Opinion and Analysis
Seven habits of ineffective managers
Mr Covey who died at 79 on July 16, 2012 was well known for his book, ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’. Photo/File
Posted Wednesday, July 25 2012 at 18:21
In Summary
Seven habits of ineffectiveness:
- Doing tomorrow what can be done today
- Forming a committee for a decision
- Thinking quick-win
- Not executing what is strategised
- Managing through isolation and fear
- Doing it all
- Knowing it all
Most managers believe business is a numbers game. For this reason, they would do ‘whatever it takes’ to get those numbers.
Contrary to popular opinion, business is not just a numbers game. Business is about providing solutions. Through business, society rewards those who help to make life easier.
Our efforts, therefore, should be towards solutions, not simple short-term numbers technique. As Apple proved to us, creating a ‘super good solution’ will make the numbers take care of themselves.
If you are a manager who spends more time with your spreadsheets than your people, paying lip service to employee morale and caring only about your bottom line, you are a short-cut manager.
4. Planning management: All strategy, no execution
Forget setting goals plan. Forget the strategic plan. Forget the monitoring and evaluation plan. Actually forget all plans.
Effectiveness starts when you close the plan book and start doing.
Strategy, however beautifully crafted, will remain just that, unless converted to some real effort off the paper. Execution is not an extension of the strategic plan, it is a fresh lease of life from the seed that is the plan.
Plan all you want and strategise as much as you want. Think as far ahead as you probably can. But the crux of the matter is, ‘do!’
5. Divide and conquer: management through isolation and fear
What a better way to manage a team than to make sure that the team is divided into units that totally hate each other? Make sure you have a kitchen cabinet made up of your tribesmen and women.
Make sure that some category of the workers (you included) receive healthy pay rises and bonuses while others remain earning peanuts.
Develop a culture of sycophancy. Reward those who worship you and punish those who try to show some level of independence.
All these will breed contempt and great ineffectiveness. Effectiveness is achieved by fostering peace and understanding rather than isolation.
6. Do-it-all
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