{"id":1157,"date":"2013-03-26T16:31:54","date_gmt":"2013-03-26T11:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jantakhoj.com\/blog\/?p=1157"},"modified":"2013-03-26T16:31:54","modified_gmt":"2013-03-26T11:01:54","slug":"doing-vs-managing-%e2%80%93-the-queen-bee-vs-drone-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jantakhoj.com\/blog\/doing-vs-managing-%e2%80%93-the-queen-bee-vs-drone-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"Doing vs. Managing \u2013 the Queen Bee vs. Drone syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bee-sizes-queen-drone-worker\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This last couple of weeks many folks asked me \u2013 so why did you slow down on the blogging? Problem was, Tulasi, my Woman Friday for 7 plus years; the queen of our household; my children\u2019s mom and dad, sister and teacher, friend, philosopher, guide \u2013 left \u2013 to get married.<\/p>\n

\"tulasi<\/a><\/p>\n

While this in itself is great news for all of us, and we really lived it up at the wedding; it did leave me with a household to run\u2026<\/p>\n

Like any good manager, I have a warm pipeline of resources to backfill any attrition \u2013 in this case, my erstwhile second in command Rupa got a promotion, and has now taken over running the household \u2013 and I will \u201cdecrease household running cost\u201d by hiring resources for cleaning chores lower down the value chain, thereby \u201calso guaranteeing job rotation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Whilst all these HR practices were playing out in their usual way in our house, I did have to spend a fair amount of time on different from usual activities \u2013 cooking\/ cleaning\/ grocery shopping\/ advising gardener\/ pet care ( this last is a LONG story \u2013 of how we thought we had 2 girl rabbits named Sita and Gita, and one fine day 7 really ugly looking things plopped out of one of those girls \u2013 sending our entire household into a googling tizzy \u2013 on care of newborn rabbits. My nephew Dhruv and daughter Riddhi were most active. For those interested, this one<\/a> is a good resource. Rabbits had to be renamed Ram and Sita) \u2013 that I had not even touched \u2013 for a good 7 years.<\/p>\n

Made me think of the whole \u201cdoing\u201d vs. \u201cgetting done\u201d thing, and how your attitude towards this split in your management tasks affects your behavior, your people policies, your time management, your pleasure in your work, your motivation and ultimately your success..<\/p>\n

\"BG<\/a><\/p>\n

I think \u201cdoing\u201d is kind of ingrained in us Indians \u2013 even our epics teach us the value of \u201cdoing\u201d \u2013 the Bhagwad Gita\u2019s most famous quote by far is the one which loosely translated means \u2013 keep focused on your work, don\u2019t worry about the reward. karmanyewadhikarasthey ma faleshu kadachana. (this being Lord Krishna\u2019s sage advise to Arjuna as he was agonizing over fighting and killing his own kith and kin)<\/p>\n

My mom is a prime example \u2013 she just can NOT understand our slavery to our domestic help. She has had a speedily revolving door on her help \u2013 because she sets high standards, and is not afraid of managing the daily chores herself if she doesn\u2019t have anyone to help \u2013 at nearly 70 (the nearly<\/em> is really important if I don\u2019t want her to skin my hide!) she sweeps, swabs, dish-washes, cooks, disposes garbage AND goes for her 5 miler walks everyday when required. The good part \u2013 her house is always sparkling clean and her food is always mummy yummy. The not so good part \u2013 she pretty much kills herself doing all this, not leaving a lot of \u201cme\u201d time for her.<\/p>\n

In sharp contrast is the principle of outsourcing non core activities \u2013 which led to the whole BPO\/ even IT boom in India. That one says \u2013 do what you NEED to do, the rest \u2013 get someone else to do \u2013 someone who is more qualified, probably does it faster better cheaper than you and therefore optimize overall cost time and resources<\/p>\n

But most of us essentially vary the \u2018doing\u201d vs \u201cgetting done\u201d or \u201cmanaging\u201d bit in different degrees \u2013 and this proportion of one vs. the other actually changes as we rise in the corporate hierarchy.<\/p>\n

\"Slide1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That actually makes sense \u2013 this inverted triangle is good sound horse sense. I think the problem comes when we do too much of one to the exclusion of the other. Essentially, what I\u2019m saying is that there has to be a limiting factor at each end of the spectrum \u2013 so, there IS an optimal range \u2013 which determines the min-max of \u201cdoing\u201d just as it does of \u201cmanaging\u201d, that we would be wise to stay within.<\/p>\n

I know of senior leaders who are so enchanted by their \u201cdoing\u201d \u2013 that they don\u2019t learn to delegate \u2013 and, more importantly, therefore cannot\/ will not be able to pay attention to \u201chigher order\u201d tasks that need to be done by someone in their role \u2013 so, it\u2019s the Vice President who still does\/ looks at every report that needs to be sent out, hence not spending enough time on core business development or people issues. Now this syndrome \u2013 the \u201cdoer\u201d syndrome in general will happen when the manager is almost \u201cscared\u201d to graduate to \u201cmanaging\u201d \u2013 his comfort level is in the \u201cdoing\u201d \u2013 it\u2019s stuff that he was\/is good at \u2013 that\u2019s why after all he kept getting promoted, and he has probably now reached his Peter\u2019s level of incompetence<\/em>. (This is a fascinating theory \u2013 for those who would like to know more, click here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Ofcourse, the flip side of the coin \u2013 and probably more prevalent is the manager who has so lost touch with \u201cdoing\u201d that she is only \u201cmanaging\u201d. Reminds me of when my daughter once asked me \u2013 mom, if all<\/strong> you are doing is telecons and meetings, when do you actually work? I had to explain to her how at the meetings we were actually taking decisions \u2013 so it was the culmination of a lot of work, and also therefore qualified as work.<\/p>\n

This is reality, right? \u2013 at senior levels, you generally manage resources who manage resources who maybe manage more resources who actually do the work \u2013 much like the beehive. But you know, then, one has to have really well developed systems to a) enable the worker bees to judge those components of the \u201cwork\u201d which need to be showcased to the next level \u2013 and\/ or escalated as needing help; or b) at the Queen bee level a very fine knowledge of the work and the people involved to sniff out that which needs attention\/ correction\/ decision\u2026<\/p>\n

Corporate science and all, this is NOT a small deal \u2013 it is WHY the cadre of MBAs was born and grew. And despite the armies of MBAs, it is still not foolproof \u2013 witness the hours spent trouble shooting\/ fire fighting rather than doing proactive business development.<\/p>\n

I think it may be worthwhile therefore for even senior management to keep in touch with the \u201ccore\u201d of the work \u2013 there SHOULD be elements of your organisation\u2019s scope of activities that you can do better than most others \u2013 and, if those elements are changing \u2013 then you jolly well stay abreast of those changes. Its why doctors, lawyers and chartered accountants have to clock hours at \u201ccontinuing education\u201d. This enables one to be able to fine tune that antenna or, at the enterprise level, those systems that ensure smoother running of the organization, very often enabling value addition via innovative ideas (one doesn\u2019t have to rely on a think tank or \u201clab\u201d all the time, you know!).<\/p>\n

But, more importantly, it helps engender respect amongst your subordinates for your abilities. Its like, in my aerobics classes, I am always more motivated to work-out harder since I see Niru the trainer herself \u201cdo\u201d all the really complicated steps \u2013 and \u2013 better than anyone else! If she just stood and instructed \u2013 I don\u2019t think I would have seen the energy I see\/ feel in the class (I have seen dance and swimming classes for my kids where the coaches have managed by gesticulation! \u2013 those classes were really short lived, as you can imagine!).<\/p>\n

Finally, I think for folks used to dealing all the time with earth shattering, world shaking decisions and situations, its almost a \u201crelief\u201d at times to get back to the basics of \u201cdoing\u201d \u2013 honestly, I used to LOVE brainstorming sessions when folks said \u2013 can we figure out how to evolve this framework for a client?<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if you don\u2019t \u201cdo\u201d, sometimes its almost a negative \u2013 someone told me a few months ago, \u201cSangita, in this company, the minute someone becomes an AVP \u2013 you can\u2019t ask them how to do work \u2013 their standard answer is \u2013 \u201cgo figure it out yourself\u201d. After all, I already tried figuring it out myself \u2013 I couldn\u2019t and that\u2019s why I went to him! I don\u2019t know whether they forget\/ they are too scared to do it, or they just don\u2019t think its worth their while!\u201d<\/p>\n

So there you have it \u2013 coaching vs. empowerment \/ doing vs. managing \/ drone vs queen\u2026. There is no way you can be both fully \u2013 and its not wise to be one at the expense of the other.<\/p>\n

Maybe this strikes at the root of the dignity of labor question? Its infra-dig to \u201cdo\u201d and better to \u201cmanage\u201d? Tulasi\u2019s new husband told me with a really fine sneer on his face \u2013 \u201cshe won\u2019t do \u201cthis kind of work\u201d \u2013 ie, household chores, any longer \u2013 we will train her in tailoring, and she will do that\u201d<\/p>\n

Which means, I will be without her \u2013 and have to spend time and energy training and transitioniong the new help. In addition, Ram and Sita gave birth to their second litter of 11 babies \u2013 heaven help me \u2013 I think they are headed to the Ghosts of Ram-Sita Future \":(\" ! (see picture! )<\/p>\n

\"ramsita\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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