Sunday, January 24, 2010

The Art of getting things done by others

This is again an experience blog. In our everyday interaction with people, we see a few who just get things done by others. Meaning, work to be done by themselves, but they are so capable, shrewd and arrogant enough that they get it done by others and pass it on as what they did.

And when you discuss such people, most will tell you that one day they will make good managers. I would say, "All the more dangerous!" and "Managers" - no, they are not managers. So, I googled to find if something has been written about this. And lo, I got a hit that gave me this:

MANAGEMENT IS the art of getting things done by others and remuneration is sharing a pittance of the whole chunk of returns earned by the subordinate employees and profit is what the company ultimately stands for. And the employees in the lower rungs of the hierarchy are the ones who bail out the company when the latter is in distress. Altogether, it is called business management. (No, that is not right, but still I read on.)

Who is a manager in real terms? He is the one who sees that his work gets involved with the work of his team so that the objective of the office is realised, whether it is a project implementation or meeting a sales target or winning a few percentages in the market share. It is the art of channeling diverse manpower through a common stream as to reach a particular goal. In this collective effort, the team leader is as important as every other team-player and every other team player is no less important than the team leader. (Thank god...)

Yes, it is the art of getting things done. But not simply getting them done by others............,

So, now, what do you call a person who gets his/her own work done by others ? A Manager ??? No...........

But then, that is what it has become today. Companies look for someone who they say is a team player, but the person who usually gets there is one who is good at getting work done by his subordinates, by knowing how to keep them merry and passing the work as his own with not even a mention about his subordinates. This despite the universe knowing that work does not happen because of one person in any organization.

And everyone has come across atleast such one in their lives. And, despite hitting their heads over such a person, not many would put them in their place. So, they grow, in their own self importance to become managers one day. Because, we let them become one. By calling a bully, a manager.

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