Management: Authority and Accountability

In a recent seminar, former president of the Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (RCSA), Michael Jackman, pressed the need for managers to take more responsibility for the results of their time. Often, when a business is not achieving the results it has the potential to achieve, managers blame individual staff members for being completely 'brilliant'. Jackman stresses the importance of making the best out of the team you do have, rather than hiring and firing at will. "I believe very firmly that poor performance is not an individual's problem, it's a management problem," he says.

Accountability and Authority

Jackman believes that it's important to give staff members' authority and accountability of their own tasks. Many managers try to micromanage their employees, rather than giving them the freedom to get their work done. As a manager, you cannot deal with every issue and therefore you need to trust your employees to deal with potential pitfalls and get the job done.

Jackman recommends you keep your management style simple: tell your employees what they need to do and therefore get across what is expected of them, rather than trying to inspire them into achieving results. And by accepting each staff member for their own individual strengths, instead of expecting them to be good at, and be able to do everything, you can anticipate results and growth in your business.

Jackman says that in doing this, you will be surprised with employee performance and "end up with a really powerful organisation".

Watch this space for future tips of the trade!

[Source: Recruiter Daily 2009]