10 Questions You Should Be Asking Your Managers

Questions

In recent client engagements with global organizations such as ArcelorMittal, Pfizer, Saudi Aramco, Ensco International as well as U.S. organizations such as the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the City of Alexandria (VA), I’ve observed two very consistent challenges managers face. Managers in these organizations all share the challenge to consistently deliver results despite ever increasing time and resource constraints. When time and resource constraints are present, they become major drivers of employee behavior and can seriously derail success. For example, employees will stop innovating. Employee engagement will drop dramatically. And efficiency and production can drop by as much as 40%. Some of our clients are tackling the time and resource challenges very well, so what are they doing that others are not? Our observations and recent research shows that high performing organizations focus on the answers to certain questions as a key to sustaining success in incredibly volatile business environments.

Research Identifies the Key to Effective Management Practices

In the article Does Management Really Work? (November 2012 issue of the Harvard Business Review), the authors cite extensive research conducted to assess effective management practices. Their research includes data from more than 8,000 manufacturing firms in 20 countries. In short, what they found is that a 1 point increase on their management scoring scale was associated with 23% more productivity, 14% higher market capitalization, and 1.4% more annual sales growth. These present some pretty compelling reasons to adopt effective management practices. And the best performing manufacturers consistently asked their managers a series of questions to sustain success.

The 10 Questions that Maintain a Focus on Sustaining Success

1.  How are goals cascaded down to individual workers?
2. Are the targets too complex?
3. How do you deal with repeated failures in specific business segments?
4. How do senior managers show that attracting and developing talent is a top priority?
5. How long is under-performance tolerated?
6. What makes it distinctive to work at your company?
7. What does the company do about a star performer who wants to leave?
8. How do problems typically get exposed and fixed?
9. What key indicators do you use for performance tracking?
10. For a given problem, how do you identify the root cause?

In our observations coaching and developing thousands of managers, managers in under-performing organizations are not held accountable to answer questions #1, #3, #4, #5, #6, and #7. If your organization has stopped innovating, experienced a significant decrease in employee engagement, and/or became inefficient and less productive, start your turnaround by asking these accountability increasing questions. Then take action to close the gaps; it’s important to partner with organizations like Infinity Consulting and Training Solutions that can help you close gaps in areas that are not your core competency. Do so, and your organization will be better prepared to fight off the disruptors to your business that are inevitably looking to supplant you in the marketplace.

For more tips and strategies on resources that will dramatically enhance your development as a manager and a leader, visit my website at www.ictscorp.com, subscribe to this blog, and follow me on social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook). By doing so, you will gain access to leading edge research on management and leadership development and have access to daily inspirational and motivational quotes that will drive your success trajectory upward. So don’t delay, follow me and think yourself to success today!