The Art of Good Management
Since I had a break and returned to the workplace, I have observed many changes in myself and others.
As I have previously mentioned, I am a lot more aware of my effect on the room than I used to be. At the moment the pressure is very much off in this respect, so I see my role as being one of entertainment and provoking thought.
As I am in a large room full of 30 and 40 somethings, I cannot help but observe the poor shape people are in. To put this in perspective, I am not at all thin, but my body has returned to working properly thanks to my supermix based diet, and the difference is quite plain to see. I am probably one of the physically younger people in that room, yet chronologically one of the older staff members. I bounce in after a 5k every morning, and I see a whole lot of shuffling from far younger people.
There is no point in trying to explain to people why this is, as they seem to be obsessed with stamping out differences. On the first week or so of being on this particular ‘shopfloor’ I was told that I was being effectively bullied by two staff members, who could not be named but who were saying very unpleasant things about me because I do not look like them. This has been an ongoing theme throughout my life so I am used to it, but in this case it is basically because I am a lot healthier than I ‘should be.’ After the last few months, when I was being pestered by NHS nurses who insisted that they had better knowledge because of their ‘professional’ status, I am naturally very skeptical of this.
The reason I do not look like them is because I am in hormonally better shape. Whilst this means I do very odd things now and again, I am happier, less concerned about what other people think, and probably sparklier generally. You do not appreciate the slow decay of your attempts to conform until you have had a chance to completely avoid them. I am extremely fortunate that I was assisted in staying away from the rest of the world by my mother.
The other reason this workplace is interesting is because of three markedly different management styles. We have one team working with a rather shaky and fragile ego, who look miserable all the time, one team working with a lady who sees herself as more of an administrator, and one team which I think we should look at in more depth, because it is the best run team I have ever seen, bar none.
As someone who has managed in a great number of situations and tried a variety of styles, I have settled on a noisy family approach, where people communicate constantly on the grounds that if they do this, we can eradicate problems very quickly. It also makes for highly productive, happy people who actually want to come into work. I see management as a steady beam of love, in which you can flourish. It also hugely reduces staff turnover, as you can imagine, although I am probably a bit of a soft touch.
The dude running this last team, however, blows me out of the water. His team is so well run that all he has to do is give you a dirty look and you immediately make strenuous efforts to improve. His managerial ‘beam of love’ is more along the lines of being held in a safe and very serious space where you are expected not to disappoint. In addition, I note that more responsible staff members are encouraged to take on parts of his role so that he can put more into it, to the point that the functionality of the team is vastly better.
Sadly, I am an observer of this from another team, however from the perspective of evaluating management, I am finding this fascinating. Positive self-image is paramount to management, and freeing up your time to strategise for improvement.
What saddens me the most about the last few months, however, is how few entrepreneurs and managers put this level of thought into the management function. It ought to be something you put your heart and soul into, not an excuse to impose yourself on other people or manipulate them.
From the perspective of someone who is grieving – my mother was murdered during my last employment, and I still had to tolerate the randy lesbian and thug – people’s motivations become horribly obvious. Envy, insecurity and self-hatred are on the increase, simply because it sells more products. I feel very sad for the younger generations, who have been fed vastly more negative information than mine. It is to the point that I am more determined than ever that whether Wolfe likes it or not, we really need to help these people and I am not sure who else can do it.
We have a lot of work to do.
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