BUM Book (eBook)

Bottom Up Management

Eugene G. Spiegle (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024 | 1. Auflage
114 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-4405-1 (ISBN)

Too often, people are promoted to management not because of leadership skills but for professional skills. BUM Books and Blog is a website that supports management and leadership growth and development.

Historically we have found, in any business or service, three critical areas of concern, project management, supply chain management, and management and leadership in general, are intertwined such that the cause and effect of problem identification, solutions, and implementation are overshadowed by departmental independence and egos rather than realizing when one entity is affected by something others are affected as well. This website provides a blog pointing out the issues causing management and leadership issues and then speaking to the solutions to overcome management and leadership problems (many of which are social media crates) with practical tools and techniques to support managerial and leadership growth and development.

CHAPTER 1

GOOD LORD, I JUST BECAME A MANAGER/LEADER

It was friday afternoon (about 3:30 p.m.), and I got called into the VP’s office without explanation. Ten minutes later, I got the answer, “Your boss has resigned, and we have decided to give you his former position, manager of the department.”

I suppose surprise followed by shock would be an excellent way to describe my first reactions. Following a brief half-hour discussion, I returned to my office and was again surprised when people, who from then on would be referred to as “my staff,” congratulated me.

There is no question that the world of social media has surpassed the rumor mill, and not only did the staff know about my promotion, but the rest of the company did also as well, including my wife. When I got home that evening, she promptly stated how proud she was of me and that there was no question that I deserved the promotion. This was followed by a “did you get a raise” answer; of course, I think she already had it earmarked for great things.

An interesting point. By the time the government takes out taxes, the company removes the medical and misc. benefits (a word I have never understood. When they take your money, why is it called a benefit?), and you don’t have much left to get overly excited about.

Well, that was Friday, and now it is Monday and the first day of a new job! I am sure many thoughts, questions, and ideas run through your head. Something I learned many years ago from a well-seasoned manager of a pizza plant has always stuck in my head. “When you are new on a job, don’t try and tell everyone what you think you know or want to do. Spend a couple of weeks watching, asking questions, and learning before acting and making a fool out of yourself.”

Remember: “Managers are appointed from above, leaders from below.”

This chapter gives examples, tools, and thoughts on becoming a new manager. Let’s change our emphasis from manager to leader because that’s what a manager does; they lead a team of persons (staff) to achieve agreed results as part of the goals set forth by a corporation’s mission, vision, and values.

Leadership is critically important, as seen in many ways and for many reasons. An example (as stated, I will use them throughout the book to make a point), many years ago (more than I want to remember), I was working with one of our teams installing an automated manufacturing process in a fortune 100 company, when, to my surprise, the company’s president showed up. His appearance surprised most of the workers, and his greeting was directed to me with “Hello, Gene, nice to see you.”

Mr. Jones (not his real name), whom I knew and had done business with over the years, asked, “if I could spare a couple of minutes.” The answer was “yes.” He suggested his office for coffee; however, I requested the cafeteria as it would be closer to my team if they needed me. We had a brief discussion about a new project, at the end of which Bob (again, not his real name) asked if I would mind a personal question; the answer was “of course not.” He said, “I have always heard your staff call you Gene, no matter where we are, and if I ask you a question about a project, you always know exactly where and what is going on with it. Gene, how do you keep on top of everything? By the way, no one calls me Bob anymore, and I never seem to know what is going on in the business’s operations; I don’t know why.”

Leadership has critical elements: communication, respect, accountability, and responsibility. We don’t try to put them in an order of priority because they are present all the time, carefully intertwined and woven into the fabric of leadership success. The other question is how we use them and how they fit into our everyday performance. We will try to answer this and other questions in the following pages.

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. I will not put any more words in this book than needed; the chances are you wouldn’t read them anyway.

The following picture (diagram), with as few words as possible, shows a generic organization structure with performance statements.

Everyone in the organizational structure is responsible and accountable for their specific task(s) of work (assigned or assumed). Each task of work is required to achieve agreed results and goals, and each has predecessors and successors on its path to help attain those goals and agreed results. Just so you don’t forget, every task to be performed, no matter whom it belongs to, from the president on down, is essential; otherwise, why do it?

Everything we discuss in this “BUM” book will relate to performance (staff or management) and the many factors involved. Probably the most critical of these factors is that of communication. In most cases, the success or failure of performance can be traced back to the communication of some form or lack thereof.

A manager/leader is responsible and accountable for their work, department, and staff. However, they are responsible for their actions but not for their staff, yet their responsibility is to help their staff become accountable.

The book’s title is How to be a BUM. Translated into working terms, it means “learning to be the best manager/leader you can be from the bottom up.” As stated earlier and repeated here, senior management has a clear and defined responsibility to an organization: to develop a strategic plan, its mission, vision, and value, then ensure it is carried out successfully. Of equal importance, management must maintain focus on that strategic plan.

So, what are the rest of us supposed to do, you know, managers/leaders and staff members? Where do we go from here, and how do we get there? This little book is about helping you achieve agreed results and supporting the strategic plan from the bottom up.

I have had heated discussions with presidents and senior-level managers about the following statement. Still, I will stand by it based on my many years of experience working with companies of all kinds and descriptions, from the government to the private sector, the pharmaceutical to the automotive industries.

Senior management develops strategic plans and corporate focus; however, an organization’s staff (workforce) makes a company successful or causes it to fail. True responsibility falls upon the workforce (staff) and the leadership/management team(s). Although this sounds like a relatively simple statement, the challenges ahead are anything but easy. It would be difficult to list all the risks, issues, and challenges as they will vary daily and from company to company.

To be a BUM, let’s start by discussing what should be done and how to do it if you want to become a “bottom-up manager,” which means meeting daily challenges and delivering agreed results without micro-managing or becoming paranoid.

Going deeper into developing strong leadership, let’s establish a few basic “guidelines” and how and when to use them. Following are what I call “leadership tools or guidelines,” statements of just plain facts of leadership and management that I have learned over sixty-five years of making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, and learning how to survive and become a better leader.

As we go from chapter to chapter in this book, I hope it will help you recognize potential solutions to the many challenges you will face daily. There is no question about it; when you understand and learn what these tools are all about and how to use them daily, you can avert disasters, become a better leader, and improve the lives of those around you. Leadership/management is something you should take pride in performing well, realizing you are helping others develop and an organization meets its goals and objectives.

A wise man once said, “If you can’t go to bed on Sunday night and look forward to going to work on Monday morning, you have a problem and the wrong job.”

A few leadership tools and terms

•EGO — Everyone has one; some are big, some small. However, believe me, you will need their egos working for you, not against you. Understanding, using, and not abusing egos is essential,

•NEGOTIATING — You can negotiate anything if you remember to “negotiate from the situation and not position.” It is not always a “win-win.” It often must be a merger.

•RESULTS — Everything we do has a result. However, the word “result” alone is inaccurate and open-ended, and performance results of anything must be “agreed results.”

•PERFORMANCE — A very wise and successful lady (my mother) taught me at an early age,...

Erscheint lt. Verlag	23.1.2024
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Unternehmensführung / Management
ISBN-13	979-8-3509-4405-1 / 9798350944051

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