Is management by wandering around a good thing?
I was talking to a friend of mine today. He used to work for the Royal Navy. He navigated ships in his 20’s. Apparently getting H.M.S. Ocean around the Isle of White and into the Solent without sinking some fool in a yacht is no mean feat. Particularly if the fool is hell-bent on killing himself.
Getting H.M.S. Ocean out-of-the-way of some well-trained fool in an enemy battle ship is an even bigger challenge. Particularly if that fool is hell-bent on killing you.
In the Navy mistakes cost lives.
Sailors need to know what they are doing.
How does the Navy promote best practice?
The FOSTie, or more formally the Flag Officer Sea Training. The process is quite simple. The FOSTie turns up unannounced and checks that you are doing what you are supposed to be doing.
Is there a fix of the ship’s current location marked on the chart?
Yes
Has a fix been marked every 6 minutes?
Yes
Is there a prediction of where the ship will be in 6 minutes time?
Erh No
No… What the bloody hell are you playing at? Are you running a ship or a brothel?
You can imagine how the conversation plays out.
My mate hated visits from the FOSTies “in their stupid green jackets”. They knew exactly what was supposed to be happening, and if it wasn’t… life would become pretty miserable, pretty quickly.
I am not advocating a military style of management
But I simply ask you this…
Next time you are out and about engaging in a little management by wandering around how do you know?
- How do you know what to look at?
- How do you know if there is a problem?
- How do you know how well things are performing?
- How do you know if people are doing what they should be doing?
What is the standard? How do you know?
Would you be better off in your office?
When you are on your management tour are you being helpful or are you having the wool pulled firmly over your eyes?
If you don’t know what questions to ask or what you are looking at, is your management by wandering about a help or a hindrance? Are you creating an open culture, or would you be better off locked in your office doing some PowerPoint?
Management by wandering around isn’t so useful unless you know what should be going on.
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Image by UK Ministry of Defence
Great questions, James. Makes you wonder, if you can’t answer those four questions (your bullet points) what the point is. Is MBWA more about big brother, catching someone doing something wrong, micromanaging, or something else?
Annette :-)
I think you might be right Annette, either big brother or baby sister but no where in between.
James
I really love this post. You are right. The arrows are the killer as we seldom look at these in details.
Thanks for the valuable lesson and sharing.
Thanks Pirduan, glad you liked it
Hello James,
It occurs to me that you have approached MBWA with a specific lens (horizon of understanding). Of what is it composed? One, that the manager who wanders around knows more about the work/operations than the people who do the work. Two, that what truly matters can be codified, measured, and plotted. Three, that the purpose of a manager wandering around is to act as a control – to inspect, control and instruct. And there are more.
What if the purpose of me, as a manager, in wandering around is simply to show up?. And in the showing up observe – just observe what is going on. Or to ask questions about what is going on and the way that it is going on. Or to connect with the people doing the work: to ask how these folks are doing and/or what has happened with their lives since the last time we talked. Or to share some useful news in a personal manner…….
I remember one of the most senior partners in Price Waterhouse’s Corporate Recovery division taking a day out to come and see us (small team running a hotel in receivership). He came down with a view to see how we were doing. We were apprehensive- it made us make sure we had it all together. When he turned up, he saw that the three of us (running the hotel) were incredibly busy. So what was his contribution? He served us tea. And just mentioned that we were extremely busy. And passionate about what we were doing. And that the hotel was in safe hands. Then he left. I still remember that manager and when i recall that which I have recalled I find myself moved-touched-inspired by the way he showed up and spent time with us.
At your service
maz
James,
I tend to agree with Maz that there is more than one dimension to MBWA. Therefore, surely the real skill is knowing when to measure, when to monitor, when to control or when to just show up.
Adrian
Adrian / Maz, you make a very good point, I wonder though Maz if your Senior Partner knew if and why you were busy.
Perhaps we will never know.
James