Rules Of Management

RULE 29 - Understand the roles of others

“The problem is that we don’t educate staff in the ‘bigger picture’. In this case, that bigger picture relates to what other people do, their various expertise, and the relationship of other employee’s jobs to each other.”

Robert Bacal, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to
Dealing With Difficult Employees

I used to believe that to be a good manager I had to be able to do not only my own job – managing – but also everyone else’s job as well. And probably, it thought in my heart of hearts, I should be able to do it as well as them if not better. Thus, I figured, if there was an emergency I could step into the breach and do their job and everything would carry on functioning. Yep, I bet you’re there before me. If I were to step into their job, who would be doing mine?

Answer, of course: nobody.

The key is to have a practical understanding of what all the jobs entail but realize that you don’t need to be able actually to do them. Yes, you do need backup in the event of a crisis, but it ain’t you. You’re better off right where you are – managing. To understand the role, the best way is to know what problems it solves and how it works. But you don’t need to be able to do it as well as your team member does – that’s what you pay them for. Something about keeping dogs and barking yourself – you need to know what job the guard dog does, but you don’t need to go round biting burglars to fully appreciate it.
“you don’t need to be able to do it as well as your team member does – that’s what you pay them for.”

And often you’ll employ someone for such a specialized job you wouldn’t know where to begin. You might be the manager of a power plant but you don’t need to know how to calculate the shelf life of plutonium. But you do need to know that you employ someone who can do that job for you.

It’s also important for all your team to have an understanding of what everyone else does. This certainly helps create a team spirit and a sense of loyalty.

posted by Right Ranger @ 6:42 PM