The Simplest Management Basics

Last week I phoned Tom Forster, one of the executives who runs Skywalker Properties for the Lucasfilm company. I hadn’t spoken to Tom for ten years, and now that one of my pre-teens is a Star Wars fanatic, I was delighted to locate Tom from an old business card. As we made plans to revisit, he mentioned that he still keeps some of my ancient, 1990’s magazine columns around. Despite the convulsive changes in both the entertainment and real estate businesses over the past decade—he straddles both—he told me that in one article in particular, a few simple points I raised remain so germane that he still shares them with colleagues.I was intrigued. What could I have written that was so prescient and inspiring way back in the early 1990’s? Well, Tom sent me a document in which he had condensed my article into a kind of “executive summary”, and as I read it, my reaction was: “Oh, so simple, so innocent, yet so damnably difficult to execute.” I had written about why groups (teams, functions, business units, etc.) are often dysfunctional in morale and suboptimal in performance. Here is how Tom so ably summarized my comments: Four Most Common Causes of Group Problems1. Insufficient clarity and consistency among top management regarding the organization philosophy, mission, direction, and strategy. Employees are unclear as to what the organization stands for, strives for, or prioritizes. Ambiguity and inconsistency regarding these key issues lead to lower morale and teamwork, inconsistent and contradictory actions, delays or avoidance in problem solving, and a lack of common focus in decision-making. 2. Insufficient coaching and performance feedback by top management. This should involve training, teaching, and developing. This needs to be done in person by a member of senior management vs. through a memo, e-mail, etc.3. Insufficient recognition, reward, and celebration for individual and team performance. The spirit, enthusiasm, sincerity, and frequency of rewards are more important than the actual thing that is being given. Problems develop when employees are not rewarded for high performance (quality, service, goal attainment), nor are they rewarded for loyalty, personal initiative, or innovation. The rewards and recognition MUST be linked to desired criteria like high performance, loyalty, initiative, and innovation. If not, the resulting ambiguity, inconsistency, and a sense of cynicism as to what the organization stands for will result. Also, management will be perceived as "not walking the talk."4. Insufficient sense among employees of being part of an organization wide team. This is usually evidenced by any "us vs. them" feelings or behaviors. It can be overcome through organization wide communication, recognition, and celebration.You’d think that by now we’d have all this stuff solved. But we know that’s not the case. As we leaders frenetically obsess about “big things” like investor relations, global market penetration, technology transfer, supply chain management, and creative M & A, we’d be wise to revisit these few simple management basics from time to time.