Apologies to Kenneth Blanchard. I am taking liberties with the title of his well-read book, The One Minute Manager, to acknowledge that the manager's job today is more challenging and difficult and takes more time and effort to do it effectively. Of course, the payback for success is enormous: increased respect from peers, subordinates, and bosses; improved organizational effectiveness; and increased recognition. The latter may translate into award or bonus money.
Quick, simple solutions will elude us. We are experiencing the dramatic continuation of large-scale, macro-societal change of moving from the Industrial Age to the Information Age. Although this has been evolving for years, new technological advances and developments indicate that even more radical and fast-paced 'challenges' are on the horizon.
Total quality management (TQM) and total quality organization (TQO) can been seen as responses to the Information Age. Given the technical and informational capabilities that have already been placed in individual hands, the traditional degree of supervisory and managerial guidance and support has been transformed permanently.
All managers can relate to the concept of organizational climate. With all the cutbacks, downsizing, and 'rightsizing,' the outlook appears bleak. Large cuts are staring managers and employees right in the face in the Departments of Defense and Energy. Even IRS, the money store, which has fared well historically and continues to receive some overall resource growth, is in the midst of a massive restructuring that could shift thousands of positions out of national and regional headquarters planning roles into front-line field office operations.
Short- to mid-range weather forecasts predict a large, hovering stationary front which is causing extremely dry, dusty conditions plagued by gusty winds. Long-term, the picture is no better. Expect heavy rains and flooding. Not a pretty picture. We need to be prepared. But how? What will help stave off the latest managerial monsoon? It behooves us, supervisors and executives alike, to tap into the current organizational and technological climate and adapt our management practices accordingly.
What follows is a brief prescription for more effective organizational and interpersonal functioning. Following it is no guarantee that you will be exempt from today's and tomorrow's major organizational climatic forces, but ignoring it will most certainly increase your chances of being part of the storm's casualty statistics. At the most basic level, the critical component of all organizational endeavor is and always will be the individual. What can you do to maintain and promote employee effectiveness so they feel good about their jobs?
Here's a simple, straightforward seven-step process. You've probably heard all these before and consider them obvious. But, are you following them?
This applies to everyone, regardless of management level. It provides immediate results because the power rests solely inside you and you have ultimate authority over it.
2.JUST DO IT! Don't mean to sound like a Nike shoe commercial but EXPERIMENT, try something -- anything. Your managers, employees, customers -- and you -- all have a key interest in your program. All of you know the program goals. Take a risk and reach for that breakthrough action. It can be scary and may not work at first. If you persist, something good will happen. But it certainly won't happen if no attempt is made at all. The alternative, as we know and have experienced, is that someone else will step in, fill the void, and impose a change on you that may not be the best alternative and may not be in the best interest of you, your employees, or your program.
3.COMMUNICATE. We can't manage change without constantly and repetitiously explaining what we're attempting to do, the reasons for it, and how it effects the current processes we're modifying. But in the process, remember to value the old system you're attempting to change or eliminate. It was initially set up for a very good reason by talented and well-meaning people.
Be prepared to spend far more time and effort on communicating the change that you thought possible. Imagine the longest amount of time that you believe the change will take to explain and implement. Double it! Even then, chances are that it will take at least twice as long as that to attend to all the matters required for successful implementation. Be patient. Communicating and managing change is likely the most difficult task that will face you.
4.BE THE HONEST BROKER AND ADVISOR. Tell it like it is. This can done effectively and only requires a little tact. You may not want to tell the emperor or empress that he or she has no clothes, but you may want to present them with an overcoat and suggest that it could protect them from the cold.
This is your opportunity to share your wealth of knowledge and expertise with those for and with whom you work. Make them value your experience. Convince them that your perspective is worthwhile. You know it. Make them know it, too.
5.DELEGATE IT! If someone else CAN do it, let them. This is not a cutesy technique to avoid work, rather it is a proven means to multiply effort, maximize results, minimize resource expenditures, and enhance employee product ownership. By feeding back into our first step -- OWN YOUR WORK -- we are providing a nice loop and symmetry to effective operations and improved morale and empowerment.
6.CORRECT IT! When the ship goes off course, set the rudder straight, but do so gently. Clear, kind, positive feedback is the best way to bring out the best in all of us. We respond better to feedback that confirms our abilities and worth rather than that which tears down confidence and raises questions about competency.
Here is where the role of coach enters. Few coaches are successful over the long haul through intimidation, ranting and raving, and ridicule. The value of uplifting, self-affirming feedback cannot be overstated.
7.APPRECIATE IT. Value it. We've heard from The One Minute Manager that we should "catch someone doing something right." Sincere and genuine thanks and acknowledgement works. But for it to be perceived and received as real and meaningful, make it specific! Tell that employee, peer, or boss, what they actually said or did that you liked and why. Don't say "Barbara, that was really great work you did." Tell her: "that was really great the way you arranged the headers and footnotes on the Widget statistical chart. I could interpret the meaning behinds the numbers much quicker." Maybe it's more words, but they won't be seen as empty words, and the payback is worth it. Your associates will know that you are paying attention to what they are doing. If it validates their feelings about their product, that's great. But if it provides them new information about what's important to you, especially if that's different from what they feel, that's great too. They've just learned someone about you and your preferred style and they will probably provide you with more of the same in the future. Wouldn't that be great for both them and you!
By following these steps, you may not stop or slow down the train of change as it moves down the track, but you will be better prepared to deal it. You may even feel a bit ahead of the change, or at least more comfortable as it evolves, rather than being stuck in the all too familiar and unenviable painful reactive mode. All you have to gain is greater personal, professional satisfaction. And that may not be so bad.
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Fred W. Apelquist, III, M.Ed.
Approximately 1,300 words.
© 1993