Cultivating a good manager takes finesse and experience.
In fact, it is like creating a fine wine. You harvest the
best grapes, so the desired ingredients will be present.
You distil in order to increase the concentration and
purity, and then it must age in order to reach its peak
performance. The same can be said for a manager. Key
ingredients such as reliability, ability to make competent
decisions and possess innate leadership qualities must be
present in order to become a successful manager. If any of
those ingredients is missing or is skewed in relation to
the other, the combination can be reckless and create
undesirable consequences down the road.
Let's say that one of your managers, showing the promise of
an excellent senior level leader, begins making key
decisions without going through the chain of command for
final approval. It is crucial at this time that you are
not correcting them by reacting in a negative manner by
criticizing, blaming, or yelling at them for their lack of
judgment. There is a fine line between helping a senior
level leader clarify their role in decision making and
quite another to squelch their creativity and leadership
judgments and abilities. Remember the analogy of producing
a fine wine. Care and time will ensure a quality product.
It's far more constructive to have a face-to-face with the
leader and compliment their initiative in making decisions.
Let them know that you are observing their performance and
comment on it. Ask them if they've noticed that they are
making key decisions without input from management. Your
approach should be determined based on their answer.
If they say yes, then acknowledge their contribution and
discuss the fact that many decisions will need to be made
individually, but key decisions will need input from other
management as well. After all, many decisions can have
considerable impact in areas of the company that haven't
even been considered, so you need to be very specific about
which types of decisions need additional management input.
Reiterate the fact that you are pleased with their
initiative and general decision making skills, but certain
decisions must be a shared responsibility. As you specify
examples of issues that would need decision input from
other management, plainly state that that you should be
consulted in the future. Provide examples of decisions
that have been made recently where you wanted to be
consulted so that they have a point of reference.
In closing the discussion, remind them that whether the
decision they made turned out to be the correct one or not
isn't the issue here. The message you want to send is when
to involve management in decision making. The point of
whether the decision outcome is successful or not isn't
relative. Don't get trapped into a debate of whether the
answer was "obvious" or not. Sharing the responsibility
shows respect for management when appropriate.
Final Thought: Communication is the cornerstone of good
management. Initiating a significant, yet warm and casual
discussion with your management employee about how you need
decisions to be handled, will soon see you enjoying the
fruits of your labor.
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Linda Finkle, CEO of INCEDO GROUP, works with innovative
leaders around the world who understand that business needs
a new organizational growth style. These innovative leaders
know that powerful cross-functional communication is the
highest priority and the strongest strategy for building
organizational effectiveness. To find out more, visit:
http://www.IncedoGroup.com
