The action hat describes some of the real work of the manager. As a professional you have probably heard a lot about managers delegating. While managers do delegate many activities, there are others that require a full understanding and cannot be delegated. For the inexperienced manager these activities may seem not only extremely challenging but a total departure from the experiences as a specialist. They involve:
- Reviewing and understanding the workload
- Reviewing the people competencies
- Linking competencies to workload
- Developing budgets and forecasts
- Focusing on the customer
- Managing the manager’s work
Reviewing and Understanding the Workload
Reviewing the project workload involves gaining a basic understanding of the scope, the deliverables, and the current status; the status related to fulfilling the requirements such as meeting specifications, time schedules; and the estimated and projected cost. So how does a newly appointed manager review the workload to gain an understanding of all the projects and their importance? This is the nitty-gritty part of managing: digging through those printed or electronic files and learning the scope and priorities of the workload.
There are basically two options: review the projects by reading the original project proposals and the follow-up reports or asking the project principals for a live overview; no fancy presentations, just come in and talk about the projects. A combination of these two options seems to be the most effective; a cursory review of the available project information followed by a disciplined project review by those responsible for the project. While all projects need to be reviewed, some may have a greater urgency and receive top priority. The manager to whom you report will most likely provide some guidance.
How you decide which projects to review depends on the organization and the scope of the projects. Some may already have a red flag attached; someone in the organization may be screaming. The review could be prioritized in various ways such as the amount of funding, the number of people involved, the urgency, and the impact on results. Projects that impact performance should receive top priority. It is best to decide on a process rather than turning those files over and over. Set up a procedure and follow it.
Reviewing the People Competencies
Involving the project leader and others in the review process also provides an opportunity to begin learning about the people. This is the time to begin understanding the human side of your responsibilities. The interchange allows you to gain some insight into the unit’s competencies. This insight will help you make judgments about the capabilities and limitations of the staff that will be vital to the unit’s success.
The current trend suggests that judgments should be avoided but that too often leads to mismanagement. As a manager you will make judgments. Success depends on judgments about people and their interactions, strategy, vision, and all those activities in which you’ll be involved. While you need to be cautious about placing too much emphasis on first impressions, realize that they do play a role in managing. You can’t sit on the fence waiting to see which way the wind is blowing. Stick to the facts and keep your comments impersonal. You’re judging performance of people, processes, and results. This is the beginning of building relationships. This first contact should provide you with some insight into the people. It’s not just a matter of finding out about the project but also something about the people involved.
As you become involved in this managing function you’ll begin to know the people and appraise their specific competencies. One of the easiest ways to start this process is to review the personnel appraisal forms from the past few years. You may find that these past appraisals reveal more about the person who wrote the appraisal than about the one being appraised. Keep that in mind as you go through the process. These appraisals provide background only and must be viewed with some degree of skepticism. If you develop a distribution curve of your staff based on the appraisals, you’ll find that the majority will be rated very high. Review those comments on each individual to find the depth in those appraisals. Look for what was not included as well as what was included. A review of these appraisals establishes a benchmark as you begin to have personal discussions with each of your people.
Where do you begin to find out what your people are capable of doing, their limitations, and where they really shine? You won’t accomplish this by only reading reports. You need face-to-face conversation. If your people have been out of school five or more years don’t place too much emphasis on academic credentials. You need to find out what they’ve accomplished, not what the team or group accomplished, but what they personally contributed during their period of employment. These exploratory conversations whether formal or informal help you determine how employees see themselves and their role in the group; what opportunities should be provided for career growth and added breadth of experiences; and what interests and motivates the person. Does this person function better in short- or long-term projects? Is this person a self-starter? Does this person look for better ways to accomplish their work? Does this person meet commitments in spite of the difficulties that might have appeared? How does this person interact with peers and related managers? Does this person exhibit any managerial characteristics that should be developed? You can only make decisions regarding the proper placement and expectations from any person after you’ve gained some understanding of their knowledge base, skills, attitudes, personal characteristics, experiences, and interests.
I cannot overemphasize that you fully understand not just the competencies available but also the competencies required to fulfill the unit’s objectives for the current and projected workload. Does the right mix exist? The response to these questions usually requires further investigation. You do not necessarily search for this information with specific plans but obtain it through observation, project reviews, and personal discussions while providing input to projects, and knowing what is going on in the organization.
Developing new competencies within an existing staff does not present problems as long as people are willing to meet new educational requirements. What do you do with those who refuse? The options are not particularly palatable either for you or the individual involved. The options include transfer to another department or even possible dismissal, but don’t slough off the responsibility by faking the individual’s performance record. A transfer may just prolong the agony for the individual and the organization. Dismissal may be difficult because prior managers really never faced up to the person’s limitations and took the easy route and overrated performance. Resolving such an issue often creates a dilemma. You may ask yourself, how can I dismiss this person? The objective answer is simple: dismiss if necessary. Your responsibility is to give the person every possible opportunity to improve performance. You provide the person with alternatives. If the person refuses, you have no alternative but to dismiss. In reality you may be doing the person a favor. But the dismissal must be based on facts and not just personal preferences.
As a manager who faced such situations on several occasions, I found that the properly addressed dismissal based on lack of performance and refusal to take advantage of opportunities to improve performance forces people out of their lethargy and puts them on a new career path. After the initial shock to the ego the majority of these people realized their shortcomings and found new opportunities within the limitations of their competencies.
Linking Competencies to Workload
The complexity involved in gaining insight into the unit’s workload and competencies will vary depending on the assignment. Chapter 1 identified some entry points for the new manager. Linking workload and competencies always presents a challenge to new managers. The juggling act begins now. You have defined the project workload and know the competencies required to fulfill that workload. But you quickly realize that in making assignments that you don’t have the right mix. You need two more people like Mary and at least one more like John, but you really don’t need Katy or Mike. So what is the answer? Rescheduling projects may or may not be a viable solution. Eliminating certain requirements might be considered but that requires time to gain approval. Seeking resources from either other internal or external groups does provide a possible solution. Evaluating work methods and assignments also provides additional opportunities.
There are no simple answers and all the options depend on the extent of the imbalance between competencies that are needed to competencies available. Can part of Mary and John’s workload be broken down so others can help fill the gap? Mary and John will probably say no. But as a manager you need to analyze the problem and determine if this is an alternative and an opportunity for others to participate and gain new experiences. But what do you do about Katy and Mike? They’re competent in their field but you don’t need them. If Katy and Mike have track records of successful performance you probably will not find any difficulties in transferring them to other groups. If the organization no longer has use for their competencies the only alternative may be dismissal with appropriate considerations.
But there’s another opportunity that is too often forgotten. The organization has a major investment in Katy and Mike. They are a known quantity. Can their competencies be utilized in other areas with some additional education and training? Have you looked at your future needs and will the competence be there when it’s needed? It may be time to provide Katy and Mike with some new opportunities.
Developing Budgets and Forecasts
There are significant differences between budgets and forecasts. Budgets basically provide a guideline of what can be spent: they are usually short term and certainly do not extend beyond a year. Forecasts are approximations of potential future expenditures. A multiyear project probably has a budget for the first six to twelve months and a forecast for subsequent periods.
Budgets for your unit tell you how much you can spend for materials, direct and indirect labor, capital equipment, and all other related items like communication, transportation, outside meetings or conferences, education, and so on. The budget is made up of all the costs associated with your particular operation including many hidden costs. You will be charged for all the services provided by the organization. Nothing is free: you’ll pay directly or indirectly but you will pay for services. You’ll pay for your share of the rent, insurance, common facilities, and some share of your organization’s management structure. These figures come as a shock to the new manager. Managers need to understand that nothing is free just because it’s done by the organization. You will pay your fair share depending on the size of the unit.
Forecasts speak to the future. Questions like "What are you forecasting in subsequent years for new projects?" and "What are you forecasting for cost reduction programs, for quality improvement, for manpower needs?" create significant difficulties for the new manager. The typical response is "I’ve never done this before, so where do I start?" Not very many new managers demonstrate any competence in forecasting. Forecasting is looking to the future and taking a definitive position on some issue. But how did you forecast your future work as a professional? You leaned from experience. Standards are difficult to find. So, there’s only one way to begin the task: involve the people in your department, manager peers, and your own manager. The final decision is your responsibility but their input is vital.
This is also an opportunity to bring your people into full partnership. Bringing all their thoughts into a pool for open discussion usually generates new opportunities. You may be the manager but you do not have all the specialized disciplinary knowledge needed and your application experience is also limited. You will generate more projects than will ever be approved so you determine the value added from each project and develop a priority list. But value added cannot be defined in financial terms only. Certain projects will be authorized whether justified financially or not, because they just need to be done. It’s difficult to place a value-added figure on a customer service department but there will be a customer service department.
The forecasting process is the same whether it’s for new projects, cost reduction, quality control, or manpower needs. As an example, consider forecasting the manpower needs for a project. What a dilemma: this project may take one or two years and the time of several people, and you’re supposed to provide an answer? Yes, that’s your job. You may not know what you’re doing but you will come up with an answer for each project you recommend to your manager. This is where you as the new manager really go out on a limb. You’re new so you haven’t had the opportunity to develop any rules of thumb, those shortcuts that come from experience and that you might have used as a professional. So you and your staff estimate time and cost by breaking down a project into its smallest pieces and then adding them up and probably multiplying by a safety factor. Your manager may not accept this figure because it’s either too high or too low. So, you’re back to the proverbial drawing board either by yourself or with the assistance of your manager. If your manager believes in coaching this will present an opportunity to teach you how to make a forecast.
Forecasting your unit’s requirements only requires asking and answering some very fundamental questions. What is the outcome if we invest resources in this project? What do we receive from this investment: cost savings, greater market penetration, faster turnaround on financial information, customer satisfaction, improved quality, or other results? The outcome may be measured quantitatively or qualitatively but there must be some measure of the outcome. The forecast for your unit involves adding all the costs and benefits that you propose. You have the benefit that your immediate manager and many others will scrutinize your forecast. One caution: be prepared to justify your recommendations. This may be a major part of your first appraisal as a manager.
Focusing on the Customer
Who are your customers? At one time the word customers referred to those who bought our products or services. Some years ago someone introduced the idea that organizations have internal customers. Product development is a customer of marketing and sales, engineering is a customer of manufacturing, all organizational functions are customers of the legal and patent departments, and the administrative functions also have their internal customers. It’s unfortunate that we now refer to internal colleagues at all levels as customers. The originator of the idea of internal customers probably had good intentions but like so many other management ideas didn’t identify the associated problems. We do not share all information or knowledge with our external customers. That same philosophy could be troublesome if people within a project or people in different organizational units do not openly share their knowledge and concerns with internal colleagues. Successful organizations depend on sharing knowledge, interests, and conflicts openly. It’s too late to recognize that some pertinent information has not been communicated when the results of months of work are to be presented to a customer. Perhaps use of the word colleagues instead of customers is more appropriate. There’s also an arms-length relationship with external customers: they are not privy to secret processes, organizational strategies, and customer archives.
With all the emphasis on customer service, reality has not matched the rhetoric. Seldom is it possible to contact someone in person. The now common automatic phone answering system telling you to press 1, followed by another message and instructions to press another number, followed by another and another, then an admonition that your call may be monitored for quality purposes, and then an extended wait for the customer service representative, hardly represents meeting the principles related to customer service. Many Web sites do not even list a telephone number. Emails regarding services are not answered promptly. The recommendations coming from some software program and transmitted by an untrained person hardly meet the minimal customer service requirements. Nevertheless that’s the environment in which we work.
As a manager you may conclude that customer service does not apply unless you are specifically involved in customer service. On the contrary, most everyone is involved in customer service. As products became more complex with increased performance expectations, organizations allocated more resources to customer service. Buyers expect more than delivery of the order; they now need support. Customers need to understand the workings of the product and its capabilities and limitations. So education of the customer takes on new meaning. We have all experienced various degrees of frustration when products are delivered and simply do not work or meet requirements. So as a manager you may find the need to go into the field and meet the customer. There is nothing like face-to-face contact with a customer to resolve a problem or to gain insight into how your equipment or services are meeting the customer’s needs. Managing the customer service relationship requires:
- Managing the buyer/seller relationship before and after delivery
- Keeping the customer informed if, as, and when problems occur
- Working with the customer to optimize the benefits to their business
- Observing customer’s operations to determine future product needs
- Providing performance feedback and customer attitude after installation
Managing the Manager’s Work
The five preceding activities that comprise the manager’s action hat may even surprise some seasoned managers. I have found that too often managers fail to focus on these operational activities. Too often they fail to recognize the scope of their activities as managers. And then again it may not be surprising since most managers do not receive an introduction as to what it takes to be a manager. Regardless of their experiences as professionals they lack a basic understanding of the requirements for managing. Organizations have not taken the time to introduce managers to the manager’s work. This lack of concern results in creating an environment that accepts mediocrity as its standard of performance.
Managers make decisions without all the facts. That’s a given. A manager who waits until all the facts are documented will never make a decision. Even professionals should be aware of the 80/20 rule. If they became competent professionals before taking on management responsibilities, they should have realized that even in their own discipline all the information was never available. The 80/20 rule is very simple. Eighty percent of the information can generally be acquired in twenty percent of the time. Eighty percent of the value can be achieved with twenty percent of the effort. Reaching eighty percent of a target can be achieved with twenty percent of the resources. Decision processes are never binary. They do not include yes or no, true or false, or black or white. They usually include a "yes" or "no" with qualifications, a partially true and partially false, and not black or white but shades of gray.
Building a sustaining group presents one of the greatest challenges to managers. The history of effective organizational development is quite dismal, with few success stories. The lack of success comes from not recognizing the eight activities described in this chapter that are required to build an effective operating unit. Giving a directive from above and bringing in the latest academic or newly minted industrial gurus is bound to fail. Research clearly shows that people are at the base of all change and must be brought into the process. Restructuring the organization, repositioning those boxes on the organization chart, and contriving new slogans to energize the organization will not alter performance.