Have you ever wondered why Scott Adams is so successful with his Dilbert cartoons? It's because he constantly makes fun of management. That way Scott will never run out of good material.

Management is tough and there are darn few good managers. What is that? There are probably many thousands of reasons. I have a few ideas of my own.

But first things first. I believe that bad managers have taught us to be bad employees. These managers could not be more effective if they wrote their intentions in a mission statement.

Manager: I will be a bad manager and breed fear and loathing among my staff. I will do this be being inconsistent, ambiguous and superficial. I will pretend to take an interest in my people but will forget key assignments just to see what will happen.

See? It's just that easy to set those high level goals and reach them as a powerful executive.

As promised here are just two ideas about what it takes to be a good manager. And just for the record I don't even pretend to be a good manager, although I am trying.

First Rule: Good managers feed their ego by the success of their staff. If that doesn't happen then POW, bad manager. Egos ruin more potentially good managers than almost anything else.

The staff works together on a big project. Everyone contributes and it turns into a big success. What does the manager do? Many times, sadly, that manager takes all of the credit. The result. Hurt feelings and no more collaborative effort.

Or worse. The Staff works on a big project. They run into problems. Deadlines are missed. And when the VP wants to know why things didn't get done the manager conveniently shifts the blame away from himself. Result. Bad feelings and employees that end up trying to sabotage the manager.

Most problems are caused by much more complex issues. But I think you get the point. Ego problems often are at the root of the problems and also feed the second rule of management.

Second Rule: Management is not intuitive. Most managers never get this one. Intuitive management is like intuitive humanity. Palestinian bombers blow themselves up and kill some Israelis, some innocent bystanders, plus themselves. Israelis retaliate with missiles and in response kill some Palestinians, some innocent bystander and make a big mess. Repeat process. No progress.

Golf is a lot like management. Both are counter intuitive. You see, in golf if you want to hit the ball up, you hit down on it. If you want the ball to fly to the left you swing out to the right. If you want to hit the ball far you swing easy. What happens if you want to hit the ball to the left and you pull to the left? If you hit it really solid the ball will take off to the left and then fly wildly to the right. This is called a slice. If you now line up farther to the left and pull harder to the left, the ball will fly farther to the right.

So when you golf, if you pay attention, you can learn about golf and about management. Pretty cool, huh. That just might be a good way to approach your boss. Take off for the golf course and be sure to tell him that you are attending a management training seminar discussing 9 important management issues. It might be a good way to see if your boss has the potential to be a good manager. Good luck. I'll certainly be working on my management skills as often as possible.

That's all for now......
10:52:39 PM    comment []