Why is management so hard?

One reason is because so many managers bring a one-size-fits-all attitude to their work.

The reality is that that people are not alike, they’re different, and even in the workplace, where we have prized conformity for so many decades, people are still going to have their attitudes, approaches and personalities. Human nature doesn’t really like conformity, and people remain just about as diverse as ever. Workers have their own learning styles, their own philosophies of dealing with management, and their own levels of initiative and professional pride. Some people are working toward career advancement, and some people are just punching and punching out.

How do managers handle this? It helps to build a more dynamic and sophisticated style of management that will help to manage both the “tortoise” and the “hare.”

Using Educational Models

In an educational system, academic experts and other insiders are finding that the key to better control is decentralized management. That means a lot of small group work and individual learning, rather than lectures. It means giving people the keys to learning and letting them learn on their own, rather than standing over them with the textbook.

Much of this translates perfectly to the job world, where management is so much like teaching. An individual is in a key role of providing guidance to people. But how he or she does it matters immensely. So bringing these new philosophies from academics to management is going to help managers do a lot more every day, and really provide value to their employers.

Levels of Initiative and Control

Some people just need more management than others. By implementing some of the above ideas, such as group work and self-monitoring, managers allow the more expeditious or “rabbit-like” career professionals to work relatively unimpeded by external management. Then they have more time to devote to those who really need help with one or two key areas, or tend to have recurring questions about some part of the job process.

Evaluations

Evaluations are a kind of road map for the dynamic manager. Getting in-depth evaluations each year helps the manager to figure out where to put resources. It provides benchmarking that’s needed for this kind of managing triage. That’s why it’s important to invest in this kind of documentation and workplace testing, to give managers the business intelligence they need to do their jobs well.

Harmony

Another key principle is this: in many ways, the manager’s job is not to try to micromanage peoples’ actual work, but to try to provide harmony in the workplace. So in doing all of the above things, it’s important to not frame it in a way that some people are better, or faster, or quicker or stronger than others. It’s important to value everyone, and give them what they need to access their true potential. This is as simple as refraining from applying labels to the management styles that are used. Giving someone more time doesn’t mean they’re “worse” than someone else, or not as clever or competent. It’s just a fact of the management world, and it’s something that should be done without a lot of drama and discussion.

In a more general sense, providing harmony means smoothing out conflict, not by injecting personal opinion into every aspect of the workplace, but by trying to create a better culture within the office that allows people to be who they are, and get along with each other each day.

For more about management, take a look at what Full Steam Staffing offers to our client companies, to help them succeed in the years ahead.