What is Management? (It's not the same as leadership!)

When we hear the word manager, we generally think of a stuffy middle aged man in a suit, who bosses people around all day and doesn’t understand what the ordinary person feels or thinks. 

Well, think again.  If you’re in any kind of position of responsibility in The Salvation Army, you’re probably spending a lot of your time doing management. 

ü  If you’re organising materials, people, rosters, finances or equipment then you’re doing management.  

ü  If you’re planning events, meetings, schedules, appeals or campaigns then you’re doing management. 

ü  If you’re sharing a vision with people, and persuading them to buy-in to that vision then you’re doing management. 

ü  If you’re teaching and training, monitoring and correcting, challenging and encouraging then you’re doing management. 

Management has four basic elements, and, in no particular order, they are planning, leading, organisation and control (sometimes called monitoring).  That’s it.  That’s all you have to do if you are a manager. 

But of course, hidden away in these four little words are depths of meaning that lead people to spend a life time of learning, getting MBA’s and doctorates, and soaring to new heights in research knowledge. 

But don’t worry; we’re going to keep to the KISS principle here.  My goal is to simply help you do your ministry. 

So let’s take a closer look at these four elements of management:

Planning: 

This is, as it suggests, looking at where we are now, where we want to be in the future, and working out the steps to get there.  It can be as small as organising a morning tea for a member of your team’s birthday next week, or as big as developing the strategic direction of your territory over the next five years. 

But beware; planning is not just dreaming dreams.  It’s about working out the monthly, weekly and daily steps required to get from where we are now to where we want to be in the future.  It’s answering the question, “To achieve this goal, how is it going to change what we do each day?”

Leadership:

Yes, that’s right leadership is a subset of management.  It’s hard to believe isn’t it?  It seems such a big thing.  But as your understanding of leadership and management grow you will begin to appreciate this more and more. 

Essential elements of leadership include:

ü  Creating a vision for the future (in cooperation with God, and members of our leadership team if you have one),

ü  Communicating the vision to the members of your territory, division corps or section,

ü  Getting them to buy-in to the vision and work towards its achievement.

Leadership includes a whole raft of skills, attitudes, values and competencies that we are going to unpack over the coming months. 

Organisation: 

This is the “getting things done” part of the management.  It is pulling together all the various strands that make everything work.  It is you being the glue that binds everything together.  It is making sure that rosters are prepared, that meetings are scheduled, that notes are taken, that materials are purchased, that bills are paid, that breakdowns in communication are fixed, that forgotten things are remembered, that someone covers for the person who phones in sick, and so on. 

That’s not to say that the manager does all these things, but she has to ensure that they are getting done by someone.  (If you’re doing it all yourself, you’re probably doing it wrong – more on delegation in future blogs.)

Control (also known as monitoring): 

This is the aspect of management that most managers like least of all – yet it is so essential. 

Control is:

1. Collecting the information we need to make sure everything is in order, up-to-standard, or progressing towards the goal,
2. Understanding that information,
3. Providing feedback to the people who are doing the work,
4. Getting problems fixed.

It appears in all areas of Army life.  For example, every corps submits financial reports to its headquarters, so if the corps is getting into financial trouble, headquarters is in a position to see what’s going on and work with the corps officers and treasurer to help find solutions.  That is control.

An officer may have a number of social workers working for her.  One of things she may regularly do is conduct performance appraisals, in which she objectively evaluates their performance against the requirements of their position descriptions.  If one of the social workers is not coming up to standard, after appropriate coaching, training and warnings she may have to dismiss him.  That is control.  

So now we’ve got the basic definitions out of the way, let’s look forward to getting into the meaty stuff.  Watch this space. 

(Something to think about: A good number of the managers in the New Testament come in for criticism from Jesus.  What does that imply about the importance of good quality management? Luke 12:42-48, Luke 16:1-13)