“Changes?”
“Yes, changes,” I replied. “Have a meeting and simply ask, what has changed?”
Roselle started to speak, then stopped.
“Why is it important to talk about Change?” I asked.
Roselle laughed. “Because without change, they could come to work and do the same thing they did yesterday.”
“And without change,” I continued her sentence, “if they could come to work and do the same thing they did yesterday, they would not need a manager.”
That hit close to home. Roselle got quiet again.
“Look, Roselle, now more than ever, your company depends on its managers to get through this thing. Your company is depending on you. Your company is depending on you being effective.”
Very interesting post!
It seems that you are saying that managers effectiveness is in managing the changes to the work, because if there is no change then need for supervision reduces with time.
Indeed, if nothing ever changed, if raw materials were always perfectly in spec, if production volumes never varied, if machines never broke down or needed replacing, if customer specs never changed, if we never had new customers, if we never contemplated a new product or service line, then the need for supervision over time would be reduced.
With changes we need management to be effective more than ever. This idea of effective management is the often heard and rarely done concept of corporations.
While the systems are changing many companies are making quick moves and these quick moves are piling responsibility on the less experienced managers.
I was in a conversation with a young manager who was just “promoted” to a exec. director position because her company “laid off” her exec. director. No increase in pay just increase in responsibility.
She is looking for a new job.
Why do companies think this works?
When so much is changing, we need to help our team to find stability any place there is some, and find ways where possible of managing the real discomfort of “everything changing”