I’ve been slacking on the “Lead” part of “Lead.Learn.Live.” I’ve been distracted with “Premium” Hot Chocolate, Grilled Cheese sandwiches and painted pumpkins inspired by Jackson Pollock. Here’s one of two leadership primers to kick off the coming week.
The Harvard Business Review authors of Does Management Really Work? conducted research over a 10-year period involving thousands of organizations to determine whether companies adhere to three practices that are considered essential elements of good management. Before we get to the 3 basic elements, two of the key findings of this research were:
1) Many organizations throughout the world are very badly managed…
2) Effective Management execution on the basic practices is strongly correlated with better results
Take a pause before hitting the “read more” link. (I’ve already done it…so play along.) What exactly are these 3 essential management practices?
- Targets: Does the organization support long-term goals with tough but achievable short-term performance benchmarks?
- Incentives: Does the organization reward high performers with promotions and bonuses while retraining or moving underperformers?
- Monitoring: Does the organization rigorously collect and analyze performance data to identify opportunities for improvement? (Constantly measure results)
- Nothing earthshattering here yet most companies aren’t executing on management principles 101.
The research article offers considerable depth on the subject including competing in the complex global economy.
Source: Harvard Business Review – Does Management Really Work?
Live & Learn 
I did like the grilled cheese sandwich porn, though… 😀
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Me too!
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Sigh…I was enjoying the ‘learn’ and ‘live’ part so much, that I would consider you ‘leading’ on the merits of those posts alone. At the end of the day, I am beginning to believe that there is really nothing new under the managerial sun, other than the ways that most leaders find to avoid the basics.
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I read your quote this morning. And it stuck with me all day. I value the thoughts very much. I am still digesting it. You are on point. Again. Period.
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HBR is stating what works and seems obvious… to American companies and Anglo-Saxon cultures. However, the world is more diverse than that. Targets and benchmarks are handled differently in Scandinavia, in most of Africa and Asia and in different parts of Europe. Promotions and bonuses do not motivate Scandinavians in the same way, either… And moving under-performers can be quite difficult in other cultures. As for “rigorously collecting and analysing performance data”, that is also handled very differently depending on the culture.
So, yes, HBR is spot on for companies in the US/UK/Canada/Australia, but the “3 basic elements” need translation when used elsewhere.
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Thoughtful comment Nando. My angle was certainly purely North American. Thank you for sharing.
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It is pretty amazing that these three critical points are so often but on the back burner or never even make it to the stove..
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Yes, I while I don’t often agree with research findings, I believe they are on point here…
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A colleague shared a story of at time he was openly challenged about the content of his training program. One participant felt it was a complete waste of his time as the information was common sense. My colleague agreed and when asked why he was presenting it anyway, replied “Because so many people refuse to do any of it!” Mimi is right … it’s not new but still needs to be said because it’s not being done.
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You nailed it Laurie. It is “not” being done.
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