Are you rewarded for managing people?
September 3, 2008 by Phil Gerbyshak
Filed under Business
Wally Bock recently offered three reasons managers don’t do people management. Wally offers three very interesting insights into why:
- They don’t think it’s their job.
- They don’t have the tools they need.
- They won’t deal with the uncomfortable parts.
Wally cited a a study on the ROI of talent management conducted by IBM and the Human Capital Institute and one quote in particular that got his attention:
“While 84 percent of organizations know that workforce effectiveness is important to achieving business results, only 42 percent of those surveyed say managers devote sufficient time to people management.”
That’s 58% of managers NOT devoting sufficient time to people management. Disappointing, to say the least.
Taking a quick inventory around my office, I actually think this number is LOW. I’d bet it’s actually closer to 80%. Like Trident, I’d say 4 out of 5 managers don’t make enough time to sufficiently manage people.
Whatever the number, Michael Haberman left a very telling comment on Wally’s post:
…as any good behaviorist knows you get the behavior you want by rewarding it. You pay someone for their “regular” work then they are going to do that. You reward people for their management work you will get that. We just don’t typically track, evaluate or reward that part of a manager’s job.
So WHY aren’t we rewarding managers for managing people?
Here are 3 reasons we don’t reward managers for managing people.
Staffs get leaner and leaner, so we want “player/coaches” not just coaches. This is my number one reason why I don’t do more people management, and is the number one reason my manager doesn’t rate my people management skills as a larger part each year in my review.
Here’s my typical week: 20 or more hours a week in project meetings, 10-20 hours a week escalating problems, another 10-20 hours fighting fires. Any free time, I can invest in my team’s development and management. I do schedule weekly one-on-ones a full year out or I would have ZERO time to invest in my team. Can you relate to this?
It’s hard to measure. How do you measure managing people? Number of one-on-one meetings with your direct reports? Turnover? I can think of lots of possible things to measure, but to my knowledge, I haven’t seen a balanced scorecard focusing on only “people management.” If you have one, I’d love to see it.
Managers don’t know what they would want as a reward if it WAS measured. Sure, money is great, but what else would you want as a manager? I’d like some flex time, or some more help to get more done. And I feel greedy when I ask for things I may not be able to offer my team.
What do you think?
Why aren’t you rewarded for managing people?
Or are you someone who is rewarded for managing people, and if so, how are you measured and how are you rewarded?
People management can be measured by team results, team member satisfaction survey. People would always have something good to say if they were managed very well. Silence means the opposite.
I don’t think we need to have scientific and complex calculations. A survey even in its simplest form has a very strong story to tell. Exit interviews/surveys for people resigning can be counted upon.
What gets rewarded is getting things done. While people management is an integral part of getting things done it is not one of those points of activity that is highly visible, unless of course there is some problem generally. Accordingly, what I see is if things are getting done satisfactorily then the people management aspect can be ignored … after all things are happening and all is well. This is particularly true with the additional pressure to do more with less.
Its not a matter of evaluation, it is a matter of preferance. Some managers prefer paper to people. They hide behind paper so they do not have to deal with people, especially the uncomfortable bits.
Managers not managing people? This is exactly what Mintzberg, Pavett and Lau proved by studying performance reviews of middle and upper level managers. Managers emulate those above them to increase their chances of promotion. So we know what the leads us to!
My management slogan is “getting things done through other people, willingly and well.”
“Getting things done” because that is what you are paid to do (when a Manager).
“Through other people”, because largely you can’t do it all yourself.
“Willingly”, i.e. they actually want to do it because they’re motivated to do it.
“And well”, because you’ve trained, developed, coached them to do it well.
My management slogan would not stand up if I were not rewarded for Managing People.
Andrew
I did some work with a guy who led the business banking arm of a major bank. He was rewarded partly based on the career progress of people who worked for him. If they went on to bigger and better things in the organization, it was reflected in his bonus. I’ve never heard of that practise before. It was his own idea (he was that kind of inspirational leader). It certainly focuses the mind on developing people and managing them well when it’s knitted into the compensation program.