Secrets of Effective Managers (Not) #25 – Understanding and Using the Emphasis/De-emphasis Problem

Natural barriers to flows of information can work to your advantage.  One of the most prevalent natural barriers to the flow of information in a large, bureaucratic organization is the “emphasis/de-emphasis problem.”  This concept describes how any issue reported up the chain of command will become less important at each higher level, and any direction reported down the chain of command will become more important at each level.  So how can you use this knowledge?

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 5,200 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Secrets of Effective Management (Not) #24 – The Zen of Management: Acceptance is a Strength

Acceptance is a skill to be cultivated.   You can get more out of your employees by letting important tasks like creating organization charts languish.  While people are working, trying to generate positive value for the company, the lack of management-provided tools such as an organization chart or seating chart will frustrate them and cause waste and hassle.  Those with the greatest need will be forced to create their own charts, just to do their jobs.  While some of these tools may not be all-encompassing or particularly correct some, such as those created by employees working on major proposals, may be very useful.  In addition, many such documents will be better than a manager could have produced because the people creating them are actively working inside the organization and doing the legwork for you.   In the spirit of the Zen manager, simply accept this gift from the cosmos and make it official.

Selfless anonymity is a good thing.  Crediting the author isn’t necessary, and may not be possible.  Once you find such a document, possibly on the floor or in the output hopper of the office printer-copier, you have the option to claim it as your own, but that might not be the best course of action.  If there are flaws in it, they can be corrected, but the important point is that you can’t be blamed for errors and didn’t have to do the work to create it yourself.  Blow it up and post it conspicuously somewhere, and the business will be better organized with almost no effort or liability on your part.

Thus, Zen-like thinking can be an advantage for you, keeping your employees busy creating documents normally provided by people in a higher pay bracket – savings for your budget – and providing important tools to the business while leaving you ample time for practicing your putting game.

What Am I Expecting from This Blog?

I am expecting that sooner or later someone will leave me a comment like “You are one insidious, vicious S.O.B.!”   I hope that all readers of this blog understand that it contains true evidence of human failings including selfishness, greed, and plain meanness, because that is what is behind the writings here.  Not that I, the author, am vicious or mean (though my bad advice here might be seen that way).  My intent is to make people both laugh and see the fallacies that drive people to manage in the terrible ways I describe, all of which are patently BAD – bad for them, bad for the employees they subject to such mistreatment, and bad for the company and society as a whole.

Please do NOT follow the advice here – it is only intended to make you laugh and think, and hopefully manage better should you find yourself in such a position.  Enjoy, and thanks for reading!  — Tim

Secrets of Effective Management (Not) #23 – Be a “Clean Hands” Manager

A manager is important by definition.  If you didn’t know more than your subordinates they wouldn’t have made you a manager, right?  So how do you maintain your importance, promote your career, keep your people busy, and still have time to keep up with your Facebook account?  The secret is, it’s all about making impressions, setting expectations, and conditioning those around you in ways that serve you.  How can you master this important management skill?

Secrets of Effective Management (Not) #22: Employee Evaluations, a Tool for Cost Control

Employees expect evaluations, and hope they will be rewarded with raises. The only problem is that raises increase your cost, and that would require approval (and potential disapproval) from your superiors unless you own the company, in which case it decreases your personal profit.  Positive evaluations, and the raises that employees expect with them, can also make them feel “cocky” and self-important, and could lead to some of them challenging your authority – a bad thing.  There are effective ways to deal with this, however.

Secrets of Effective Management (Not) #21: Security Systems – A Powerful Tool You Can’t Overuse

Even if your employees aren’t working with loose diamonds, treat them like they are. When they see the cameras scanning every inch of your business, outside and inside, and know your security officer has a wall of screens, constantly recorded, where he or she can watch their every move, they won’t feel distrusted and become disloyal, they’ll just think you really care about protecting them, their jobs, and the future of the company.  When it takes them extra minutes every time they want to enter, exit, or move about the building just to type their pin number into a “scram-box” pad at every doorway they won’t be annoyed, they will tell each other how much they appreciate your investment in their safety and security, and how valuable their work must be.  Never mind the fact that your company makes cardboard boxes and hasn’t changed its technology much in decades, let alone patented anything. Your employees will just think you are looking out for them.

Secrets of Effective Management (Not) #20 – ISO9001, CMMI, and Other Valuable Quality Certifications Made Simple

Quality-related certifications are valuable marketing assets. Certifying your company to any of the popular quality standards can make both you and your company look good, and may even fool some customers into thinking you are better than your competitors.  While on the face of it such certifications can appear daunting, there are ways to obtain them with minimal impact to your your putting practice though you’ll still have to pay the auditing organization’s fees and bring in an experienced coordinator (preferably on contract so you can drop them from the payroll after your certifications are in place).

Secrets of Effective Management (Not) #19 – Spotting the B.S., a Key Management Skill

In business, people are always b&ll$h|tting – subordinates to superiors, suppliers to customers, etc. The ability to do this can make you a certified bada$$ butt-kicking tough-guy manager almost by itself. A skilled manager can read BS in people’s faces and body language. In fact, if you can do this, you are certainly on a fast track to an upper management position. If you can’t read people’s faces, you still want them to think you can, so be sure to mention it once in a while, possibly as an opening statement at a meeting, making sure that everyone under you knows you are watching and are good at sorting the BS from the realities.

I Sure Hope Nobody is Taking Any of this Advice Seriously …

This blog was set up to provide some very snide commentary on bad management styles and behaviors.  I really hope nobody is taking it in any other way.  If you got a laugh or two out of it, I am pleased as can be. 

As always, I welcome your comments.