Some Thoughts on Management

Many senior managers are scared of failure, risk, reputation and their careers. This fear often turns into paralysis of the decision making kind. Unable to take action, to make decisions decisively, they pursue excessive analysis and advice through unnecessary employee activities, costly consultants etc often resulting in complete inaction or missed opportunities.

Managers must be decisive, confident, but level headed. They must be prepared to take risks, listen to others, admit failure and learn from mistakes. They must be open minded but analytical, logical but empathetic, creative but well organised.

They must be critical of their own actions and that of others. The job of a senior manager is one of the mind – to contemplate, create, decide and communicate. Many managers are too busy ‘doing things’ to embrace these four qualities into their careers.

Micro managing is the biggest problem – unable to delegate for fear of mistakes, the urge to control – these managers fail to lead, they rely on inefficient bureaucratic controls, rules and regulations that do nothing but stifle innovation and creativity.

Sapping passion and motivation from the workforce through excessive bureaucracy fails to value the vast knowledge base, skills and ideas of the general workforce – instead, these organisations act as if employees are a piece of machinery limited in design to carry out a specific task or set of tasks. This leftover from the industrial revolution hinders organisations within the information and communications revolution. The age of the knowledge worker can be polluted with the old ways of industry and early 20th century methodology.