VOL. 54, No. 6 HEAD OFFICE: MONTREAL, JUNE 1973

Managers are Made

IF IT DEPENDED solely upon heredity to producemanagers the business world would be running a lotof "Career opportunities" advertisements. A personmay be born with a bossy disposition, but many otherqualities must be added by study and work.

Managers are made. They acquire a substantialbackground of knowledge in school; they learn thetechniques and absorb the atmosphere in businesscollege; perhaps they go on to take a managementcourse in university; and then they reach for thebottom rung on the ladder and keep on learning stepby step.

Here is the manager’s job: within the frameworkof the policy of his firm, and within the limits of hisbudget, to get the work of his department or branchdone in gear with the work of other sections of thebusiness so as to produce goods or services profitably.

The managerial functions are basically the same nomatter what the line of business is. The principlesgoverning management apply in a small office or in abig factory; only the volume of the work differs. Thecommodities made by a firm may be radically dif-ferent from those made by the last company where aman was manager, but that is not material: it is hismanagement skill that is his essential quality.

Some advisers say that a person should study whatwas done by the people in Who’s Who to further theircareers. That is good advice so long as it is appliedto the spirit, the enterprise, and the courage that areneeded; but the carrying of imitation of methods andprocedures into practice is a delicate operation.

Izaak Walton tells in his Compleat Angler aboutthe preacher who borrowed a sermon that had gainedgreat commendation for the man who composed andpreached it. The borrower preached it word for word,but his effort brought him only adverse criticism. Hehad the words, but not the technique of saying themso as to reach the minds and move the spirits of thepeople. A manager, similarly, has to be himself,expressing his own talent, and not a copier of othermen’s successes.

Thus, a manager makes himself according to a plan

that includes not only the techniques of administrationbut all the special gifts he has. He may, for example,be a specialist in a narrow field, or he may be anintegrator of specialists who brings the broad fieldof their activities into productive channels.

There are many qualities contributing to the effi-ciency of a manager, some of them not measurableon graphs and charts. A few may be mentionedbecause they seem to be of universal application: astrong feeling of responsibility, moral courage, thewill to push things through against odds, goodjudgment, quick thought leading to effective action,thoroughness in everything he does, zeal for hiscompany and enterprise in his search for betterment.

The manager is not principally concerned withthings, but with people. He may be rated by thequantity and quality of goods his office or factorysends through the shipping door, but it is people-his workers --who get the goods to the door.

Every manager needs to keep a sharp watch on theperformance of his people. He must develop some ofthe attributes of King Argus, who had a hundredeyes of which only two were allowed to be asleep atthe same time.

Pin-point your objective

Training for management is not a once-in-a-lifetimeaffair. Knowledge becomes obsolete quickly. Onemust be constantly in quest of new data and view-points.

The thing to do is to check at periodic intervals theability, knowledge, or attitude in which you detectweakness, and then apply yourself to bettering it.Improvement of managerial skill will not be fast if youstart at the "A" page of the encyclopedia determinedto work steadily through to the last of the "Z" pages.Your problem may be under "C" for communication,or "L" for leadership.

Personal fulfillment is the theme underlying all yoursearch for betterment. Work satisfaction is an indi-vidual thing. Bertrand Russell expressed the opinion:"The most intelligent young people in Western

countries tend to have that kind of unhappiness thatcomes of finding no adequate employment for theirbest talents."

Your job and you are unique. Many people may belisted in the census as doing the same kind of work asyou, but you are successful according to the measurein which you put the stamp of your spirit and per-sonality and talent on what you do.

Having a managerial position requires you to setgoals not only for yourself but for your department.These need to be constantly revised to meet new cir-cumstances and new standards. You need a feed-backsystem to keep you alert to the need for these changes,and a continuing inflow of knowledge to prepare youto cope with them.

Much of a manager’s work consists in plodding.What the public mistakes for intuitive brilliance is theresult of thorough, painstaking research.

This provides the sinews of leadership. To inspirecollaboration from a position of strength based onknowledge is more effective, and more pleasant, thanto dictate from a position of weakness.

When you are in charge, take charge. Let there beno doubt about your determination to do the job forwhich you are responsible. Seeking co-operation doesnot mean that you will tolerate wilful disobedience ofyour instructions. But set a fine example. Thackeraytells us in his Book of Snobs about the man whoseonly good action in his life was the involuntary one ofgiving an example to be avoided.

Without doubt, gaining effective co-operation is oneof the essential tasks faced by a manager. He must dopatient, pedestrian work to learn and apply theprinciples of earning participation in turning out ahigh class product. This requires that he give the teama definite mutual objective.

Team-work is not fairly represented by the pictureof a crew of workers under discipline and direction.It is achieved through voluntary effort pooled in acommon cause. Eric Shipton, leader of the 1937Mount Everest expedition, said: "You cannot arguean expedition into running smoothly, nor avoid acompetitive feeling by appealing for the ’team spirit’."

Ideas and problems

While training others you will continue to increaseyour own knowledge.

Having picked up some new ideas, mix them withyour old ideas and move them around. This is an ex-cellent way to keep out of a mental rut. Some day whenthere is nothing pressing to handle, look around youroffice and your work-room in search of somethingthat might be improved. Have a pad of paper handyon which to make notes. Choose one of your thoughtsand treat it as a problem. What do you know about it ?What solutions have been tried and why did they failto solve the problem? Then write down all the ideasthat come to mind about other ways of approaching

the problem. Evaluate them, throwing some out asbeing impracticable, but writing down the facts uponwhich you base your judgment. Set others aside asbeing possible except for this or that stated reason.They may be useful to combine with new ideas lateron. Those that are left are worth your consideration...and you have had an exercise in creative power.

Ideas that are to be used in management must standlogical analysis. Theories based upon inadequate oruntested data will not work, and they cause a greatdeal of upset when a manager imposes them onworkers.

Learning to manage the facts is as important aslearning to manage a business. Bring them into somesort of order in your mind. Pursue your solution byasking questions designed to test the strengths andweaknesses of various facts. When you get to theheart of things you may find that the problem doesnot centre where you thought it did and must beredefined.

Positive thinking

The manager who is determined to make his jobcreative needs to take always a positive approach tosituations and challenges. Negative attitudes aredisastrous to the person seeking to improve hismanagement ability.

The person who has a label ready for everything andautomatically files suggestions under it is also handi-capping himself. He has ceased to bother to observe.He has not learned that to follow "precedents"slavishly is a beggarly way to live. It eliminates thethinking and invention and expansion that mark theperson who is living fully.

Some people rest easy because ten years ago theytook stock and decided that they would accept thefact of change in their environment and techniquesand adapt themselves to it. But the changes havebrought changes in the laws governing change. Areassessment is needed, because change today isfaster, more radical and affects wider areas.

All change, of course, cannot be labelled "progress".One must discriminate. Progress is simply defined: itis change from worse to better. A manager is a personwho presses forward on the road of improvement. Heis not a direction sign, planted immovably in oneplace. He needs to show that he is capable of leadingthe way to the place to which he is directing others.

Some persons may feel sorry for the manager whois constantly alert and active because he is "underpressure", but what does that mean? Simply that hehas a lot of things to get done by a certain date. Thesolution is to start managing time. List the things thathave to be done. Eliminate what you can by delegatingthe jobs to others. Remove all items that do not prom-ise a return in keeping with the effort they will con-sume. Set priorities for the remaining items. Schedulethem. Do them.

A plan is needed, particularly by the person who is

contemplating doing new things. It is easier to stepover hitherto tabooed boundaries with a plan basedon observation and study than into unmappedterritory.

Another sort of plan is the personal plan. A managerwill find that if he prepares operating instructions forhimself it will clear his mind, eliminate irrelevancies,and focus attention where it is needed. Some of thepoints to be covered are: the nature of his work andhis functions: responsibilities to his senior, to hisco-workers, and to the public he serves.

This survey will place the manager on the solidground of knowing where he stands in his workingenvironment. Then he will analyse his load of respon-sibility within this network.

The aspiring manager will find it useful to have adate file as well as a job schedule. He will dictate orwrite notes to himself as reminders to check projectsfor their progress. His secretary will put these in datedfolders and will give him the current notes everymorning.

The big task

In a world of accelerating change the mechanics ofbusiness may change month by month, but theprinciples of management remain.

Every manager must be a decision-maker, a planner,an organizer, and a person who gets things done. Heneeds to be a man of vision, to see opportunities forthe promotion of business. He must exercise controlover production, and be acquainted with the policy ofhis firm, its programme and its possibilities. He isaccountable for results in all these areas.

Towering high above all other qualities in im-portance is his relationship with people. No person,however gifted or powerful, can attain or maintain atop position in business or politics without the con-currence of other people’s endeavours. When Cicerosaid this two thousand years ago he was laying downa primary principle for today’s manager.

To have influence with people rather than to exertpower over them is the happiest way for a manager todischarge his duties. He has empathy, the skill notonly to see what is on the surface of another person’saction, good or bad, but to feel what is behind it, itscause and its purpose.

Human relations with workers requires that themanager pay attention to their suggestions and com-plaints.

When a worker approaches you with a complaint,a request, or an idea, treat the occasion as an im-portant one --as, indeed, it is to him. Do not allowdistractions; tell your secretary to take telephonecalls, and close your door. When a worker has agrievance it is what is in his mind that is important,so listen attentively and sympathetically. The griev-ance may be trivial or unjustified, but his thinkingabout it irritates him and affects his work adversely,so it must be dealt with.

Even the routine of issuing orders is worthy ofattention. There are many ways of giving instruc-tions, but one of them is the best way in any givensituation. In a well-functioning factory or office nosubstitute has been found for making the workersfeel part and parcel of the firm. They will accomplishmore than they would under a work order dictatorial-ly given.

Someone special

The manager needs to know and allow for thefoibles and frailties and imperfections of other peoplewhile being careful to avoid developing weaknessesin his own life. He will study to give his workers thesame sense of dignity in their work as he has in his.

What does a worker want? A chance to use hisskills, to be creative, and to learn new things. It isnot the duty of a manager to make over individualson his staff, but to give every person the chance todevelop according to his capacity and his interest.

An article by Agis Salpukas in the New York Timessuggested that corporate executives and union leadersare debating whether a new work force has emergedthat will increasingly demand jobs that will fulfilcreative needs as well as provide food and shelter.

The manager will take notice of this trend, and willtry to provide his worker with these four satisfactions:(1) A feeling of self-esteem, by expressing apprecia-tion of work well done; (2)A chance to develop, encouraging him to use his strongest abilities andtalents; (3)The stimulation of new experiences, giving him a different task once in a while; (4) A sen-sation of freedom, by giving him an opportunity tomake his own decisions.

Wise managers do not concentrate upon the pres-ent so as to exclude consideration of the potentialfuture value of a worker. This is something additionalto his immediate, observable role--a bonus, as itwere. He must be trained to work intelligently andcompetently at his present job, but also groomed forfitness to take on larger responsibilities.

Counselling by a manager is on a higher level thangiving instructions or advice. It is directed towardincreasing the self-responsibility of the worker, thusmaking him a better and more trustworthy worker.

The manager may call a conference of workers todiscuss some matter that affects them and the goodof the firm. He does so in the expectation that hispeople will discuss the subject intelligently and developworth-while ideas. He will stimulate people’s thinkingalong new lines, and ask questions th.at spark dis-covery and elicit creative suggestions. An idea arrivedat through a conference of workers is likely to re-ceive more enthusiastic support than one imposedby an order.

Communication

People will work enthusiastically for a managerwho knows and tells them where he and they are

headed. This breeds the inspiration and solidarityof a common general idea.

Every work crew is entitled to a clear-cut definiteunderstanding of what is expected of it, what parteach person is to play, and how the total effort fitsin with the product of other crews. This seems to beso elementary a requirement that mention of itappears superfluous, but it is surprising to lookaround and see how many efforts have failed or havebeen botched by ignoring it.

Silence on matters that affect workers -- and nearlyevery change in policy and personnel is of importanceto them--is a sure way to alienate them. Theyshould not be left to get the knowledge out of theirnewspapers or by the grape-vine, but, being partnersin the firm, they should be told in advance or at leastat the same time in a memo or a posted notice.

If there are moral and business reasons for com-municating information, there are equally importantreasons to speak intelligibly. Hazy expression andwoolly explanation should be rigorously excludedfrom reports and memos.

Knowledge and intelligence

Superiority in a job rests on a solid base of knowl-edge. He would be a foolish person who trusted toluck for his advancement, but there is no harm inbelieving, as did Louis Pasteur: "Fortune favoursthe prepared mind".

The manager needs not only experience, which isknowledge of individual cases and events, but sci-ence, which is knowledge of universal principles.

Knowledge of the wider sort is obtained by ob-serving and filing mentally what items of informationare not immediately usable. It is necessary, of course,to use discrimination in amassing data. A mind fullof unassessed and unordered material is unlikely tolend itself to anything more than a conceited paradeof knowledge.

Intelligence puts knowledge to work. It consists ina seizing of relations, in perceiving objects and eventsthat matter and sensing their connections. There maybe things of importance that only people possessinga certain intelligence can understand, so do not expectthe same degree of intelligence in everyone: after all,where then would be your eminence ?

Estimates of a situation depend to a great extentupon the width, length and acuteness of your ob-servation of similar situations, but not all of pastexperience is useful in parallel circumstances today.You need to isolate the part of the experience that isapplicable. Knowledge gained in doing a job twentyyears ago must give place to new ways in the light ofchanged conditions, the improvement in tools, andthe advancement in systems of work.

The energy to do excellent managerial work re-quires purpose plus physical vigour and mental poiseand dedication. A manager may have become so

AVAILABLE IN FRENCH AND IN BRAILLE

enamoured of his job that only the severest fatiguewill drive him away from it, but work is subject tothe law of increasing disutility: the quality decreases.Nevertheless, it will be fatal to one’s aspirations tobe misled by platform and television speeches whichpromise greater ease, more leisure and a bigger paypacket. These, say the orators, are not to be obtainedby honest hard work, but by legislation or some easy-to-take stimulating concoction.

Seek emotional stability

Lionel Pugh, head coach of the Canadian trackand field team, discussing Canada’s showing at the1972 Summer Olympics, said, as reported by GeorgeHanson in the Montreal Star: "We have kids herewho think they are tourists. They want to go offshopping or sightseeing. I’ve had a top athlete tellme on the day of an event that the mood just wasn’tthere."

It is unwise to allow temperament to rule one. Itcan become an affliction. A person, and particularlyone in authority, who is subject to moods, and givesway to them so as to cause disorder around him or tolet the side down, is a trouble maker.

To keep your balance, vary not only the thingsyou do but the way you do them. Move from onetask to another. Ruskin said: "If you cannot leaveyour picture at any moment--cannot turn from itand go on with another while the colour is drying --cannot work at any part of it you choose with equalcontentment--you have not a firm enough graspof it."

Emotional stability is needed. This means that youkeep cool under stress, that you handle workers andcustomers in a calm, confident and winning way.Stability can be undermined by self-analysis carriedto extremes, though it is often necessary to lookwithin ourselves for the cause of an error.

There are, as is true in all nature, limitations to beobserved. One must not exceed his authority,or criticize more than is necessary, or be more aggres-sive than the situation requires. On the positive side,one must distribute praise effectively when it is de-served without being fulsome, give goodwill toworkers without discrimination or partiality, makeplans firm but not rigid, and deal with situationsvigorously without being dictatorial.

The law of restriction is a good one to follow.Anything more than is necessary is too much. Whentaking a photograph you look through the view-finder to see not only what to include in your picture,but, even more important, what to leave out.

When one guides his life by some of the funda-mental principles of management, it becomes filledwith programmed activities. Nothing can rob a manof the happiness he enjoys in managing an importantpiece of work effectively. He has become an individual,not merely a function.

O THE ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 1973/pRINTED IN CANADA