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The 21st Century Manager - Part 3...
Welcome to Part 3 of our series on the 21st Century Manager, which focuses on the work environment faced by managers of today...
If you missed parts 1 & 2 of this series, click on the links below;
In previous articles in this series we have looked at the specific skills required of managers in corporations today. In this article we step back and look at the current environment that managers work in and ask the question, is this going to change?
One of the most apt descriptions I have heard of the environment in many businesses today is "complex chaos". What does this actually mean? Is it valid? It would be an understatement to say that the business world has and is going through a number of challenges. Consider the following :
- Managers in some companies literally two years ago were facing the challenges of rapid growth. Today they are managing falling share prices, markets for their products that have seriously down turned, reducing costs and taking people out of the business.
- Strategies that in the recent past seemed a good idea have proven to be a disaster in 2002.
- Forecasting the immediate future has become less science than art given the conflicting predictions about the economy, interest rates, consumer spending and political events.
- Events taking place on the other side of the world impact plans, predictions and the future.
The result of this "complex chaos" - yes I think that it is a valid description - has driven businesses and the managers in those businesses into behaving reactively and tactically.
A recent report published by the Institute for Employment Studies reflects that the conventional approach to management training and development is being challenged. The report goes as far as to suggest that there is a deep shift in the understanding of what management in today's environment is really about! It highlights the challenge for managers to create visions, engage teams, in situations that are highly dynamic and changing quickly.
Managing change is, of course, not a new topic.- but the context in which it is being described is. The scale of uncertainty, the rate of tactical change is unprecedented. These conditions have driven the focus for managers to develop their skills in;
- creating and developing teams
- influencing
- motivational
- coaching and mentoring
In short the emphasis has been on leadership. These skills are always valid, but is their current significance driven by the need to "hold things together" as people have to live and be guided through the chaos?
As a training consultant I meet with a number of clients and potential clients to discuss the training and development priorities for managers in their business. I cannot remember the last time that "strategic planning" was mentioned. Invariably the conversations focus on teams, change, creating values, etc. The question is, will strategic planning come back in vogue? Will it become a focus for management development?
Of course we all know that effective management is about a combination of the people and the process skills - the question here is about where the balance is and will be in the future. To know the answer to this question would imply knowing the future business climate and how businesses will respond - if only we did!
One view is that we live in a world where the historic norms do not apply, where constantly changing circumstances dictate that managers in business must be able to react, constantly change tactics and use their people skills to pull people through.
There is another view that by developing strategies, considered implementation and fine tuning in response [not reaction!] to events puts some sense into the chaos, enables us to influence our environment rather than being driven by it. So will we see more of the same in the next few years, or will the emphasis change to strategy, longer term thinking and attempting to put order into the complex chaos?
Lets all watch this space!
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