The three critical functions of corporate enterprise management.

The three critical functions of corporate enterprise management.

People in an enterprise are about effort, execution and delivery. But it's up to managers to make all that successful by guiding based on what they know, how they request things get done, and the directions they take to get there.

I assert that when the people who report to you as a manager actually make you successful,
that means the work is happening in spite of you. You're not doing your job as a manager very well. Why?

A group of people - however large in size - doing a whole lot of different things concurrently can
only go on for so long before it soon gets random and stops moving together. It's inevitable. Leadership at the top provides vision and inspires people to motivate them (i.e. why am I doing this?), but it's management that provides the crucial layer between the vision and the work.

1. Experience - Do you know what you're requesting?

Do managers have to the experience in doing the work they are asking to be performed of their
Individual Contributors and Teams? Often times people who have a title that has manager in it, got it because of something other than what they've done in the past successfully. Having experience in doing something gives one who manages other to do the same thing some perspective. Note I said SOME. Just because you've done it doesn't always mean it was the best and/or the right way, an/or the quickest way to do it. There might be other or better ways and talking with people about what's being requested helps arrive at what could be best and right way to get something.

And I've found that it's usually a disaster when someone is in a position of authority to try and get people to do something, when they themselves don't know what they're talking about because
they've never done it. Can that still be done? Yes, but I think it's a lot harder to without having some experience in doing the work, but being successful without it I think only comes if you absolutely have the two other things below.


2. Style - How do you go about requesting?

Do managers order people around, command, bully, demand things get done? Or to they ask? Do they say 'please' when asking, and 'thank you' when it's done? Is it verbal? Is it in email? Is it consistent across various mediums of communication?

Do they ask in private, or put on the spot in a meeting or in front of a whole bunch of others? Do they create a culture where people can point out blocking issues or potential roadblocks to getting something done, or is it a culture of fear management, or 'can-do'?

Do they come up to you and act like they're your friend one minute, then the next
send an email to you and copy five directors that you have 10 things to do and complete it by yesterday? It may seem like semantics to some, but hearing and seeing those things, being recognized for it - they do count and they do mean things because we're not machines or software - we're human beings and human beings need to feel like what they're doing has value. That they're putting their time, effort, energy into doing something, and it's appreciated by someone.

And I get that as a manager you want to 'protect' your team from shit or bad things or just plain CYA. But when a manager praises their own team by shitting on someone else or someone else's group or team, what does that really indicate about that person? Are they really as protective as they seem, or is it they're just doing so to protect their own reputation?

Then you have sociopaths - people who do or say anything to enhance their reputations in front of others (oftentimes those in higher authority). Imagine such people as managers of others - they will say or agree to or commit not only themselves but their teams, their people to their agendas. For me it's a telling sign when they refer a group or team they manage as 'my team' or 'my staff' or 'my people', or worse; they commit to things as themselves (I can do this, or I can't do that) but really are referring to the group of people they manage.

3. Prioritization - What are you willing to do to help get what's being requested done?

Multitasking is myth. People can do multiple things at once, but that's not the same as focusing on many things at once. Human beings by and large have single minds (those with multiple minds I think have something along the lines of SAD), and are normally singularly focused. One can set multiple things into motion and watch them as they go, but not truly doing them and focusing on them at the same time.

Computers multitask when they have multiple CPU and threads. Humans cannot - at least they're not evolved enough presently to do so.

That being said - people in general can only do what's requested of them when they know what to do, and what can get in the way of getting it done. And if they're able to be honest enough to share that (i.e. being as realistic as possible), then as a manager, what are you doing to help them get there?
Do managers know when they're needing something done by someone - what they are currently working on, what's their focus, what's their bandwidth, can they be realistic, what are the costs or the price in having them work on this?

And crucially - if in order for people to get this work done, are they willing to step up and remove any identified blocking issues in order for said work to get done? If you ask someone on the team you're the manager of to get a report out to a large audience of several organizations, and it requires them to do research, get data from various systems or sources, talk to others, they themselves have to request things of others, they need to time to think, assess, organize, review, and so on; are you as their manager willing to help them get there? Are you willing to ensure you work with other teams' managers to ensure those systems are up, that the team you manage has the time, has the ability to drive and work with others to do what's needed? And if they're blocked, if they're telling you there's a problem, or someone isn't helping them, or something isn't working - are you willing to advise them,
understand what they're telling you, calling people, communicating to other managers, even jumping to help them - are you willing to do all that and more?