Friday, 21 November 2008

What is the value of management?

What is the value of management? I'm not talking about leadership, I'm talking about basic man-management, the art of making things happen through others. Unfortunately for many, whether it's through bad experiences or whatever, the answer is that there is no value and they perceive management as being personified by David Brent.

There will always be days when a manager leaves the office feeling like they've done nothing but be David Brent, but on other days you can leave the office knowing that good man-management skills have made a big difference to a team.

Why am I wondering this? I have a friend who, until recently, believed that management was worthless, pointless and a waste of time/money. He was having problems, but was sure that the resolution to his problems was anywhere but in man-management. Recently, I had him captive in my car as I drove him home from the golf range and I basically ranted at him, pushed things possibly further than I should have done, but also I gave him some simple things to try.

Two weeks later he's converted, suddenly the value of man-management is obvious to him. His man-management problems are receding quickly, he now knows what's going on with his website's development, has simple techniques to deal with keeping the accelerator down on progress and he's a different man. Fantastic. That's when the value of management really does get revealed!

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