Habits of Dumb Managers

Must Know It All –You’re the boss, so you must  be smarter and know  more than anyone who works for you.

Manage Numbers Not People — The bottom line is important - not employees.

Nothing New - Embrace the Status Quo — You’re in power, so it’s in your interests to keep it that way.

Leadership and Teamwork - Thinking teamwork is about the team just doing what you think

“Manager” is a status title - not a job role

Inspire Division in your employees – while burbling about teamwork –Get your employees to hate each other rather than hating you.

Do It Yourself — not understanding the prime role of managers

Taking Undeserved Credit - Make sure that you get credit for everything your employees do.

Limit Clear Communication - Encourage Mindreading.  Never commit to paper – Nothing can be proved

Always Waving the Axe” –Threatening to fire underlings at a moment’s notice.

Any more we should add?

Writing Better Copy

Creative ideas are vitally important, but they are only the start.  The idea must be translated into words and pictures-the right words and pictures.  Only then is the creative idea of any value to the advertiser.  John Pullen aptly explained the importance of words and pictures when he said

The idea is only the beginning.  A good idea can be obscured by a beautiful smoke screen of ungoverned "creativity." It can be dropped before it has had time to penetrate.  Or it can be expressed so poorly that the value of the idea is lost.

 The selling idea is the framework.  But words give it flesh and blood, make it live and breathe in direct proportion to the vitality of a quality that seems to be inherent in words themselves.

 As proof of this, you can start with a selling idea and assign it to six writers.  One will produce a great campaign, while the score for the others will be perhaps four good and one average.  The idea is the same, but there are astonishing differences in the way it springs to life.

 Or take the idea, "a pretty woman," and give it to six artists.  One paints the Mona Lisa. 

It is fascinating to consider the differences words can make.  "Cease motion, observe carefully and note sound of approaching train" can't compare with "Stop, look and listen !"

"We won't let them get by" is a pale substitute for "They shall not pass 1"

"A diamond will last forever" would not last long in comparison with "A diamond is forever. . . ."        

The Bible says that a word fitly spoken is like apple silver.  It is also like gold in the pocket of an advertiser.'

 Leo Burnett was paying appropriate tribute to the importance of the writer when he said:

After all the meetings are over, the phones have stopped ringing and the vocalising has died down, somebody has to get out an ad, often after hours.  Somebody has to stare at a blank piece of paper. 

Probably nothing was ever more bleak.  This is probably the very height of lonesomeness.  He is one person and he is alone-all by himself alone.  Out of the recesses of his mind must come words which interest, words which persuade, words which inspire, words which sell.  Magic words.  I regard him as the man of the hour in our business today.

Levels of Decision Making

Decision Levels

 We all recognise that some decisions are more important than others, whether in their immediate impact or long term significance. As a means of understanding the significance of a decision so that we can know how much time and resources to spend on it, three levels of decision have been identified:

1. Strategic. Strategic decisions are the highest level. Here a decision concerns general direction, long term goals, philosophies and values. These decisions are the least structured and most imaginative; they are the most risky and of the most uncertain outcome, partly because they reach so far into the future and partly because they are of such importance.

For example: Decisions about what to do with your life, what to learn, or what methods to use to gain knowledge (travel, work, school) would be strategic. Whether to produce a low priced product and gain market share or produce a high priced product for a niche market would be a strategic decision.

2. Tactical. Tactical decisions support strategic decisions. They tend to be medium range, medium significance, with moderate consequences.

For example: If your strategic decision were to become a forest ranger, a tactical decision would include where to go to school and what books to read. Or if your company decided to produce a low priced product, a tactical decision might be to build a new factory to produce them at a low manufacturing cost.

3. Operational. These are every day decisions, used to support tactical decisions. They are often made with little thought and are structured. Their impact is immediate, short term, short range, and usually low cost. The consequences of a bad operational decision will be minimal, although a series of bad or sloppy operational decisions can cause harm. Operational decisions can be preprogrammed, pre-made, or set out clearly in policy manuals.

For example: If your tactical decision is to read some books on forestry, your operational decision would involve where to shop for the books. You might have a personal policy of shopping for books at a certain store or two. Thus, the operational decision is highly structured: "Whenever books are needed, look at Joe's Books."

An important comment should be made here. Issues should be examined and decisions should be made at all of these levels. If you discover that nearly all of your thinking and decision making is taking place at the operational level, then you are probably not doing enough strategic thinking and planning. As a result you will lead a reactive life, responding only to the forces around you and never getting control of your life, your direction or your goals.

Decision Making Techniques

The techniques in this topic range from the very simple to the rather sophisticated. Which technique you choose for a given decision will be influenced by the importance and complexity of the decision. As a preview to a discussion of techniques, then, let's consider a few preliminary ideas that will help identify some decision making levels.

  

Planning for Decision Making

While decision making without planning is fairly common, it is often not pretty. The terms used to describe it--crisis management, putting out fires, seat-of-the-pants governing--all reveal the inelegance and awkwardness of this way of life. Planning allows decisions to be made in a much more comfortable and intelligent way. Planning even makes decisions easier by providing guidelines and goals for the decision. We might even say that planning is a type of decision simplification technique (see the discussion of these techniques below).

Decision makers will find four major benefits to planning:

1. Planning allows the establishment of independent goals.

The vision which will shape the decisions is set apart from surrounding events. Decisions are not made only as reactions to external stimuli. "Management by firefighting" is replaced by a conscious and directed series of choices. Managers now steer the organisation, individuals now steer their lives, rather than being steered by external forces. Sometimes the difference between planning and not planning is described as "proactive" (taking control of the situation) versus "reactive" (responding to stimuli).

2. Planning provides a standard of measurement.

A plan provides something to measure against, so that you can discover whether or not you are achieving or heading toward your goals. As the proverb says, If you don't know where you're going, it doesn't matter which way you go.

3. Planning converts values to action.

When you are faced with a decision, you can consult your plan and determine which decision will help advance your plan best. Decisions made under the guidance of planning can work together in a coherent way to advance company or individual goals.

Planning is useful in emergency situations, too. When a crisis arises, a little thought about the overall plan will help determine which decision to make that will not only help resolve the crisis but will also help advance the overall plan. Without a plan, crises are dealt with haphazardly and decisions are made which may ultimately be in conflict with each other.

4. Planning allows limited resources to be committed in an orderly way.

Budgets, time, effort, manpower--all are limited. Their best use can be made when a plan governs their use.

A simple example would be planning to buy a house or a car. Rather than having to decide between buying the item right now with all cash or never having it, you can plan to buy it over several years by making payments. Or, you might combine this plan with the plan to buy a smaller house and add rooms later as they could be afforded. By planning you can thus accomplish things that might otherwise look impossible.

Decision Making

Goals and Objectives

Refer to your existing Goals and Objectives or create them to give you a point of reference in decision making.

·         What are we trying to achieve?

·         What are we trying to preserve?

·         What are we trying to avoid?

·         What are we trying to eliminate?

 More Goals and Objectives Questions

·         What would things look like if they were going right?

·         What would be happening that isn't?

·         What wouldn't be happening that is?

·         What do we want we don't have? What are we trying to achieve?

·         What do we have we don't want? What are we trying to eliminate?

·         What do we not have that we don't want? What are we trying to avoid?

·         What do we have that we want to keep? What are we trying to preserve? What results are we after?

·         What will serve as evidence of success? Failure?

·         How will we know the problem is solved?

·         What is the "should be"? Who says?

 Identify alternatives for approaches to resolve the problem

Many alternative solutions should emerge in the process. In fact it is helpful to have as many alternatives as possible. This process may be time consuming and sometime exhausting but it is absolutely necessary.

a. At this point, it's useful to keep others involved (unless you're facing a personal and/or employee performance problem). Use problem solving tools and techniques such as Brainstorm for solutions to the problem. (A good set of skills used to identify the underlying cause of issues is Systems Thinking.)

Apply action possibilities to the goals set in Step 2. Some goals may have to be eliminated because they are unrealistic. Others may have to be modified. Some can be achieved. Be specific in defining the possible solutions. Try to be creative when considering options. Develop some really crazy ones just to get your mind stimulated. Mix and match various ideas just to see where they lead. All the historic problem solvers from Archimedes to Einstein have been noted for their feats of bringing to bear, on difficult problems, concepts and principles from apparently disparate fields of knowledge.

More questions

·         What are our options?

·         What are their costs? What are their benefits?

·         What are their side effects?

·         How do we decide? How long do we have to decide?

·         Do we have our egos out of this?

·         What are our restraints and constraints?

·         What are all the things we must do?

·         What are all the things we can't do?

·         Who says? Are they real or imagined?

·         What are we assuming? What are we overlooking?

·         Can we get there from here?

·         What has to give? Resources? Results? Time? Money?

·         

Consider the Possible Consequences

What might happen if I put these options into practice?

 Consider the consequences of taking certain steps. Imagine and consider how others might respond if they faced a similar situation. Make realistic assessments and do not avoid painful answers. Write down the consequences and face them no matter how difficult that might be in the first instance. It is possible to make considerable progress once reality is confronted. Strength can be drawn from reality. Evaluate the pros and cons. Rehearse strategies and behaviours by means of creative imagination.