The Hindu Business Line : Challenges for the first time manager

As a first time manager, do you end up working two levels down? Do you end up solving the problems that your team members are supposed to? Do you finish the unfinished or half finished work of your team members? Do you allow your team members to delegate their work upwards to you? Do you check for or chase for progress of work every few minutes, just because you and your team member have access to a mobile phone? Do you end up saying, "Never mind, I will do it myself."

If the answer to all or most of these questions is a "yes", you are part of the large tribe of first time managers who are unable to implement the doctrine of `completed staff work' in their teams.

The term `completed staff work' was coined by a Provost Marshal General of the US Army in January 1942 as a doctrine and was published in the form of an office order.

`Completed staff work' is the study of a problem and presentation of a solution by a team member (staff officer in the original order) in such form that all that remains to be done on the part of the manager (head of the staff division or the commander in the original order) is to indicate his approval or disapproval of the completed action. The words `completed action' are emphasised because the more difficult the problem , the more is the tendency to present the problem to the manager in piecemeal fashion, the order maintained.

The doctrine holds that it is the duty of the employee to work out the details and not consult the manager in the determination of those details, no matter how perplexing they may be. It maintains that the end product of the employee's work in the form of a policy, proposal, report or analysis should, when presented (verbally or in writing) to the manager for approval or disapproval, be worked out in finished form.

The problem we face today

The order that the Provost Marshal General had issued, perhaps in response to the poor quality and half baked work that was being turned in by his staff, way back in 1942 seems to have as much relevance today. In fact, based on my work with hundreds of first time managers across several organisations, I dare say that it is a lot more relevant and urgent today than it was, 64 years ago!

The truth is that many of today's young managers are caught in heaps of transactions. It appears that they have hundreds of things that they personally need to get done. Observe their behaviour for an hour and you will either be filled with pity or anger. Constantly on e-mail or on the phone, constantly chasing, constantly closing out the never ending demands on their time. Are they managers or individual contributors, you wonder!

You even begin to wonder whether the traditional notion of the manager being the one who gets things done through others is valid any longer.

While it is true that the environment in which today's managers operate is a lot more complex and dynamic, it is also true that the infrastructure and information with which they work is also far superior and they are also paid far better for their work!

Why then is the first time manager unable to demand and obtain completed staff work?

There are several reasons:

The transition that never takes place

The new manager receives little help and support in making the transition from being an individual contributor to becoming a manager.

Organisations believe that the day the employee's title changes, he should start behaving like a manager. I do not see adequate evidence of organisations having sound and formal training and mentoring solutions to help their managers transition into their new roles. The lack of training and mentoring shows up in their struggle to plan, organise, prioritise, delegate and solve problems. More important, it also shows up in their struggle with managing people, especially in influencing them to do what they want them to do.

Teaching in short supply

To get employees to deliver completed staff work, it becomes necessary to teach them and show them the way. While most first time managers are actually quite good at imparting technical training on the job and are likely to have done it too, there are a few factors that seriously inhibit the process:

* The increasing span of the young manager makes it impossible for him to do justice to his role as a teacher and trainer. It is not uncommon for a young manager to manage over 20 employees today.

* The diminishing tenure of his team members dissipates the manager's enthusiasm to make the training investment spontaneously.

As a result of this, employees have no choice but to go back ever so often to their manager, while some others just turn in faulty work which the manager has to redo.

Learning to give a good brief

To demand and expect completed staff work, it is important for the manager to first give his employee a good brief. The brief not only needs to be clear, specific and actionable, it also needs to be inspiring. The inability of managers to set the task against the right context and be able to show the big picture leaves employees confused about why they need to do the job and how it will help them and the organisation.

Sometimes, managers are not able to break down a task into chunks that are small enough for the employee to understand and digest. Sometimes, their brief is too abstract. As a result of these inabilities of the manager, the employee ends up producing inferior work. The need becomes especially acute in knowledge-oriented work.

Balancing one's style

First time managers tend to swing between two extremes in their style of securing results — at one extreme, some end up being so nurturing and supportive that they almost end up being patronising in their style. Their need to be nice overtakes the need to help their employee find answers and learn to swim.

At the other extreme, we have managers who believe that employees learn to swim when they are pushed into the water and therefore turn on the heat.

First time managers also tend to micro manage their employees in the anxiety for results, thereby robbing them of the elbow room and the opportunity to learn.

It takes time for many managers to find the middle path and learn to moderate their style depending on the situation.

Tenure and stability of relationship

Finally, completed staff work is dependent on the chemistry of the relationship between the manager and his team member. Once the chemistry is right, many things work quite tacitly. Good assistants know exactly what their supervisors want and get it done with little instruction. A good nurse who has worked with a surgeon knows exactly what the surgeon needs and responds spontaneously. This chemistry is, however, dependent on tenure and stability, both of which are rare commodities in today's maddening labour market.

Completed staff work goes beyond making the manager's job easy. It helps build professional pride in the employee and enhances his self-worth.

The Provost Marshal General drives home this point very succinctly. He says: "When you have finished your `completed staff work' the final test is this: If you were the chief, would you be willing to sign the paper you have prepared and stake your professional reputation on its being right? If the answer is in the negative, take it back and work it over, because it is not yet `completed staff work'."

(The writer is the founder and CEO of Totus Consulting, a strategic HR consulting firm)

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