I fell into conversation with a member of staff in a shop that I was in the other day. She was busy cleaning a small flight of steps inside the store by hand.
I was intrigued by the work she was having to do…and how she was expected to do it. As we made eye contact and both offered each other welcoming smiles, I asked in all seriousness how she had ended up drawing the short straw.
We began to chat about what she was expected to do in the shop and she started to share some of her frustrations about that workplace. It didn’t take long before she drew attention to the disparity that existed between her and those who assumed managerial roles in relation to her job.
As she spoke to me about her day-to-day existence in this busy and demanding context, I was reminded that, in far too many instances in the workplace, there is a sharp contrast between actually doing the work and thereby gaining rich insight into it as a result, and assuming the role of managing the work.
The distance between doing the work and bossing the work is partially bridged by supporting frontline staff to move into leadership roles. And, as I have argued on many occasions, companies would be best served by rejecting a curriculum-driven programme of leadership development in favour of two things: firstly, support for everyone to become practically acquainted with the structures, processes and protocols that exist organisationally, which are essential to supporting the company to run smoothly and deliver on its expectations.
I recall the story of an organisation that had recruited a top-quality manager from another company. Their reputation preceded them, and they arrived with great expectations of them. In a conversation that I had with them a few months into their tenure, they plaintively shared with me a key frustration that had arisen in that short time. They wanted to get a microwave in the staff room to support people in their department so that they were able to heat food that they had brought from home. But the process for achieving that simple ambition was so arcane and convoluted that this new manager could not find a way of delivering on this simple intention.
This was a vital reminder of the simple fact that it can be fantastically difficult to navigate the complex mesh of governance that tends to emerge out of organisational settings. And this corporate obscurantism can trip up even the most engaged and thoughtful manager as they endeavour to steer a course for themselves and the people with whom they work. So much of management is about having an awareness of the mechanics of the place in which you work…so striving to provide everyone with insight into these myriad structures is essential in terms of company efficiency.
The second element that would be useful alongside thoughtful induction into local managerial practice is – as John Higgins and I have argued – not to focus on the idea of compelling the development of your people as “leaders” or “managers” but instead to offer them space and time to develop as people, in terms of encouraging them to reflect upon corporate life critically, reflexively, and with a focus on their ethical self (pp218-219). Allowing someone to embrace their humanity means that, as and when the opportunity to lead occurs, they will be well suited to assume that role, either as someone taking on the formal position as a leader in the structure of your business or as someone stepping into leadership in response to specific circumstances.
Appointing people from the ranks of your company to move into managerial positions is important – but we need to also bear in mind that the distance that so often exists in corporate contexts between performers, managers of performers, and managers of managers arises out of – and is constantly amplified by – that hierarchised distinction. This leads to the simple assertion that those who presume to manage and lead in organisational settings need to actively and constantly immerse themselves in the business of the business, primarily by developing and maintaining meaningful dialogic relationships with the people all around them in that corporate context.
By way of providing insight into the importance of this, it is noteworthy that the woman with whom I was speaking offered remarkable insight into the fact that managerialism has a strong tendency to seek to control people’s time without an understanding of how long things take. On one occasion, a manager was on her case about a task that they expected her to do. Their focus on this element of her work was exclusive and took no account whatsoever of context and competing pressures.
Hence, in this exchange, it quickly became apparent that the manager had no insight whatsoever in terms of what the woman with whom I was speaking had to do in terms of the practicalities of her day-to-day work. Moreover, the manager demonstrated a painful lack of understanding of the equipment provided in order to do the specific cleaning activity about which they were in a somewhat one-sided exchange. Hence, we had a situation of someone nearer the top of the pyramid failing to enhance their awareness of what happens at its base – and hence making unhelpful suggestions without actually fully understanding what people were being asked to do and how that can get done in the extant context.
The person with whom I was speaking made clear that a manager suggesting to a member of staff “Why don’t you do X?” has an oppressively parental feel to it – and serves to reflect that the manager has no idea what actually goes on to get things done. And the manager’s reference to equipment of which they had patently little or no understanding offers insight into the technophilic focus on machinery supporting productivity that is a feature of managerialism…without a real appreciation of what those tools can actually do – or indeed a technical understanding of the function of that equipment.
Several things occurred to me in light of this exchange, first and foremost being that it is essential in corporate life to immerse yourself in the business of the business – and to ensure that you actively seek to connect with all of those with whom you work. This means actively seeking to collapse the distance that exists between you and others in respect to the hierarchy in which you find yourself. At the most senior level, you need to escape the C-Suite to find the Sweet Spots of the corporate space in which you work.
The second point is highlighted in the work that John Higgins and I undertook in terms of our analysis of voice and silence in organisations. Speaking to people from above means you will be simply seen as talking down at them. You may invite people to speak up – but the reality is that people will only find their voice in situations where you come alongside them with the genuine intention to have an honest conversation. Above all else, you need to foreground your curiosity, secure in the knowledge that those with whom you speak will offer you rich insight into the wider corporate life in which you exist.
As we often say, you need to listen in order to genuinely hear; hear so as to understand the experiences of those around you; and understand in order to create an honest space in which two human agents can connect and exchange in an honest and open way (p213). You will know the lives of your fellow human beings all the better from engaging with them in this way – and this will hugely enhance your understanding of the workplace context in which you find yourself.
In summary, there is great sense in looking to develop and promote those who – through their practice – have developed a detailed understanding of where the work gets done, who does it, and how they seek to do it. But thereafter it is essential that those appointees do not ensconce themselves in managerialism; instead, it is about shuttling up, down and across the organisation in order to maintain and develop your workplace awareness, not least by engaging at a conversational level with everyone in the organisation with whom you connect.
Following my brief exchange with the woman on the steps, I came away with an appreciation of her role in that environment and some of the challenges that she faced in terms of trying to get things done. I stepped away from that conversation with a strong sense that I had been offered insight into corporate life in that particular circumstance because I had welcomed the chance to take time to speak with someone about their experience of work.
To do so at every possible opportunity means that a manager will have a panoramic view of the place where they work…and, by making this a central and constant facet of their work, they will be ensuring that everyone’s voice is both heard and matters in our organisations.
Radical OD 