Break It Down
Would your managers take more interest in their departments' success if it were their company?
It's your company, and nobody cares more about it than you
do, right? Probably true, but there's a way to get your
managers to care almost as much--and be motivated to adopt your
perspective in their operational style.
How do you do it? Through a management method called
"intrepreneurship," a concept first developed in big
companies a decade ago as a response to declining morale and
productivity, says Mickey Adams-Grames, president of ML Adams &
Associates LLC, a management consulting firm in Salt Lake City. It
was also created to be an alternative to competitive corporate
incentive programs that actually pitted managers against each
other, often to the ultimate detriment of the company.
As part of her work, Adams-Grames has adapted the concept to
small and midsized companies by taking this basic approach:
Managers are taught to view every other person in the company as
their customer; they are totally responsible for everything in
their departments, including financial issues; they share in the
company's profits; and they are both in control and accountable
for their area of responsibility.
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"Control of the dollars creates true accountability,"
Adams-Grames says. "Budgets are no longer somebody's
guesswork with every number padded; they are realistic."
Adams-Grames recommends a two-fold profit-sharing system to make
intrepreneurship work: Designate a portion of profits that managers
can earn for themselves and another portion they can spend on
capital improvements in their departments. The results? In one
company Adams-Grames consults for, managers decide investing all
capital improvement funds in one department's computer system
would most benefit the company overall. "As they got into
this, they began looking to win over the guy in the next
department," she says.
Don't expect your managers to have the financial background
necessary to implement such a program. If they don't, you can
get the training they need from a management consultant or perhaps
even at your local community college. Also, Adams-Grames recommends
regular financial meetings with your managers so they can see
what's happening in all the departments and have the
opportunity to ask questions and get comfortable with the process.
If you bring in a consultant to help you, be sure he or she has
expertise in both financial and management consulting and has done
this sort of training in the past.
Jacquelyn Lynn left the corporate world more than 13 years
ago and has been writing about business and management from her
home office in Winter Park, Florida, ever since. Contact her at
JlynnBiz@aol.com
Contact SourceML Adams & Associates LLC,
(801) 486-5552, mgrames@worldnet.att.net