Tweet

Working Smarter — Not Harder

Written by: John M. Beane

Article Overview: What a manager needs to consider as he/she moves from being a supervisor to top levels of management. The challenge of deciding how to work smarter rather than harder.

Working Smarter — Not Harder

Recently one of the HR newsletters that I receive had the headline, “Top-five Mistakes Leaders Make in Tough Times” which reminded me of something a mentor had said to me many years ago, “It is easy to look good as a leader when the times are good.” Truer words have never been spoken because it is the tough times that expose a manager’s weaknesses.

There was a terrible plane crash during the winter of 2009 in Buffalo, NY and the cause of the crash was just reported by the media recently as pilot error. According to the news there are actually recordings of both the pilot and co-pilot saying that they had never had to deal with ice on the plane’s wings and they would not know how to handle it. Unfortunately, on that cold snowy night, they had to deal with just that situation but, instead of knowing the right things to do, they did all the wrong things and 49 people died. Those two pilots were successful as long as there were blue skies but they were not equipped to handle stormy weather.

Just because those two pilots were trained to be pilots does not guarantee that they were good pilots and the same is true for managers. Just because a person is put into a management position does not mean that they have what it takes to be a good manager. And, unfortunately, a poor manager’s weaknesses sometimes do not surface until there is ‘stormy weather’ so, just when they need to ‘step up to the plate’, they take the wrong action or, even worse, ‘bury their head’ in the sand and do nothing.

It is not unusual for good workers to be promoted into a position of authority. It is perfectly reasonable that good workers should be compensated, but putting them in a management position is not always the best way to do this. Everyone is good at something but not everyone is good at managing. You have to possess the right character traits and the right amount of emotional energy needed to handle the work and to deal with people as a manager. And, different levels of management need a different character make-up. In my mind, there is an equation indicating what it takes to be a successful manager at different levels of responsibility. Here is how that equation works.

• First line supervisor: 20 percent managing/80 percent doing
• Middle-management: 40 percent managing/60 percent doing
• Upper management: 60 percent managing/40 percent doing
• Top management: 80 percent managing/20 percent doing

By the time a person reaches the top level of management, they must transition from being a worker bee into a person who can get others to do what is required. Many in management are unable to modify their character make-up and just try to work harder rather than smarter. In good times, when it may not matter, they do too much work themselves rather than stepping back to maintain an overview and identify potential problems. However, during the tough times, they may work even harder but not all their hard work can compensate for everything that is going wrong around them or they may not even notice it.

Let's dissect ‘working smarter’ to find out what that really means. According to the dictionary, smarter means... “showing mental alertness, calculation, and resourcefulness, characterized by quickness and ease in learning, capable of independent and apparently intelligent action, quick and brisk.”

Therefore, we could characterize a smart manager as someone who is aware of how they interact with others and who works to continually improve how they deal with people. They learn quickly from mistakes and modify their behaviors in order to achieve an improved result in the next similar situation. They work independently but can also listen to trustworthy people who give good advice.

If a top-level manager becomes too involved in working, they lose perspective of what others need to be doing and who needs to be doing it. The most effective top executives hold subordinates accountable by asking them specific, pointed questions about their responsibilities. This forces employees to go the extra mile to make certain they are ready to deal with the ‘smarter’ top executive who puts them on the spot with tough questions. Penetrating questions permit the top executive to zero in on what he/she needs to know about a particular situation, which helps their decision making.

The ‘smarter’ top executive stays mainly on the sideline watching others do the work while they focus on the journey — what are the workers doing today and what do they need to do tomorrow to improve the organization’s situation. To become a smart top executive, one must transition from being hard working and close to the action to someone who keeps an overview of the present and the future. Making that transition is not easy but is doable.

Related Articles
  Are Men Smarter Than Women
  On my own
  Stop Saying “Work Smarter, Not Harder” and Great Things Shall Happen!
  How Just One AMP Can Increase Sales
  5 Tips To Get You Working Smarter!

Article Tags: buffalo ny, co pilot, div, endif, family auto, family symbol, fareast, font definitions, gte, mentor, mso, number position, orphan, paper source, pilot error, plane crash, style definitions, times new roman, tough times, truer words



Related Forum Posts
Re: What is Your Favorite Thing About Owning A Business? - [quote="freddyb45":1t3lpfi8]For me it's the fact that all the time and effort you put in is worth a lot more, due to it making you "business" more profitable. Working for yourself is also a positive, although employing people you can trust is quite different.[/quote:1t3lpfi8] I like this idea. Working for yourself means you are investing in your own future, not someone else's, although there is value in working for someone else first to gain experience and confidence. Working for yourself does not automatically mean success, fame and fortune. For most entrepreneurs, it takes much work and dedication to get to the point of financial success and comfort - sometimes years. But the benefit is, again, you know you are investing in yourself and building equity for your own future. GT :-]
Re: help wanted in u.k. - Working on it all, a new world to me cheers brendan
Motivational Books for Entrepreneurs - Searched but did not find a comprehensive list of books for us entrepreneurs: Here are some of my favorites: Napoleon Hill - Think and Grow Rich The greatest secret in the world- Earl Nightingale...listen to it, then listen to it again. Jeffrey Gitomers books- Red book of selling, sales bible, Green book of getting your way. Your Erroneous Zones - Wayne Dyer Thinkertoys - Michael Michalko How To Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie The Magic of Believing - Claude M. Bristol How to Talk to Anyone - Leil Lowndes Get Smarter- Seymour Schulich What are yours?
Re: What is Your Favorite Thing About Owning A Business? - For me it's the fact that all the time and effort you put in is worth a lot more, due to it making you "business" more profitable. Working for yourself is also a positive, although employing people you can trust is quite different.
Re: When do entrepreneurs retire, if ever? - Entrepreneur don't retire, they die on the job. It is his passion and what he enjoys doing. Rubert Murdock is 77 years old and he is still working. He said he would die fast if he stop working. Working had become his life,joy and passion


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

In the Year 2020 . . . Process

Adapting to Technology and the Internet

What is Give Back Marketing?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.