EXPERIENCES ON MANAGERIAL SUPPORT: SUPPORTING GENERAL MANAGERS

As non English but Spanish native speaker, it was tough to choose a title that fit my message; however, it's about how to help managers to run their business. But not any kind of managers; only those at the top of small - medium business or enterprises with a massive growth.

That be said, let us begin.

Although my experiences of supporting managers and owners are so varied, all of them have promptly contributed -in my opinion- to establish planning, coordination and control mechanisms; in other words, they have been simple and clear work methodologies based on discipline and order.

Example 1: Project management support

Following a detailed study carried out in large company logistics department, I suggested several actions to guide its growth and alignment with the established vision.

After my relationship with the customer was over, nothing happened while time passed. So, I asked him -also a friend of mine- to allow me to take a look: it was weird that an excellent professional team were not capable of taking necessary and obvious action.

In short, these people needed a facilitator: someone that helps them to coordinate and carry out the extra tasks to set up an improvement project. So, I volunteered for that purpose and we started working. Finally, we achieved two objectives:

a. make the required changes within the established period, and

b. generate for the company the know-how for managing this kind of projects: they no longer will need a facilitator.

Example 2: To establish a coordination mechanism

A medium-sized company had had an explosive growth; then, each supervisor or manager begun to drive their area with little or no coordination within the team.

It was necessary to design a mechanism that would allow the heads to coordinate their tasks.

Inspired on the Open Book Management philosophy, a twice-a-month management committee was established; its backbone was the review of the Profit and Loss Statement and Cash Flow. Both of them drawn over managerial templates, not in accounting ones. Every line of the statements was explained by the person accountable for. Meetings usually last less than 90 minutes.

These meetings have been facilitating, through the explanations of each one, the knowledge of the activities and plans of each area to execute the relevant coordination on time.

Additionally, every week we have a face-to-face meeting with the general manager to review what was discussed in the past committees, review the alignment of the activities with the vision, control that no key activity is delayed, and accumulate relevant information to design the planning days, where, with everyone's contribution, the short and long-term objectives are set.

Example 3: Organizational development

A small family business grew exponentially, plunging the managers-shareholders into the greatest perplexity: they sold almost a million soles (local currency) each month, but they were always in financial problems (going out to look for cash because they could not pay the payroll or some other obligation).

I had to teach them the rudiments of management control: keep up to date and look at the financial statements every month, establish the real cost of each service - they were making the mistake of blindly believing in the costs that they had projected at the beginning of operations.

The second thing was to begin to give the area heads greater self-esteem and autonomy, since the manager dominant and paternalistic nature had reduced them to being just non thinking executors. At the same time, I had to explain the manager the consequences of this pernicious management style.

Once they began to have more independence of judgment and started to manage their areas, a plan for professional and human growth was made for each one.

The task now is to ensure that they comprehensively carry out a certain annual planning exercise so that they can become aware that achieving the vision is not a matter of magic or chance, but of the work they should begin to do today.

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Let us wrap up: it can be seen that the intervention schemes to provide support and help in the coordination of activities are so different, that they are designed to suit each organization.

The key to success, in my opinion, is achieving the optimal degree of involvement: not getting involved in the daily management of the company, but being willing to enter, in an orderly manner, to work with others in company issues, in which external support is truly required. Getting involved in daily management does not contribute to the whole because, on the one hand, it distracts the consultant/facilitator's forces that should concentrate on critical aspects, and on the other, it weakens the designated executors.

Your comments are welcome; I would appreciate them.