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ManagerZine Archive Favorite
8. My Greatest Management Challenge
Ever wonder if you were the only manager in the whole world with the
management challenges you face every day? Well, check this out.
We were recently involved with an interesting and revealing research project
at a Fortune 500 firm. Seventy-five mid to upper level managers were asked to
submit, in writing, what their greatest management challenge had been in
their entire careers. When the results came back, the surprise machine went
into overdrive.
What would you guess that group of seasoned and experienced managers
viewed as their Greatest Management Challenge? Achieving an important
stretch goal? Only 10% thought that was their Greatest Challenge. How about
leading the reorganization of a business group or taking over and kicking butt
to shape up a faltering business. Only 12% mentioned those as challenges.
Guess?
The most frequently mentioned Greatest Challenge had to do with
Performance of People. How about 47% of all comments! These managers
mentioned motivating, coaching and feedback, dealing with under-performers,
managing “fairness” between employees. There were also more than a few
mentions of inappropriate employee behavior, like drinking or drugging on the
job, sexual harassment and, dealing with restraining orders, bankruptcies and
all manner of deviant behavior.
What’s the lesson in this?
Here’s what we came up with at Singularity World Headquarters.
Which brings us to the mission of ManagerZine. Over the next few months, we’
re going to probe what those skills are and give you advice and tips that might
make that part of your work easier.
We can’t do it without you, though. We need to hear from you. Send us your
Greatest Management Challenge and we’ll see if we can discuss how to
handle it. singularitygroup@yahoo.com
Here’s a snapshot of the results:
* Dealing with peer issues 1.5%
* Work/Life balance 1.5%
* Personal skill development 1.5%
* Dealing with difficult customers 1.5%
* Managing up 1.5%
* Leadership in a crisis 3%
* Influencing others 8%
* Reaching a stretch goal 10%
* Leading a reorg or remaking a business unit 12%
* Establishing credibility as a new manager 12%
* Managing people performance issues 47%
The Unproductive Meeting
From Our Far-Flung Readership
“We have project team meetings every two or three
weeks. They are basically the same boring
announcement of facts and figures and who is doing
what. When we do focus on an issue, the discussion
goes nowhere. We leave the meeting feeling we have
wasted two hours, not any more enlightened than
before the meeting and definitely not looking forward
to the next meeting. It seems the project consists of
going to these unproductive meetings. I’m only a
member of the group. What can we do about it?”
If someone were standing on your toe, what would you say? Probably “ouch,”
right? Well, the answer to the unproductive meeting situation is incredibly
simple. Someone has to say, “Look, team, this isn’t working. How can we make
these meeting more effective? Any ideas?”
The team members should feel comfortable with monitoring how the team is
doing and actively discussing it. A good team is very meeting process
conscious. People talk about such things as: “What’s the best way to discuss
this?” “Let’s hear ideas for 5 minutes then we’ll select the best two.” “What are
we trying to accomplish?”
Of course, it isn’t easy to become process conscious. There is a lot that pushes
against it. Too many people on teams feel like they are just waiting for a bus
or, in this case, for the meeting to be over. And therein hangs the root of the
problem. Why don’t people speak up in meetings about unproductive meeting
process? The reason is called the Bystander Problem.
Two social psychologists identified what holds people back from taking action
when something obvious needs to be done. They staged emergencies of all
different kinds to see who would do something about them. The findings were
surprising. If the emergency happened with one person present, that one
person helped usually immediately. However, when the number of people that
were present went up, the percent of the time that someone actually did
something went down. What does that mean? When people are in a group,
responsibility for acting is diffused. The Bystander Problem.
Realize the Bystander Problem is what is happening in your project team and
have the presence of mind to speak up.
© 2006 Singularity Group
8. My Greatest Management Challenge
Ever wonder if you were the only manager in the whole world with the
management challenges you face every day? Well, check this out.
We were recently involved with an interesting and revealing research project
at a Fortune 500 firm. Seventy-five mid to upper level managers were asked to
submit, in writing, what their greatest management challenge had been in
their entire careers. When the results came back, the surprise machine went
into overdrive.
What would you guess that group of seasoned and experienced managers
viewed as their Greatest Management Challenge? Achieving an important
stretch goal? Only 10% thought that was their Greatest Challenge. How about
leading the reorganization of a business group or taking over and kicking butt
to shape up a faltering business. Only 12% mentioned those as challenges.
Guess?
The most frequently mentioned Greatest Challenge had to do with
Performance of People. How about 47% of all comments! These managers
mentioned motivating, coaching and feedback, dealing with under-performers,
managing “fairness” between employees. There were also more than a few
mentions of inappropriate employee behavior, like drinking or drugging on the
job, sexual harassment and, dealing with restraining orders, bankruptcies and
all manner of deviant behavior.
What’s the lesson in this?
Here’s what we came up with at Singularity World Headquarters.
- Most of the challenges come from managing people in an
organization, not from technical skills needed to do what you do.
- Managing people effectively is not a nice-to-have skill. It is a must-
have skill.
- It is not easy. It is a challenge.
Which brings us to the mission of ManagerZine. Over the next few months, we’
re going to probe what those skills are and give you advice and tips that might
make that part of your work easier.
We can’t do it without you, though. We need to hear from you. Send us your
Greatest Management Challenge and we’ll see if we can discuss how to
handle it. singularitygroup@yahoo.com
Here’s a snapshot of the results:
* Dealing with peer issues 1.5%
* Work/Life balance 1.5%
* Personal skill development 1.5%
* Dealing with difficult customers 1.5%
* Managing up 1.5%
* Leadership in a crisis 3%
* Influencing others 8%
* Reaching a stretch goal 10%
* Leading a reorg or remaking a business unit 12%
* Establishing credibility as a new manager 12%
* Managing people performance issues 47%
The Unproductive Meeting
From Our Far-Flung Readership
“We have project team meetings every two or three
weeks. They are basically the same boring
announcement of facts and figures and who is doing
what. When we do focus on an issue, the discussion
goes nowhere. We leave the meeting feeling we have
wasted two hours, not any more enlightened than
before the meeting and definitely not looking forward
to the next meeting. It seems the project consists of
going to these unproductive meetings. I’m only a
member of the group. What can we do about it?”
If someone were standing on your toe, what would you say? Probably “ouch,”
right? Well, the answer to the unproductive meeting situation is incredibly
simple. Someone has to say, “Look, team, this isn’t working. How can we make
these meeting more effective? Any ideas?”
The team members should feel comfortable with monitoring how the team is
doing and actively discussing it. A good team is very meeting process
conscious. People talk about such things as: “What’s the best way to discuss
this?” “Let’s hear ideas for 5 minutes then we’ll select the best two.” “What are
we trying to accomplish?”
Of course, it isn’t easy to become process conscious. There is a lot that pushes
against it. Too many people on teams feel like they are just waiting for a bus
or, in this case, for the meeting to be over. And therein hangs the root of the
problem. Why don’t people speak up in meetings about unproductive meeting
process? The reason is called the Bystander Problem.
Two social psychologists identified what holds people back from taking action
when something obvious needs to be done. They staged emergencies of all
different kinds to see who would do something about them. The findings were
surprising. If the emergency happened with one person present, that one
person helped usually immediately. However, when the number of people that
were present went up, the percent of the time that someone actually did
something went down. What does that mean? When people are in a group,
responsibility for acting is diffused. The Bystander Problem.
Realize the Bystander Problem is what is happening in your project team and
have the presence of mind to speak up.
© 2006 Singularity Group
Click Board! Interesting university research being done about virtual teams working with collaborative tools and other topics. www.workteams.unt.edu/ research.htm Check out the home of independent music makers. Downloads and more. Not much to do with teams and business, but, what the hey. www.songs.com/first_time. html |
| Singularity Group Helping organizations implement change since 1983 For more information: www.singularitygroup.com |
Well-Spoken
"Start with good
people, lay out the
rules, communicate
with your employees,
motivate and reward
them. If you do all
those things
effectively, you can't
miss."
Lee Iacocca
"Start with good
people, lay out the
rules, communicate
with your employees,
motivate and reward
them. If you do all
those things
effectively, you can't
miss."
Lee Iacocca