Following are 3 P's and 2 Q's that are useful guidelines for managers.
- Purpose
When people are united in a common purpose, management becomes simpler. Ensure that the purpose of everything is communicated clearly, respecting people's need to know and understand. Check that tasks and processes align with that purpose, with integrity, with agreed standards and boundaries and with a logical order of priority.
- People
Smart management is truly about working well with people. Almost all of the pain I ever encounter in client organisations is caused by lack of people skills. People are complex organisms, right? Open systems! Not robots or bicycles. Not predictable, and not always reliable.
When we develop sensitive awareness, and begin to understand even a little about how our people tick, we get closer to helping them to achieve agreed results. Psych school is never out for the smart manager.
- Processes
I've always loathed the terms ‘hard' and ‘soft' skills. The so-called 'soft' skills are the hardest, and the so-called 'hard' skills usually end up melting under pressure!
There are people skills and process skills. Processes are to help people to perform, not vice versa. The simpler the better, to be continually challenged and made easier, to help people perform more effectively to purpose. That's smart.
- Questions
Managing by questioning is much smarter than managing by telling. I was always told in sales that good selling is asking, not telling - and I think good managing is the same.
People will always act for their reasons, not yours, and only questioning will tell you what those reasons are. Another lesson from selling - people believe what they tell you, not what you tell them. So get your point across with questions.
- Quality
Thousands of employees have told me they don't get enough positive feedback from their managers. My first law of leadership is that people can only ever perform up to the level of belief they have in themselves - so the more they are acknowledged for the quality of their contribution, the more they give of it.
Most importantly, they need to know what quality is, when the desired standard is being reached; that gives them their measuring stick. Then, whenever they reach it, they need to be recognised and valued. Don't you wish your managers were smarter?
Management is definitely an art, not a science. But the more standards, processes and frameworks we can define it with, the more logical we can make it and the less overwhelming it becomes. Supporting people's growth, helping them become more of themselves, and mutually benefiting from personal and professional development provides the real joy.