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on managing, yesterday and today
It is 52 years since I took my first step into management. It was just a small step, I ran an estate agency’s branch office where the only employees were me and a part time typist. I learned about responsibility, but nothing of any significance over the eight or nine months that I was in that job as far as managing people was concerned.
My next outing as a manager was about two years later when, for two weeks, I covered for someone who was on holiday. I knew the job that I had to do, but my team was two pairs of middle aged women, one pair in the mornings and the other in the afternoons. I was clueless in directing them and they ran rings around me. I made such a hash of it that it almost stopped my career progression with that company on its tracks.
I started to watch other managers and began to understand a little. As always there were good managers and bad, but I started to see why and I was on the cusp of being given my own department to run when I upped sticks and left. It was a stupid move and six months later I moved again. In this, latest, job I restarted progress towards becoming a manager.
It took me twelve years from starting work before I finally got into the managerial ranks but, once there, I made rapid progress and had a good run, making it from the shop floor to the boardroom. We had processes, rules and laws to comply with, but decision making and leading your people were fundamental parts of what we did. If you were good enough at those you did well.
Today’s managers seem to lack almost all of the freedom that we enjoyed. Computers don’t guide the modern manager in the way that they began to do for me, now they make many of the decisions; scheduling hours, ordering stock and more. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking over and I am aware of systems that drive many of the things that a manager would have been expected to get right.
I wonder what skills I would be looking for if I were asked to assess someone for a management role today. Leadership would be a given, but what else if the machine is making all of the decisions? Almost none of the managerial skills that I might have looked for in terms of being able to assimilate, assess and react to information seem to be applicable in the modern environment. There is one though, and it is ever more applicable in today’s environment, and it is the ability to create a workplace that the team feel comfortable, safe and valued in.
This is not so much in the physical sense, because that should be a given, rather it is in the psychological arena, and the key to it is being able to act as a barrier between the company and your team. Let the good stuff flow through, anything positive, involving praise or general corporate information, but as a wall against anything negative. You may be getting hammered by your boss over some element of performance, but the way that you handle that with your team is important.
The ability to lead people is going to outlive anything that AI can do, and a good leader will still stand out, especially the ones that can create an environment where their team can learn, make mistakes and grow. Such places are happy ones, despite any day to day frustrations that life throws up. Creating them is a skill that we need to cherish.
nice guys don’t come first
I ran into an old colleague last week, not someone that I had worked very closely with, but our paths had crossed a lot over a dozen years or so as we made our respective ways through the labyrinth of a large corporate empire. We took ourselves into a nearby hostelry to escape the rain and have lunch.
As always on these occasions we re-fought a few old battles through rose tinted glasses. We had sometimes been on the same side in these, sometimes not, and when she made that observation I offered the argument that there should not have been sides: surely the objection should always have been to the benefit of the organisation.
That, she said, was where I had wasted my opportunities, and cited two incidents, about five years apart, where I had moved to operation that I was leading into another part of the corporation, but on both occasions I had, personally, lost out. I could have had a much more successful career if I had put myself first and made sure that I was going to do well out of the changes but, instead, I had put the organisation first.
Both organisation changes had seen me shunted sideways rather than moving on up and, whilst there was recognition of my talents, the lack of self-interest and self-promotion was seen as a weakness: I was too nice.
I’m not sure that I can accept the last point, for I don’t think that I was that nice, but overall I can see that she was right, for, once I got into any sort of position of influence, I was primarily interested in doing what I saw as good for the business, and the consequences for me were only ever secondary.
In some ways that was a weakness, in that I should have thought that element of the proposal through, after all, I had worked everything else out, but, for me, that self-interest was somehow distasteful and so I did nothing about it, although I always tried to look after my team in these deals.
Whatever the outcome I was always able to look into the mirror and feel comfortable with the image that I saw. I got through working to my own code, the one that evolved from the way that I was brought up, and, above all, for the most part I enjoyed my time in a suit. I had some fun, and, for me, that is more valuable than having scrambled up another couple of rungs on the ladder.
on post nominals
At one time in my career I was entitled to use a run of three post nominals, but, most of the time, I didn’t use them. I would have two sets of business cards, one with, one without, and normally only used the latter. The former only came out for people that I knew would be looking for them. They were one of many things related to status that I coveted until I had earned them, at which point I didn’t really want them anymore.
I have noticed that someone who was recently awarded an MBE has added that post nominal to their social media name, and my instant reaction was, how naff. No doubt they are very proud of the award. They are, like me, from humble origins and perhaps the award means so much more to them, their friends and family So be it.
Where I encountered post nominals most often was in the public sector, and I would wait until those that I was meeting had offered their business cards. If these were PN encrusted, then I would drop my similarly endorsed cards in response. To show that we were in the same club, and that I was in a couple of extra ones too. It was a silly game, but making people feel comfortable with me was an important part of what I was doing.
For the rest I did not give a hoot. If someone asked if I was a member I would tell them, but otherwise I kept quiet about it. I have a lot of sympathy for the Groucho Marx approach and do not want to be a member of the sort of club that would have me as a member.
As it happens I have resigned from all three professional bodies and, I think, have managed to expunge any reference to any of them in my social media presence. I bear them no ill will, I just have no desire to be a part of what they do anymore. I have moved on.
on women bosses
One of the photos of me in my younger days as a manager sees me in the company of my then boss, Diane Santos. This was back in 1982, so 41 years ago now, and a friend, seeing it amongst my work photo album brought the question, “How did you get on with working for a woman back then?”, the assumption being that it was unusual.
It wasn’t. Diane was one of a long line of women that I had worked for, and she was not the last. Yes, there had been jobs that I had done where management was very much male dominated, but Diane was the third woman boss that I had had from the last four. Despite what people might want you to believe, there were plenty of women in management, or at least there were in my working life. For me a boss was a boss. They were either good or bad, and I learned from them all, but it has never made any difference to me what sex they were.
Back then I didn’t give it a thought. I suppose that I was used to women in authority; most of my schoolteachers were women, and I grew up around powerful women so perhaps I had just got used to taking orders from them. Whatever, I have never had a problem working for women, and still don’t. I do have a problem about working for ignorant or incompetent people but they can come in either sex.
I am an elitist, I believe in a meritocracy, so any move towards quotas I regard as discriminatory. I find such practices abhorrent, and do not believe that they advance the cause that they propose to promote. I have worked with, and for. enough talented women to know that they don’t need preferential treatment (I am married to one too).
Just to make it clear, I am a man. I was born male and have not, so far, had any doubts about my sex or heterosexuality. I may not that macho, although I have had my moments, and still do, but working for a woman has never left me feeling threatened, or in any way diminished my masculinity. I do not understand why there should be an issue.
The sad thing, for me, is that the friend who started this musing off is a lady who is a couple of generations younger than me. What she has been told, or taught, about the world that I lived in before she was born bears little resemblance to my experience of it. I have never had a problem with working for a woman in all of the fifty plus years that I have been at work. And yes, there have been women in charge throughout my working life, so don’t try am tell me that they weren’t.
on social media
I have given up completely on Twitter. Nothing to do with the new owner, more because it seemed to have become a cesspit of abuse, and it was also getting flooded with things that it seemed to think that I would like. I must, at some point, remove the Twitter element on this page, but do not seem to be able to find time at present. Maybe it’s a job that I can fit in on holiday later in the year.
I do have a couple of Instagram accounts linked to aspects of my life, but don’t use either of them now and I really ought to get rid of both. TikTok I have n to tried and see no reason to bother with and whilst I still look in on LinkedIn and have been accepting requests to join my network, I don’t bother to look much at what is going on. I really only keep it so that I can nose around and see what people I know are up to.
Facebook, which at one time I derided, I do look in on daily, but I really ought to get rid of some of my Pages there as I just don’t use them that often. Once again, they were set up for use in a business sense, to establish a social media presence, but that need is now past. Just as I cleaned up other aspects of my web profile, there is more to do. One of the problems is that the platforms often make it hard to shut things down. I get to the stage where I can’t be bothered.
On Facebook there are a number of groups that I follow where things that interest me are shown, but even there there can be some nasty stuff published.there are times when I think that anti-social media is a better description. I don’t care if people abuse me on any of my posts. They are entitled to their opinions, and if they think that I am wrong they can say so. If they do so in an abusive manner then that is their problem and it shows them up for what they are. I am not shrinking violet and have been called all sorts of things to my face – I was a soccer referee at one time. But, on the whole, I prefer to keep such unpleasantry out of my life and so tend to leave groups where that sort of behaviour is unmoderated.
One of the other things that I do not like is the level of plagiarism. The same photo, often with the same text will get re-posted in other groups and, when challenged, will get the response “Well, I thought people here would like it”. Maybe, but it would have been nice to have asked first. There is also the promulgation of wrong information, not necessarily through malice, but ignorance.
Social media may be a benefit to some. It certainly is a profitable business, but it is something that I have moved away from and that is why you’ll find I am not out there as much as I once was.
on teams
So much of team building chatter is based on the premise that we are all capable of being excellent, that same mentality of the Blair years that we can all have anything that we want, that there are no losers and similar excuses that blights genuine progress. The reality is that there are always losers because there are so few genuine winners and, in any case, true excellence is something that comes at the expense of much else. If you want that you can forget most of the work:life balance claptrap that is bandied around.
For anyone leading a team the issue is how to get the best balance from what you have and you will rarely have any choice in picking your team, at least at first, so you will be doing what you can with the hand that you are dealt. There is every chance that you will have a star or rough diamond in the mix and a number of people who are very competent as well as what will seem to be a dud or two.
The first step is to get to know them and try to understand what makes them tick. Weaknesses are important, but put them at the back of the queue for now and concentrate of strengths. You may want to work on people’s weak areas in time, but for now use the team to cover each other’s weak area. If someone is not good on the ‘phone don’t let them answer it. It is important to the team to feel that you believe in them so if you get them doing the things that they are best at they will be happier and start to trust you. As that trust builds they will be more receptive to your efforts to develop them and these should always be around polishing their skills before working on their weaker areas.
If you can get that right you will find that at least some of your team will start to ask about working on their weaknesses. This only comes when people begin to feel confident and you will not get that by harping on about their weaknesses; you need to be subtle and building the confidence that they, and you, need. It is about building an atmosphere of mutual trust.
Another benefit from this approach is that when things go wrong people will be more open about what they did which helps to understand what you need to do to prevent recurrence. Eliminating errors becomes a lot easier when your team truly believe that they are working in a no-blame culture so always look for what went wrong rather than who did it.
As you come to understand your team better you will also understand what motivates them. Not everyone wants to be a star and there is no reason why they should. For many people to just do a job that fulfils them and enables them to survive in modest comfort is all they want and people like that are the bedrock of any team. They turn up, do their stuff and go home day in, day out. What will demotivate people like that quickly is a poor working environment so, as leader, you want to make sure that the physical infrastructure works well and that your team have the things that they need. It can become a huge problem when the stapler can rarely be found and, when it can, it is out of staples or the photocopier is always out of paper. These are simple things to fix, but are the grains of sand that can grind people down. Fix them and people will be happier and happier people are more motivated and productive.
A few thought to play with. As always, feel free to disagree.
on attitudes
People are strange. We all are to some degree or other, but there are times when one or more will just be contrary; they will not accept the common belief in something. How you overcome that as a leader is something that you will have to come to terms with.
Take the current position on wearing masks whilst shopping. It was plain from the start that it was a good idea in general. Yes there are some problems, but if you wore a mask correctly and observed the readily available advice on wearing and disposing of same then you were going to be at less risk than without and were less likely to spread the plague if you didn’t know you had it.
Now it is compulsory unless you have genuine reasons for not wearing one, but there are plenty of people taking the “I’m not wearing one” stance. They all have their own reasons, but why defy a requirement, especially one that makes sense?
The internet, social media in particular, does not help for it is hardly the place for sensible debate let alone good advice. But if someone wants to believe something they will do so and will not be easily persuaded otherwise. I recall a case where we had found funds to refurbish the restaurant at a building that served around 1300 people daily. The original layout and furnishings were around 25 years old and very much on the lines of a 1950s works canteen, so a refresh was long overdue.
We did some consultation with the users and from that the architects came up with a new style. A display of the proposals was put up in the restaurant for people to see and comment on and I went along that day to get some direct feedback. “Where are we going to eat when all this happens?” was the first comment, so I asked what they meant. Surely it was obvious that everyone would continue to eat in the refurbished restaurant, but no, there was a strong feeling that the new layout was “too posh” and only designed for the select few; the “ordinary workers” would have to eat at their desks or find somewhere else to have their lunch. There was also a firm belief that prices would go up to levels that they could not afford despite a clear assurance that they would not.
Around 200, of the 1300, were convinced that they would not be allowed to come into the new restaurant and, once it opened, about 50 declined to use it in case they were refused service. They would not believe the evidence before their very eyes and you can do nothing about that sort of bigotry.
As a leader you try to take people with you, but you cannot allow yourself to be distracted by minorities. Spend time on them by all means, but don’t forget the majority who are with you all the way. If they think that you have lost interest in them you will loose them too. Attitudes can be changed and good leaders can do it with ease, but never forget the law of diminishing returns; spend your time one the people that are worth the investment and don’t waste too mucho in those that are not.
on good and bad
I am an avid reader. I have been since I learned to read and have always got a book on the go. At the moment I have three; one a technical tome that I read on the dining table, and e-book biography that I read on my ‘phone over breakfast and breaks at work and a paperback biography for bedtime reading. From two of this trio comes some thought on good and bad in people.
There was a man who was prominent in a field that I know a lot about. He was, in many ways, a pompous ass and was not quite as good at what he did as he thought he was. I would have loathed having to work with him in that respect, but on the other hand he did a lot of good things. Overall I have always though of him as a decent enough bloke, but one of the books that I am currently reading alleges that he was far from good.
It is a common enough theme; Rolf Harris gave a lot of pleasure as an entertainer before certain facts became known and he went to prison for his actions. Jimmy Savile did a lot of good for various charities, but was also found to be a bad lot after he had died and no doubt you can think of your own examples.
Over the years I have worked with people who have been lovely as individuals, but a nightmare to work alongside. There have been others who have been a delight to work with yet were not people that I would have wanted to know outside of the office. My view is that I have a job to do and it will get done regardless of how I feel about the people around me and I am sure that there are people who have known me who did not like me at work or would not have wanted to socialise with me. It matters not to me.
There seems to be a view these days that people should be perfect, but we aren’t. There is always the possibility that there will be something about us that would offend others. For most of my life that didn’t matter; I have always had friends who had different political views to me, supported sports stars or teams that I can’t abide, were deeply religious (I am an atheist) or whatever. Our differences often cemented the friendship as we argued our respective points of view.
My friendships have also survived where the other party has done something that they should not have done. I am not going to abandon a pal lightly; if you are my friend and you are in trouble you know that I will be there for you. This is not something that I was directly brought up to, more that it is how my attitudes have evolved.
I do not expect perfection from anyone, let alone politicians and business leaders. Yes I would like them to behave to a standard that I would find acceptable, but why should my standards prevail? There is good and bad in us all and I can live with that.
the lockdown log 7
So far the day goes well. Thursdays I have off from my part time job and so I, being an early riser, get on with more personal projects. This morning I have written a new page for the companion blog to this one and saved the draft for reviewing later and been out for my essential chores trip. Read more…
on why good teams can emerge around bad leaders
There is a lot written and taught about good leadership being behind the development of good teams and I have contributed my fair share. But is a good leader essential to the creation of a good team? Read more…
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the Monday Musings column from that consultant bloke 