Firstly we need to consider what we mean by a ‘successful’
manager. I believe that there are two factors that identify a suc- cessful manager:
1. A manager who gets the job done.
2. A manager who does it in the easiest and least stressful way possible.
Let’s be totally clear about point 1: as a team manager you’ve got to achieve your target, your production figures or whatever it is that your organisation requires of you. It’s one thing to have a happy motivated team; however, it’s another thing if they’re not ‘doing the business’. If that’s the case, then you’re not a successful manager.
You also want to be able to go home at night in the knowledge that you’ve done what was required of you. That can be a great confidence booster and it also makes you feel good about yourself.
However, I’m sure that in being a successful manager and achieving your business goals, you don’t want to kill yourself in the process. Too many managers are suffering from stress, losing sleep and damaging their family life. That’s not what success is all about and I’m sure it’s not what you want. Some managers seem to believe that stress and hassle is ‘all part of the territory’ and that they should just accept it.
I’ve known ‘successful’ managers in terms of achieving their business targets who were not successful in their personal life.
How many marriages have suffered because one of the partners was spending too much time being successful in their job? How often has the relationship with our chil- dren suffered because of a lack of quality time spent with them?
I’ve know managers who’ve collapsed in the workplace due to stress. I’m sure you’ve also heard of sports coaches who’ve suf- fered heart attacks while watching a game.
It’s been said that success has to come at a price. However, that price should not be paid in terms of a troubled personal life. We can pay the price of success by changing our viewpoint, increas- ing our knowledge of human nature and making changes to the way we lead our teams.
John Wooden, ex-UCLA basketball coach, was voted the best sports coach of all time in a recent poll. ‘I had a successful bas- ketball career,’ he wrote in his 1997 book Wooden. ‘But I believe I had an even more successful marriage.’
Successful managers get products out of the door or hit their sales target, and if they’re in sport they win the championship.
However, they also do it at the lowest possible personal cost to themselves and their families.
How many marriages have suffered because one of the partners was spending too much time being successful in their job?
How do the good guys do it?
I’ve spent many years studying successful managers, whether they were in business or in sport, trying to establish what makes the good guys so good. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that these managers and coaches know:
1. How to do all the business parts of the job.
2. How to do all the human parts of the job.
There’s no doubt that a manager can have a certain level of suc- cess if they’re good at the business part of the job but not so good at the human part. Some managers can go through their whole career by being competent in all the business and techni- cal aspects of the job.
Does a sales manager need to know about selling? Of course she does. Does an IT manager need to know about computer hard- ware and software? Of course he does. Does a football coach need to know how to play football? Of course he does.
It’s going to be pretty difficult to manage your team if you don’t know how to do what your team members do. However, contrary to what some people believe, the successful manager doesn’t have to be as good at the job or as knowledgeable as their team members.
If you look at the careers of some of our successful sports coaches you’ll find some guys who were pretty average players.
Many of them were nowhere near as good as some of the star players they coach today. However, that hasn’t stopped them becoming successful as coaches.
It’s important to have the knowledge about the industry or busi- ness that you’re in and understand how your team members do their job. However, that’s not what will ultimately determine your success as a manager.
Mike Krzyzewski, the basketball coach, says in his book Leading with the Heart: ‘It’s important for a leader to focus on the techni- cal details of his industry or business. But it’s vitalto focus on details related specifically to people in the organization.’
To be a successful Motivational Manager you’ve got to know the business you’re in, but more impor- tantly you’ve got to know how to get the best out of your people. In my career I worked for seven compa- nies, three of which I joined as an experienced manager. Of the three I joined as a manager, one sold car maintenance products, the next one sold tools and indus- trial supplies and the last one sold beer; three totally different industries with different customers and cultures.
I can remember some of my new team members saying to me at each company I joined, ‘It’s different in this business, you’ll find it difficult because it’s not the same as you’re used to.’ (Do you think they were pleased to see me?)
Of course it was a different industry but managing the team members wasn’t different and that was what I was hired to do.
At interview stage, even senior managers had reservations about my lack of knowledge of their industry. However, when I joined these organisations I made it my business to find out as much as I could about the industry and the products. I never became an expert in the products or services but I sure knew how to manage their people, communicate with them on a human level and bring in the sales.
The ironic thing is that most organisations will help managers become better at the business factors but do very little if any- thing with the human aspects. And if you think about it any further it’s probably the reason you bought this book.
Managers have traditionally developed the skills in finance, planning, marketing and production techniques. Too often the relationships with their people have been assigned a sec- ondary role. This is too important a subject not to receive first line attention.
William Hewlett (1912–2001, American businessman, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard) To be a successful Motivational
Manager you’ve got to know the business you’re in, but more
importantly you’ve got to know how to get the best out of
your people.