Shelter Chieza Change  Management
I have often observed that if you want to find out what something is, you must also know what it is not. People often write to me with different notions of what they believe management is and how they use their knowledge and expertise to solve day to day management issues at their offices. And so many people see it as a profession that could have the same status as lawyers and doctors and pharmacist mainly because of the “rigorous training” they undergo and the nights they sweat over assignments.

I do respect the work that my management lecturers went through to equip me to become a manager. That’s the reason we have MBA courses flourishing everywhere in the country and even the world over. However, I strongly believe that management is not a profession. It would be suicidal to claim that you are in the management profession to your colleagues.

A profession is like that of my spouse a Civil and Structural Engineer where we seek advice from experts that have skills and knowledge that we do not have. A civil engineer will analyse the geographical makeup of the area for you to start constructing your road or bridge, lawyers will tell you what to say to exonerate yourself from a legal case even if they know you are guilty.

A manager is more like an administrator because the training that we receive at the MBA schools may not even equip one to conduct things that the basic non-professional man on the street can do. The ladies who sweep the streets of Harare know very well how they must sweep the streets to reduce the filth on our roads.

One lady told me of how she prioritises her duties to know which street requires more attention than the other, the type of cleaning material to use and even the most appropriate time to sweep those streets. A manager therefore strikes me as a person who virtually has no in-depth knowledge of anything, who merely relies on advice from other people and who may not be able to judge the quality of advice they are given.

But again, can companies do without managers? Yes they can! In these days when companies are resorting to leaner structures, an option may be to fire that manager whose salary is chewing up most of the wage bill. You see, what you are buying when you pay for lawyer fees is the knowledge that we do not have. What is clearly distinct for professions is that they have professional bodies that regulate their conduct and also determine the perimeter of the profession.

Management does not have such a body in place. If a consumer feel that they have been treated unfairly by a lawyer they can approach the Law Society because they are your trusted advisors. Whereas in management, you have no one to report to, no wonder why our nation is in shambles economically. We have managers who engage in trial and error that are have no regulated contact.

As managers, we have no ethical standard of conduct to follow. With all those business schools mushrooming in our country, surely we must be performing better economically as a nation. My first month in my new office as a general manager was an eye opener. My expectation was to sit in my office, call in a few people for meetings and sit down to craft strategies and documents.

Alas, it did not pen out that way, I felt as if I was now a human resources manager who is dealing with challenges all the time. My office was so busy and I was under so much pressure, I hardly had time to respond to emails. It was just a fragmented and chaotic day. That surely is not how a boss’ day should be like.

You will also think that as a manager authority should flow out of your office, that if you tell someone to do this, they will do it. It may not be so because there are individuals that have been in the company much longer than you who just do not believe in you. As such these normally jump protocol and reporting structures and may go directly to your boss to report. Its now more of gaining subordinates respect and trust that will give you the power to manage.

A manager must be directly involved in the team projects, don’t be too hands off a project. Neither should you also be too involved. You then end up wanting to be too friendly and become too social than necessary. Make sure you set clear boundaries with your subordinates.

There are also things that companies do that damage management. You must never see a move into management as a promotion. Often when someone excels in their area of expertise, they can get a reward of being promoted to a manager. That is the beginning of a disaster.

Its like promoting an accountant to be a manager, how does that even work since this is a career shift? Most people who find themselves in this situation fail dismally because they do not have knowledge of the field.

Till next week, may God richly bless you!

Shelter Chieza is a Management Consultant. She can be contacted at [email protected]

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