Management Principles #10: Responsibility and Discipline
& #12 Symptom, Illnesses and Details
If
you want to be a manager you must accept responsibility. This does not mean you are responsible only
for your actions, but responsible for the actions of others around you as
well. This is a very tough thing
for some people to understand. As managers,
we often reap the benefits of the successes of our subordinates. So it only
goes to say, if our people make a mistake, then we must be held responsible for
that mistake as well. This does
not alleviate those who work for you from being responsible for their own
actions, but you have a certain level of responsibility for those actions as
well. The toughest part is
realizing how to fix the mistakes that may have been made that you are now being
held responsible for. The first,
and perhaps most obvious step, is always stop the continuation of the
problem. The discipline you may
have to invoke should always relate to the mistake that was made. The second step is to identify the
source of the mistake and correct it so that it will not happen again. This may take extra time to do some
fact-finding, but will pay dividends in the end. Finding the root cause and the details will prevent the
entire group from making the same mistake twice, causing rework, falling behind
schedule, and budgets rising. It
can be as simple as an error in their training, or a lack of preparation for
the task. If you’re going to be
held responsible, fix the problem not the person. If the person is the problem, then you have to find out what
that employee’s strengths are and see if they would thrive better in another
role. Sometimes though, people just don’t work out. If that’s the case, you need to do both a favor and help
that person find something they may be better suited for. You cannot feel as if it’s your fault
that you failed them or let them down. You need to understand that you are helping
this person so they don’t fail again in this role. If they continue to fail, they will have low self-esteem,
and moving them can help them as much as your group. Bottom line: you’re responsible for your people and their
successes and failures.
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