Better Management And More Humanity
Heard an interesting quote recently by Jim Collins (author of Good to Great and other titles) attempting to summarize Peter Drucker's life and work, who was probably the greatest management thinker and author of all time. He said that Drucker spent his life trying to answer the question, "How do we make our society both more productive (i.e. better management) and more humane?"
As a manager this idea definitely hit me hard because it is something I struggle with, and I see most people in management positions struggle with. We have a very competitive nature in the business world and this need to either be successful or just hold on to our jobs over people that seems to have no morals. Where direction given is sometimes simply, "Just get the job done."
I use a lot of sports analogies in my job, and most successful teams have a coach that has been strict, or pushed them to reach higher levels of performance. There is a balance there in so many places in life, how do you push to get the results you need and know they can attain and still show you care about the people you are responsible for?
When everyone on the team knows what the goals are and what the values are, and everyone is in alignment with those things you have the foundation for a great culture. That alignment means that everyone is aiming for the same thing, you don't need to push, they are already going the same direction you are.
As a manager this idea definitely hit me hard because it is something I struggle with, and I see most people in management positions struggle with. We have a very competitive nature in the business world and this need to either be successful or just hold on to our jobs over people that seems to have no morals. Where direction given is sometimes simply, "Just get the job done."
I use a lot of sports analogies in my job, and most successful teams have a coach that has been strict, or pushed them to reach higher levels of performance. There is a balance there in so many places in life, how do you push to get the results you need and know they can attain and still show you care about the people you are responsible for?
When everyone on the team knows what the goals are and what the values are, and everyone is in alignment with those things you have the foundation for a great culture. That alignment means that everyone is aiming for the same thing, you don't need to push, they are already going the same direction you are.
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