I’ve written previously about the difficult transition from doer to manager; the toughest transition in business in my mind. And rarely do we become a pure manager in small to medium-sized businesses. Instead, we usually retain some “doing” while most of our time is spent “managing.” Still, we can all learn to be better managers which will benefit the businesses in which we work.
The best management training I’ve ever been exposed to taught that there were six functions of a professional manager:
- Communicating
- Planning
- Organizing
- Staffing
- Controlling
- Leading
Let’s delve into each of these a little bit.
Communicating
We seem to know that failures in relationships, business and personal, seem to stem mostly from poor communications. Perhaps that is why Communicating is the first item for a professional manager. This area really breaks down into two areas: 1) being an effective communicator and 2) being an effective listener. The listening part is the harder one for most people. And it is the most important trait, in my view, of a good manager.
Planning
This area deals with the development of strategies and goals for future action. A professional manager needs to study the present situation, consider the past and then design the organization’s future. This is the area where SWOT analysis is done. The designing of the organization’s future includes the development of Vision Statement, Mission Statement, values, goals, forecasts and budgets.
Organizing
Once goals have been set within the Strategy, the professional manager must group work and resources productively in order to achieve the goals. The manager has many resources at his/her disposal including time, people, money, materials, technology and facilities. Goals must sometimes be reduced to the task level so that the individuals involved can perform the agreed upon tasks.
Staffing
Of the resources mentioned in the paragraph above, people are perhaps the most important. For a professional manager, their “stock-in-trade” is people. Indeed, everything a pure manager accomplishes they accomplish through others. The people side of managing includes recruiting the right people, selecting those who are the right fit, development people and retaining people. And, it must be said, it means getting rid of people when you’ve made a mistake. And I really believe that having to fire someone is an indication of a mistake on the part of the manager.
Controlling
What we’re talking about here is measuring performance and taking appropriate action. My friend Art Olsen, from Intellcia, often says, “What gets measured gets managed.” He’s right. This is all about setting the plan and budgets, measuring the actual performance and taking action based on the results and how they compare to plan.
Leading
This is defined as inspiring self-motivation in people to achieve goals. This may be the most difficult function to teach, although there are very good leadership training programs available. Attributes of a leader include managerial traits such as having a clear vision, recognizing potential in others, developing trust and having integrity. But a leader must also have charisma to be effective. Charisma doesn’t mean extroversion. It means traits such as empathy, humility, passion, confidence and courage. It also helps if the professional manager has a sense of humor and a sense of perspective about what they are doing.
Are any of us going to be the perfect professional manager? Not likely. As with most things, we can always learn and always improve. But the better job we do the more our organizations will benefit. Plus, chances are, we’ll enjoy our work more too.
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