Taking as a starting point for this reflection the document I wrote a couple of years ago entitled “ symptoms of inadequate managerial management"Where the purpose was to call attention to some behaviors that do not contribute to the construction of a work team that generates value in their results, I now allow myself to take some of the symptoms mentioned there to reach the need to recognize that BEING Manager is not only a position, it is a permanent challenge that challenges its occupant to grow as a human being, but especially that it requires recognizing that it is not enough to be appointed to the position, it is necessary to find and develop the skills that will make him or her an executive who transform the business reality and make it a protagonist of competitiveness in the new times that are being marked by globalization and technology as an expression of innovation.
Poor management is characterized, in my opinion, by the following behaviors:
1. There is little planning of the work they do with the work teams. The art of improvisation requires a lot of preparation and planning, it is a reality that many managers prefer reflection rather than activism that leads them to ignore the need to STOP and collect the lessons learned from the journey. The team receives orders and action protocols, but they do not find formal opportunities to share the result of their work with their fellow business travelers. The teamworkIt is not done based on a previously arranged result where each player is clear about his responsibility and his results. Managers who do not plan navigate the dangerous waters of uncertainty and consequently bring a team of collaborators ready for the task but who do not know the end of the road and the meaning of what they do.
2. They hardly ever meet with people from the team to organize the work.Recognizing and valuing the talent of the team is not only an act of humility on the part of the manager, it is their obligation to articulate the tasks that allow them to achieve the proposed results, it is necessary to identify the strengths of the members of the work team and make the talent existing is put to service expected result. Coming together implies recognizing that the answers are not in one person and without a doubt is the best expression of the convenience of separating the WHAT from the HOW, in this sense the WHAT is expressed in terms of the expected result and will come from senior management or executives responsible for enforcing the purposes defined by the company, however it will be the "HOW" that determines the best strategy for the development of management in the work teams,It is there where the figure of a manager appears capable of taking into account the opinions, suggestions and recommendations of those who make up the work team, because it is precisely they who can support the proposed work.
3. They are not characterized by being punctual and fulfilled in their commitments to internal and external clients. This behavior becomes anti-testimony for the future demands that are made to the members of the work team. In addition to this, fame is created that affects the reputation and credibility of the manager. Respect is a value that is usually required one-way; it is the opportunity to invite executives to assume that time is also valuable for those who patiently wait to be served.
4. They rarely evaluate the results of their work and that of their team. Going from one project to another without evaluating is allowing mediocrity to take over the management that is carried out in the organization, people do not know if they are doing a good job or not, in many cases we know of people who were fired without they would never have received any feedback on their performance. This point is an invitation to recognize that it is necessary to value and measure the management of the work team but also of each of the people who will be able to improve and adjust the way they do things.
5. It has been a long time since they took a refresher course on topics related to their work. Unfortunately we find senior executives from companies, even renowned ones, who never had time to formally update themselves, they have assumed the position that "for that I hire people who know" and have abandoned the necessary update and this means that little by little they are losing validity in the market. These executives become dogmatic reproducers of already outdated practices that conflict with all those who bring new ideas and theories that, eventually, could put the company on the path of competitiveness. These types of managers rely more on the successful past than on the uncertain future in which they may no longer appear as protagonists.
6. They do not establish relationships with people from other areas or companies to do their job better. Organizational learning passes through the knowledge you have about the practices (without being the best) that are carried out in other organizations and even in other dependencies of the same organization. Giving yourself the opportunity to visit, learn, buy and interact with the competition is a necessity that will allow us to reflect on our own business practices. Identifying models and work systems in other areas or companies will allow a permanent update of management management
7. Their decisions are not fast and sometimes they are not correct either. One of the success factors of managerial work has to do precisely with the ability of executives in companies to explore the factors that affect a particular situation and from there to be able to assume a position and make the decisions that they consider timely. Doubt, indecision and the inability to maintain a decision places the manager in the realm of insecurity, in such a way that the result of his decisions generates in the work team re-processes and lengthens execution times. Much of the success of executives has to do with the recognition that their decisions have been, not only right but also timely and therefore made at the required time.The work team then expects that its managers have the ability to react appropriately to the contingencies that arise in day-to-day management and in market turns.
8. The calls for attention are made in public without measuring the consequences of it. One of the great fears of the collaborators is that they will get their attention in public and even more so if it is someone who is in a position of responsibility. Being disqualified from your peers generates susceptibilities that lead to resentment and grudges that may later be evidenced in other contexts. The bosses who call public attention to their collaborators are showing their own insecurity and the inability to establish spaces for dialogue that allow evaluating and feeding back the events that led to the mistakes of which the claim is made.Calling attention is a responsibility of the bosses and becomes an opportunity for individual and collective growth but, again, it is imperative to recognize the way it is done, attention calls must pursue the purpose of improving a given situation and should not be the representation of an attack on the person as such. When an adequate handling of the attention call is not made, future aggressive and negative experiences may be incubating in the collaborating boss relationship.
9. They seldom recognize work well done in others.Congratulations, recognition, valuing a job well done and other expressions where the effort is applauded and the result seems to be absent in the managerial repertoire of some managers, however we know that business work is a product of the performance of the people who assume the responsibility to realize the vision and mission. Motivation plans should then be geared towards generating a culture that knows that it is worth committing not only to the task but also to the result.Managers who do not recognize that their collaborators are the ones who contribute and contribute to the execution of the management are promoting that little by little an environment is created where one works by the law of least effort and where those who made their work an experience of growth enter the comfortable routine of the "law of least effort" and the dangerous "comfort zone" and therefore the mediocrity of the company will have its representatives in them. In the managerial work, it is convenient to structure plans and programs oriented to recognize that it is worth the effort, integrating all the collaborators and not only those who are in front of the client and who are more likely to receive external applause.In the managerial work, it is convenient to structure plans and programs aimed at recognizing that it is worth the effort, integrating all the collaborators and not only those who are in front of the client and who are more likely to receive external applause.In the managerial work, it is convenient to structure plans and programs aimed at recognizing that it is worth the effort, integrating all the collaborators and not only those who are in front of the client and who are more likely to receive external applause.
10. Their working times depend more on the hours and on the results. Management work, in general, is characterized by being, actually and against currently, a position and function of "management and trust", which means that the schedule is not its limit in management, as if the results are for which was hired, however we also find management levels for whom working time is the most important, in this sense it is worth remembering that time is the opportunity to execute the entrusted management but not its end. Contrary to the operational charges to whom, even by labor law, it is necessary to respect the schedules and if legal agreements are exceeded, they must be compensated financially.The manager is working all the time because it is understood that his functions have a tactical and strategic scope for the organization.
I hope that these brief reflections allow who they are, or who will be bosses, to include in their training agendas the key competencies for managerial success that allow them to attend and take alerts into account, it may represent a setback in their professional life that lead to delaying personal and professional development process.
