Tower of Babel Management 2

The previous article was somewhat theoretical in nature and gave rise to a lot of questions among readers.

What gives us the knowledge of the "language" in which the worker communicates with the manager or the manager with the manager? How to put it into practice? Who needs it?

Let's start with the last question.
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Who needs it?

Everybody.

Employees want to show their authorities their effectiveness in order to better monetize their work. They want to work quietly, without rummaging, without demonstrative hands, slap in the face in a healthy atmosphere. Such a creative working nirvana.

Production managers want to conduct the production process, distributing resources and fulfilling obligations to managers, without exceeding the allocated budgets. They, too, like the workers, do not want to get a whip, but they want more sweet gingerbread.

Managers want to make only those decisions that will be profitable, and, as little as possible, losses. They want to quietly develop their business, systematically realizing their plans.

How to put into practice?

Employees should learn to understand what type of manager they lead. If production, then they should rejoice in their happiness. In the event that it is a financial manager, they must make the maximum effort to remedy the situation.

For example, if you are asked to estimate the deadlines for the task, always respond not with specific figures, but with periods. Instead of “I think it will take two days to do it,” it’s better to say “it will last from two days to two weeks”. Why such a large scatter? And I do not know what I will encounter when solving this task, I cannot see from my bell tower. The manager will be forced to put his assessment, unwittingly taking responsibility. Over time, he will learn to at least correctly estimate the time spent.

In case you are simply forwarded letters, with a request to figure out what is at stake, it is best to take the letter, sit down with the manager, and tell about what is written here. If he ignores your desire to teach him production tricks, then include a manager in a copy to your answer, and be sure to add something like: “Senor manager, do you think it is better to choose technology N or M?”. Now he will have a dilemma, or to figure out what makes N better than M, or to show his inability of production management.

Good advice to all disadvantaged and oppressed workers. Your manager is the result of your work on him. Do not be afraid to collectively correct its shortcomings.

Managers who are led by other managers will have to fight for the right to be not “hands”, but “brain”. How to understand, above you the production worker or the financier? According to the terms with which the head operates. The phrases “Let's move Benjamin to an ABC project”, “We spent too much time on task X”, “How many tickets are now closed?” Clearly indicate that you have a typical production manager, and he needs you to perform routine operations . Normal phrases should sound like this: “The market conjuncture has changed, we are curtailing work on direction Z”, “Customers want to increase project financing, what costs can we incur if we have to expand our staff?”, “We need to change development plans, what will be affected changing the priorities of task A to a higher one? ”.

The method of systematically increasing confidence in you as a specialist will help correct the “language” of communication from resource to financial. If you make a mini-presentation, why use Veniamin on the EFG project rather than ABC, then you will not only show your independence in managing the resources and understanding the situation, but also make you wonder what the real effectiveness of this solutions. And this is a transition to the level of financial thinking.

Managers need to build a process for managing financial flows, but basically it is cost management. Your main task is to teach your subordinates the right cost estimate. In the process of learning the formation of a more or less reliable assessment, downstream managers or managers will have to think about such a concept as their own efficiency, and it, as we remember, is measured only in monetary terms. If a manager often makes mistakes in spending levels, it’s worth working with him this moment, it is possible to temporarily put someone more experienced as a pair to compare their effectiveness and at the same time arrange an exchange of experience.

There is an option when the manager gets out of the budget, but the result will be better than if he had managed everything on time. In this case, you need to require him to report on the planned cost reductions from the implementation of more than planned. This again will make him evaluate the performance of both himself and his subordinates. For even more accurate correction of the assessment, you can return to the manager (if possible) feedback on the profitability of his decision. For example, the budget for building inter-module communications has been overspending due to the system of automatic control of communication validity, but it allows you to build more effective monitoring of the entire product, which, in addition to reducing testing costs in the future, can be sold as a separate option. If the sale is really carried out, then it is worth encouraging the manager who made a commercially correct decision.

It is also impossible to allow attempts to use you as a “think tank”, and subordinates will play the role of “hands”. This was written above.

What gives us knowledge of the "language" of communication?

This is a litmus test of problems that await you. Or their absence. A lot of companies died due to management mistakes. Modern training centers pay attention only to the management process, which is reduced to the implementation of standard rules: plan-reporting-control. Each manager sees the implementation of these principles in their own way, and not everyone understands that these are only tools, from the mere presence of which it will not be good for everyone. Books abound with recommendations on what actions should be taken in certain cases, but they do not reveal the true reason why these actions should be done at all.

If you look at all the recommendations through the prism of different "languages", the picture becomes clearer and clearer. Planning takes on different meanings at different levels of management, reporting is not always needed in the form of the number of completed tasks, control is needed only to improve the efficiency of the enterprise, which reduces its costly part, increasing profitability.

On this I will complete. Thanks for attention!