Manager for "MORE" or Manager for "BETTER"

“Even if you overshoot your target, our boss is never going to be content, he will ultimately ask for more,” said Daniel. While speaking to his colleague, Daniel was very clear and carried no ambiguity in his mind about his opinion for his boss Vijay. The site of this conversation was the restroom adjacent to the meeting room. It’s an open secret that during review meetings and conferences, the restroom conversations at break time are a big reflection of the environment within a team. Incidentally or ironically or rather incidentally and ironically manager Vijay was also present at one corner of the same restroom and was actually not visible to his subordinates. Earlier as Vijay entered this restroom he was feeling really excited about the innovative ideas that were part of his presentation to the team. Manager Vijay was sure that he will be able to push his team for doing more with his unique ideas. But that was before his eardrums allowed subordinate Daniel’s comment to reach his mind. Manager Vijay is now in a different frame of mind. “This guy Daniel whom I rated as best talent in my team carries such a negative notion for me. You can’t trust them, People have different faces for different occasions. I am not doing anything wrong here, all I wanted to achieve is a yet better performance which is good for me, good for my teammates, good for our organisation”, these are the self-talks that manager Vijay ends up with. 

I hope you could observe the focus of Vijay getting shifted. From a focus towards better performance, Vijay has a shift in his focus and is now thinking more about negativity within his team, we know he is bound to lose his effectiveness by this changed focus. The bone of contention is how did all this got started. Manager Vijay and Subordinate Daniel both are professionals having a bigger purpose of applying their skills in creating something bigger and better. But now something else also has captured their attention.

Is Vijay a Manager for "MORE" ,

what if he chooses to be

a Manager for "BETTER.

"Managers for MORE" have their actions, thoughts, and plans focussed towards getting MORE work done and MORE task being completed

"Managers for BETTER" look for improvisation and hence have their actions, thoughts, and plans completely focussed towards getting BETTER work done and the task getting completed in a BETTER way.

Managers driving for "better" are more likely to increase the efficiency of the entire team and overall outcome. The team ultimately achieves more whereas when managers are driving for "more" only, then they are more likely to get "less-better" outcome.

Managers for "BETTER"; Caution 

To create a predictable business model, Managers for "BETTER" play a decisive role. But sometimes such managers create big kiosks when they lack empathy towards people or when they get more obsessed with the process and miss sight of the ultimate objective of performance.