I came across this great management and leadership post and it resonated with me because I’ve experienced each of the four roadblocks personally in my ministry career. Nothing is worse than meaningless tasks and meetings that keep you from getting done the things that you need to get done and also hamper creativity and innovation. The following is a great post from Dan Rockwell:
“Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their work done.” Peter Drucker
Four ways managers roadblock productivity:
- Talking – Managers that roadblock work talk too much. Your people want you to leave them alone.
- Meetings – Too many meetings that include too many people that share too much detail. Here’s some motivation to abbreviate or cancel meetings. They are expensive. A one hour meeting with 8 people in attendance costs their combined salaries plus lost productivity. Remember, you don’t get anything done in a meeting. Things get done after meetings.
- Reporting – Requesting too many reports that include too much irrelevant detail that takes up too much space in file cabinets. One reason you ask for all the detail is to cover your butt. It’s a business culture issue. People expect you to know the details of all the projects you manage. Sadly, if you know all the details of all the projects you manage, you aren’t managing to your highest potential. I realize this is an organizational-culture issue.
- Projects rather than people – It’s instinctive to focus on projects and deliverables. However, it’s more effective and efficient to give clear direction, encouragement, and motivation to your people than it is to get directly involved in long-term projects.
Enhancing productivity may not be about doing more and working harder. It may be about doing less.
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How do managers make it difficult to get work done? Please leave a comment of something you’ve experienced that decreased your productivity and effectiveness as a leader.
