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Often, managers can develop functional myopia,2 where they become so focused on their department, they do not understand how they affect the greater good of the organization. Reengineering guru Michael Hammer tells the story of a multimillion dollar aircraft sitting idle in hangar A because it required a repair person from hangar B to repair it. The manager of hangar B could have sent a repair person that day, but realized he would incur a $100 expense against his budget because that person would require an overnight hotel stay. The manager of hangar B saved the company$100, but left the aircraft sitting overnight, unused, wasting hundreds of thousands of the firms dollars. Career success in the 1990s is directly linked to the positive effect made on the entire organization, not just a managers own department.
In the past, when managers had lifelong careers with an organization, it was fine to do one job and do it very well. In the 1990s, however, with increasing consumer demand for high-quality, low-cost products, corporations require a flexible workforce. To prove value, employees and managers alike must develop a broader range of skills so that they can do multiple jobs within the organization. Managers should analyze their current job to determine whether their skills can be easily transferred to a different department or different company. In addition, they should make sure their attitude advertises the fact that they are open to new challenges. A certain sign of career stagnation is the it-is-not-my-job mentality.
For managers, the opposite ends of the broad spectrum of skills required for future success must be considered and acted upon. At one end is the development of specific technical skills (e.g.,instructional design expertise, programming skills, or the know-how to install a 40-node network). Broadening that ability to include performing these tasks vs. supervising them promotes career longevity in two ways:
At the other end of the spectrum in broadening a managers skills is the development of leadership abilities, far different from the type of supervisory skills required in the 1970s and 1980s. Barbara Golden, president of Computing Solutions, Inc., Chicago, defines leadership as a life-long practice. The personal infrastructure for a leadership role comprises a set of exciting and motivating challenges. The challenges, if met, can open new realms of possibilities never yet imagined.
Golden considers leadership activities to be $500-per-hour jobs in her common denominator theory (see Exhibit 1).3 She says that too often time is spent whining and complaining. That includes managers, too. According to Golden, whining and complaining are $0- per-hour jobs. The jobs with the most value are ones that serve as catalysts to help others achieve their true potential. Fortune 500 corporations agree. A 1993 poll of CEOs from these firms, conducted by opinion research firm Clark, Martier Bartolomeo, proved that leadership far outranked such traditionally important skills as marketing, finance, operations management, and accounting aptitude in importance to senior management.4
The steadfast cliché of people blowing their own horn definitely applies to the manager of the 1990s. If these managers do not trumpet their own successes, it is unlikely that anyone else will. Because the next layer of management is so consumed with other responsibilities, it is doubtful that they have the time or energy to notice every contribution the manager makes.
Exhibit 1. Common Denominator Theory.
Managers blowing their own horn should be viewed as strategic, not self-glorifying. The manager should make it a point to highlight team accomplishments, in a company newsletter for instance, making sure that it is distributed to senior managers and end users alike. The manager should focus specifically on value-added services that have helped the organization make money, save money, or achieve other company objectives. If the company does not publish a newsletter, managers can prepare a written report with a similar focus and submit it to their own manager, and also their managers superior.
Horn blowing advice applies to resume writing as well. One of the best resumes the author ever received was from an IS support group manager within a healthcare company. The following is the opening job summary that manager provided: Took responsibility for a dysfunctional team to improve group dynamics, team communication, cooperative work efforts, and individual self-esteem. As a result, job performance of the group reached an all-time high, measured by internal customer satisfaction surveys, distributed 12 months apart.
Not only did this manager introduce herself by stating specific examples of her success, she emphasized the types of skills that are applicable to any organization. This opening is much more likely to receive the right attention than the typical how-I-spent-my-time-at-XYZ-company, especially when a laundry list of job functions may be viewed as appropriate only to one firm.
Once managers begin searching, they will discover a multitude of ways by which to prove value to their organizations. It is not simply enough to understand their contribution, however, but to prove it as well.
Self-rescue is a term used in whitewater rafting, but it is equally appropriate to the middle manager of the 1990s. The idea is this: if the raft is going through perilous white water and everyone falls out, including the guide, the guide must first get the raft upright before attempting to save the passengers. However, if the passengers are being pushed over boulders, driven along by icy currents, they are not likely to wait for the guide to save them. They rescue themselves.
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