They say that the further up the management tree you go in any organisation, the fewer bits of paper you’ll find on a manager’s desk. The guys at the bottom of the tree are buried in the stuff and the manager has a nice clear desk.
I can remember it being like that for me in a company where I was a middle manager. My job title was Sales Operations Manager and I was responsible for things like promotional activ- ity, telesales, sales targets, budgets and all the admin functions.
My boss, Tom, was the Sales Director.
I remember one report I produced for Tom. He asked me to come up with some recommendations for a new sales procedure that he wanted to implement. I spent hours on that report, doing the research, making phone calls and having meetings with col- leagues. Eventually I had the masterpiece typed up with all my recommendations on what action we should take; even if I do say so myself, it was an excellent report. I took it into Tom’s office and he read it through; he asked a few questions and queried some of the detail. Eventually he said, ‘Well done, excellent, I suggest you go ahead and implement this.’ He went to hand me back my report and I said, ‘You keep that Tom, that’s your copy.’
He grunted something, took the report, screwed it up and threw it in the bin. My immediate inclination was to launch myself across his desk and rip out his windpipe. Luckily I resisted the temptation but boy did I feel angry!
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It was only later, after I’d cooled down, that I thought about the matter with a bit more logic and less emotion. What did I expect him to do with this piece of paper? Fondle it longingly and admire it on his desk? I don’t think so. He’d read the report, he’d come to a decision and decided to move on. Tom knew that the report would be filed on my computer and that there’d be a hard copy stuffed into the bulging filing cabinet beside my desk.
I learned several lessons that day;
1 Don’t keep so much paper hanging about.
2 Make decisions quickly and move on.
3 Get someone else to do your work!
I’m being flippant about that third part. However, as a manager you need to ensure that you’re not doing any tasks that you don’t really need to. There’s a saying that many managers should pay some attention to – ‘Only do it if only you can do it.’
So – don’t do it
We’re now getting into the area of Empowerment which was first introduced in the 1980s and became a bit of a management buzz word. However, I believe that it’s one of the most promising but least understood concepts in management today.
As you’ll have gathered by reading this book so far, I’m a fairly down-to-earth, practical sort of person. I’m not big into manage- ment theories unless I can see the benefits for me; I see a great deal of benefit for managers and team leaders in Empowerment.
I was empowered by my boss Tom although I don’t think he used it as a management tool or even understood what it was all about. However, his way of managing me by empowerment had benefits for both of us.
The benefits of Empowerment
Benefits for Tom
I described my job above. However, many of the tasks that I car- ried out would, in some organisations, be Tom’s responsibility.
These were tasks that I could do much better than him. This meant that part of his job was being done better than he could have done it and ultimately made him look good.
With me doing many of the things that would normally be tasks for him, left him clear to do other things. One of Tom’s main tasks and one he was particularly good at was negotiating con- tracts with customers. And I must say, something he could do much better than me.
Our products were beer and other drinks. However, it wasn’t just a matter of negotiating a price with the customer. Our company lent money to the customer on the understanding that he sold our products alone. This was standard practice in the UK beer industry and there were various types of loans that could be negotiated with the customer. As I said, Tom was particularly good at this and spent a great deal of his time on it. As a result, he pulled in a great deal of business.
Now you might be thinking, ‘It’s all right for Tom but what about poor old Alan?’
Benefits for Alan
I was very happy with the situation. I had more responsibility than I might normally have. I was able to do my own thing and run things more or less how I wanted; all I had to do was regu- larly check things with Tom.
So at the end of the day, he was happy, I was happy and the busi- ness was happy. Tom was achieving his outcomes and he wasn’t getting stressed. I was achieving my outcomes, I was learning, developing and I was enjoying my job.