Managerial Effectiveness

Anil works as a sales-officer in a large private sector bank. He needs to reach office by 8.45 am. All banks staff arrives by then and the day starts with morning meeting. His Manager heads a team of 10 sales people and 5 back office staff. As per Company rules Anil and the other sales staff needs to leave office by 10am for field visits. Anil has to make around 15-20 calls a day to meet his daily target. Every 30 minutes he needs to update his Manager on updated sales figures and in between he has to take calls from his manager, even while he is meeting the customer or having his lunch or riding his bike. If he misses any call, he is reprimanded by the Manager. Anil joined the Bank one ago, after completing his MBA with great dreams about the future. He now seems to be gradually losing his enthusiasm. He is seriously contemplating a job change.

Jacob a mechanical engineer works as Assistant Manager in an engineering company, in the quality department. During morning tool box meeting he tries to come up with brilliant ideas for improving quality standards, but is abruptly stopped by his Manager and the other seniors in the meeting. Jacob most often feels stuck up and is now losing confidence. He used to be an extrovert and outgoing person but these days he hardly talks to anyone in the office, other than work matters, and he prefers to have a quiet lunch in the office canteen. ?While working in his office, he often gets distracted and keeps surfing the job portal looking for a change…

The above cases are not isolated ones; there are perhaps thousands and thousands of cases happening around us.

Several global studies and internal employee surveys have validated the fact that managerial ineffectiveness is one of the many reasons for employees leaving the organization. In fact it’s popularly being said that employees leave the Manager or leave the toxic culture (created by the manager) and not much often due to salaries or compensation package.

In my own diagnosis across organizations, relationship between the manager and team members contribute towards improving overall productivity and performance. Therefore it becomes extremely critical for the organization to select and develop the “Right” person and put them on the “Manager’s” seat, otherwise results could be disastrous.

From the organization perspective “Managerial Effectiveness” is the ability of the individual to achieve set goals and objectives through effective use of resources like: Finance, Materials and most importantly People. The People Manager plays the critical role in setting the direction and vision for the organization. This is essential for overall growth & sustainability.

Therefore People Managers need to have a range of skills & attributes such as – Communication, decision making, problem solving, strategic thinking & leadership. They should be able to build and sustain strong relationship with customers other stakeholders and employees.

Beyond these skills an effective People Manager must have strong knowledge about the function they are heading. To be a successful People Manager, an individual must be open to learning and also learn about other functions . They must also have a strong understanding of the business environment they operate & should know about the competitive landscape, regulatory environment and economic & social factors that affect the organization.

Now, an important question is how can one become an effective Manager and a leader?

The journey towards managerial effectiveness is not laid with bed of roses. In many organizations training workshops on “Managerial Effectiveness” for the first time managers starts with a strong pledge such as ‘I will improve each and every day as a People Manager … “maybe it appears a bit dramatic, however one needs to appreciate that in today’s changing landscape an effective manager needs to take ownership of one’s own words and action and stay accountable for self and team teams performance.

Taking ownership in simple words would mean:

1.????Taking the right decision for self and team

2.????Getting to the root cause of the problems and solving them

3.????Doing the smallest to the biggest thing keeping in mind the organization interest.

Since many times situation around isn’t favorable. This can lead to victim thinking resulting in failed ownership.

When an organization suffers from poor performance or unsatisfactory results, individuals from top management all the way to the front line begin finger-pointing, forming excuses, rationalising, and justifying, instead of doing something to alleviate the situation. They foolishly profess that the circumstances have made victims of them, that the events are completely out of their control, and that they shouldn't be blamed for the organization’s current problems. It's always something or someone else, never themselves.

According to Connors, Smith and Hickman, many individuals and indeed organisations, looking for someone else to provide the answers and solutions to the challenges they face. The authors describe this as?“Below the Line”?thinking and acting which is typified by behaviours such as:

??????Tell me what to do (I can’t solve this problem myself)

??????It’s not my job (to solve this problem)

??????Everything’s fine (there is no problem)

??????Finger pointing (this problem is someone else’s fault)

??????Covering your tail (making excuses just in case any problems occur)

??????Wait and see (I know there’s a problem, but it might go away on its own)

Organizations and individuals who act in this way are engaged in “The Blame Game” and as such never truly realise their potential.

An effective Manager needs to start with self analysis of where they stand on two broad parameters:?Development & Motivation. An excellent Manager would score high on both parameters.

Similarly an effectual manager and leader must map every individual member in the team based on “Ability” &. “Willingness”

Ability- The capacity acquired to do the job through deliberate systematic & sustained effort. On other words the Skill. ?On the other hand

Willingness- The desire & motivation of individual to perform the job and the “Will do” attitude and confidence level.

After completing the mapping exercise the Manager needs to create a development plan for every individual in the team. Act as a developer, administrator or motivator depending on individual case. Create an environment for the individual to perform.

It does not stop there, they must also create and share a common vision with all members of the team by engaging the team, being empathetic and empowering every individual in the team

Ramanuj Mukherjee

Abhuday Aggarwal

Bhavana Kushwaha

Priyanka Karwa

Kiran M.

Anil Martyris

Lovisa Bergendal Lindstedt

Anna Vikstrom Persson

Olof Faxander

Jonas Gustavsson

Kartik Raina

# Managerial effectiveness # Employee retention # Leadership Development