The Art of Management

Traditional management squarely places the responsibility for team performance or organisational success on the manager's shoulders. The manager motivates the Team or Organisation by guiding or "pushing" the Staff through Processes, Procedures, or Metrics, utilising a top-down approach to achieve desired outcomes.
 
Servant Leadership flips the script on this top-down management style. A Manager's primary focus is meeting the needs of the Team or Staff members. The manager's goal is to inspire or "pull" performance by capturing the "hearts and minds" of the staff and helping them reach peak performance levels.

Servant Leaders maintain a holistic view by empowering their staff (the puzzle pieces) to work independently, tapping into everyone’s passion, pride, and desire to excel to enhance team performance and cohesion, ultimately revealing the bigger picture.
 
Servant Leadership emphasises allowing people and Teams to operate autonomously with minimal direct oversight while providing maximum support when necessary.

• Director: This leadership style is implemented when a manager is responsible for the team's outcomes. They oversee the team's operations by following established processes and procedures, ensuring that the organisation's day-to-day activities are carried out consistently. This approach is particularly suitable for environments resembling a "production line," where repetitive tasks are high in volume. Examples of this management style can be observed in teams that handle large numbers of transactions in a standardised manner, such as processing customer payments (accounts receivable) or paying supplier invoices (accounts payable). In such scenarios, the work is predictable and undergoes minimal changes. Performance metrics are utilised to assess and enhance the team's efficiency.

• Coach: This leadership approach is utilised by a manager who guides their team, allowing for a certain level of decision-making and independence when completing tasks that are not part of the usual routine. Coaching is commonly applied in scenarios such as a Call Centre, where employees must present different solutions to address and settle insurance claims or when staff resolve customer service issues that demand their judgment to satisfy their needs. The manager will address any issues that the staff cannot resolve independently or when they require guidance to find a solution. Coaching underscores the importance of the manager and staff member discussing problems as equals. Nevertheless, the manager may steer the staff towards the correct solution and offer advice when the staff member needs validation or guidance. Support and direction management techniques are employed in conjunction with each other.

• Supporter: Managers who support their team refrain from getting involved in the day-to-day operations of their staff. The level of staff direction is minimal, but the manager is available to help when requested or when it is evident that the staff requires help, such as during stressful situations. The manager effectively leads the team by granting a high level of autonomy to the staff members whose skills, knowledge, and experience are equal to or surpass that of the manager. This autonomy allows the staff to work independently within certain boundaries. A suitable example of this leadership style can be observed in a Technical Sales Support function, where the team's expertise enables them to operate with minimal supervision. Another scenario where this style is applicable is when the manager is not directly in charge of the team they are interacting with, as seen in the role of a Procurement Manager guiding the best market approach for a Spend Category in a Tendering process with another Team.

• Delegator: A manager assumes accountability for the outcome of a specific area of work but entrusts the task to a staff or team member who possesses the necessary skills, knowledge, and experience to execute it. Delegation may be employed when a procurement manager assigns the responsibility of conducting a tender to a team member, such as a buyer or another team member, for whom the procurement manager does not have direct management responsibility. In this scenario, the procurement manager is responsible for ensuring the proper execution of the Tender; however, they typically do not directly oversee the task and instead offer minimal support to the Buyer or the team conducting the Tender, only when and where it is required.

James Kouzes and Barry Posner identified the five practices that should be part of every leader's set skill, and these include being able to:

• Challenge the Process: Leaders will question processes, procedures, and current operating methods to drive change and, if needed, “break the rules” to improve performance and efficiency.

• Inspire a Shared Vision: Secure in their Vision, Leaders work backwards from their vision of how things should be to achieve their goals and aspirations. However, a vision must be shared and communicated to others within the team to inspire Teamwork so that the goals and aspirations can be shared, owned, and worked upon to achieve their fullest potential.

• Enable Others to Act: Leaders inspire staff to act independently. They impart the authority and empowerment for individuals to act with autonomy to use their skills, knowledge, and experience to enable them to reach the zenith of their best performance. Leaders share trust, inspire confidence, and encourage risk-taking.

• Model the Way: Leaders lead from the front; they will take it upon themselves to do everything they would expect of others and more; they lead by example and function as an inspiration for Team members to follow. A Leader will manage Projects by steering the Project Team to achieve its goals, giving positive/negative feedback, and directing when needed to bring the Project Team back on track.

• Encourage the Heart of Employees: A Leader will never look to receive praise but will give truthful, honest, positive feedback instantaneously to members of the team as it happens to encourage others, themselves having the humility to take negative feedback against Team performance when required.

The leader will engage with Team members to inspire, motivate and maintain Project momentum by communicating directly with everyone within the team, encouraging honest dialogue whether negative or positive.

However, there exists a distinction between a manager and a leader. Managers are responsive; they oversee processes and performance indicators to guide or "push" team performance from the top down to achieve goals. Managers must question the status quo or prevailing mindset and adhere to current operational methods with minimal consideration.
 
A leader is innovative and proactive, influencing performance from the bottom up, being self-motivated, and establishing the vision for their team to attain; a leader is willing to take calculated risks to challenge conventions and drive change to enhance team and organisational performance.
 
Regarding Directional Thinking, managers and leaders establish the guidelines that staff and teams adhere to, whether it involves a process or procedure in the case of a manager or a vision that a leader formulates. This gives way to two different methods of thinking dependent on the instances in which the thinking occurs:

• Direction-Setting Opportunity: This can occur when a process needs to be changed due to it not achieving what is required, a new process is created, or a current process is amended to accomplish an organisational objective, as is the case with transactional activities such as the raising of Sales Orders or Supplier Invoices, these changes are intentional.

• Direction-Setting Decision: These usually occur as an unintentional change of direction due to a need for a new direction or where a change in direction is created due to a change in the needs of a market sector. They can be a vision of where the organisation wants to place itself within a new market or exploit it when a new product is launched.

Paradigm Shifts occur when unexpected changes challenge people's everyday thoughts, actions, or expectations in an environment. These shifts can be seen when new products are launched, altering the entire market dynamic.
 
Take, for instance, the internet's impact on the availability of films, programs, and music. In the past, people would visit physical stores to purchase CDs, DVDs, and videos. However, with the advent of the internet, individuals now prefer to download files online.
 
Moreover, changes have occurred in how people shop and buy goods and services. Many individuals now opt for online shopping instead of visiting local stores, leading to decreased retail and banking chains on the high street.
 
Mind Mapping is a thought process that follows a linear approach to complete tasks. It involves breaking down tasks into smaller parts, designing processes, or creating lists of products to facilitate task completion.
 
On the other hand, Reframing is a thought process commonly used when dealing with complex or politically sensitive issues. It focuses on adopting a strategic approach to address these issues. Approaching such matters from a negative standpoint often results in a hostile response.
 
Therefore, rephrasing questions or addressing performance issues optimistically is beneficial. For example, highlighting someone's strengths before discussing their areas for improvement makes the conversation less confrontational.
 
Consequential thinking involves considering the potential outcomes of an issue before acting. By doing so, problems can be addressed proactively and less detrimental, leading to efficient and effective resolutions.
 
For instance, when conducting an electrical repair, thinking through a series of actions and isolating the electrical supply's source ensures safety. It would be highly irresponsible not to prioritise this step. Effective communication is essential for a personal vision to become a shared vision. The vision must be communicated to the team, and the team must work together towards achieving it.

The key to success lies in a team's acceptance of the shared vision as their own, motivating them to collaborate and strive towards its realisation. For this to occur, the leader must articulate and connect with the personal values and beliefs of the individuals within a Team and with the team.
 
The leader must be able to influence the team to accept the vision as their collective Vision. Robert Cialdini found six influence strategies:

• Reciprocity: an obligation for one person to return an act of giving to another, such as when a Birthday card is received, an obligation is created to send a return Birthday card at the proper time to the sender of the Card.

• Commitment: a promise to do something for someone else.

• Social Proof: validation of a set of actions against the actions of a group of people within society. We use this to ensure that what we do or act is acceptable to those around us or within our social group; a Leader will react and manage others as they would like to be managed. Social media significantly influences these contexts, as feedback can be ruthless and immediate.

• Likeability: People are attracted to and will collaborate with people with whom they have a good relationship. Likewise, we are more likely to resolve a customer service issue by talking to people rather than venting our frustration at someone in an angry, unfriendly way.

• Authority: the ability to influence others because of their position within a peer group rather than using people skills. An example would be a Magistrate in a Court environment or a Managing Director responsible for an organisation.

• Scarcity: people’s attraction to a commodity due to it not being widely available. Precious metals, Gold or silver being typical examples, are attractive to people due to their relative scarcity: people are attracted to them in troubled times because of the security of holding something of perceived value coveted by others.

Ethics play a crucial role in conducting activities, determining whether the actions are ethical or non-ethical. If a manager or leader lacks ethics, it can severely damage their reputation and the organisation's reputation in the eyes of others. This loss of trust makes it challenging for the manager or leader to carry out their daily responsibilities as confidence in their abilities diminishes.
 

To ensure integrity and protect the interests of all parties involved, the Chartered Institute of Purchase and Supply has established a code of ethics for its members. This code promotes openness, transparency, and fairness in all business transactions, safeguarding the financial well-being of the organisation and its customers/suppliers.
 
Trust is the foundation of any business relationship, as it relies on the belief that both parties will fulfil their obligations. Ethics plays a vital role in maintaining this trust between individuals, organisations, and businesses.

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