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Category Archives: Management Development

Shooting stars

Thursday, May 8, 2008

One of the most peculiarly persistent problems in management at all levels is the reluctance of managers to develop their juniors, out of a fear that they may outshine and, ultimately, outpace their seniors. It seems to me that there are three problems with this. . .

Also filed in Culture | | Comments (3)

Bad books

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Perhaps my favorite book review of all time isn’t, properly speaking, a review of a book at all, but of the whole category of business books. It was called How 51 Gorillas Can Make You Seriously Rich, and it was by The Economist magazine. The most interesting thing about it, though, is that virtually every book cited as an archetype of what is wrong with the genre was a best seller. Why is that?

Also filed in Book Reviews, Personal Observations | | Comments (5)

The apprentice

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

The apprenticeship model of management - or leadership - development is a deeply perceptive approach to this vital topic that is most effectively championed by Wally Bock, of Three Star Leadership. The basic premise is that leadership cannot be learned in school, but must be practiced on the job. The wise organization will provide mechanisms - from career path assignments to mentoring programs - to facilitate this. That single insight by itself can save organizations a tremendous amount of aggravation in infusing truly effective and robust talent development systems into their structures. And it need not start only at the entry level for management . . .

Also filed in Human Resources, Organizational Leadership, Training and Education | | Comments (2)

The audition

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

It may seem obvious that it is important to understand what skill sets you need in a job before you start looking for someone to fill it. And, indeed, many Human Resource departments know precisely what is required in closely defined line positions. From sales to production or service fulfilment, these criteria are often quite clear, and the process of discovering who has or can develop them can be just as clear. Unfortunately, the situation is more muddled for managers . . .

Also filed in Human Resources, Peter Drucker, Women in Management | | Comments (8)

The mustang

Friday, March 28, 2008

Consider a civilian automobile factory, for example, in which someone moves up from being a blue-collar front-line factory employee - and, perhaps through some of the the supervisor levels, as well - to ultimately enter the white-collared ranks of management. There are definitely advantages to this pipeline. For one thing, such managers are often able to detect the sorts of orders coming down from on high that are destined to be greeted, by those who are to carry them out, with amused bafflement - almost never a productivity enhancer. Sometimes they can do something about those, and this usually works to the benefit of both the recipients and the issuers. But there is another interesting aspect to this . . .

Also filed in Culture, Human Resources, Training and Education, Women in Management | | Comments (14)