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We Don’t Work for Companies; We Work for Managers

By Michelle Malay Carter on October 11, 2007 

?Managers trump companies,? states First, Break All the Rules. Company reputation aside, as far as employees are concerned, one bad manager spoils the job.

Despite perks and generous benefits, an employee?s relationship with her immediate manager will determine how long she stays and how productive she is.

What do we want from managers? (A recap from yesterday)

• Context, context, context ? surrounding our role relative to strategy, our role relative to our managers, our role relative to our peers, our role relative to others within the organization, about the task?s assigned to us
• Clear accountabilities and authorities
• Proper task assignment
• Resources to get our job done ? time, money, training, paving the way for access to others, the use of others, information from others
• Regular feedback on our performance with the opportunity to account for our decisions
• Assessments based on our overall effectiveness in light of prevailing conditions, rather than by the numbers
• Fair pay
• A willingness to address performance issues or inappropriate behavior

Assuming all managers were screened to ensure they had problem-solving capability at one level beyond that of their direct reports, I believe most managers would be more than willing and able to provide this IF the organization provided them what they needed as managers.

What do managers need in order to provide this? (Information I promised in yesterday?s post.)

An institutionalized, total-system approach to managerial leadership which includes:

• Clear managerial accountabilities
• A minimum set of managerial authorities to be able to assume accountability
• A selection/promotion system that accounts for problem-solving capability
• Raw talent, aka problem-solving capability, assessment skills in addition to basic managerial skills
• Time allotted in their role description to perform their managerial duties
• Explicit cross-functional authorities and accountabilities
• Science-based organization design aligned with strategy
• A fair pay system
• Involvement of the manager-once-removed in talent assessment, career mentoring, oversight of appropriate and fair application of managerial leadership

I say bravo to managers who strive to do the right thing and get the job done despite being systematically disabled.

Systems are the accountability of executive leadership, and although no company would dream of running without a multi-million dollar IT system, people systems remain snippets of sophomoric reactions to legislation and coping mechanisms for the inadequacy of this approach.

I have met very few executives who have the vision and the intestinal fortitude to invest in people systems to the extent that is needed. I say to the rest, have another hot dog at your employee appreciation picnic, and as Dr. Phil says, let me know how that’s working for you.

Filed Under Corporate Values, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, Managerial Leadership, Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Talent Management

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