04/ 20/ 2006
by Charles R. McConnell
Employee Smith is scheduled to meet with her manager every Wednesday at 11 a.m. to discuss current activities, but the meeting never begins before 11:15. Sometimes, it doesn't start until 11:30 or later and, about one-fourth of the time, it doesn't occur at all (which Smith doesn't realize until it becomes clear that the boss isn't going to show). But this is acceptable. The boss is, after all, the boss, and thus is more important than Smith, right?
Manager Jones has six employees with whom he schedules a staff meeting for 1 p.m. every Thursday. He tells them that they must be ready to begin at 1 p.m. on the dot. However, manager Jones never arrives before 1:10, usually runs more than 15 minutes late and calls off the meeting about once out of every four or five times––well after 1 p.m. when the six are already assembled and waiting. But this, too, is all right; after all, Jones is boss and the others exist to serve him, right?
Manager Green often calls employee Brown to the office for one-on-one meetings about work issues. But it’s difficult to stay on subject because Green regularly takes phone calls, makes “important” calls he suddenly remembers, allows walk-in interruptions and spends time searching files and desktop clutter for material he needs for his meeting with Brown. Brown figures it takes an hour in Green’s office to transact a quarter-hour worth of business. Green’s behavior implies that this practice is acceptable. Brown, however, knows better.
Inconsiderate management
Smith’s manager, along with managers Jones and Green, are also guilty of another common practice that they believe is natural and acceptable. They toss out assignments and requests with minimal definition and detail to employees, forcing them to struggle with unclear direction and repeat tasks until the results are acceptable. As one manager states, “I'll know what I want when I see it.” When challenged about this wasteful practice, this same manager explains, in all sincerity: “You're here to do as I say, and your time is mine to use as I see fit.”
This manager is, of course, dead wrong. Employees’ time is not the manager’s to use in any way he or she might wish, though many regularly behave in a manner indicating that this is so. And it’s but a short leap from the importance of time to the importance of people. Managers who behave this way send a message that they are more important than their employees.
The managers described above behave according to what we might characterize as the “footman approach.” In the days when royalty and privileged citizens traveled in fancy horse-drawn coaches, servants known as footmen often attended them. Usually a pair of footmen rode standing at the rear of the coach. When the coach wasn't moving, the footmen stood by at attention until directed to perform some specific task. Some managers treat their employees as footmen simply willing to stand and wait until specifically called upon. Under the footman approach, employees are simply extensions of the manager to be used when and how he or she wishes to use them. Unfortunately, much time and talent are wasted as underutilized employees wait for something substantive to do.
Considerate management
Every manager should occasionally ask, “What’s the true value of a manager? Why am I here? And why are the employees here?” Unless the manager is a worker as well as supervisor, the employees are the ones who serve the clients or customers and do the hands-on work. If the employees could do so by themselves, it would make no sense to have a manager. So what, then, can the manager contribute?
Management is frequently described as getting things done through people. To get things done through people and to get them done properly and efficiently, managers must supply employees with what they need to get the job done––direction, support, materials, equipment and whatever else is needed. It means running interference for employees, working to ensure that they are able to serve the clients or customers as efficiently and effectively as possible. This can't happen when the manager wastes employees’ time with unclear direction and inefficient meetings. Nor can it happen when employees are treated as tools for the manager to use from time to time, before setting them aside until they are needed again.
The successful manager respects employees’ time, runs interference for them and takes every reasonable step to ensure that they provide employees with the complete wherewithal to get the job done, free from time-wasting intrusions.
