The Hindu Business Line : Adult supervision wanted at workplace

YOU put the kids in school and go to work. At the workplace what you find are but `overgrown kids' and the playground is expensive, full of knowledge experts.

Are you frustrated that talented and brilliant workers are driving managers to distraction "with their resistance to meeting deadlines, quantifying progress, and demonstrating tangible results"?

Instead of tearing your hair, better read Just Add Management by Farzad and Rhonda Dibachi, published by McGraw-Hill (www.books. mcgraw-hill.com).

The book lays down `seven steps' to create a productive workplace and motivate your employees in challenging times. "It's time to get back to business — real business," urges the blurb.

"A decade of hands-off management has produced a stream of cost overruns, incomplete projects, and reduced productivity, not to mention a growing list of accounting scandals."

The intro holds a promise: "This book can help managers turbo-charge the knowledge workplace." Demand accountability and maturity from workers, it advises.

`Adult supervision,' is what the authors are advocating, along with `accountability management'. Knowledge workers make up almost 60 per cent of the workforce, so you can't ignore them.

However, productivity in internal service sectors has remained flat over the past decade, even as manufacturing productivity rose by 50 per cent.

So first get the idea of `knowledge workplace' right. It is "the vast array of work and services inside companies that can make or break an organisation but that are not related to manufacturing or sales," defines the first chapter.

Such an environment often hinges on "teams working on activities that require multiple contributions". This can lead to great results or a big mess, the difference being management.

"Successful companies find a way to more consistently deliver knowledge-based work and manage business value than unsuccessful companies."

Best practices are not embraced widely, so what one finds is that knowledge work is managed like "some kind of artists' colony, where managers assemble a team, throw out a challenge, hope for the best, and return shortly before the deadline, holding their breath and fingering their rosary beads."

Holding your KWs accountable is not the same as too much supervision. Let us not forget that KW is paid for his or her work. Read this bit:

"If we didn't pay you, you wouldn't come to work. So, when you come to work, we have the right to see evidence of your work and progress. This does not mean we will sit in your cubicle and correct your posture while you're typing or that we will micromanage you, but we will expect you to be accountable for your time and progress.

"We will demand that specific and concrete milestones are met. The more consistently you meet those, the fewer there may be. However, without your appreciating that you must be accountable, we don't even have a conversation."

Seven rules are put simply thus:

"Your job exists to make this company a success. Yes, I am the boss of you. The customer pays all of our salaries. Do what matters. Do it right. Track your progress. Work smart." The first three are about `culture'.

To check if your employees share the same assumptions and their heads are screwed on straight, sit them down, one by one, and find out if they understand why they're working here and what you're paying them to do.

A sideline suggestion is that you can even try this experiment with your spouse: "What are we doing in this relationship, and what do you feel you are contributing to it?"

A daring book that knowledge workers may not like their managers to read.

ManageMentor@TheHindu.co.in

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