Break It Down Would your managers take more interest in their departments' success if it were their company?
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It's your company, and nobody cares more about it than youdo, right? Probably true, but there's a way to get yourmanagers to care almost as much--and be motivated to adopt yourperspective in their operational style.
How do you do it? Through a management method called"intrepreneurship," a concept first developed in bigcompanies a decade ago as a response to declining morale andproductivity, says Mickey Adams-Grames, president of ML Adams &Associates LLC, a management consulting firm in Salt Lake City. Itwas also created to be an alternative to competitive corporateincentive programs that actually pitted managers against eachother, often to the ultimate detriment of the company.
As part of her work, Adams-Grames has adapted the concept tosmall and midsized companies by taking this basic approach:Managers are taught to view every other person in the company astheir customer; they are totally responsible for everything intheir departments, including financial issues; they share in thecompany's profits; and they are both in control and accountablefor their area of responsibility.
"Control of the dollars creates true accountability,"Adams-Grames says. "Budgets are no longer somebody'sguesswork with every number padded; they are realistic."
Adams-Grames recommends a two-fold profit-sharing system to makeintrepreneurship work: Designate a portion of profits that managerscan earn for themselves and another portion they can spend oncapital improvements in their departments. The results? In onecompany Adams-Grames consults for, managers decide investing allcapital improvement funds in one department's computer systemwould most benefit the company overall. "As they got intothis, they began looking to win over the guy in the nextdepartment," she says.
Don't expect your managers to have the financial backgroundnecessary to implement such a program. If they don't, you canget the training they need from a management consultant or perhapseven at your local community college. Also, Adams-Grames recommendsregular financial meetings with your managers so they can seewhat's happening in all the departments and have theopportunity to ask questions and get comfortable with the process.If you bring in a consultant to help you, be sure he or she hasexpertise in both financial and management consulting and has donethis sort of training in the past.
Jacquelyn Lynn left the corporate world more than 13 yearsago and has been writing about business and management from herhome office in Winter Park, Florida, ever since. Contact her atJlynnBiz@aol.com
Contact SourceML Adams & Associates LLC,(801) 486-5552, mgrames@worldnet.att.net
