Good practice makes perfect for managers

The nine key approaches that will get things done

Born or bred?
The old nature versus nurture argument has doubtless been raging since Homo Sapiens developed consciousness: are people the way they are because of innate qualities or because of personal experiences? A related issue is the extent to which we are born with good or bad qualities, and skills, or can acquire them. Even true genius requires vast amounts of work to supplement talents with which we might have been born. Most skills can be learned; the more driven and socially inept sportsmen and women often acquire grace notes as they get older, and discover to their pleasure that people have started to like them. This ability to learn is as true of management as anything else. To be born with great charisma and persuasive skills is a wonderful start, but effective management practice effectively comes down to nine best practices which can be learned. As Luke C. Ng reveals, these are qualities that have time and time again shown themselves to be at the heart of successful management. Some will come naturally, some will have to be worked on; but taken as a whole they are a full set of skills which are at the heart of good management: getting things done effectively through others, as it is dened by Ng.

Seeing it all
He identies the hallmark of a great manager as the ability to see the big picture. You must be able to see the forest rather than individual trees and, like a good chess player, be able to plan several steps ahead. The manager must also be able to see the implications, both short and long-term, of those moves. Ng cites several cases of managers who have pulled off this trick. They include one or two outsiders, such as Lou Gerstner who became CEO of IBM (preciously he had been at the food conglomerate Nabisco) despite have no background in technology. Gerstner could see the forest, and understood that IBM needed to move on rather than resting on its tech revolution laurels. The key point is that those visionary skills can be much more important than immediate familiarity with a new business environment. Good managers, whatever their background, see the wind of change more clearly than anyone else: at PepsiCo, Steve Reinemund and Indra Nooyi were instrumental, among other achievements, in spotting the need to expand into alternative beverages to carbonated drinks, because consumer tastes were changing. Ng cites examples of his own experience to illustrate another characteristic of good managers, having a sense of curiosity and inquisitiveness. It served him well when he arrived at JFK Airport as a young man, saw the chaos that snow piles caused for stranded

DOI 10.1108/02580541311311285

VOL. 29 NO. 4 2013, pp. 23-25, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 0258-0543

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 Berkshire Hathaway might have earned more than $66m in 2008 but Warren Buffett knows his company inside out and can tell interviewers pretty much anything about it off the top of his head.

passengers and came up with a weather-related crisis management idea that was subsequently taken on board by PanAm. Closely linked to this is the importance of being observant, seeing things that others miss.

Devil is in . . .
Inevitably many of the issues that Ng discusses have strong overlaps. Curious and observant managers will, by denition, be well informed. And being well informed sits side by side with the importance of attention to detail. Managers must be well informed about all aspects of the business. Berkshire Hathaway might have earned more than $66m in 2008 but Warren Buffett knows his company inside out and can tell interviewers pretty much anything about it off the top of his head. It is a lesson that Ng himself took to heart. When he worked in the restaurant business, managers and staff were trained to pay attention so that they would know their customers inside out, everything from favorite dishes to allergies and idiosyncrasies. This intention to detail (Ng calls it his secret sauce) did not go unnoticed by the top foodie critics and writers. Managers must also manage with visibility and enthusiasm. Nobody typies this approach better than Lou Gerstner who, as CEO of IBM, lived virtually out of a suitcase as he traveled the world getting to know customers and clients who were delighted that he took them so seriously and was so enthusiastic. Jack Welch impressed similarly during his two decades as boss at General Electric. He was open to direct communication with everybody at every level of the company, a role model for visibility and attention to details. This approach genuinely impresses employees who can always spot a phoney: the kind of boss who will suddenly take an interest in people he has previously shied away from or ignored because he wants a favor.

Crisis management
In crises, managers really reveal whether or not they are made of the right stuff. The name Rudy Giulani probably meant very little to people outside New York City until 9.11. Then, the mayors crisis management skills, beginning with a willingness to put himself in the front line by appearing on the scene immediately, came to the fore. By contrast, the reputation of Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans, suffered as a result of the 2005 hurricane Katrina disaster. It was the citys lack of preparation, despite the knowledge that such a disaster could strike at any time, which turned it into a crisis. Managing with openness and setting an example are also vital qualities. Another New York Mayor, Mike Bloomberg, transformed City Hall with management that was a textbook example of visibility and openness. As CEO of Bulova Watch Co, Andrew Tisch overhauled the company with a similar makeover and initiatives such as removal of reserved parking spaces (now it is rst come, rst served) and the removal of the executive dining room were symbols of an open management policy which did away with the us and them mentality. The companys suggestion box became obsolete: people could talk to the top man personally. Ng cites former US president Ronald Reagan as a great manager because he typied the clever use of delegation and communication skills. As a former actor, Reagan had a head start on communicating well, while some political observers who once considered him too

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hands-off now acknowledge that he was actually well informed. Delegation after decisions had been made even helped to distance Reagan from political controversy such as following the Iran-Contra episode.

Hotbed of talent
Finally, managers should have an eye for young talent through cultivating and mentoring, another area in which Jack Welch scored well. Welchs reputation as one of the best managers in recent history rests partly on his creation of a big talent pool at General Electric. When he retired, the baton passed to Jeff Immelt but two other lieutenants, Bob Nardelli and Jim McNerney Jr, were such strong candidates that they were headhunted and became bosses of two other Fortune 100 companies. Managers, Ng says, are like musical conductors initiating every move. In the end they are responsible for whether that music sounds like a cacophony or a symphony. Some moves will come more naturally to the maestro than others, but they can all be brought together harmoniously.

Comment
Keywords: Delegation, Management technique, Motivation, Social skills This review is based on Best management practices, by Luke C. Ng (2011). This article clearly breaks no new ground because, as the author would doubtless be the rst to acknowledge, the issues have all been discussed endlessly elsewhere. But it works well as a pithy summary of what good management is all about, assisted by the authors ability to draw on personal experience because of his hugely varied career in industry.

Reference
Ng, L.C. (2011), Best management practices, Journal of Management Development, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 93-105, ISSN 0262-1711.

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