Managing Tasks, People, Work and Scripts

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Managing Tasks, People, Work and Scripts

Ever think about others as following a repeatable script? A colleague used to
call it “Enduring Patterns of Behavior.” But I think we all function in a scripted
manner, often without realizing we have control over the script. It shows up
in how we approach tasks, people, and work in general. Check out how it slips
out in the latest McKinsey Quarterly interview with David Rubenstein of the
Carlyle Group.

The Quarterly:
What have you really learned—and how has that changed over time—from
the different management styles and the different types of companies you all
have owned?

David Rubenstein:
“You should be very careful about the assumptions, in terms of the economy,
that you get in. One, you don’t really know how good a company is going to
be when you buy it. Ninety-five percent or more of the projections of what
you’re going to earn are wrong.

Secondly, when you don’t have a good manager at the outset, you need to
get one. And if somebody is not a very good manager in the first year or so,
he’s probably not—or she’s not —going to get much better, so you probably
should make a change… Buying companies that really have a good culture
is extremely important. Making certain that the people in your firm know
how to add value—that’s also very important.”

David’s observation is that if managers aren’t very good in year one, they
probably won’t be much different in year two - is striking. Even as managers
we seem to follow a script. Whether as individual managers, or as part of a
culture, we seem to make choices that reflect assumptions or continuity in
a way that’s much more powerful than responding to feedback. Even
our seemingly best intentions.

Scripts seem to get clearer in the midst of transitions. Maybe they are more
obvious because in the middle of a transition we should be making some
changes and instead it becomes obvious that we are following an enduring script.

We see it regularly when invited in to assist customers with the transition
involved in deploying ManagePro in their organization. Even on a very basic
task management level, we find that scripts are enduring and can conflict
with stated purpose, ex:

- If you don’t normally operate in an organized manner,
using our tools and setting up a database will expose
how unorganized some of your projects are, how they
don’t tie together and the absence of linking with a direct
strategy. It may also expose how little patience you
have for the effort to do the work to get organized.

- If you are primarily an ideas person, wishing you could
get people to execute better; using our tools will probably
expose how much you don’t finish, follow-up and/or close
out your documentation. Your database will look like lists
of titles with no content in the details field. We call them
“naked” goals.

- If you are used to using lists, not plans, to get things done,
your database will look like it and expose that it will require
a shift to break the habit of organizing by jotting down to-dos,
instead of organizing yours and other’s work around desired
outcomes and the plan or steps to get there.

Bottom Line:

We all seem to have a pattern or script for engaging with work, people,
right down to how we approach managing tasks and information. A script
that is hard to break, even in the face of feedback and/or acquisition of new
management tools like ManagePro or MProLite, that presumably we could
use to get beyond our usual patterns.

I’m curious about what has worked for you when it comes to recognizing
and getting beyond your scripts.

Links:
Task Management, Technology and You

Project Management + Task Mangement + Performance Management = Strategic Management