I once did a one-year project for an enormous insurance company.
They had some significant challenges – they were hemorrhaging cash, it took them way too long to process a claim, they had ridiculously high levels of staff turnover, and they had a remarkably poor public and brand image. This organization was to insurance what Twinkies are to fine pastries.
They tried a number of things to attempt to improve the situation.
They reorganized every few months, thinking that if they arranged the boxes on the org-chart differently, it would magically change results.
They read the latest management books, and within a five-year period, they implemented:
- Self-directed teams
- Democratic leadership
- Co-managers (having two managers cover one portfolio to ensure adequate coverage)
- Business unit autonomy
- Total quality management
- Continuous improvement teams
- Lean manufacturing methodology
- Six-sigma
After working in the organization for several months, it became clear to me that despite significant rhetoric to the contrary, the single most important organizational value was to maintain the status quo.
The entire organization, from the CEO to the janitor, desperately wanted different results – as long as they personally didn’t have to do anything different to get those results. It’s kind of like yelling in anger at the speedometer in your car, because you’re going too fast.
Flavor-of-the-Month management practices work about as well as a chocolate teapot. If they really wanted to succeed as an organization, they would need to do a few simple, but fundamental things:
- Value leadership – you need to hire, develop, promote and reward people for being great leaders.
- Set clear direction, and create crystal-clear expectations of people.
- Hold people accountable for those well-understood expectations.
- Continually reward and reinforce the things you want.
Most of the “Management by Best-Seller” crowd get parts of this right – but they think that the latest stuff the gurus are talking about is going to somehow make the four things above easier.
It won’t.
The truth is, there’s NO flavor-of-the month technique that will make your job easier. The only route to management success is to diligently focus your efforts on the basics.
You can safely ignore what the latest best-seller is saying…that’s just a distraction you don’t have time for.
You won’t have to worry about missing anything important, because we read all the latest management books and journals, so we’re up-to-date with what’s new. Every week we focus on a different management or leadership topic, and give our members bite-size chunks of information and advice about that topic. It’s quick to digest and easy to understand, and you’ll keep up-to-date in less than 20 minutes a week.
It’s the best of both worlds – you’ll save time and energy by zeroing in on what’s really important, but you’ll still be informed about the latest management trends.