Segment 10 (2021) - The Role of Management

[Paul Terlemezian]

Management might justifiably be an obstacle or an accelerator to your idea. With insight from The Daily Drucker (November 12) might we learn about "The Work of the Manager?

Humorists:

• Josh Felix
• Whoopi Goldberg
• Meetings
• Mike Blake

Panelists:

• Laura Davis (Alternate)
• Takiyah Gross-Foote
• Debra Kline
• Bob Norton
• Michael Robertson
• James Roland (Alternate)
• Ashley Wheeler

Moderators:

• Walt Carter

Remarkable Speakers (Listeners:)

• Steph Crowe

[Walt Carter]

 Is "Management" a real job? 

From the challenger's corner...

[Paul Terlemezian]

Enjoyable article - relevant and humorous - thank you. Do you think the issue is new? If so what caused it? If not - how long have we been dealing with it - and why have we been unable to fix it?

[Walt Carter]

Old issue - I believe/speculate that it stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of managers.  Let's go back to your original post from the Daily Drucker:

"Drucker asserts that these are the roles of the manager:

1. Set Objectives
2. Organize
3. Motivate and Communicate
4. Measure
5. Develop People

Contrast these functions with the description from Ted Bauer.  Is what he describes consistent with Drucker's definition?  

Kouses and Posner in "The Leadership Challenge" describe leadership and management as two different concepts:  Managers handle things.  Leaders see the future and lead their teams to that future, hopefully, better, set of circumstances.  In businesses, this future includes new capabilities or new capacities for existing capabilities.  

Drucker's definition effectively combines both the leadership (future vision) and the managerial (organizing and following up and following through on past commitments).  

[Paul Terlemezian]

Thanks Walt - terrific answer. It is critical to help ourselves and others apply what you have brought attention to.

[Bob Norton]

[Paul Terlemezian]

Thanks Bob, might these columns also describe how one educates vs. how one learns?

To all - which side reflects how you wish to learn? Which side reflects how you have been taught?

[Ashley A. Wheeler]

Paul, a great question. I have to say absolutely it is for sure how the learning process has been viewed over the years...the left side being the more traditional "mechanistic" view of the transmission of  knowledge vs the right side being the more ideal from my perspective where autonomy and creativity and true learning occur and are fostered.

In my second graduate school stint, I took an education course called "A Post-Modern Perspective of Curriculum" which I truly loved and we got into Capra and chaos theory mathematics among other "new " things I'd not been very familiar with. By the end of the class, it had inspired me to paint an oil painting for my professor representing this mechanistic view of how knowledge has been viewed over the years. 

Recall floppy discs? On the back side they looked like little stick people to me with a face. I painted a "quilt-like block" pattern of many of those floppy disc backs joined with lines that made them look like floppy disc stick figures and I used "cool" oil colors to convey the coldness of it all. I know that the written description doesn't do the painting justice but she cried when I gave it to her the last night of class before she was leaving for several years of research in Peru. 

[Paul Terlemezian]

What a wonderful gift to create. You proved that you had learned and that you wished to express appreciation to the professor in a unique manner.

My guess is that it still brings her tears of joy?

[Ashley A. Wheeler]

I hope it still brings her much happiness. She inspired me tremendously. 

[Paul Terlemezian]

These columns might also apply to humor? The right side looks like Improv to me? What do you think? The left side looks "humorless" - and focused on Fear.

For example:

• Control is perhaps motivated by the avoidance of fear?
• Risk is taken despite the fear?

What might be a counter-example to my assertion of Humor on the right side of the above picture and fear on the left side of the above picture?

[Henry E. Liebling]

Walt, I am glad I read your post.  "see the future" - so important with so much innovation going on  Thank you for posting.

[Paul Terlemezian]

We are all responsible for managing ourselves - all the time - and yet the worst of self-management skills may be exhibited in how we perform in meetings. Does anyone know of a course that teaches people how to be a "great attenders of meetings?"