7 deadly sins of a manager
Forgive me, Lord, for I am a sinner. In pursuit of KPI, I forgot about the urgent. He did many troubles without knowing, for he was blind. In the name of the holy MS Project Server, I pray you, give me the strength to fulfill my plans on time, not to put pressure on your neighbor, not to interfere with his micromanagement, to manage the expectations of the powerful and let him have an annual bonus with me ...
And the mortal forehead fell to holy scripture. And tears rolled from his eyes right onto the letters “PMBOK - Sixth Edition” embossed with pure gold. And he smashed the phone in his pocket. And he said, wiping away the tears of repentance: “Hello! How?! Are you really fucking there *? Our customer accepts work tomorrow! To redo everything until the evening! What does it mean “we can’t”? Are you really stupid or something? .. ”And he came out with the words from the doors and slammed them for the last time ...
I myself am a manager and I sin in a managerial way. During my career, I managed to see and work with a very decent number of managers of various levels (business owners, executive and managing directors and partners, project, program, portfolio, product, department, center, department, management, sector, link, group leader, clusters and felt-tip pens). I studied their style, noticed the strengths and weaknesses. He adopted something, did not accept something. And finally came to write this note. Of course, as a typical manager, I prefer to format the information in a list, incl. Your attention is an incomplete and final list of mortal managerial sins.
Note that I am writing not about inability, but about non-use of a skill. The fact is that now there are already a lot of very smart ( SMART ) and even smarter ( SMARTER ) managers.
However, very often I see that some of them do not do the elementary - they do not follow a single capital letter of the law of the statement of the problem. Of course, some letters are redundant (just don’t beat me for this liberty in the face - I should trade them at work tomorrow), but S (specific) and, as a rule, T (time bound) is like Our Father.
However, one can often see how, for example, a letter arrives from the leadership with the subject line “FW: RE: FW: FW: RE: RE: RE: RE: Report !!!”. In the attachment is a table consisting of 37 columns with non-speaking names. The body of the letter contains the accompanying text, where the SMART task looks like "Colleagues, get it to work." Of course, I consider the case when this is not a typical task, and the recipients are not aware of the details in other ways.
The sinner, as a rule, thinks in the style of Vovochka from the distant nineteen, “And so it will do!” But we are educated people and remember what this approach led the cartoon hero to. So let's turn the page.
Responsibility is this: for the manager, it seems to be, by default, declared, but in reality it often turns out to be just zilch. The fact is that for many managers, responsibility is rather a headache that arises from a continuous fear of being guilty if something goes wrong. That is, there must always be someone else who will be to blame. The manager, who, in the case of a joint in his area of responsibility, will be able to say “This is my mistake, I am ready to bear responsibility for its consequences” in nature does not occur more often than the Amur tiger. And the one who adds to this “Nevertheless, I have already corrected the negative consequences, and we are again in the plan” - no more often than a white lion. The rest of the jackals spill: “Yes we are, yes they are. In general, we are not to blame, but they are to blame. WOF WOF".
Therefore, it turns out that reluctance to admit guilt / oversight / incompetence, fear of consequences, coupled with a lack of understanding of further steps to rectify the situation, is the basis of that unpleasant type of behavior for which managers so often dislike.
This sin includes a variety of types of communications. But I will not consider particular cases of 1-on-1 communication, but I will take as an example the “favorite” format of communications that has become a cult icon for all office workers.
Guess the riddle: “What does the manager collect in any situation?” “Information” - you will say and you will be blessed. But, alas, the correct answer is a meeting.
Many will agree that a truly valuable and effective meeting is a rarity in work. Why it happens? There are many problems: lack of an agenda, lack of context, a lot of extra people, insufficiently needed people, lack of a meeting goal, lack of moderation and / or facilitation, too long a duration, uncomfortable conditions, etc. Therefore, many are drowning in this sea of problems, having forgotten that the salvation of drowning people is the work of the manager. It’s just that his hands will not reach it in any way, because their index fingers, in accordance with the previous sin, are busy finding the guilty.
Yes, this sin is a piece of Kapitsa's quote . Micromanagement, an X-type management philosophy , and even a simple desire to be involved and prove to be smart enough / competent among the wards, often do nothing good. I do not deny that such activities are sometimes harmless, and in rare cases even necessary. But managers often sit on the needle of interference in the affairs of performers, justifying their behavior by saying that “the quality of management is growing”, “work efficiency is increasing”, “yes, they can’t do anything without me”, etc. And in search of a new dose, they begin to really annoy colleagues, killing motivation, reducing work efficiency and forming a negative attitude towards themselves.
Therefore, the manager should always remember that one of his main tasks is not to be a guard, teacher or punisher, but to create conditions in which people will do what they should.
The devil is in the details, well, you remember. But managers do not always remember this, although they probably just expel the devil from their heads. And there is an opinion that it is because of this righteous battle with evil that quite successful projects, companies, countries, sometimes scatter
Some say that you don’t need to do little things. The manager must see the whole picture and not focus on the insignificant. Yes! But in order to at least separate the significant from the insignificant - you need to delve into the essence. And if you don’t delve into it, then closer to the deadline, the manager will reassure himself and his management that “unforeseen risks have worked out”. “After all, one cannot foresee!”: The manager will cry, raising his hands to the sky. “Absolutely,” I will answer. But from a huge amount of trouble you can save what you control, if you just figure it out.
Some will disagree with me, because, for example, not always spent time understanding can pay for themselves. However, often the manager does not even need to get these most important details on their own - they are brought to him by the performers. And here the main thing is not to dismiss them, they say, I know better, but with gratitude to accept and use in my work.
“- Tell me, can we definitely use our data exchange format?”
- Yes, I agreed on the phone with them.
- And they have it written in the specification?
- Why are you pestering? I say - I agreed. ”
Familiar, right? It is especially cool when the result of long work collapses due to an elementary ridiculous inconsistency on an issue that the manager considered “settled”. The most unpleasant thing is that the cause of such behavior is often either the banal laziness of the manager, or his fear of seeming intrusive or ignorant (remember the sin about the details).
Fixing the agreements saves the manager from two main types of troubles: so that no one will forget anything after a while, and so that it is clear that the parties understood each other correctly. Such a trifle: often just a letter from a couple of sentences with the question “Ok?” At the end. But no, sinners are gonna sin.
A manager who does not know what to do next in any situation and at any given time is, in general, not a manager. If a bad manager, because of the risks he knows, has been constantly clogged with a search for potential perpetrators, then a good one is exploring potential options for leveling the situation if these risks occur. A bad manager at best believes in an initial plan, and a good one at worst believes in his ability to find alternative paths if the plan does not work.
Anyway, if the captain of a ship in full swing on an iceberg would simply froze in a daze of horror, without giving any commands, then it is likely that the ship will sink to the bottom after some time.
As you well understand, this list can be continued for a very long time: many of us have so many teeth for management that it’s enough for a small factory for the production of false jaws. But here it is very important to understand the following. It doesn’t matter how sinful the manager is: while he makes a profit, achieves his goals, successfully develops a business or just in good relations with the right people, all his sins will be forgiven. And it doesn’t matter at all what others think, because questions of sinfulness are questions of morality, and everyone has their own. So all that is written above is a checklist for repentance, which will never be. Amen?
And the mortal forehead fell to holy scripture. And tears rolled from his eyes right onto the letters “PMBOK - Sixth Edition” embossed with pure gold. And he smashed the phone in his pocket. And he said, wiping away the tears of repentance: “Hello! How?! Are you really fucking there *? Our customer accepts work tomorrow! To redo everything until the evening! What does it mean “we can’t”? Are you really stupid or something? .. ”And he came out with the words from the doors and slammed them for the last time ...
I myself am a manager and I sin in a managerial way. During my career, I managed to see and work with a very decent number of managers of various levels (business owners, executive and managing directors and partners, project, program, portfolio, product, department, center, department, management, sector, link, group leader, clusters and felt-tip pens). I studied their style, noticed the strengths and weaknesses. He adopted something, did not accept something. And finally came to write this note. Of course, as a typical manager, I prefer to format the information in a list, incl. Your attention is an incomplete and final list of mortal managerial sins.
1. Do not set tasks normally
Note that I am writing not about inability, but about non-use of a skill. The fact is that now there are already a lot of very smart ( SMART ) and even smarter ( SMARTER ) managers.
However, very often I see that some of them do not do the elementary - they do not follow a single capital letter of the law of the statement of the problem. Of course, some letters are redundant (just don’t beat me for this liberty in the face - I should trade them at work tomorrow), but S (specific) and, as a rule, T (time bound) is like Our Father.
However, one can often see how, for example, a letter arrives from the leadership with the subject line “FW: RE: FW: FW: RE: RE: RE: RE: Report !!!”. In the attachment is a table consisting of 37 columns with non-speaking names. The body of the letter contains the accompanying text, where the SMART task looks like "Colleagues, get it to work." Of course, I consider the case when this is not a typical task, and the recipients are not aware of the details in other ways.
The sinner, as a rule, thinks in the style of Vovochka from the distant nineteen, “And so it will do!” But we are educated people and remember what this approach led the cartoon hero to. So let's turn the page.
2. Not to be held responsible + to search for the guilty
Responsibility is this: for the manager, it seems to be, by default, declared, but in reality it often turns out to be just zilch. The fact is that for many managers, responsibility is rather a headache that arises from a continuous fear of being guilty if something goes wrong. That is, there must always be someone else who will be to blame. The manager, who, in the case of a joint in his area of responsibility, will be able to say “This is my mistake, I am ready to bear responsibility for its consequences” in nature does not occur more often than the Amur tiger. And the one who adds to this “Nevertheless, I have already corrected the negative consequences, and we are again in the plan” - no more often than a white lion. The rest of the jackals spill: “Yes we are, yes they are. In general, we are not to blame, but they are to blame. WOF WOF".
Therefore, it turns out that reluctance to admit guilt / oversight / incompetence, fear of consequences, coupled with a lack of understanding of further steps to rectify the situation, is the basis of that unpleasant type of behavior for which managers so often dislike.
3. Produce inefficient communications
This sin includes a variety of types of communications. But I will not consider particular cases of 1-on-1 communication, but I will take as an example the “favorite” format of communications that has become a cult icon for all office workers.
Guess the riddle: “What does the manager collect in any situation?” “Information” - you will say and you will be blessed. But, alas, the correct answer is a meeting.
Many will agree that a truly valuable and effective meeting is a rarity in work. Why it happens? There are many problems: lack of an agenda, lack of context, a lot of extra people, insufficiently needed people, lack of a meeting goal, lack of moderation and / or facilitation, too long a duration, uncomfortable conditions, etc. Therefore, many are drowning in this sea of problems, having forgotten that the salvation of drowning people is the work of the manager. It’s just that his hands will not reach it in any way, because their index fingers, in accordance with the previous sin, are busy finding the guilty.
4. Prevent good people from working
Yes, this sin is a piece of Kapitsa's quote . Micromanagement, an X-type management philosophy , and even a simple desire to be involved and prove to be smart enough / competent among the wards, often do nothing good. I do not deny that such activities are sometimes harmless, and in rare cases even necessary. But managers often sit on the needle of interference in the affairs of performers, justifying their behavior by saying that “the quality of management is growing”, “work efficiency is increasing”, “yes, they can’t do anything without me”, etc. And in search of a new dose, they begin to really annoy colleagues, killing motivation, reducing work efficiency and forming a negative attitude towards themselves.
Therefore, the manager should always remember that one of his main tasks is not to be a guard, teacher or punisher, but to create conditions in which people will do what they should.
5. Do not understand the important details
The devil is in the details, well, you remember. But managers do not always remember this, although they probably just expel the devil from their heads. And there is an opinion that it is because of this righteous battle with evil that quite successful projects, companies, countries, sometimes scatter
Some say that you don’t need to do little things. The manager must see the whole picture and not focus on the insignificant. Yes! But in order to at least separate the significant from the insignificant - you need to delve into the essence. And if you don’t delve into it, then closer to the deadline, the manager will reassure himself and his management that “unforeseen risks have worked out”. “After all, one cannot foresee!”: The manager will cry, raising his hands to the sky. “Absolutely,” I will answer. But from a huge amount of trouble you can save what you control, if you just figure it out.
Some will disagree with me, because, for example, not always spent time understanding can pay for themselves. However, often the manager does not even need to get these most important details on their own - they are brought to him by the performers. And here the main thing is not to dismiss them, they say, I know better, but with gratitude to accept and use in my work.
6. Do not fix the agreement
“- Tell me, can we definitely use our data exchange format?”
- Yes, I agreed on the phone with them.
- And they have it written in the specification?
- Why are you pestering? I say - I agreed. ”
Familiar, right? It is especially cool when the result of long work collapses due to an elementary ridiculous inconsistency on an issue that the manager considered “settled”. The most unpleasant thing is that the cause of such behavior is often either the banal laziness of the manager, or his fear of seeming intrusive or ignorant (remember the sin about the details).
Fixing the agreements saves the manager from two main types of troubles: so that no one will forget anything after a while, and so that it is clear that the parties understood each other correctly. Such a trifle: often just a letter from a couple of sentences with the question “Ok?” At the end. But no, sinners are gonna sin.
7. Do not know what to do next
A manager who does not know what to do next in any situation and at any given time is, in general, not a manager. If a bad manager, because of the risks he knows, has been constantly clogged with a search for potential perpetrators, then a good one is exploring potential options for leveling the situation if these risks occur. A bad manager at best believes in an initial plan, and a good one at worst believes in his ability to find alternative paths if the plan does not work.
Anyway, if the captain of a ship in full swing on an iceberg would simply froze in a daze of horror, without giving any commands, then it is likely that the ship will sink to the bottom after some time.
As you well understand, this list can be continued for a very long time: many of us have so many teeth for management that it’s enough for a small factory for the production of false jaws. But here it is very important to understand the following. It doesn’t matter how sinful the manager is: while he makes a profit, achieves his goals, successfully develops a business or just in good relations with the right people, all his sins will be forgiven. And it doesn’t matter at all what others think, because questions of sinfulness are questions of morality, and everyone has their own. So all that is written above is a checklist for repentance, which will never be. Amen?