Management by Walking Around in the Internet Age

In
the early 1980s, a radical idea was published in the Harvard Business Review.
It was suggested that good managers get out from behind their desks, leave
their offices and walk around the office, factory, or plant floor to observe
employees in their work and to engage them in conversation about that work.

Until
then, there had been a strong line dividing white collar and blue collar
workers with the idea management did not need to cross that line. However, the
managers who did interact with their employees succeeded better at their jobs
because they were no longer isolated, operating in a vacuum and they built
community and loyalty in the people who worked for them.

Fast-forward
twenty-five years. The conveniences of the 21st century, the electronic age,
and the accelerated pace of our lives, all challenge the assertion that your
people need face time with you. Yet they do. They are human and need to know
you are too. So here are some suggestions of how to lead your team, in the
internet age.

Meetings Whether you hold meetings in small groups or large, hold your
regular meetings. Distance is no longer an excuse. Meetings can be on a
conference call with everyone calling in from their desk, or meetings can be a
linkup between conference rooms with speaker phones in each location. Video
conferencing for large numbers of people is well established. But with a
digital camera and a piece of software we can all run video calls live. Video
gets us back to using all the aspects of communication, not just the words.

Catch them doing something good This doesn’t just
apply to children. In business, it can mean encouraging or acknowledging
someone who goes beyond the job description to do something for the company or
make something right for the client. It rewards taking responsibility or taking
initiative, solving a problem or taking a risk, in the best interest of the
company.

Reward Appropriately When you catch someone doing
something good, it used to be a pat on the shoulder was enough. Now, you need
to make that pat on the shoulder more public. You could publicize it in the
company newsletter, at an awards ceremony or simply at the annual company
outing when everyone is already collected. Plaques and certificates can be
valuable for the personal recognition and inspiration they afford. In addition,
personalized gifts tell the person, you thought about them as an individual,
e.g., giving ski tickets to someone who hates winter is not a fit. But giving
concert tickets to see a performer the employee enjoys, is more fitting. Some
people make it a known habit that they’ll hand out cash whenever someone does a
range of things in the category of excellence for the company or the team. All
of these can be done regardless of distance or location.

Delegate You get more done when you delegate. When you delegate long
distance it can be a challenge to know how well the person is handling the task
or if they need your help. You can’t hound them with phone calls daily or ask
for detailed reports daily they’ll never have time to get anything done. But
you can systematically let them know what you expect and that your