Personal take-aways:
Delegation of responsiblity needs committed and capable people at the end of the line. In other words, the mere act of delegation is dangerous, when the responsiblity falls into the “wrong” hands. This sounds simple, but it appears that often managers treasure more the act of having “delegated” without having done their proper research on whether or not this delegated power can be handled responsibly by another person. In the end, the cycle comes to an end, as the training of employees and increasing the ability to delegate responsiblity go hand in hand.
On another note, many of us have been in the following situation: coming out of a 3 hour-long meeting, feeling exhausted and without any concrete measures of what to do next. Making the most out of the time available, appears to be one management technique great leaders use on a daily basis. The problem with many meetings appears to be that too many ideas enter the discussion without being filtered or fully developed. This does not mean that not all ideas should be discussed but when the meeting turns more into a “selling of ideas,” the time spend on actual concrete steps and milestones is minimized. Thus, given all stakeholders or participants the time and space to develop, analyze and discuss their ideas with possible ombudsman (experts) before the actual meeting takes place, might increase the value received based on the time spent in the meeting itself. In addition, once several ideas are developed it might be advisable to have all participants familiarize themselves with them to have arguments and comments for the coming discussion prepared. But in the end, time is money; and great leaders might know how to make the most out of it in any situation.
Notes:
- advancement of staff must be coordinated with long-term corporate goals
- clear development plan must take into account future needs of company and staff
- a new manager or staff usually is only seen as a substitute for a specific skill
- the person will often need a significant period of time before s/he can be effective
- increasing people’s income so that it commensurate with their years of work is not worthy of discussion
- income should be based on basis of achieved successes
- personality is the most important qualification for success
- management technique that cannot be delegated: the coordination and implementation of performance contributions and recommendations in the spirit of corporate objectives
- development of a more highly efficient coordination procedure
- Foundation of Labor: standing teams from interest groups examine premises of a solution, alternative solutions are presented, and in the end people are invited to discuss and agree
- in addition: possibly to call in an ombudsman -> an expert who brings in consumer interests into play
- hope for reducing dispute by making things measurable and assessable in all areas
- in a democracy – and business – people demand clarity
- Long term strategy:
- improvement of learning capabilities between people
- increase of human performance potential through delegating responsiblity
- securing innovative capability through performance-oriented management
- global coordination through common goals and rules
- ensuring the ability to live in a community
- release of creativity
- new conditions for management through conviction, identification, and willingness to accept responsiblity
- The development of the Bertelsmann corporate culture
- never see yourself as a member of the elite but as a responsible co-worker
- often we cannot wait for customers to come but have to go looking for them
- one of the goals should be to retain a sense of collective responsiblity
- delegation of responsiblity needs employees that identify with the firm
- committment is based on their conviction that they are committed to the right goals
- we often ask our employees about the corporate environment, conduct of management and promotion opportunities
- the concept of partnership in the workplace proved superior to every other management techniques
The Management Library 