Tom Desrosier
Much of what we believe about ourselves, our world and our politics, we learned from someone else.
Sometimes, years later, we still cling to this stufff, long after its proven wrong.
Go figure...
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Managers manage… But what!
Every now and then, I read something that challenges a core belief that has sat there for years, stinking up my brain cells in complacent, unchallenged squalor.
That’s why I visit my friend Rob’s blog daily. He is quick to disabuse me of such repose. And its not that I agree with Rob very often; because I cant say that I do… Its because he forces me to know why I don’t.
And today, he did it again. He beset me with a conundrum that not only challenged what I do, but who I am.
Soup bone…
Attend a snippet from the venerable Rob Patterson:
“This too is why the Manager is a dying breed too. Managers are in reality factory assembly line foremen whose job it is to meet the quota and the rules of the process. Theirs is not the job to think of new ways of doing things. Their job is to keep it all moving and the sheep from straying. But with fewer sheep, who needs the manager?
Again the biggest farce of all are all the managerial skills that are in demand. All those managers that are truly innovative get asked to leave. What is demanded is to be able to keep control.
The skill that managers need to rise, is not to have results, but to be expert politicians. Anyone who has been an outstanding manager who has constantly delivered results knows that this means little compared with others who climb over them.”
Rob postulates that this economic upheaval, together with the Web 2.0 will cause the demise of the traditional employee and attendant manager as the proper manner of things. He believes jobs are dehumanizing, dumb us down and prevent us from reaching any true personal growth. He poses that those in the role of manager, produce but two products: obedience and inter-office intrigue.
I guess its a good thing the web is here to rescue us all!
Not so fast, Rob.
For me to accept such a notion, that employees in a workplace, led by a manager must vanish for ever more, to be replaced with laptop-brandishing consultants, all hooked together, in synergetic work nirvana, I must also assume these ideas:
Big things, such as the movie Avatar, the Hoover Dam, the 2010 Dodge Ram pickup, the next miracle cure for Cancer, the replacement to the World Trade Center, a mission to Mars, can be produced by a loosely affiliated group of fiercely independent consultants and knowledge workers, all doing their small part.
Governments will pass laws that reorder international commerce, such that the advancement of each person’s skills and intrinsic self-worth will take precedence over competition for market share and price.
All people everywhere are smitten by this same sense of independence and entelechy that causes you and I to thrive on challenge and change. No one would be satisfied as a janitor or fast food server, or a nurse’s aide.
Global and National problems like peak oil, pollution, or terrorism, are best addressed by thousands of individuals, all on their own, with their own interests.
And now to my my much aligned role as a Manager… Incidentally I find it a noble profession; one worthy of me. 
I enforce company policy because lawyers are constantly circling overhead… I must ensure workers follow safety protocol, don’t create a hostile workforce, don’t release personal information to those unauthorized, come to work on time, look and deport themselves professionally so that there is no perception of favoritism. Some of this I do because it makes sense, a lot of it I do because my company and I can be sued if I don’t.
- I navigate a myriad of confusing and insurmountable rules to correct or fire recalcitrant and unprofessional workers less they spoil the rest. I must follow a strict regimen of counseling and employee intervention; I must do this to prevent union protests and law suits.
- Despite an assertion that managers force compliance… I must not merely cajole and bully, but must inspire and foster great customer service in my workforce. For jointly, our livelihoods depend on it!
I must always be vigilant for better and more efficient ways to add value to my customer so they see us as “team players”; again to perpetuate our existence.
- I review and revise so-called “dehumanizing” processes in an attempt to reduce accidents, and repeatable service misses because both can get us fired as a service provider.
- I and my ilk, work as long and as hard as it takes to make sure the people we are charged to lead, have work tomorrow, next week, next month. I spend hours staring at the P&L; looking for savings without cutting labor.
- I spend absolutely no time honing or practicing my obedience skills or hovering in doorways attempting to catch a bit of gossip. Those who do, I have no time for, nor any respect for.
Rob, many of us do not consult, but instead, we “do”. We don’t always enjoy some of the things we must do, but understand that great things; complex things, culture-changing things are done by people, who must be assimilated into a group so that their special contributions can be harvested.
Rob, I truly thank you for stirring the pot one more time! It is a consultant’s quintessential skill and one that we, who are in line management, require to refresh our notions of what we are about. In your defense, I might advance that the manager and employee you speak of – one given largely to the ignoble side of management, is alive and well in government and large bureaucracies. In my 30 years in government, I can assure you – it was all about intrigue, obedience and nothing to do with adding value or humanity.
Awesome job, Rob – and mission accomplished.
Tom
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Comments
Tom
Found the way in - we may be on the the same page.
The Manager that works is the NCO, Fire Truck Captain, or Centurion type - the person who knows more than the rest who leads from the front and does not sit back with a white hat and a spread sheet. A Legion had 5,000 men and a head office of the Legate, on a 3 year tour, 10 Tribunes on 6 month tours and 2 senior centurions with more than 30 years in.
In reality the Legion was run by the centurions who each had 80 men under them.
Of course unlike the modern work force, most of the men were very skilled and trained to a fine pitch. Not only warriors but engineers - they built the Empire.
I am not talking about team of consultants I am making the point that most people in most workplaces only know how to run formulas - they are very lightly skilled in reality - shake and bakers. Most managers also know next to nothing compared to say an experienced NCO. How are NCO’s selected and trained? Now compare that to most managers.
On the other hand look at how cathedrals were built - by teams of the very people you despise. How are movies made? The same process. Not much management to be seen - project management but not nannying children - no room for anyone on a film who does not know their craft - apprentices yes - but not whiny employees.
Over to you
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