What Great Managers Do
“What Great Managers Do”
INTRODUCTION
For many years studies have been done about the intricacies of the relationship between a manager and an employee. Many managers have posed questions on how to motivate their employees or get the most out of their team. Through studies, observations, and opinions researchers and experts have answered these questions regarding the role the leader can play to gain the most out of their employees. One such researcher is Marcus Buckingham who is the author of “What Great Managers Do”. Marcus Buckingham, a consultant of leadership and management stated he surveyed over 80,000 managers through the Gallup Organization and examined several different managers’ methods, failures and successes of leading others during his research of this topic. (Buckingham 2005)
SUMMARY
Chess
In Marcus Buckingham’s Harvard Business Review article titled “What Great Managers Do” he discusses what a manager’s role is and what they can do to draw the most out of their employees in order to maximize results. According to the author, a great manager focuses on each employee and notes their individual strengths, in turn utilizing those employee’s strengths in specific capacities on the team to reach success. (Buckingham 2005) Buckingham describes the activity managers do in pinpointing individual’s strengths and using them to the benefit of achieving goals like a game of chess. (Buckingham 2005) I agree with the author’s analogy as although being a manager and leading a team isn’t per say a game, it can be thought of like a chess match. Think about it, in the game of chess, each piece has different purpose; it moves differently than the rest and is individual in nature. The chess board can represent the working environment as you have to understand how to move the chess pieces or followers in the environment according to each person’s traits. Subsequently, we must think of the opponent in chess, where a manager may have
INTRODUCTION
For many years studies have been done about the intricacies of the relationship between a manager and an employee. Many managers have posed questions on how to motivate their employees or get the most out of their team. Through studies, observations, and opinions researchers and experts have answered these questions regarding the role the leader can play to gain the most out of their employees. One such researcher is Marcus Buckingham who is the author of “What Great Managers Do”. Marcus Buckingham, a consultant of leadership and management stated he surveyed over 80,000 managers through the Gallup Organization and examined several different managers’ methods, failures and successes of leading others during his research of this topic. (Buckingham 2005)
SUMMARY
Chess
In Marcus Buckingham’s Harvard Business Review article titled “What Great Managers Do” he discusses what a manager’s role is and what they can do to draw the most out of their employees in order to maximize results. According to the author, a great manager focuses on each employee and notes their individual strengths, in turn utilizing those employee’s strengths in specific capacities on the team to reach success. (Buckingham 2005) Buckingham describes the activity managers do in pinpointing individual’s strengths and using them to the benefit of achieving goals like a game of chess. (Buckingham 2005) I agree with the author’s analogy as although being a manager and leading a team isn’t per say a game, it can be thought of like a chess match. Think about it, in the game of chess, each piece has different purpose; it moves differently than the rest and is individual in nature. The chess board can represent the working environment as you have to understand how to move the chess pieces or followers in the environment according to each person’s traits. Subsequently, we must think of the opponent in chess, where a manager may have
Bibliography: Buckingham, Marcus. “What Great Managers Do.” Harvard Business Review (2005): 70-79. Johnson, Lauren Keller. “Motivating Employees to Go Above and Beyond.” Harvard Management Update, U0608C (2006): 3-4.