What rewards are you offering your managers?
“Whether the recovery emerges at breakneck pace, moves at a slow crawl, or even takes the much-discussed double-dip, opportunistic business leaders increasingly are shifting their focus away from survival and toward a new vision of innovation and growth.”
Over the week-end I read a white paper, from which the quote appears, published in partnership with DDI and HCI Research. The article, titled Mid-level Managers: the Bane and Salvation of Organizations, provides mission critical information for you to consider before our economy improves much more. The Dallas Business Journal stated last week that more new companies started in 2009 than during the tech boom of 1999 and 2000. Will your company and especially your department keep pace with the emerging global economy? How will you keep your mid-level managers working towards the goals? Are they ready to move to a more creative atmosphere? Are you prepared to lead your group with the innovation for survival?
If your work group is engaged as diligently as players on the Wimbledon tennis court, you must be rewarding the individuals appropriately. But if you see that the team is not cohesive with a clear understanding of the mission, immediate attention should be given to your strategic plan. Did you know that a recruiter probably talked with one of your key employees within the last week?
What can you do to prevent the departure of the talented people you’ve mentored and trained? What are some of the key ingredients to establish now, rather than wait for the inevitable churn in your organization as the economy improves?
According to the article, four major challenges you face include:
- Driving strategic execution
- Change management
- Motivating your direct reports
- Leading boldly
The phrase I hear too regularly in my consulting business is, “That’s how we’ve always done it.” And we wonder why companies fail! The company which fails to focus on the market and take advantage of new opportunities is doomed. Nimble entrepreneurs frequently succeed by close attention to what the market wants. Fortune 500 companies may have a little more challenge to, as they say, “turn the steamship around.” The book Good to Great by Jim Collins ought to be required reading for every professional, whether executive, manager or individual contributor. He cites case after case where companies rose to the challenges and others who failed miserably because they didn’t listen or pay attention to reality.
Both Jim Collins and the white paper encourage us to develop new skills for ourselves and our employees. If a person is not productive in your group, moving him or her to a different group may help. If, after a few attempts at rectifying the performance, the employee needs to be terminated, take action. Keeping the unhappy, unproductive worker on your team is unkind to everyone, especially that employee. You want an employee with passion and a desire to execute the new mission daily. You want someone who loves the job. And you, as the manager, must put the best employee on the best project, not the project most likely to fail, according to Collins. Establishing a new product with potential for high profitability will work wonders for keeping the middle manager motivated.
Are you demonstrating the leadership this new, evolving economy demands? Are you ready for change? Or are you one of the 51% who say you will achieve your goals, but with difficulty? If you have doubts, you’d better start working harder and smarter to plan a new strategy. For you need those middle managers. They are the ones who actually implement the change. You are the catalyst for our future. Are you ready?
A special thanks to Bryan Humphreys of Collin College for sharing the white paper mentioned in this blog.
If you are in transition, please click here for Ruth’s online articles on www.examiner.com.