Free Article By Paul Glen of C2
Consulting
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Changing the Subject: The Real Power of Managers
(This article originally appeared in
Computerworld USA and on the websites of Computerworld Australia and
Computerworld New Zealand.)
If you want to really help your organization, one of the more
subtle things you need to learn to do is to effectively change the subject.
Over the years that I've advised technical managers, young and
old, some patterns have become apparent. One is that most seem to go through a
series of distinct stages in their understanding of the role of manager. There
are different stages for different aspects of the role, but the patterns are
relatively consistent.
When it comes to beliefs about managers' roles in information
flow, the pattern is interesting and instructive.
Stage 1: The Translator
At this stage, the manager tends to see herself as merely a
link in the vertical information chain. She takes orders from above, translates
them to those below, collects status reports from those below and consolidates
them for those above. It's an active, but not influential, role. The back rooms
at the United Nations are filled with highly intelligent people wearing
headsets, listening to one language and simultaneously speaking the same thing
in a different one. It's an essential function, but no one thinks of these
people as diplomats.
Stage 2: The Defender
In the second stage, the manager sees herself as defender of
her territory and underlings. The passive link in the information chain is
transformed into a heroic leader, placing herself in the path of the hostile
onslaught. The dangers may come from above, from peer organizations or from
outsiders, but the manager begins to see her role as not just passing along
information, but also influencing the content of the information to the benefit
of her group. This stage may come quickly or not, depending on the toxicity of
the general environment. If the world outside a manager's group is particularly
hostile or her previous boss was a particularly weak defender, it tends to come
quickly.
Stage 3: The Participant
Eventually, the manager begins to see herself as more than a
conduit or a belligerent, but as a participant in a managerial conversation. She
takes on the role of adviser to the boss, collaborator to peers and mentor to
subordinates. She now interprets information, shapes it, processes it, and
selectively passes it on or withholds it as needed to move a broader
conversation: the discussion of how the collective should deal with its reality.
The manager is now part of the larger system of making an organization go,
contributing to decisions, taking positions, influencing policies. By now, she
views the outside world as a more nuanced place, both hostile and filled with
possibilities.
Stage 4: The Agenda Setter
In the final stage, the manager takes part in an even more
abstract conversation: that of setting the agenda for the managerial
conversation itself. Now the manager begins to help shape the perceived reality
of the organization, not just the managerial discussion of how to respond to
that reality. Setting the agenda involves interpreting facts, opinions,
predictions and feelings, as well as prioritizing and analogizing. But more
than anything, it involves building a consensus among a management team about
what should be on the common agenda and, just as important, what should not be
on that agenda.
Taking part in the agenda-setting conversation is not as
simple as it may seem. As managers become aware of this role, they tend to be
rather ham-fisted in their first attempts to force issues into the group
consciousness, blurting out their ideas in open meetings or proposing solutions
to problems that no one else perceives.
© Copyright 2008 by Computerworld Inc., One Speen Street, Framingham, MA, 01701. Reprinted by permission of
Computerworld. All Rights Reserved.
