BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Management Matters
In the last of the workshop series, created by of Renewables Network to help businesses prepare for the demands of the offshore wind energy supply chain, the subject is management. Here John Britton, Director of Renewables Network Ltd, discusses the critical, but often misrepresented role of management. Many things have been published over the years that have simply served to confuse managers by mixing style and function as if they are the same thing. In this workshop the focus is on function, leaving the question of style to the individual. The only style that will work is the one that is natural to you.
LEAD OR MANAGE? this is the first question that needs to be resolved. One hears a number of one- liners that are designed to capture the essence of each.
“Leading is transformational, managing is transactional”
“Leaders are inspirational, managers are technical”
These statements sound catchy, but they confuse function and style. One of my favourite books on the subject is “burn! 7 Leadership Myths in Ashes” by Mitch McCrimmon. In it he clarifies very effectively that leadership and management are distinct roles, both of which can be accomplished in a range of styles. For him the role of leadership is to set a new agenda for the team. This makes the role more than innovation, there are plenty of innovators who don’t manage to sell the change of agenda to which their innovation opens the door. A leader has to sell the change to the ‘agenda setters’. As such a leader can exist anywhere in an organisation, not just at the top.
the role of management is to execute the agenda. The agenda can be one of incremental improvement of performance to maintain a ‘no change’ strategy, or it can be to execute exciting and significant transformation triggered by a new strategic vision. the specific challenges may be different, but the role is the same – to execute the agenda.
• Are these roles mutually exclusive? No, a manager can also be a leader.
• Are these roles mutually dependent? No, a leader can emerge from the laboratory or from the sales force to sell a new concept, never having had any management experience at all. Also a manager can be a superb manager without ever being a leader.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT There you have it. The function that is the subject of countless seminars and hundreds of books is change MANAGEMENt, not ‘change leadership’. This whole topic embraces the two roles, but the far more significant function in the achievement of change is the management role of executing the change agenda. John Kotter is, perhaps, a better known author than Mitch McCrimmon and his book ‘Our Iceberg is Melting’ co-authored with Holger Rathgeber has certainly achieved book of the month status in management circles. The clarity
KOTTER
1 Create a sense of urgency – help others to see the need for change and the importance of acting immediately
2 Pull together the guiding team – make sure there is a powerful group guiding the change
3 Develop the change vision and strategy – clarify how the future will be different from the past
4 Communicate for understanding and buy-in – make sure as many others as possible understand and take ownership of the strategy
5 Empower others to act – remove all the barriers so that those who are committed to the change can succeed
6 Produce short term wins - create some visible, unambiguous successes as soon as possible.
7 Don’t let up – be relentless in achieving change after change until the vision is a reality
8 Create a new culture – hold on to the new ways of behaving until they become strong enough to replace the old traditions
with which Kotter describes the essential steps required to secure organisational change is very helpful for every manager.
These steps are:
Step 1 is exclusively the role of leadership; this is where the change concept is sold to the agenda-setters. Steps 2 and 3 will certainly involve the leader to ensure the concept is not diluted or hi-jacked by another influence, but it is in these steps that the management of change begins to be organised. From there on in the role is exclusively management. Whenever I check my own conviction by reading through this list I get questioning thoughts such as “Step 5: Empowering others – that sounds like leadership”. but I soon realise that I am thinking about style rather than function, I am thinking about inspiring and then charismatic communication. Empowerment of others (or delegation) is a management function and can be a success in a number of styles, just the same as it can be a miserable failure in a number of styles, but more of that later.
MCCRIMMON LEAD
MANAGE/LEAD MANAGE/LEAD MANAGE
MANAGE MANAGE MANAGE MANAGE
20
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116