On management 2

The Argentine guerrilla Che Guevara wrote in his book on guerrilla warfare:

"There is nothing more important than information. Moreover, it should be in perfect order, and done well by capable personnel".

I have found, as a manager, that this is very true. Management is about making decisions, and you cannot make good decisions if you do not have good information. This being the case, the most valuable staff you can have as a manager are the staff who will tell you what they think rather than telling you what you want to hear. Getting a forthright, unfiltered opinion is essential to any manager, and the staff who will give you this are the ones you must value the most.

Some managers find those sort of people hard to manage, but I never have. I think that's because, if someone is forthright in their opinion, then it is easier to make them happy. People who keep their thoughts to themselves are harder to manage because you don't always know how to make them happy, and if someone isn't happy in their work, they won't do their job well.

It is tempting to dismiss this as "touchy-feely stuff" that doesn't have anything to do with research, but that's not true. Managing research certainly requires a good knowledge of research, and a good research background - the best managers are leaders, and leaders should lead from the front. But managing research is not really about doing research, it's about managing people. And that is where so many academic labs fall down: they are headed by someone who is very good at research, but doesn't know how to deal with people. These labs are marked by dissatisfied staff and a high staff-turnover, as people arrive, get rapidly disillusioned, and leave. The lucky ones will find a better job somewhere else, while the unlucky ones end up with their careers in ruins. As a person of conscience, I do everything I can to avoid that happening to the people I manage - to the people for whom I am responsible.

What I've learned so far about management

I'm almost three months into my new position, a position that involves managing several lecturers. So, what have I learned about management so far?

An old Chinese proverb goes something like this:

If a king treats his ministers as his arms and legs, they will treat him as their heart and mind.

If a king treats his ministers as his cattle, they will treat him as a peasant.

If a king treats his ministers as grass and mud, they will treat him as an enemy.

I think that this applies just as much to managers as it does to rulers. So, with that in mind, here is what I have learned so far about managing people.

1) To manage others you must first manage yourself. You cannot manage other people's time and tasks if your own time is being taken up with tasks that you have allowed to accumulate. This also means that you need to control the tasks that come your way: if you need an hour of uninterrupted time to get several tasks done, then close your office door, put up a Do Not Disturb sign, and get them done. If you have too many tasks to do, then don't take on anything new until the task list is more manageable. If some members of your staff can do a particular task better than you, then delegate.

2) You have to be nice to the people you manage. If you are indifferent to them, or even bullying to them, you will fail. I actually knew this a long time ago, so I never even thought about trying this approach (also known as the Marquis de Sade school of scorched-earth management). Managers who try to manage through fear engender the hostility of their staff, and hostile staff love to see their manager fail. You must manage your own frustrations and anger (see point 1).

3) You have to be humble. An old saying goes something like "Humility means never getting a door slammed in your face... or ON your face". New Zealand culture is still quite egalitarian and particularly values humility. Arrogant managers will lose the support of their staff, and fail. Humble managers, managers who freely admit that they don't know something and defer to the staff who do, will win the support of their staff. You must admit it when you make a mistake. If mistakes are out in the open, then they can be fixed.

4) You must listen to your staff. Most of the time they know what they are talking about, and most of them will know how to do at least one thing better than you. Apart from the fact that listening is the nice, polite thing to do, it also lets you know who you can delegate particular tasks to.

5) You must lead from the front whenever you can. Anyone can tell others what to do, but if you want to be respected as a manager, you must show that you can do it too.

6) You must explain why you want someone to do something. If you are giving someone a task, then you must tell them why the task must be done, why you are giving it to them, and suggest how you think it could be done. If I tell my young daughter to do something "because I say so", she won't do it. If it doesn't work on a child, why would it work on an intelligent adult?

I'm sure I'll learn more about management as time goes by, and I'll share what I learn.