Dr. Adizes’ methodology has been one of the reasons that we have grown from $12 million in sales to over $750 million without any outside financing.

– Stewart Resnick, CEO, Roll International

How to Solve the Mismanagement Crisis

Diagnosis and treatment of management problems

Management is harder than it seems. Each manager who has already gained a great deal of experience and who has faced the main management crises will agree with this. Dr. Ichak Adizes, an acknowledged business and management theory guru, talks about these difficulties, why they arise, and how to overcome them, in his book “How to Solve the Mismanagement Crisis”.

His book is a true management Bible. In fact, the Adizes methodology has successfully been used by more than 2,000 companies in 50 countries.

The companies that followed Adizes’s method admit that the process of communication got easier. Because of this, problems were spotted faster; turnover of staff fell to a minimum, the working environment improved, and productivity, profitability and market share increased. People in these companies are now more positive, get along with one another easier and do their best to help one another.

Contrary to the popular belief that a company’s success depends on the manager, Ichak Adizes claims that no one can be a perfect manager. He describes this in the book, and explains that ignoring this fact leads to a fall in productivity and a loss of income for the company.

Management is such a complex process that it is simply no use hoping that one person can perform all the managerial roles with equal success. Each role needs a special style – a particular behavior in specific situations. Dr. Adizes explains that these roles often contradict each other. Thus, a person can play these roles in different periods of life but that individual will never be able to play them all simultaneously.

People are the Reason for Management Problems

Companies’ management problems are always caused by people – to be more precise, by their inability to perform the roles assigned to them. Due to this realization, Dr. Adizes developed and offered his typology of managerial roles in the company:

• P – The Producer – he sells, engineers, runs the production system, or effectively completes research assignments. He or she is more capable of achieving results and is more results-oriented than others.
• A – Administrator – he provides for efficiency. He or she is a manager who plans, coordinates, supervises and controls the fulfilment of the assigned tasks, and successfully manages staff and projects.
• E – Entrepreneur – a manager-entrepreneur who is in the creative pursuit, who launches projects, invents and creates, and who finds the way for the company’s development and profit making.
• I – Integrator – a manager who is concerned with people, who is concerned with smoothing the workings of the system, combining the processes so that employees can work as a team.

There are no managers who can perform all of these roles equally well.

Each player has a certain set of qualities. Together they bring balance to a company’s management team.

Wrong Management Styles

When the manager ignores or doesn’t perform one of the four managerial roles (P, A, E or I), the wrong management style is formed.

There are 5 absolutely wrong management styles and they are widespread. Each style implies that the manager has one prominent managerial role while other roles are not present at all.

This is how Dr. Adizes characterizes the wrong management styles.

P000 – the Lone Ranger

It’s easy to recognize the Lone Ranger: he’s always up to his eyes in his work while his subordinates perform the role of gofers. He doesn’t let them develop and doesn’t delegate any tasks to them. The thing is, the Lone Ranger is absolutely sure that only he himself can achieve results! A recipe for the Lone Ranger’s success is hard work and blind commitment. It would be all right but for the fact that sooner or later the Lone Ranger’s “inner engine” burns out. To make matters worse, the Lone Ranger’s staff is left feather-brained and unlearned. Even if the Lone Ranger continues producing results, eventually, the crisis becomes inevitable.

0A00 – the Bureaucrat

If you phone a company because of a problem and you’re told that they can’t do anything about it because it’s not allowed by rules, you should know that a Bureaucrat manages this company. The most important thing for the Bureaucrat is following the rules, the rest is secondary. Moreover, the Bureaucrat is not goal-oriented at all. Changes are the most horrible thing for the Bureaucrat. Stability and certainty are essential for the Bureaucrat which leads to the suppression of any initiatives and ideas in the company. Meanwhile, the staff turns into a passive cog in the rusty machine.

00E0 – the Arsonist

The Arsonist is the management style, in which the entrepreneurial function suppresses and pushes other managerial roles out. This means that the company will be torn apart due to a bunch of tasks and ideas that the Arsonist believes should have been accomplished yesterday. It’s crucial for the Arsonist that each employee in the company be busy with something. Although, the employee often doesn’t do anything because they don’t know what to do. Plans, tasks, motivation can be changed every day. If you dare object to the Arsonist, you can be fired in an instant. Such a manager needs subordinates who are his fans applauding their boss’s every idea. As the majority of tasks are not completed, sooner or later, the company under the Arsonist’s control faces serious problems.

000I – the Superfollower

The absence of conflicts in the company is crucial for the Superfollower. The Superfollower has neither ideas nor aims. He doesn’t accept a specific system because there will be those who don’t like it and it’ll be necessary to seek compromise. The Superfollower spends the majority of his time on meetings and discussions, and is afraid to take the lead and make a decision. He or she also spends a lot of time listening to complaints and dealing with the staff’s problems. The company will develop to a certain extent as long as the majority of employees are satisfied with everything. But as soon as the majority is opposed to something or doesn’t get what it wants, the collapse of the company is inevitable!

0000 – Dead Wood

The Dead Wood is the last wrong management style. Dead Woods are pseudo-managers who didn’t succeed in management and who don’t have any developed managerial role. They are quite widespread. Burnt-out Lone Rangers and Superfollowers often turn into Dead Woods. These may also be people who got the job because of the pull or the “good old boy” network. The Dead Wood is like a poison that slowly kills the company and leads to its collapse.

Try to analyze the roles of your team and maybe it will be the key to conflict resolution?

What Should a Real Manager be Like?

In order to understand how to solve the mismanagement crisis, it is necessary to realize what a real manager should be like. A good manager can’t possess all the skills and qualities that should be characteristic of good management in general. However, a manager must have 9 important qualities for successful work in a team.

1. He can perform all four managerial roles though not equally well.

He’s great at performing at least one of these roles, while only performing others satisfactorily. In other words, he hasn’t got zeroes in his PAEI description.

2. He is aware of his strengths and weaknesses.

In order to manage successfully, we should know ourselves well. We should know which standard PAEI roles are our strengths and which weaknesses should be overcome. In order to get to know themselves, managers should build rapport with the external world that is less prone to censorship. In order to have a good rapport with yourself, the manager needs to have a good rapport with others.

3. He liaises with the people around him.

He listens to criticism of his work so as to better understand himself. He understands that he is what he does.

4. He has a balanced vision of himself.

He takes into account his strengths and weaknesses.

5. He accepts his strengths and weaknesses.

He doesn’t try to be someone else, at least in the short run.

6. He can assess and admit the excellent work of others even if performing the roles that he’s not very good at.

7. He accepts others’ opinion on the issues where it can be more profound than his own.

8. He can resolve conflicts, which inevitably arise when people with different needs and styles are in one management team.

9. He creates an environment that fosters learning.

A good manager should create a learning environment where a conflict is perceived not as a threat, but as a chance to learn and grow. People learn from each other in this environment, the differences in opinions are perceived as an opportunity for each party involved in the conflict to discover something new.

It’s hard to be a good manager. To achieve this, a person should be fully developed and mature. But the very structure and purpose of companies can often minimize the ability of people to become good managers. That’s why a manager should understand what good management means.

What Does Good Management Mean?

In order for a company to be a success, it is necessary to adhere to 2 key conditions:

1. The company needs not one manager, but rather a group of managers who:

• can play all four managerial roles;
• are aware of their strengths and weaknesses;
• accept themselves as they are;
• accept people who differ from them;
• can assess others’ capabilities which they themselves don’t possess;
• can work with people who differ from them.

2. Each member of the management team must:

• meet the requirements connected with his task;
• be able to make decisions on his own;
• complement other team members;
• match the company’s organizational environment.

Provided the first group of conditions is met, we get a management team. If the second group is met, then the management team meets the company’s needs. Good management is possible only when both groups of conditions are satisfied.

Some Interesting Quotes in the End:

In the Israeli kibbutz a manager (the kibbutz secretary) administers for several years and then returns to his usual responsibilities, for example milking cows… Israelis don’t tolerate professional management, and if anyone tries to actually manage others – i.e. instruct them on what to do and how to do it –, he can be simply withdrawn by voters.

They say that sitting once in a café during the French revolution, Robespierre, saw a group of Jacobins speeding past him. He began to hurry, drinking up his wine. “These are my people. I must follow them and look where they are heading because I am their leader.”

The managers who don’t respect themselves and can’t accept those who differ from them are afraid of more talented employees. Their team consists of by no means the best. They are similar to an owner of racehorses who, having filled his stable with ponies, hopes to win grand prize at the races.

10 Reasons to Read this Book:

• You will find out what type of manager you are;
• You will identify your strongest leadership qualities
• You will understand how to create a team of managers that will provide a stable growth of a company;
• You will get acquainted with Adizes’s method of management;
• You will define which stage of the lifecycle your company is in;
• You will find out how to turn a conflict into a constructive process;
• You will discover common problems that hinder you and your company’s work;
• You will be able to do the necessary therapy of your company and also find out how others do it;
• You will become a good manager.

If you want to manage and do it well, you should know what is generally needed for effective management and learn to see the qualities, which are underdeveloped in you, and in others. We should learn to value the people that can complement us and our management styles.

But first, we must learn to understand ourselves.

Order the paperback on Amazon.com.

Click Here.

---

The Ideal Executive

Why You Cannot Be One and What to Do About It

In this book, Dr. Adizes discusses why management education is barking up the wrong tree and why no one can be the perfect, textbook executive that management education is trying to develop.

Everyone knows the legends of business, films, music. Steve Jobs, Steven Spielberg, Mick Jagger. It is the names of these leaders that, as a rule, are considered to be the reason for the fantastic success of their projects.

Here, a myth about a super-manager who can do everything emerges.

However, in real life, would Apple have become what it is today without Wozniak, Ive, and many others whose names we do not know? Would Spielberg create his masterpieces without an equally genius cinematographer, without a group of brilliant editors? No, they would not!

In any good company, blockbuster, or TV series success there is teamwork.  “Apple,” “Ocean’s Eleven”, or “Suits.”

Oleg Tinkoff and Richard Branson have been working with their trusted teams for decades, successfully creating projects in entirely different markets. Their genius is not in some advantageous topic, which they have come up with and implemented. Their main victory is that they managed to create and lead good teams, in which everyone successfully complements the others.

These achievements, just like any other ones, can be attributed to luck or to an accident.

However, Ichak Kalderon Adizes has proved in theory and in practice that the process of creating a perfect team that consistently gains success after success is science and paperwork. He has developed a clear formula, which can be used to determine why an organization may be working inefficiently, and more importantly, how to change it.

1. Functions of Management

The key objective of management is an efficient organization today and over the long-term. If you have managed to achieve this objective, it is enough for the success of any organization.

In order to achieve a stable, efficient organization, you need to perform four functions.

1. Production of results today.
2. Administration, which provides efficiency. In order for everything to be done properly and on time.
3. Entrepreneurship – a vision of the future. How the organization can meet the demand of the market in future? How can it be efficient tomorrow?
4. Integration – creating an atmosphere, an environment, and values that encourage people to do efficient teamwork. Encouraging them to interact and not to be “lone rangers”. This is the basis of the long-term efficiency.

Failing to perform at least one of the functions above leads to a model of mismanagement.

Understanding what functions are performed badly gives you a chance to detect which problems the organization will face, and what needs to be done in order to change the situation for the better.

A perfect fairy tale-manager “from books” is a 100% Producer, 100% Administrator, 100% Entrepreneur and a 100% Integrator. It means that he excels in and copes with all the functions equally well. However, in most cases, managers are successful in performing only one or two of these functions. That is what forms their managerial style.

For example:

(Producer – 100%, Administrator – 0%, Entrepreneur – 0%, Integrator – 0%) – this is a typical dedicated workaholic.

A good manager should master all the four skills at an elementary level. And, for a proper manager, one of the functions should be dominant.

For example:

(Producer – 20%, Administrator – 90%, Entrepreneur – 30%, Integrator – 30%) – this is a good Organizer;

(Producer – 20%, Administrator – 10%, Entrepreneur – 20%, Integrator – 90%) – this is an inspiring Motivator.

In order to understand the importance of having all the functions for a manager, let us take a closer look at them.

1.1. Production of results

What result is expected from a company? The most frequent reply is “Profit!” How right is that? Can such a result be given top priority or is it a positive side effect of some other result?

Let us imagine a team that is playing basketball and constantly looking at the scoreboard, anticipating victory. What are its chances to win? If the team focuses on every serve, every pass and on every shot – it has immeasurably higher chances of winning.

How do you understand what result is an objective in itself for your organization? Ask yourself the  following questions:

• Who needs us (me)?
• Who needs our organization?
• Who will regret it if we stop working?
• What is everything that we do for?

Satisfying clients’ needs is the purpose of a company’s existence. If a company produces something that its clients need – it is effective. Meeting the needs of the client allows the company to achieve profitability in the most efficient way.

This is already good management and as a result – the company profits.

1.2. Administration

At a certain stage when producing results is gaining speed, the Producer has to interact with other people. He delegates, coordinates, controls. Here the second function comes into action – he becomes the Administrator. He controls the production of the company, producing the necessary results and he does it properly, efficiently and on time.

Performing their functions, the Producer and the Administrator guarantee effectiveness and profitability to the organization in the short term.

Without the Administrator, there will be no efficient system. The work will be chaotic, inefficient and, most likely, unprofitable. A manager-Producer aims at the result. A manager-Administrator likes and is able to control everything. The cool calculation of all minuses and costs is important for him. He is methodical, he notices details, foresees problems and pitfalls. A good Administrator is vitally needed for the company during the growth stage. He will cover its back, will not allow chaos, and will not allow important details to be missed.

1.3. Entrepreneurship

Is it enough to just produce and administer? Maybe it is, but only for the time being. However, everything changes. Needs, fashion, cultural values, technical capabilities and many other things. What is valuable today will turn out to be history tomorrow.

In order not to lose your position in the market tomorrow and to remain valuable for your clients, you need to look into the future.

The Entrepreneur follows the changes and tendencies, analyzes, and then foresees new needs. And, this function concerns not only business. Politics, culture, art, finances, and education have their own Entrepreneurs.

Changes are constant, rapid and unavoidable.

If you ignore the function of the Entrepreneur, you may end up lagging behind your competitors very quickly. This is true, even if other functions are performed perfectly.

1.4. Integration

Imagine a manager who is good at coping with three functions (Production, Administration and Entrepreneurship). He is productive; he controls everything, feels the market well and foresees the changes of the market and the industry in advance. He implements timely changes in the organization, which allow it to show a stable growth and development.

And now, think what will happen to the company if something happens to him? (Nobody lives forever, indeed.) Most likely, the company will leave the market following such a manager.

Environment/atmosphere/conditions must make/teach/motivate people to interact, to work in a team and to compensate for each other’s flaws.

When there is an Integrator, who creates a conducive atmosphere such as this – the team will cope with any task efficiently.

A vivid example of a lack of integration in an organization is a situation where, in the absence of a manager, work slows down, the team is unable or afraid to make decisions, and there is no initiative or informed actions.

A manager who is able to perform the function of an Integrator is not only a good executive – he is a Leader.

2. Mismanagement

The Lone Ranger

(Producer – 100%, Administrator – 0%, Entrepreneur – 0%, Integrator – 0%)

This guy is a result-producing machine. He is determined and purposeful. If you give him a purpose, he will break the walls. He is entirely a non-creative person, who does not like to take risks and offer ideas. He does not feel people and has difficulty building personal contacts. He is the first one to arrive at work and the last one to leave it. He works industriously.

He’s a regular workaholic who focuses on short-term tasks. He does not know how to delegate and does everything himself. He necessarily must be indispensable! Because of this, his subordinates turn into “errand boys” who are constantly waiting for today’s new order.

The Bureaucrat

(Producer – 0%, Administrator – 100%, Entrepreneur – 0%, Integrator – 0%)

This type of manager is a master of meticulously following the rules. He spends a great amount of time on details, but does not see the whole picture. He never takes a risk. His reports are perfectly precise, even if they tell about the collapse of the organization. He will glean information but will lose precious time and opportunities. He hires subordinates that resemble himself. They do as they are told – they follow instructions and do not ask additional questions.

With him, a company finds it hard to adapt to any changes.

The Arsonist

(Producer – 0%, Administrator – 0%, Entrepreneur – 100%, Integrator – 0%)

His motto is – “Why don’t we…!” He is able to create a large company and then lose it very quickly. He constantly generates new fantastic ideas. But, how does he implement them? Let others think about it. Nevermind – tomorrow there will be a new set of ideas!

The Arsonist hears other people worse than any other managers do – he is so absorbed in his own ideas. He is not interested in the results. The process and novelty are more important for him. Therefore, almost nothing goes on in his organization except meetings where he gives out new ideas.

And just try leaving him without ovations – it will be taken as a personal insult. He knows everything better than anyone else does. Having surrounded himself with weak and spineless employees, he should always come out of any argument as a winner. Still, he likes to complain that nobody understands him. He leaves after him a staff tired of chaos and noise.

The SuperFollower

(Producer – 0%, Administrator – 0%, Entrepreneur – 0%, Integrator – 100%)

A slick opportunist who is deft at adapting.  The main thing is for everything to go smoothly. He avoids any critical decisions, even the most necessary ones, as long as he doesn’t flare up tension. He likes to listen but only in order to know which way the wind blows. He does not have particular goals. This manager is not a leader, but a guided timeserver. The Producer and the Administrator sort out the mess after him.

3. Proper management

3.1. Team

If a manager who combines all the functions perfectly does not exist, and a one-sided manager is very bad and inefficient, then what should a competent manager be like?

The answer is simple – these are combined efforts of a team, in which people complement each other and make up for each other’s flaws. Each member of the team excels in one of the four functions (ideally, in two of them) and performs the rest at a sufficient level. Everyone has drawbacks and weak points. You should accept it and build your team based on this understanding.

Family relations are a good example of the advantages of such a team. When one of the partners is impulsive, quick off the mark and ready to take a risk bravely, then his second half acts as a balance – counts the risks, cares about stability and sticks to the plans.

However, a full-fledged team is not a team of equals. It should have a recognized leader.

3.2. No blanks!

All team members should master each of the functions at least on a minimum level. That means there should not be any blanks.

If a manager is not familiar with one of the functions and does not understand its essence, he will be inflexible and intolerant to the colleague performing this function. In this situation, there will be no proper teamwork.

For example, a good Integrator who is unfamiliar with work and duties of the Administrator will always feel annoyed and not content with the “bureaucracy” of the Human Resources department with their constant meticulousness and even callousness.

3.3. Successful and not very successful combinations

The simplest and clearest model of a team consists of four people, in which there is a distinct Producer, Administrator, Entrepreneur and Integrator and each one of them is sufficiently familiar with work of his three colleagues.

A more successful combination is the one where a distinct Producer and Administrator are complemented by an Integrator who has sagacity and boldness (Entrepreneur).

Even two people can set up a successful company. A classical small family business is the one in which “father” is a Producer-Entrepreneur, mother is an Administrator, and they both value and understand each other’s skills.

Here is an example of a combination that is unproductive from the start:

A leader (Producer-Administrator) who aims at the result today according to the strict worked-out plan, and his subordinate (Entrepreneur-Integrator) who is a threat to stability with his fantasy and over-flexibility, as well as sentimentality.

4. Conflicts are great

4.1. It is normal and inevitable

Some believe that peace, quietness, and harmony should be the normal state of things, while  conflict is a deviation. In a graveyard, this opinion will be shared unanimously. However, in an organization where managers have various styles of work, thus complementing each other, a conflict is not just a norm, but also a proof of efficient work.

Moreover, due to differences in experience, education, and upbringing, people see different meanings in different words and notions. These different points of view create additional misunderstandings that lead to more conflict.

Ask ten people to describe how they understand the notion of “dog.” You will not get a unanimous answer. There will be answers such as “lap-dogs”, “Spaniels”, “Dobermans,” etc.

Ambiguity and misunderstandings increase because people constantly confuse ideas of “real”, “wanted”, and “needed”, and interpret them in differing ways.

People indulge in wishful thinking, saying, “We are number one in the industry”. They also say one thing, while actually thinking something else. They say, “We have to postpone this project because we currently lack resources for it”, although they mean quite a different thing, “I do not believe in this project and do not want to waste my time on it.”

The difference of world perception is a source of conflict as well.

The Administrator controls every tiny detail, and his plan is scheduled for every minute. His budget is planned to the last penny. The Entrepreneur thinks globally, his picture is painted with broad strokes. Any delay is a missed opportunity. Risk is a necessary element of work.

The Administrator and the Entrepreneur themselves are inherently an eternal and inevitable conflict.

4.2. Attraction and repulsion.

As a result of many years of research, the Gottmann Institute found out that people get married and get divorced due to one and the same reason. Those differences, which had attracted them at the beginning, later became unbearable.

Differences in a team can both create and destroy, in just the same way. Thus, the issue is not how to avoid conflicts or how to ignore the differences, but how to use them efficiently as intended.

4.3. Constructive and destructive conflict.

If conflicts are inevitable and even necessary, you need to learn to control them and use them efficiently. However, first, you need to learn to determine the type of conflict.

A destructive conflict is dangerous. It is irrational and devastating. It leads nowhere and can destroy the organization.

A constructive conflict is exactly the argument on which thought thrives. However, it will not become constructive by itself. It needs certain conditions for that. A good manager creates an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. Thus, the argument turns from a threat into an opportunity:

– to take into account various approaches and opinions brought by the inherent differences of team members;

– to learn and absorb qualities we may be missing;

– to make more efficient and competent decisions.

Take note! Such an atmosphere requires trust and respect.

4.4. Cost of a competent decision

Is it easy to listen to another person’s opinion attentively? To accept those who think differently? To understand a person who is not like us?

Patience is the price that we will have to pay if we want efficient teamwork. However, it pays off greatly. Indeed, we will learn many new things and they will keep us from making mistakes typical for our style. Time, more of which will be required for discussion, will also require patience.

4.5. Factors of a team with an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect

People. It has been an axiom for a long time that people are the main asset of the company. Many leaders boldly transfer from project to project with a trusted and harmonious team and work efficiently everywhere.

Process. Effective communication between different team members while doing interconnected stages of work is not the simplest task. You need to understand all styles of languages and know how to be clear to everyone. Moreover, it is important to communicate and not to forget about keeping other team members informed.

Structure. Distribution of responsibility, powers and reward. In order to avoid competitive interests within the organization and to prevent long-term and short-term goals from hindering each other.

Common objectives, views, values. A leader plays the key role here in order for the team to look and move in the same direction.

5. Effective communication

Skillful communication in a team can often predetermine its efficiency. Let us look at a set of rules that will help to build communication between colleagues and to realize the potential of every participant.

5.1. How to determine a person’s style?

Of course, you will have to read their CV, you can ask them to do a test, you can listen to their stories about themselves. However, all this will give you quite an obscure picture. Besides, people will present (sell) themselves in a certain way.

The best ways to understand and feel their style are the following ones:

1. Tell a candidate to ask 10 questions of any kind about the future job. Listen and analyze what this person is really thinking about and what is bothering him.

2. Having determined the most probable style of a person, talk to them in their own manner and watch if they will feel comfortable. This is the best way to confirm your guesses.

“Who will I have to work with? Tell me about your personnel. What atmosphere is there in the department?” – These are the issues an Integrator will be concerned about.

“What exactly will be my duties?” – This bothers a Producer.

“What is the precise salary? Before tax deduction? When can I plan a holiday leave?” – This is a classical Administrator.

“What is the goal of your company? How are things with competitors?” – This is an Entrepreneur.

5.2. Start with yourself

Misunderstanding is the main source of conflicts. Not only do people speak “different languages”, but also the difference in speed and temperament adds to confusion and irritation.

What matters is not the ability to speak beautifully and correctly, not the ability to convince, but the ability to be understood.

Managers who position themselves as leaders expect others to adjust to them. However, a true leader can adjust to any team member, whether it is a subordinate or a person of a higher rank.

In order to adjust to the speaker efficiently and to get into a resonance with him, firstly you need to know and understand your own style clearly.

Without turning on self-control, we start broadcasting in our own style, habitually. And, in order to switch to a different style we need to know what to correct.

Expressive, pushing and spouting with global ideas, an Entrepreneur should at least “hold his horses” and “slow down” before his conversation with a calculating, strict and disciplined Administrator. Otherwise, the Administrator will lose track of the conversation quickly and will not understand the Entrepreneur any more.

5.3. How to communicate with…

Coming with your business to the Producer, you need to understand that his work is constant problem solving in conditions where there is a lack of time. Therefore, his extreme manifestation is the Lone Ranger. If something does not present a problem – it will wait. To be more exact, it will never interest him at all.

When you want to catch his interest, come to him with anything, wrap “it” up as a “problem”. In order to save his time, start with the end – with the essence. And, give a solution at once. Say that all you need is his approval. His attention and approval are almost guaranteed.

Going to have a talk with the Administrator, be sure to inform him beforehand and come on time. Otherwise, instead of listening to you he will be thinking how much of his time you “stole”. And do not forget to “slow down”.

Tell him that your problem is a deviation from the established rules and signed agreements. What happened is not right. Here are your suggestions as to how to fix it all (it would be desirable to prepare a detailed description). Say that your option is coordinated with everyone, that it minimizes risks and that you take the whole responsibility for it.

There are only two kinds of decisions for the Entrepreneur – his decisions and wrong ones. Therefore, there are two ways to attract his attention and get his approval:

• Do not make him face the fact, but ask for his advice, ask for his help, “…I was thinking, maybe we should do it this way. What do you think?”
• Make a blunder in your project, which he will notice and correct, having turned the project into his own creation. But do not make the mistake too obvious.

Presenting the request to the Integrator, show that all team members know about it and have approved your idea. What matters to him is not “what” and “how” needs to be done, but whether there will be harmony in the team.

However, do not forget that the Producer, the Administrator, the Entrepreneur and the Integrator hardly ever occur in their pure form. Most people are cocktails made of these functions. And if you failed to get to the person in one way, be bold to try another one.

5.4. How to turn a discussion into a show?

Why do collective discussions so often happen to be inefficient? Why do many people hate collective decisions?

In recent years, authors of business-books have been trying to prove that meetings are harmful and unnecessary. It has even become a fashion. Why does it happen this way?

Firstly, people see the meeting as a meeting of equals for a cup of morning coffee. Meanwhile, they are naïve enough to count on patience and courtesy of all the participants. They hope that everyone will hear out their colleagues attentively and everyone will take turns to share their criticism.

Secondly, in the heat of the discussion nobody thinks that each participant:

1. has a different ideas about such words as “necessary”, “problem”, “opportunity”, “ instructions”, and many others; and what those words actually mean.

1. has different temperament and style of communication.

At a typical meeting without rules, the Entrepreneur is the one who does most of the talking. Especially if he occupies a high position. He interrupts people and constantly corrects them. Meanwhile the Administrator, seeing such chaos and disrespect, becomes sullen and withdraws into himself. This is true, even though the active participation of the Administrator is extremely necessary for an organization in order to balance the fantasy and ardor of the Entrepreneur.

A meeting with improper organization resembles a meeting of people all with different nationalities, where each of them has very little command of English (just enough to ask “could you tell me the time, please?” or “how do I get to the underground?”). As a result of such a meeting, everyone except the Entrepreneur will be exhausted and everyone will feel offended, including the Entrepreneur because “nobody understood” him.

5.5. Constructive meeting. Teamwork. Dictatorship of rules.

However strange it may sound, you can make teamwork pleasant and productive with the help of dictatorship of rules. Not of a leader but of rules.

Step one: This is, perhaps, the hardest step. You need to make the definition of the terms that work in the organization clear to everyone. (Remember an example about “dogs”.)

Step two. Set the strictest rules and regulations of the meeting.

1. At the beginning of the meeting, ask everyone to take a deep breath, feel calm and slow down.
2. A reporter can speak as long as he wants.
3. Nobody has the right to interrupt him, even if he makes a pause or hesitates thinking.
4. Only when he gives a sign that he has finished, those sitting on the right (counterclockwise) can ask questions and comment. Nobody interrupts them again!
5. You should address each other only by name.
6. The meeting starts on time. No being late. No phone calls.

Step three. Subdivide the colleagues’ remarks into “questions”, “doubts” and “objections”. This is because many people take any remark about their speech as a threat, an objection or disagreement, which leads to tension.

Conclusion

What should the right form of management be like?

In order to create an effective organization, one needs a team, every member of which complements the others and compensates for the flaws of others with his own abilities.

Each of us has his strong and weak points. The right mixture of these pluses and minuses will create a team that can cope with any challenge. In order to create this perfect cocktail, one needs to know and to be able to distinguish four functions of management (managerial styles, person’s aptitudes):

• Production;
• Administration;
• Entrepreneurship;

Any gap or imbalance to one of the sides leads to mismanagement; as a result, the organization is doomed. Extreme manifestations of such management are:

• The Lone Ranger, or a workaholic;
• The Bureaucrat – a dictator;
• The Arsonist – a generator of new ideas;
• The SuperFollower – a politician.

It is of equal importance for every team member to have a minimal understanding of the functions and difficulties of his colleagues (of all the functions). Otherwise, he will not appreciate and understand their work.

In order to interact efficiently and productively, people with different styles of thinking and management need an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect in a team.

For this you need:

1) to accept the fact that conflicts are normal and inevitable;

2) to turn any conflict into a constructive one:

– to create strict rules of communication and discussion in a team;

– to be able to communicate in different languages (adjust to different styles).

***

Ten Reasons to Read this Book

1. Learn what management and managing mean
2. Learn a new paradigm for successful management
3. Learn about management styles
4. Learn about mismanagement styles
5. Learn how to effectively communicate
6. Learn how to have effective meetings
7. Learn how to effectively implement decisions
8. Learn how to effectively reward employees
9. Learn how to manage change
10. Learn how to develop managers, executives, and leaders

“While early promotions in one’s career are due to excellence in a professional discipline, promotions to key management positions hinge upon excellence in interpersonal skills. This book is the culmination of Dr. Adizes’ theoretical studies, vast experience and great intuition. It will help you understand and better deal with subordinates, peers, and specifically your supervisor.” – Sass Somekh, Executive Vice President, Applied Materials, Inc.

***

You can order Dr. Adizes’ book, “The Ideal Executive: Why You Cannot Be One and What To Do About It” at the Adizes online store by clicking on the link below.

Click Here to Buy Now