Managing Leadership^®

Have you ever stopped by a local shop, only to see a sign in the window indicating that the owner is out? With the proprietor gone, there is no choice but to shut down and wait for his or her return.

Modern, professionally organized and managed businesses typically don’t suffer from this problem. Or, at least, not as dramatically. The truth is, though, that some managers work hard to make themselves indispensable, routing all work through themselves, making all the decisions, bottle-necking all progress. Things are bad enough when such managers are at their desks – what about when they’re away, especially if their absence is unexpected?

Most of you, surely, don’t so desperately grasp at all the levers of control within your reach. But how careful are you to ensure that those levers are available to others should the need arise?

This subject was brought to mind for me by a comment Chris made to a previous post that touched on the topic from the servant-leadership perspective. He observed that there can be outfits that are affected more negatively by the absence of a line employee than by that of a manager.

Coincidentally, Robin Yap offered an excellent post on the same issue a few days ago, occasioned by his own absence of a few days. He poses some excellent questions for managers to examine, both about how to be prepared for an unanticipated absence of an employee, and how to take care of that employee during his or her difficulty. There are some additional perceptive insights offered, also arising from the reasons for Robin’s absence – you should stop by his site to see what they are.

But, of course, these concerns apply to managers as well. Chris, in his observation, was suggesting that formal authority may not be of the central importance many of us imagine it to be, particularly if it lacks the right managerial approach. But in making the comment, he touched on an important point: Some organizations seem to be able to survive the unexpected absence – whether permanent or temporary – of any of their staff, whether line employee or manager. How do they do that?

In some military services, an important tenet critical to maintaining organizational integrity is the requirement that everyone be prepared to take over the job of the next person above in the chain of command. Juniors are expected to study their seniors’ duties, and seniors are expected to train their juniors in those responsibilities. Many units even have unannounced drills on this – removing a randomly selected sergeant or officer here or there, and expecting the unit to demonstrate its ability to continue operating in a demanding exercise.

The reason for this is obvious, of course, for combat forces, but it is a very sensible practice for general application. And yet, I have hardly seen it emphasized as a matter of policy in a civilian organization. (I would love to hear from you about any exceptions you’re aware of that have escaped my notice.)

We have seen a lot of discussion lately of the need for succession planning for the top job. Of at least equal importance is development of middle management. An emerging problem in this area was noted by Management-Issues, recently, and, stimulated by that, Steve Roesler offered yet another excellent post regarding how to address the issue.

I would only add that, as in so many things, real excellence resides in the integration of a managerial philosophy throughout the length and breadth of an organization, not randomly centered in a particular business unit or focused on a peculiar operational level. Execution? That is not a single person’s or department’s responsibility. It is built in to the very operation of the company, or it is not a core value.

The same applies to management development. This cannot simply be handed off as an HR function. The entire organization must be engaged in it as a normal, almost autonomic, part of operations. The ability of an outfit to continue in full stride in the absence of its manager is a testament not just to the unit (and not just to HR), but to that manager. Perhaps candidates being considered for elevation should be removed from their posts for several days – the one whose unit survives the best without its manager gets the promotion.

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Technorati Tags: military, management development, Management Skills, Organizational Leadership, Training, Robin Yap, Steve Roesler, Management-Issues