9 out of 10 monkeys believe they are not behind glass

After the books, after the MBA, after all the discussions, and group projects, and corporate meetings, and reorgs… after all that, I think management styles boil down to three main types.

1. Management by Example: These are the people that lead and manage by asking their people to do what they do, behave like they behave, and act like they act. Their management style is very hands off, expecting that their employees will respond to the freedom, and understand the larger picture, so they all work in the same direction.
2. Management by Book: These are the people that lead and manage by following some management flavor of the month. The flavor changes by whatever book they may be reading at the time or by whatever class they may be taking or by some miraculous intervention by an executive doing the same thing. Something inspires them to try the new flavor, and then the next month, it all changes again.
3. Management by Organization: These are the people that manage the “company way”. They follow very strict guidelines set by the company and manage the exact same way every other manager in the company manages. This works for some, not for others, and is sometimes highly localized to the office or location.

And here I introduce the Rule of Management Style: Every manager insists on uniqueness when given constraints. Any manager given the three choices above will always insist on being a mixture of the three. They will always make themselves sound like they are some management guru having read every book, followed every lecture, been raised in the company, and can be flexible with any employee.

When in reality… they are actually flying by the seat of their pants, and in doing so, subconsciously execute one of the three behaviors above. Because management styles are well and good, but when your personality is under stress, your personality will manage by your personality traits. And there are only so many types of people out there that have to work with only so many types of other individuals, so they will have to pick a style. Manage through leadership, manage through messages, or manage through policy.

I manage through leadership. I set expectations, and let them run free. Unfortunately, this approach only works for very self motivated individuals and often ends up with conflicting results. It something that has bugged me to no end in my position. Do I change my approach? Do I change my style?

The answer is, no, I can’t. Because I am who I am. And my personality, who I am deep down, will always exhibit force on my actions and decisions. So I could pick a flavor or a could try a corporate method, but the end result would be uniquely me. It would be a reflection of my personality and my behaviors. So the question is do I change my expectations of the employees?

You have to. I can’t expect other individuals to adapt and accept my methods of management without question or pause. I can’t expect conformance to an alter, if not alien, approach to getting things done. All I can do is set the bar lower. Which is sad in a way, because I have high hopes for people. I always expect a higher level of outcomes than I receive. But that is not the employees fault. That is my fault. A fault in my own personality.

I believe that dissonance between manager and employee is what drives a lot of unspoken strife in the workplace. The employee expects something altogether unspoken, or poorly communicated, and for the most part, the manager tries to quantify those needs using what feels comfortable to him. So in the end you have a one way set of expectations. You have expectations from the manager, and they either don’t fit the employee or they don’t fit well. And the whole other side of the expectation exchange is missing. Many managers don’t understand that it is a negotiation, and that negotiation is necessary for the outcome to be highly positive and worthwhile for everyone.

I love how the interactions between individuals are so unique in nature. Every relationship is unique. But one cannot manage via unique relationships. It is not feasible with larger teams or large projects. It just doesn’t work. Especially when the complexity in the relationship is being introduced by the business or the project. It can’t be two ways at once.

And that’s the trick. Translating the management style to meet the demands of the business. All of a sudden, we just lost the people component, didn’t we? From managing people to managing business. But people is the most important component of the business. So what do you do?

I think you have to manage the expectations. You have to manage your interactions with the business. How you interface really determines the outcomes. If you manage through action, people catch on pretty quick or become detached. If you manage through messages, you have make sure you message is consistent, and that you follow it completely, so everyone receives the same interface. If you manage through the organization, it boils down to finding that good fit employee.

Otherwise you will have a lose-lose situation. Just have to find good people.

And some days that seems to be a very hard thing to do.