Management by Imagination

The perennial argument between those who need to control stuff and those who are okay with not controlling turns up in this article:

The perception that good management is closely linked to good measurement runs deep. How often do you hear these old saws repeated: "If you can't measure it, it doesn't count"; "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it"; "If you can't measure it, it won't happen"? We like these sayings because they're comforting. The act of measurement provides security; if we know enough about something to measure it we almost certainly have some control over it.

But however comforting it can be to stick with what we can measure, we run the risk of expunging something really important. What's more, we won't see what we're missing because we don't know what it is that we don't know. By sticking simply to what we can measure, we come to imagine a small and constrained world in which we are prisoners of a "reality" that is in fact an edifice we've unknowingly constructed around ourselves.

Written, as you might have guessed, for a business audience. It could easily have been written for a church one. Photo from flickr.com, taken by a photographer who goes by the name of 'The Truth About..' Which might be ironic...!

Leadership is Leadership, in whatever sphere

In the latest NZ Institute of Management newsletter there's a short piece on some master classes held by visiting speaker, Paul Aitken (the author of Developing Change Leaders). Aitken calls the following ten points the 'dynamic capabilities' needed by change leaders.

1. Dealing with ambivalence – having the capacities to “wait and see”, keep an open mind and be comfortable with contradiction;
2. Accessing the diverse range of capabilities across the leadership team;
3. Creating a learning environment;
4. Future sense-making combined with strategic thinking which requires a strong external focus;
5. “Total” or authentic leadership – ie, an ability to continually walk the talk;
6. Trans-cultural competence – an awareness that one size doesn’t fit all;
7. Relational skills – the ability to coach;
8. Dialogue skills – or process consulting;
9. Emotional intelligence;
10. The ability to manage the high quality performance challenge, culture and dialogue.

Aitken says, If people can’t relate well or have quality conversations with people, then they’re not going to be leading anyone. Church leaders, take note!

No unhappy staff

"There’s an equation in business that many organisations and managers use involving profits, goods and services, and people. It appears to me that most businesses get this equation wrong because they put profits first, then goods and services, then the people who work for them. But the most successful organisations, the best places to work, the world’s greatest leaders will all tell you the same thing – put people first."

"It’s one thing to say you do it, but do you behave like you do, and do your people believe it."

After a survey in which 68% of the staff said they were happy, Kendall’s firm decided to find out where they were going wrong with the other 34% - and then put them in charge of getting it right. The latest survey shows that their new approach works: no unhappy staff.

Kendall says "staff are asked to categorise their issues, and the decisions they want made, into one of four areas:

• Management makes the decision. No questions asked.
• Everyone has input; management has final say.
  
• Everyone has input and we all agree on the outcome.
  
• Everyone has input and staff decide the outcome. Management butts out."
  

Extracts from a piece in NZ Management (Sept 09): On People Ahead of Profit, by Annette Kendall.

When growth is unsustainable

In a recent article in NZ Management, Sir John Whitmore talks about the possibility/rpobability that the way we do business is going to change radically.
Two paragraphs from the article. You can view the whole article here.

The ethos currently driving business is not sustainable and business leaders have to stop acting like adolescents in denial. That's the unequivocal message from world-renowned sporting and business coach Sir John Whitmore. "I would say that any leader who still believes in the holy grail of growth is irresponsible. They're living in a myth - living in the past," he says.

Although he acknowledges that consumerism is to some extent the lifeblood of capitalism, Whitmore describes it as an illness. "To me it is adolescent behaviour and I think that business in the way it is currently structured is quite tribal, very competitive. And in the state of the world at the moment what we need is more collaboration."

Assume good intentions

Many people develop bad attitudes by assuming bad intentions on the part of others. Nine times out of ten when a member of your team is bleating on about the way a co-worker has angered or upset them, the co-worker has no idea it is happening. So rationally ask whether that co-worker intended to upset anyone. When your team member applies some adult thinking, they’ll probably realise there was no intention to upset. Jamie Ford, Foresight Institute.

From Building a More Resilient Workplace, NZ Management magazine, April 2008

Great Leaders

All Organisations Need Great Leaders, by Malcolm Park.

“Anyone who is a leader needs to be aware that their values, moral code, lifestyle choices and work/life balance are noticed and often emulated by others. Talk alone is not enough. Leaders set by example.” It’s still possible to learn from poor leaders.

From March 2008 edition of Management Matters, the monthly newsletter of NZ Institute of Management Southern.

Photo by Stepol.