As it happened, I moved up through the ranks at Sappi quite quickly. True, I had a great mentor and coach to guide me, and he became a very good friend over the years. Chris often reminds me of my pitching up at the initial job interview at the Lanzerac Hotel in the midst of summer in a suit and ordering an orange juice, while he was in shorts and slops enjoying an ice-cold beer.
The one area that I felt Sappi could have improved on was in developing managerial skills. At the age of 30 I was promoted to senior management with around 300 people under my direct control, with very little preparation for this task. Spare a thought for those who reported to me.
The same is true for so many entrepreneurs and small business owners. The responsibility of leading and managing people is often thrust upon a person without much thought of aptitude or experience. The fortunate truth is that both these skills can be learnt.
The distinction between leading and managing is often blurred like the thinny in Stephen King’s The Dark Tower.
Management is about utilising people and machines to achieve a goal. Leadership is to influence people to contribute to success. Management engages primarily the left side of the brain (logic and reason) and leading the right side (innovation and inspiration).
As we said before, as entrepreneurs, we are often called upon to deliver both leadership and management as the situation dictates. Today we focus on two aspects of management.
1. The cornerstones of good management, which always starts with the self, are trust, respect, love and discipline. Trust yourself in order to extend trust. Respect yourself so that you can show, and earn respect. Learn to love and accept yourself to do the same with others. Set the example as far as discipline is concerned:
- Delay gratification – sacrifice present comforts for future gains.
- Be personally accountable. Don’t blame others. You can delegate responsibility but not accountability.
- Be honest in what you say and do: communicate the truth, not only the facts.
- Demonstrate the discipline to balance conflicting requirements. Work, family, friends, society and yourself.
2. The four functions of management are to Plan, Organise, Lead and Control.
Planning involves setting goals aligned with the longer-term objectives of the enterprise and identifying a course of action to achieve this. Paramount in this regard is identifying the key activities in the business to deliver the value proposition to the target market.
Organise the resources required to achieve said goals. Ensure that the traditional 5 M’s – Manpower, Machines, Material, Money and inforMation are available and accounted for. This is more than just putting together cost centres and teams; it involves best operating practices and prioritising time and resources around the key activities.
To lead, managers have to ensure that the job gets done within the defined parameters. This boils down to employee development, effective delegation and situational leadership.
Control is measuring the key performance indicators (KPI’s) associated with the key activities, evaluating the results and adjusting either the performance or the expectations. It is proven that performance improves exponentially if the results are displayed visibly.
It is your job as manager to free yourself up from the daily activities of your business to better Plan, Organise, Lead and Control.
So say the Bosses
“People will be able to do their job if they have these three things: focus, energy, and structure. Focus so they understand why they are here and what they can best concentrate their efforts on; structure – not just boxes and lines, but an understanding of authority, information flow, style, the way we do things while also recognizing the importance of informal structures; and then there is energy – it is vital to give people energy to help them go and do that something that is both challenging and difficult”
The Sologix solution
We have developed a series of courses aimed at helping Entrepreneurs and their first-line supervisors become better leaders and managers of their businesses. We incorporate teachings by, amongst others, John C Maxwell, both the Stephen Covey’s, Simon Sinek and Daniel Goleman in our material.
Join a Master Management workgroup, or contact us for personal business coaching by sending us an email here.
