A very long while ago, I told an executive "leader" that he should stay away from interfering into granularity of work details of his people, and have a helicopter view instead. The response was "I am an engineer. If I drive a car, I have to know how the engine work". I was trying to remind him that he is a vice president. A US$ billion company. He then said that he would stay away once he knows all the details and feels comfortable enough.
It turned out that enough was never enough, or at least took a very long time to get to a small portion of enough. It's at the expense of (some) other people, feeling unease at work, worrying (or fearing) that the way people do the jobs might not be the way the boss like. Nevertheless to say, he got what he wanted, jobs were executed completely. Some good highly talented people were detaching themselves, some were seeking opportunity outside the company. Lately, I indirectly had a converstaion with one of them. He smilingly mentioned that if he were a VP, he would have him (the boss) as the manager, not the other way around. "Now, he is getting better, though", he added.
I have no idea to connect 'an engineer' and 'a helicopter view'. Perhaps, I shall be wise enough to understand about being (or talking to) a 'leader' and a 'manager' as some people try to differentiate. Or there are people thinking that the world is revolving around him or her, the center of universe! It might be an interesting topics of organizational behavior or leadership psychology study. But I would like to refer to Jack Welch, the former chairman and CEO of General Electric. Many called him as one of the greatest CEO of the era. In 29 Leadership Secrets from Jack Welch (Robert Slater, 2003), abridged from Get Better or Get Beaten, Jack Welch mentioned:
As we became leaner, we found ourselves communicating better, with fewer interpreters and fewer filters. We found that with fewer layers we had wider spans of management. We weren't managing better. We were managing less, and that was better.
Interesting enough that he wanted his managers to manage less. He wanted them to do less monitoring and less supervising and to give their employees more lattitude. Conversely, he wanted far more decision making at the lower levels of the company. It shall be understood carefully as not to suggest that managers are out of controls on what's happening. Sometimes it sounds counterintuitive as managers are supposed to and want to manage. As we see it within the context, it's more appropriately sugesting about managers staying away from thsoe granuarity of details of their people. Stop looking over their shoulders. Stop bogging them down in bureaucracy. Let them perform.
Behind it lies a key idea: we have hired the best people and trained them so that we need to treat them with respect. Build their confidence - in us, in the company, and in themselves. And then get the hell out of their way. For Welch, "managing less" at GE meant that his leaders had more time to think big thoughts and be more creative.
I would say that it's very inspiring. We can just simply say, Empowerment.
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3 comments:
hmm... sounds familiar... :)
This is a very thoughtful details! I simply cant comment anything other than SIMPLY THE BEST! I was in Spain for almost two years during my early career and i learned a lot about how the Mafia works. The boss never works nor directing his boys too much but He clearly knows how to delegate what he thinks his boys must do! All only with a smirking of a face and sometimes only a blink of an eye. Is it mutual understanding or else? I agree, Empowerment is indeed a very sophisticated way of saying "Please do something that is Best for the situation". During recruitment of any Mafia new members they never test the talents nor the skilss of the successor but they do test how fast a successor can adapt to they way they wanted them to work for the big boss! In Other words TRUST is a mandatory thing to be a good and efficient leader. Grande Pinto Gracias from the Spanish lady
Denada, dear Spanish Lady. I feel honored with your praise.
It's quite interesting that yo make a reference to Mafia. A while years ago, I read a book entitled Mafia Manager. In essence, it offers a different approach that business leaders may learn from the way Mafia manage.
Very much agreed that we shall develop Trust. Ronald Reagan was developing a "trust but verify" approach in dealing with Soviet Union at the end of cold war era. We may discuss it later.
Agin, welcome for your next visit. Email would serve fine as well. Gracias.
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