This question was posed in a Harvard Business School article and immediately got me thinking. I have spent years studying the art of self-management and creating models to assist people in mastering this art, however this article forced me to stop and consider…Are employees and managers REALLY ready for self-management?
When confronted with a question such as this, I tend to strip everything back and remind myself of the initial problem. The biggest challenge for management today is that most managers are busy and don’t have the time to spend with their people in order to truly understand how to get the most out of them. This results in an increased level of disengagement as employees start to feel ‘unloved’ and ‘unappreciated’.
So – ‘What is the solution’? Most of the time this question is met with silence but I think I can shed some light…
In my opinion, traditional command and control management practices are dead. People are continually evolving and employees of today will not respond to archaic management styles that don’t allow them to engage and feel valuable in their role.
We need to stop using yesterday logic for tomorrow’s challenges and embrace the new paradigm of management. The new management style for 2015 and beyond is to focus on the individuals and create a high performing team that is positive, solution centric and self-managed.
The most challenging part of this is creating a self-managed culture. In order to take the pressure off managers we need to encourage employees to stand up and take accountability for their own progress. We need to upgrade our management software and provide the tools and training needed to allow the individuals to effectively manage themselves with support of their manager.
So to ask the question again…. Are we ready for self-management…..ABSOLUTELY!
In fact, it is what employees and managers of today need in order to thrive and succeed.