Masonry Magazine April 1997 Page. 31
Listening
The Forgotten Management Skill
by Al Roach
Recently, the managers of our company held a meeting to determine how we could better manage our companies. We started by making a list of all the things we do as managers, and then graded ourselves on each of these areas. Here are some of the areas we listed:
Hiring
Training
Goal Setting
Evaluating Performance
Disciplining
Motivating
As we went through our list and opened ourselves up to some pretty intense evaluations, we had what we felt was an accurate assessment of our performance.
Our next step was to determine how we could improve not all of us had perfect scores? So, we set about defining the basic skills that we felt we needed to improve each of the areas.
That's when we had what my partner calls "a blinding flash of the obvious". In every area where a weakness was defined (and for most of us it was in every area), our weaknesses had to do with our inability to effectively communicate. That's when we realized how dependent we are as managers on that one skill, and how weak we are at communicating effectively.
As leaders, we all need to take a step back and figure out what it is we are paid to do. First, we must recognize the need to be leaders, not managers. We think there is a difference:
Recognizing the difference between being a leader and a manager gives us our basic definition for leadership. Leadership is getting people to want to do what we want them to do. And what skill do we (should we)
As leaders, we all need to take a step back and figure out what it is we are paid to do.
Managers
Are "doing oriented"
Focus on doing things right
Measure
Fear failure
Are content oriented
Demand action
Leaders
Are goal setters and are
"vision oriented"
Focus on what the right things are
Determine what to measure
Expect failure, and learn from it
Are process oriented
Inspire action