Sunday, August 26, 2007

A Perfect Manager



I had a conversation with my brother-in-law, who is a PMP certified project manager. We were discussing about our work. He said he holds lots of responsibilities nowadays. He is onboard to manage 3 managers, all together 97 people under him. That is a huge figure, because managing 97 people is really a tough job. Having a bird view, I could say, pulling every one at a time to accomplish a task is itself a big job. I could not think beyond this. I asked him, what you really do. The answer was very crispy. He said, ‘I MUST KNOW TO ASK QUESTIONS’. Answer was a spontaneous one. I did not proceed to think about this immediately. Later, when I was on the way to my office, I had a thought about this answer. I thought that was a perfect answer. Managers’ subordinates think in different ways. Only thing that brings all those subordinates in coherence are the questions that their superior (Managers’) puts forward. The questions that the superior asks makes those subordinates focused. In my experience, I have seen many managers just pressurize their subordinates to accomplish a job. But that should not be the practice. Technologists always would have focus on many things. But only the manager’s, who is supposed to streamline their priorities, facilitate them with what they need. I’m aware of many qualities that a manager is supposed to have. But this point is a valid one that I have to add to my wisdom, which would be useful in future. Readers of this blog, please be aware of this which might be useful when you become a manager. If you have already become a manager, just imbibe this quality. If you have been practicing this, then feel good that you have this quality.

1 comment:

Manoj Nithyanantham said...

Hi Ramesh/Sarath:),
I appreciate you for understanding and communicating such an insightful management wisdom,rather leadership wisdom. I would say that it is a leadership trait than a management trait. Asking powerful questions will make the subordinates/peers to think about 'what they can be' rather than 'what they are'. Coll stuff. Please send such ideas in the future. Keep it up.