Schlagwort-Archive: Cooperation

Penniless managers are worth nothing

After the ghost of planned economy collapsed, large-scale enterprises evolve to huge centralistic administrative bodies. After years of lean management, culture, hierarchies rigidify, which undermine their intended claim for a flat structure with the subordination of equal levels. The return to functional organizations covers the inability to base the organization on processes. The cross charging of deliverables create an internal market in which specific amounts are negotiated and paid with the transfer of budgets – wooden nickels from the left to the right pocket. The degree of bureaucratization can be seen via the necessary reports and guidelines. More and more employees serve an overhead of project, planning and budget reports. At the same time, the guidelines evolve to one entanglement of regulations that cannot be conveyed or obeyed anymore. The crucial error is however the new approach to realize savings, namely to decide right at the top any outward cash flow. Yet it is forgotten that leaders are worth nothing without financial means.

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What do doers need in order to fulfill their tasks?

  • Apart from the personal characteristics that constitute leaders, like integrity, decisiveness and customer focus, the following tasks should be fulfilled: Self-management, conception, coordination, communication and cooperation.
  • The tasks, authority and responsibility specify the scope of action. The tasks describe the activities that are to be mastered. The authority determines the decision, directive and action powers. The responsibility obligates the superior on the decided approach and the goals. On this basis the personal evaluation and remuneration are done.
  • The allocation of a cost center and the equipment with sufficient budget is an important part of the authority. Like the fuel tank of a car, the available funds limit the scope that a decision maker can cover. Penniless leaders have actually no chance to contribute value-adding results.
  • Bosses as entrepreneurs in the enterprise need a comprehensible business model. Within the business idea, the target audiences, the deliverable portfolio and the clearly outlined scopes are specified.
  • An important function of the executive is the indication towards a positive future and the measures for reaching it. The strategy should provide the employees a seizable framework for the realization.

As soon as these components are missing, the leaders are worth nothing and it remains noting else than eliminating these positions.

Bottom line: The leadership tasks require a large spectrum of abilities, in order to be able to perform a task meaningfully. However, as soon as the leader is guided on a short leash, without budget, even the best characteristics go pop, because penniless managers are worth anything.

Make room for the collaboration

Meetings are considered large time wasters. The more participants, the more difficult it is to obtain a perceptible benefit for the individuals. The attendees escape into the study of documents, the editing of emails or get busy with other things than the actual topic. In order to regain their attention, make room for the collaboration.

Kooperation

For this purpose, the meetings that require practical cooperation can be prepared as workshops. A fruitful session includes the following aspects.

  • Topics
    The subject of the meeting should be clearly described. This includes a meaningful title of the meeting, the description of the purpose and the goals as well as sufficient information, so that the involved ones know what is at issue.
  • Participants
    The selection of the participants should follow the topic and the contribution of the individuals. The clear tasks, authority and responsibility ensure that the attendees can deliver a decisive contribution to the purpose of the meeting.
  • Process
    The procedure shows in advance, which steps, how long and with what results are intended. With an appropriate planning, the activities and an adequate timeframe are determined, in order to ensure that useful results will be obtained.
  • Prerequisites
    The list of conditions should prevent surprises. If individual conditions are not fulfilled, it is reasonable to delay the workshop, until the ability to work is prepared. That way the number of meetings without results is minimized.
  • Workshop organization
    The preparation of the rooms, the materials and the catering as well as the logistics, the overnight accommodations and the supporting program is an important condition for a frictionless meeting. Depending upon the size of the meeting, it is recommended to form a team that takes care of the event. A checklist ensures that nothing is forgotten.

The effort for the preparation increases exponentially with the duration of the meeting. This ensures that the attention remains high throughout the entire period. Short workshops require relatively little effort for the preparation.

P.S.: In the interest of a better use of time, meetings that do not need the personal appearance should be replaced by other communication channels. Indispensable encounters should be transformed into turbo-workshops that deliver concrete results in one hour.

Further leadership tasks are the self-management, the conception, the coordination and the communication.