The Hats of Management

Yesterday, when I wrote “The Eraser” blog, the main insight was about managers having a “wholistic perspective”. We should see the “bigger picture”. We should look at situations and issues from various perspectives.

Now, I’d like to tackle a parallel of sorts. If we are able to see things from the point of view of others, we should also be able to “substitute” in the absence of others. The phrase that struck me most when I was attending the Leadership Development Program was “We are just another worker”. And now, I’m reminded of the stories of business where the CEO, is also the Finance Manager, the HR Manager, the Project Manager, the Marketing Manager, the Accountant, the Secretary, the Delivery Boy, the Security Guard, and the  Janitor. At times, we act as confidants, friends, advisors, disciplinarians, and cheer leaders. The situation we are in determines the “hat” we wear. When human resource is scarce, we find that we end up wearing and changing “hats” more.

We should not only be available as a “substitute”, we should also be willing to serve as a substitute. And this is my biggest struggle at the moment, for I find myself being relegated to clerical work at times and I question, “Shouldn’t I be assigned to more important tasks?” “Am I not fit for management if the work being dumped on me involves formatting word documents, power point presentations, and user manuals?”

But now, I will remind myself that I am “just another worker”. It is a tough lesson on humility but I accept it as God’s way of smoothening the rough edges. And the Master Sculptor definitely knows the work He wants to create. He will work in us and through us if we just let Him. We are works in progress!

The Eraser

The facilitator in the Leadership Development Program used a very simple tool to illustrate how management should look at the issues. He held up a blackboard eraser to the audience and asked them “What color do you see?”. The audience replied “Black”, seeing the side of the eraser that is used when removing writing on the board.

“But don’t you see a white area with the words ‘eraser’ written on it?” he asked, acting as if he were very puzzled while looking at the eraser from his side. Clearly, he was demonstrating that differences in people’s points of view will clearly result in confusion. And as managers, it is our responsibility to look at the issues from multiple perspectives. The facilitator demonstrated this by shifting his position to the side, and seeing both sides of the eraser.  

“Now I understand, why you were saying that you were seeing black” was his response to the audience. “But I hope you’ll also realize why I was saying that I was seeing a white area with the words ‘eraser’ written on it”, he said as he showed the other side of the eraser to his listeners.

Seeing the issue from the eyes of a developer, tester, business analyst, project manager, senior management, finance analyst, HR, client, end user…. the list probably can go on and on. A wholistic view is necessary to successfully manage projects and ‘erase’ the barriers that block effective communication. 

Support And Maintenance

Today, I was “awarded” another project to handle. Sometimes, I wish that upper management would award someone else, or keep the awards to themselves. But this was the type of day where when it rains, it pours.

This new project is more of support and maintenance work for a recently deployed software project. The project manager who was handling this before is now swamped with other project responsibilities so I guess this was the reason why they tasked me with it. Would be users are probably “test driving” it and are finding things that are not working out “the way they think it ought to”. It is hard when the end users are not involved with the development of the software product. If there is no end-user support for the product, expect them to find ways to “break” it so that they won’t end up using it.

Aside from this “new” project, work has been continiously pouring in from another time-and-material graphics project, and even another old client. It makes me wonder if there was an event today that made these clients decide to “spend now rather than later”. Perhaps expectations of a dollar with a weaker buying power in the future, or lower interest rates have influenced their decisions to spend now on our services. 

Anyway, a co-worker of mine said that one should be worried when one is no longer being assigned tasks. So I guess more work should be seen as a good thing… hmmm.

The Shackled Elephant

If you were asked to describe the movement of an elephant, what adjectives and phrases would you use? Would it be “slow”, “takes one step at a time”, “sluggish”, “moves from side to side”, etc.? Or would you rather say that it is “powerful”, “it can knock down trees like a bulldozer”, “it can run thunderously, creating a stampede”. etc.?

Many times, a new employee is like a wild elephant – excited, vibrant, full of energy and vigor. The new employee acts immediately, gets the job done at once, is usually full of ideas that he can’t wait to implement, and loves to explore new ways and methods of doing things.

But once an elephant is captured, its masters and trainers perform actions that transform a once magnificent and powerful beast into a mediocre zoo attraction. The elephant is “punished” whenever it does something against its masters’ will. If at first it will resist, later on, it loses the drive, learning that the cage bars and foot shackles will prevent it from making any kind of action. It eventually manifests the first set of descriptions we have become accustomed to in describing an elephant.

Employees too, especially those who are “on fire”, when they enter the company, eventually learn how to “behave” and “adapt to the corporate culture”.  They begin to realize which actions will be rewarded, and which ones will fall on deaf ears. Behavior that is rewarded will eventually be reinforced and repeated. Behavior that does not achieve any form of merit will eventually be forgotten even if it can produce positive results. The “What’s in it for me” mentality naturally exists in us all. And if I may add, to some, so does the concept of “fairness”. If employees are required by company policy to say wear a tie to work, but it is not enforced, then if Employee A sees Employee B not wearing a tie, Employee A might decide not to wear a tie either.

This is a reminder that management influences an employee’s actions, and the company’s culture. We can create a culture of insubordination, distrust, reactiveness, and animosity or the exact opposite – a workplace where people – are concerned for the welfare of others, trust each other, are proactive, and treat each other with respect.

LDP Outline II

Part 2 of the Leadership Development Program took place yesterday from nine in morning to seven in the evening. Topics I would probably add to my previous outline would be:

• The Ring of Affection
• Matching Leadership Styles with Competency and Commitement Levels
• Dealing with difficult people

Though the session yesterday was longer in terms of duration, the topics that really stood out to me were the ones I mentioned above.