The Effective Executive Part 1

The Effective Executive (Pt 1) by P F Drucker

Effective Executive followed the eight practices:

(1) They asked “What needs to be done?”

(2) They asked “What is right for the enterprise?”

(3) They developed action plans

(4) They took responsibility for decisions

(5) They took responsibility for communicating

(6) They were focused on opportunities, not problems

(7) They ran productive meetings

(8) They thought and said “we” rather than “I”.

The first two questions provide the knowledge. The next four helped them to convert knowledge into action. The last two ensured that organization felt responsible and accountable.

Take responsibility for decisions

a) A decision has not been made until people know:

b) The name of the person accountable for carrying it out

c) The deadline

d) The names of the people who will be affected by the decision and therefore have to know about, understand and approve it, or at least not strongly opposed to it

e) The names of the people who have to be informed of the decision, even if they are not directly affected by it.

Five habits of Effective Executive

i) Effective Executives know where their time goes. (Suggest using a time diary to keep track of one’s time for a month per year.) They work systematically to manage their time.

ii) Effective Executives focus on outward contribution. They gear their efforts to results rather to work. They start with the question “What results are expected of me?”, rather than with the work to be done, let alone with its techniques and tools.

iii) Effective executives build on strengths – their own strengths, the strengths of their superiors, colleagues, and subordinates; and on the strengths in the situation. That is on what they can do. They do not build on weakness. They do not start out with the things they cannot do.

iv) Effective executives concentrate on the few major areas where superior performance will produce outstanding results. They force themselves to set priorities and stay with their priority decisions. They know that they have no choice but to do first things first – and second things not at all. The alternative is to get nothing done.

v) Effective executives finally make effective decisions. They know that this is a matter of system – of the right steps in the right sequence. They know that an effective decision is always a judgement based on “dissenting opinions” rather than on “consensus on the facts”. They know that that to make many decisions fast means to make the wrong decisions. What is needed are few, but fundamental, decisions. What is needed is the right strategy rather than razzle-dazzle tactics.

Effective Specialist

Effective Executives find out what other fellow needs, what other fellow sees, and what the other fellow understands. Effective executives find themselves asking other people in the organisation, but above all, their colleagues in other areas: “What contribution from me do you require to make your contribution to the organization? When do you need this, how do you need it, and in what form?”

A man who takes responsibility for his contribution will relate his narrow area to a genuine whole. He may never himself be able to integrate a number of knowledge areas into one. But he soon realizes that he has to learn enough of the needs, the directions, the limitations, and the perceptions of others to enable them to use his own work. This will give him immunity against the arrogance of the learned – that degenerative disease which destroys knowledge and deprives it of beauty and effectiveness.

Focus on Contribution

(i) Communication: The executive takes responsibility for contribution. He also demands responsibility from his subordinates. He tend to ask his men: “What are the contributions for which this organization should hold you accountable? What should we expect from you? What is the best utilization of your knowledge and your ability?” And then your communication becomes possible, and easy.

(ii) Teamwork: “Who has to use your output for it to become effective?”

(iii) Individual Self-development: “What is the most important contribution I can make to the performance of this organization? What self-development do I need? What knowledge and skill do I have to acquire to make the contribution I should be making? What strengths do I have to put to work? What standards do I have to set myself?”

(iv) The executive who focus on contribution also stimulates others to develop themselves, whether they are subordinates, colleagues or superiors. He set standards grounded in the requirements of the task. People in general grow according to the demands they make on themselves.

How to staff for strength

(1) Be on guard for the “impossible” job. Ensure that the job is well-designed. Any job that defeated two or three men in succession, even though each had performed well in his previous assignments, must be assumed unfit for human beings.

(2) Make each job demanding and big. The job should have challenge to bring out whatever strength a man may have. It should have scope so that any strength that is relevant to the task can produce significant results.

(3) Effective executive know that they have to start with what a man can do rather than what a job requires. This, however, means that they do their thinking about people long before the decision on filling a job has to be made, and independently of it. The purpose of annual appraisal is to arrive at an appraisal of a man before one has to decide whether he is the right person to fill a bigger position. Also, use appraisal to look for strengths. Four questions:

a. “What has he done well?”

b. “What, therefore, is he likely to be able to do well?”

c. “What does he have to learn or to acquire to be able to get the full benefit from his strength?”

d. “If I had a son or daughter, would I be willing to have him or her work under this person?”

i. “If yes, why?”

ii. “If no, why?”

(4) The effective executive knows that to get strength, one has to put up with weakness. The effective executive will therefore ask: “Does this man have strength in one major area? And is this strength relevant to the task? If he achieves excellence in this one area, will it make a significant difference?” If the answer is “yes”, he will go ahead and appoint the man.

(5) The effective executive must remove ruthlessly anyone – and especially any manager – who consistently fails to perform with high distinction.

Intolerant of Indispensable Man

The effective executives are intolerant of the argument: “I can’t spare this man; I will be in trouble without him.” They have learned that there are only three explanations for an “indispensable man”: He is actually incompetent and can only survive if carefully shielded from demands; his strength is misused to bolster a weak superior who cannot stand on his own two feet; or his strength is misused to delay tackling a serious problem if not to conceal its existence.

In every one of these situations, the “indispensable man” should be moved anyhow – and soon. Otherwise one only destroys whatever strengths he may have.

How do I manage my Boss?

Effective executives make the strengths of the boss productive. Making the strength of the boss productive is a key to the subordinate’s own effectiveness. It enables him to focus his own contribution that it finds receptivity upstairs and will be put to use. It enables him to achieve and accomplish the things he himself believes in.

The effective executive asks: “What can my boss do really well? What has he done really well? What does he need to know to use his strength? What does he need to get from me to perform?” He does not worry too much over what his boss cannot do.

The effective executive also knows that his boss, being human, has his own ways of being effective. He looks for these ways. For example, is my boss a “reader” or “listener”?