The Manager's Guide for Effective Leadership is a self study course in leadership for managers and workers who wish to prepare themselves for management. It addresses motivating people and improving processes; needs common to every type of organization. The book is based on the author's more than 35 years of leadership experience and training by leading management experts. It combines teaching leadership principles with exercises that enable students to apply the principles to their specific organization and to develop personal leadership action plans to guide building superior organizations. The book is a guide to becoming an effective leader. It complements leadership books by others that teach leadership behavior. It teaches how to apply this behavior to the student's organization. Typical leadership books focus on motivating people. This book addresses both motivating people and improving the processes people use in their work. This is crucial because it is through empowering workers to control and improve their work processes that the highest level of worker motivation is achieved and the most effective organization is developed. If you learn this material, do the exercises, the necessary outside reading and put these methods into practice you can expect to see 20 to 30% or more improvement in the effectiveness of your organization. You will see improved job satisfaction for you and your workers. Your workers will take control of their jobs freeing you from daily crisis management and enabling you to lead your organization in achieving strategic goals. This is a strong claim. The author makes it because he has made it happen and there are sound practical reasons why it works.

The Manager's Guide for Effective Leadership

A Self Training Guide for Building Superior Organizations By Joe Jenney

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2009 Joe Jenney
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4490-0067-7

Contents

Preface..........................................................................................xiPart I Leadership for Motivating People..........................................................11. Introduction.................................................................................32. What is Effective Leadership.................................................................93. Management Strategies........................................................................174. Additional Background on Management Principles and Functions of Managers.....................255. Motivating People for Organizational Effectiveness...........................................336. Maslow's Theory of Needs.....................................................................377. The Theory Z Manager.........................................................................538. Evolution of the Manager's Job...............................................................599. Understanding Knowledge Workers..............................................................6310. Review and Effective Action Planning.........................................................6911. Teamwork.....................................................................................7512. Effective Listening..........................................................................8313. Fear in the Workplace........................................................................8714. Managing without Inducing Fear...............................................................9715. Effective Organizational Polices.............................................................10116. Fear of Knowledge and Fear of Change.........................................................10717. Developing a World Class Organization........................................................11518. Matching People to Jobs......................................................................12519. Managing the Manager's Time..................................................................13120. Eliminate Time Wasters.......................................................................14321. Managing Meetings............................................................................15322. Identify work that can be done better by others..............................................171Part II Leadership for Process Improvement.......................................................18323. Introduction to Control and Process Improvement..............................................18524. Risk Management..............................................................................19525. Overview of Theory of Constraints............................................................20926. Introduction to Variation....................................................................21527. Managing in the Presence of Variation........................................................22528. Example Process Improvement Methods..........................................................23929. Leading the Team.............................................................................25730. Finish and Implement Your Action Plan........................................................267Bibliography.....................................................................................271Supplemental Reading.............................................................................275Index............................................................................................277

Chapter One

Introduction

This introduction describes how the course material is structured for individual study, suggests an approach to studying the material and lists definitions of key terms used in the course.

How Does This Course Work?

The course material is presented in a series of lectures with exercises accompanying most lectures. The student is to study each lecture and complete the exercises at the end of the lecture or included within the body of the lecture. In many cases the exercises are specific to the student's work so no answers are provided. The benefit is from the student thinking about how to apply the principles and methods discussed in the student's organization. In other cases the exercises are more general and discussion of the results is included in the lecture materials.

The lectures are short, typically taking no more than 10 to 20 minutes of study per topic. It is expected that the student spend at least an equivalent amount of time on the accompanying exercises. The reason for keeping the lectures short is recognition that the students are fully loaded workers or managers and can spare only a brief time each day for self study. In addition to the lectures and exercises the student must read supplemental materials. In some cases this is to fill in knowledge that is assumed to be known and other cases it is to expand on the lecture materials. Implementing the methods taught begins early in the course with the student developing and applying a personal action plan.

The personal action plan is developed by the student as the student progresses through the course. The typical sequence is to study a lecture and any necessary additional sources for the lecture, work the exercises for the lecture and then think through how the material should be applied to the student's organization and management processes. From this analysis actions are defined and then practiced and refined until the actions are part of the student's normal behavior and organizational changes are complete. Step by step direction is given for developing the personal action plan.

Course Outline and Structure

There is logic to the organization of the course material that is not evident from the Table of Contents. It is helpful for students to know this structure before starting to study to better understand what is covered and to plan their study. Students new to management are advised to work through all the lectures in sequence. More experienced managers may want to skim introductory material and concentrate on topics that address known problems in their organization.

The three lectures following this introduction discuss some of the basics of selected management strategies and the functions that managers perform in their daily work. Lectures 5-16 address a critical job of effective leaders; motivating the people in their organization. Lectures 17-22 examine the management functions of staffing and communicating. Lectures 23-28 address portions of the control function that are common to all organizations; risk management and process improvement. Lecture 29 provides a proven methodology for planning change in an organization, which is the responsibility of the organization's leader. The course ends with guidance on completing and implementing the student's leadership action plan that is developed step by step during the course. Reviews of material covered are included periodically to facilitate learning.

I suggest that you plan your approach to this study before you start and stick to your plan. For example, select a time during the day when you can devote 20 to 40 minutes to the course work. It might be during your lunch break, the period between when you get home from work and you prepare or eat your evening meal, right after you eat or after your kids are in bed. If you make it a practice to set aside this time each day or three days per week then your family or associates are more likely to respect this time as your personal time. I suggest the lunch hour because you can study with several of your associates. This is more fun and makes the exercises more effective because you can discuss them together.

Do not let learning this material take so much time from your job that your basic work is compromised. It is probably reasonable to spend up to ten percent of your time on this course, perhaps three to four hours per week, and ninety percent on your current work objectives. Over time this will enable you to continue to perform your work well and to constantly improve your management skills. Also do not try to learn this material in a quick read through. The material is meant for you to study and to reflect on how it applies to you and to your organization. Sometimes it is best to take a week or more following up on an exercise that reveals a problem in your organization or reading recommended supplemental material.

I do not recommend that managers and their subordinates be on the same study team, at least for the first part of the course, because it can inhibit frank discussions and may lead to unrealizable expectations. For example, your subordinates upon learning that your current behavior should be modified may expect you to instantly change and few of us are capable of instant behavior changes.

After the student has completed the course and is confident that the methods can be put into practice in the organization then is the time to involve subordinates in discussing and learning this material. If you are a manager of other managers then it is necessary that your subordinate managers understand, buy into and commit to implementing the methods taught in order for the organization to benefit. Learning the material and then teaching it to your staff is an effective way to truly understand these methods. There are situations where it is effective for the manager and subordinate managers to learn together. I leave it to the students to analyze their subordinate managers and their organizations' cultures before making this decision but be careful or workers will think this is just another short-term fad or "quick fix" and not give it the sustained attention it requires.

There is no quick fix for ineffective leadership styles. It takes study, continued outside reading and practice to achieve the desired results. It is hard work but the rewards are great in terms of both self satisfaction and the more responsible positions this study enables you to achieve. When you succeed you will find an unexpected benefit. Your job will be considerably easier. The day to day crises that plague most managers will begin to diminish and you will be able to focus most of your time on high payoff tasks rather than solving daily crises

Definitions that are used in this course:

Manager-The person responsible for leadership of a group of people. (team, section, department, or division,)

Worker-A person belonging to group that reports to a manager (All managers are also workers)

Student-The person reading this material, who can be either a worker or a manager

Organization-The group of people led by a manager; it can be any number of people and may include many other managers

Process-The individual and collective procedures by which workers and managers execute their work. Every process has inputs, outputs, customers and suppliers.

System-The inputs, outputs, process, management, environment, etc., that is everything but the workers. The system includes all of the processes that affect any worker or manager.

Enterprise-The whole organization where workers and managers are employed.

Chapter Two

What is effective leadership?

Lecture 2 defines Effective Leadership, reviews what the student should study in addition to this course material, describes what benefits the diligent student can expect and tells a story that validates the claims for the results of the recommended study.

Effective Leadership

Effective Leadership is the behavior of an organization's leader that enables the organization to function to its fullest capability. Most managers are not effective leaders. Their behavior actually inhibits the effectiveness of their organization. It requires training; self study and practice to become an effective leader. In some organizations it also requires great courage to behave in ways outside the parent organization's primary culture.

Management and leadership can be simply defined as management is doing things right and leadership is doing the right things. This course is about both because to be effective you must do both the right things and do things right. To achieve the benefits promised in the preface and introduction the student must be both an effective manager and leader. In most cases the benefits are achieved only via change in the manager's behavior and the organization's work methods. Change doesn't happen without leadership. Perhaps a metaphor best explains effective leadership. Think of a well trained dog working or playing with its master. Both know what is expected of them. The dog has certain freedoms and certain limits. The dog knows the freedoms and limits and is able to perform effectively with little guidance from the master. The master knows and respects the dog's abilities so that he or she knows what commands are necessary and when they are needed. This enables the dog and master to enjoy their activities together. It takes training and persistence to achieve this relationship but it is rewarding for both the dog and master. I don't need to describe an ineffective dog trainer/master as you have likely seen the results and they aren't pretty. Neither the master nor the dog has a good time.

Effective leaders are like the effective trainer/master of a well trained dog. They can empower their workers because the workers have been effectively trained and motivated. The workers willingly take responsibility for their jobs because they have control of their jobs, within agreed upon limits. Properly trained, motivated and empowered workers are more productive and happier than workers that are neither properly trained nor empowered and therefore must be micromanaged by their supervisors. Leaders of properly trained and empowered workers are not swamped with daily crises and have the time to provide the leadership needed to achieve the organization's strategic objectives.

First Exercise

Spend a few minutes thinking about your working environment and the culture of your organization.

Now: Without looking ahead describe how you characterize the current working environment-

First: In the organization you manage.

And then: In the organization you work in or report to.

Did your description include words like?

High pressure

Fast paced

Cost cutting

Short term focus

More from fewer workers

Crisis every day

Everyone working several tasks at once

If no, you are in a very rare and exceptional organization. If yes, then you are in a typical 21st century work environment. You can complain about it at home but to be successful you have to learn how to thrive in such an environment. I believe this course will help. You need to know how to achieve effective long term results in a short term environment. That is the subject of this course.

Now let's address what justifies my claim that the principles and methods presented in this course will enable your organization to achieve a 20 to 30% improvement in effectiveness. Let's look at two conditions in most organizations. First, many gurus of management and of quality improvement methods assert from their experience that the extra cost due to poor quality in most organizations ranges from 20 to 40 percent of the total costs of the organization. Second, Douglas McGregor says on p. 4 of his book The Human Side of Enterprise that the effectiveness of many organizations would double if the full potential of the workers were realized. Therefore most organizations have the potential for a 20 to 40 percent improvement if they eliminate the cost of poor quality. There is the potential for a 10 to 20 percent improvement if only half the cost of poor quality is eliminated. The methods for improving quality are well known and are being practiced in some organizations. These methods go by various names such as Total Quality Management, Continuous Process Improvement, Six Sigma and other such names.

How to tap the unrealized potential present in workers is also well known and there are proven methods. I am not sure if taping unrealized potential at least doubles the effectiveness as claimed in McGregor's book but I know it makes an improvement equal to or greater than improving poor quality. This course shows how to both reduce the costs of poor quality and to tap the unrealized potential of workers. I have achieved these goals in organizations I have managed and watched others achieve them in organizations for which I have consulted. Properly combined these two methods easily result in a 20 to 30 percent, or more, improvement in organizational effectiveness.

Now the bad news. In addition to this course of study it takes follow-up to achieve the desired results, including:

Additional 40-60 hours of training for yourself and for each member of your organization (less if your organizational ready has an effective process improvement program in place.)

50-100 hours of self-study (self study can be cut in half by doing assigned homework)

Practicing what you have learned with the organization you manage for two to five years

Not easy, but if it was there would be many effective leaders and most organizations would be achieving their potential.

Why So Much Training?

In my experience it takes 40 to 60 hours of training in the materials covered in this course before managers experience an "aha" moment; i.e. see that they need to change their management methods and/or their behavior.

Until this "paradigm shift" happens the manager is not able to fully motive employees and therefore can not get the results claimed.

Additional self study is necessary to expand the managers understanding of these methods

- It is assumed the student knows basic Management by Objective (MBO) or Value Based Management (VBM) techniques, if not then additional self study is needed

- This course is only an introduction to process improvement techniques. Self study or additional courses are needed to understand and apply these techniques properly

Finally, it is necessary for each member of your organization to learn new problem solving and process improvement skills if such skills are not part of your organization's current capabilities.

You might think that there is no way you can justify providing 40 hours or more training to every worker in your organization. I know the feeling. I was faced with the same problem when I embarked on the journey I am recommending for you. I didn't see how my organization could spend the money required to train everyone. It took some hard arguing by key members of my staff to convince me there was no other way to achieve the objectives my boss and I expected. It turned out they were right and not only could we afford it but, in hindsight, we couldn't afford not to do the training. It took the entire available training budget for two years and stopped all other training but the results were an estimated return of $5 to $8 for each dollar of training money spent and the return was realized within 3 to 18 months. No other investment we could have made would have been as effective.

If at this point you are still skeptical please take the time to read the following description of what happened in an organization I managed when we followed the methods of this course. If you are ready to start studying you can skip this story and go to Lecture 3.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Manager's Guide for Effective Leadershipby Joe Jenney Copyright © 2009 by Joe Jenney. Excerpted by permission.
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