Lesson Learned #5
One of the more intriguing things we’ve learned working across industries and across functional areas is that the actual point where work physically gets done, what we call the “point of execution,” is the least managed part of a business or organization. Managers spend a lot of time planning on what needs to happen and then reporting on what did happen, but not much time managing the point where things actually happen.
The biggest problem with this is that things always happen that weren’t in the plan (e.g. information is missing, machines aren’t available, etc.). It’s not always obvious because employees don’t stop working, they work around or bandage the problem as best they can or they move onto doing something else. So managers often don’t see or even know about these problems. The problems become accepted by employees as part of the work day. Reporting is often too long after-the-fact with the result being that recurring problems eventually just get built into the plan, further obscuring them from management.
So why don’t managers spend more time at the point of execution? One of the main reasons is that managers don’t like following up on their people. Managers and employees often don’t feel comfortable with the concept of “following up” (this is particularly true in office environments and especially in professional areas such as engineering). They both misinterpret the purpose of following up and often wrongly label it “micro-management.”
The real purpose of following up is for the manager to see how well the area or individual is achieving what was planned. This is very important in order to coordinate all the moving parts that exist in any business or organization. Following up in real-time allows the manager to identify problems as they occur and make changes to get back on plan. It is not to “police” employees or to “micro-manage” them. In order to follow up effectively you need a good schedule that tells you where you should be through the day or week, not simply a sequence of activities or “hot list” of things to do.
So while planning and reporting are important functions of good management, much can be gained by improving how work is scheduled and making sure the manager helps remove obstacles that interfere with the flow of work. We know from experience that if you can get to the point where the follow up is meaningful and actually helpful for employees, both the manager and employees will adopt the routine and enjoy working together to get things accomplished.
