate your team with changes of focus. This includes drives for specific quality improvements, mission statements, team building activities, delegated authority, and so on. You have to decide how often to “raise excitement” about new issues. On the one hand, too many focuses may distract or prevent the attainment of any one; on the other hand, changes in focus keep them fresh and maintain the excitement.

By practising this philosophy yourself, you also 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.

The really good news is that even a lousy choice of focus can have a beneficial effect. The most famous experiments in management studies were conducted between 1927 and 1932 by E Mayo and others at the Hawthorne works of the Western Electric Company in Chicago. The study was originally motivated by a failed experiment to determine the effect of lighting conditions on the production rates of factory workers. This experiment “failed” because when the lighting conditions were changed for the experimental group, production also increased in the control group where no changes had been made. Essentially, Mayo took a small group of workers and varied different conditions (number and duration of breaks, shorter hours, refreshments, etc) to see how these actually affected production. The problem was not that production was uneffected but rather that whatever Mayo did, production increased; even when conditions were returned to the original ones, production increased.

After many one-to-one interviews, Mayo deduced that the principal effect of his investigations had been to establish a team spirit amongst the group of workers. The girls (sic) who had formally worked with large numbers of others were now a small team, they were consulted on the experiments, and the researchers displayed a keen interest in the way the girls were working and feeling about their work. Thus their own involvement and the interest shown in them were the reasons for the girl’s increased productivity.

By providing changes of focus you build and motivate your team. For if you show in these changes that you are actively working to help them work, then they will feel that their efforts are recognized. If you also include their ideas in the changes, then they will feel themselves to be a valued part of the team. If you pace these changes correctly, you can stimulate “multiple Hawthorne effects” and continually increase productivity. And notice, this is not slave driving. The increased productivity of a Hawthorne effect comes from the enthusiasm of the workforce; they actually want to work better.

A GENERAL APPROACH

In management there is always a distant tune playing in the background. Once you hear this tune, you will start humming it to yourself: in the shower, in the boardroom, on the way to work, when watching the sunrise. 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.

Whenever you have something to do, consider not only the task but first the method. Thus if there is a meeting to decide the marketing slogan for the new product you should initially ignore anything to do with marketing slogans and decide: 1) how should the meeting be held, 2) who can usefully contribute, 3) how will ideas be best generated, 4) what criteria are involved in the decision, 5) is there a better way of achieving the same end, 6) etc. If you resolve these points first, all will be achieved far more smoothly. Many of these decisions do not have a single “right” answer, the point is that they need to have “an” answer so that the task is accomplished efficiently. It is the posing of the questions in the first place which will mark you out as a really great manager - the solutions are available to you through common sense.

Once the questions are posed, you can be creative. For instance, “is there a better way of producing a new slogan?” could be answered by a quick internal competition within the company (answers on a postcard by tomorrow at noon) asking everybody in the company to contribute an idea first. This takes three minutes and a secretary to organise, it provides a quick buzz of excitement throughout the whole company, it refocuses everyone’s mind on the new product and so celebrates its success, all staff feel some ownership of the project, and you start the meeting with several ideas either from which to select a winner or to use as triggers for further brainstorming. Thus with a simple — pause — from the helter-skelter of getting the next job done, and a moment’s reflection, you can expedite the task and build team spirit throughout the entire company.

It is worth stressing the relative importance of the REVIEW. In an ideal world where managers are wise, information is unambiguous and always available, and the changes in life are never abrupt or large; it would be possible for you to sit down and to plan the strategy for your group. Unfortunately, managers are mortals, information is seldom complete and always inaccurate (or too much to assimilate), and the unexpected always arrives inconveniently. The situation is never seen in black and white but merely in a fog of various shades of grey. Your planning thus represents no more than the best guess you can make in the current situation; the review is when you interpret the results to deduce the emerging, successful strategy (which might not be the one you had expected). 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

There is a basic problem with the style of leadership advocated in this article in that nearly every historic “Leader” one can name has had a completely different approach; Machiavelli did not advocate being a caring Protector as a means of becoming a great leader but rather that a Prince ought to be happy with “a reputation for being cruel in order to keep his subjects unified and loyal”. Your situation, however, is a little different. You do not have the power to execute, nor even to banish. 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 manager 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.

By Susan M. Heathfield

An effective manager pays attention to many facets of management, leadership and learning within organizations. So, it’s difficult to take the topic of “management success” and say that the following ten items are the most important for management success. I will, however, suggest seven management success skills without which I don’t believe you can be a successful manager.

The most important issue in management success is being a person that others want to follow. Every action you take during your career in an organization helps determine whether people will one day want to follow you.

A successful manager, one whom others want to follow:

* Builds effective and responsive interpersonal relationships. Reporting staff members, colleagues and executives respect his or her ability to demonstrate caring, collaboration, respect, trust and attentiveness.
* Communicates effectively in person, print and email. Listening and two-way feedback characterize his or her interaction with others.
* Builds the team and enables other staff to collaborate more effectively with each other. People feel they have become more - more effective, more creative, more productive - in the presence of a team builder.
* Understands the financial aspects of the business and sets goals and measures and documents staff progress and success.
* Knows how to create an environment in which people experience positive morale and recognition and employees are motivated to work hard for the success of the business.
* Leads by example and provides recognition when others do the same.
* Helps people grow and develop their skills and capabilities through education and on-the-job learning.

By F. John Reh

Need For Good Managers Increasing

The need for good managers is not going away. It is intensifying. With ‘flatter’ organizations and self-directed teams becoming common; with personal computers and networks making information available to more people more quickly; the raw number of managers needed is decreasing. However, the need for good managers, people who can manage themselves and others in a high stress environment, is increasing.

I believe anyone can be a good manager. It is as much trainable skill as it is inherent ability; as much science as art. Here are some things that make you a better manager:

As a person:

* You have confidence in yourself and your abilities. You are happy with who you are, but you are still learning and getting better.
* You are something of an extrovert. You don’t have to be the life of the party, but you can’t be a wallflower. Management is a people skill - it’s not the job for someone who doesn’t enjoy people.
* You are honest and straight forward. Your success depends heavily on the trust of others.
* You are an includer not an excluder. You bring others into what you do. You don’t exclude other because they lack certain attributes.
* You have a ‘presence’. Managers must lead. Effective leaders have a quality about them that makes people notice when they enter a room.

On the job:

* You are consistent, but not rigid; dependable, but can change your mind. You make decisions, but easily accept input from others.
* You are a little bit crazy. You think out-of-the box. You try new things and if they fail, you admit the mistake, but don’t apologize for having tried.
* You are not afraid to “do the math”. You make plans and schedules and work toward them.
* You are nimble and can change plans quickly, but you are not flighty.
* You see information as a tool to be used, not as power to be hoarded.

Take a look at yourself against this list. Find the places where you can improve and then get going. And , if you need help, remember that’s what this site is all about - Helping new managers get started and experienced managers get better.

By F. John Reh

What is management? What do managers do? How do I manage?

These are standard questions that most of us in the management profession have been asked more than once. And questions we asked once in our careers too. Here, then, is a basic look at management, a primer, Management 101 from my perspective.

Art and Science
Management is both art and science. It is the art of making people more effective than they would have been without you. The science is in how you do that. There are four basic pillars: plan, organize, direct, and monitor.

Make Them More Effective
Four workers can make 6 units in an eight-hour shift without a manager. If I hire you to manage them and they still make 6 units a day, what is the benefit to my business of having hired you? On the other hand, if they now make 8 units per day, you, the manager, have value.

The same analogy applies to service, or retail, or teaching, or any other kind of work. Can your group handle more customer calls with you than without? Sell higher value merchandise? Impart knowledge more effectively? etc. That is the value of management - making a group of individual more effective.

Plan
Management starts with planning. Good management starts with good planning. And proper prior planning prevents… well, you know the rest of that one.

Without a plan you will never succeed. If you happen to make it to the goal, it will have been by luck or chance and is not repeatable. You may make it as a flash-in-the-pan, an overnight sensation, but you will never have the track record of accomplishments of which success is made.

Figure out what your goal is (or listen when your boss tells you). Then figure out the best way to get there. What resources do you have? What can you get? Compare strengths and weaknesses of individuals and other resources. Will putting four workers on a task that takes 14 hours cost less than renting a machine that can do the same task with one worker in 6 hours? If you change the first shift from an 8 AM start to a 10 AM start, can they handle the early evening rush so you don’t have to hire an extra person for the second shift?

Look at all the probable scenarios. Plan for them. Figure out the worst possible scenario and plan for that too. Evaluate your different plans and develop what, in your best judgement, will work the best and what you will do if it doesn’t.

TIP: One of the most often overlooked management planning tools is the most effective. Ask the people doing the work for their input.

Organize
Now that you have a plan, you have to make it happen. Is everything ready ahead of your group so the right stuff will get to your group at the right time? Is your group prepared to do its part of the plan? Is the downstream organization ready for what your group will deliver and when it will arrive?

Are the workers trained? Are they motivated? Do they have the equipment they need? Are there spare parts available for the equipment? Has purchasing ordered the material? Is it the right stuff? Will it get here on the appropriate schedule?

Do the legwork to make sure everything needed to execute the plan is ready to go, or will be when it is needed. Check back to make sure that everyone understands their role and the importance of their role to the overall success.

Direct
Now flip the “ON” switch. Tell people what they need to do. I like to think of this part like conducting an orchestra. Everyone in the orchestra has the music in front of them. They know which section is playing which piece and when. They know when to come in, what to play, and when to stop again. The conductor cues each section to make the music happen. That’s your job here. You’ve given all your musicians (workers) the sheet music (the plan). You have the right number of musicians (workers) in each section (department), and you’ve arranged the sections on stage so the music will sound best (you have organized the work). Now you need only to tap the podium lightly with your baton to get their attention and give the downbeat.

Monitor
Now that you have everything moving, you have to keep an eye on things. Make sure everything is going according to the plan. When it isn’t going according to plan, you need to step in and adjust the plan, just as the orchestra conductor will adjust the tempo.

Problems will come up. Someone will get sick. A part won’t be delivered on time. A key customer will go bankrupt. That is why you developed a contingency plan in the first place. You, as the manager, have to be always aware of what’s going on so you can make the adjustments required.

This is an iterative process. When something is out of sync, you need to Plan a fix, Organize the resources to make it work, Direct the people who will make it happen, and continue to Monitor the effect of the change.

Is It Worth It
Managing people is not easy. However, it can be done successfully. And it can be a very rewarding experience. Remember that management, like any other skill, is something that you can improve at with study and practice.