The Death of Managers in a Connected Economy

When you really think about it, the mere concept of managers is a contradiction in terms, especially in organizations whose culture is based on choice and responsibility.

The concept of a manager is not necessarily absolete but it certainly needs reframing.

It needs to go from a "I want you to do this!" to "here's what I'm going to do to help you be better and reach your potential"

So then a manager is simply a facilitator... an enabler of the best in people in a business setting, not a dictator.

Unfortunately we see a comand and control structure even throughout good organizations. Sometimes is habitual and cultural and sometimes is just misguided intent.

If you need to whip an employee or a team member into doing something they should be doing, or you want them to do then you've got 2 major issues:

• you have to reassess what kind of employee you are hiring and/or,
• what kind of manager you have leading your teams.

Either way is a lose-lose for the organization.

You shouldn't be building networks of people who obey, but of people who care about the values that your organization stands for.

People who care are people who think based on value vs. revenue. Give them the freedom to have input and the right to be wrong without fear of it showing up in a yearly evaluation that's tied to a raise in salary. Can you think of a bigger conflict of interest to innovation, taking chances and critical thinking?

If democracy works for nations, why aren't large and midsize organizations empowering their citizens to have more say and initiative without the threat of failure and professional retribution?

But what does this have to do with a connected economy?

I believe that just as the family is the nucleus of society, corporate departments and the managers that lead them are the backbone of commercial institutions and the business world as a whole... which in essence also affect society.

Social technology has changed the game and the way we communicate with each other. This fact is that much more prevalent in the corporate world, yet less embedded and internalized.

• A manager that doesn't know how to leverage the collective knowledge of his/her team,
• who doesn't understand that the learning process is not hierarchical but about informed exchange of ideas and conversation at the peer to peer level,
• who thinks that the role of any corporation is about maintaining brand image instead of educating and helping its customers,

...it's simply out of touch with today's connected economy.

I think real leaders know and understand they are there to facilitate a certain task, they work and bleed for their team. They lead by example and as a result earn their peer's trust, respect and love.

Have you seen examples at the workplace where manager's are a positive vs. a negative influence on the team?

Please share your thoughts!