Thinking globally but acting locally,
competing yet
collaborating,
changing yet maintaining continuity.
| |
Managers are told to
think globally but act
locally, compete yet collaborate, Change continuously but maintain continuity.
No wonder many are confused. managers actually require five distinct mindsets,
according to The Five Minds of a Manager, by J.Gosling and H.Mintzberg.
1.
Reflective mindset
Stepping back and reflecting on experiences allow mistakes to be identified.
Reflection may also lead to seeing things in a new ways, e.g., a product as a
service or
customers as partners (or vice versa).
|
| |
2.
Analytical mindset
Go beyond crunching the numbers. When a
decision must be made, analyze the analysis of others to determine the
biases they may have had and the data and
assumptions used.
3.
Worldly mindset
People tend to think of
the world as an
increasingly homogenous place but it is really a collection of worlds within
worlds, with definite boundaries and edges. Just because a company sells
products globally it may not take into account how those products are perceived
and used in
different
cultures. Managers with a worldly mindset spend time in places
where products are made,
customers served, and environment threatened.
|
| |
4.
Collaborative mindset
Managing collaboratively means managing not people
but
relationships. Good managers
listen
more than they
talk and
ask questions more than give orders. They also distribute management
functions so that responsibility goes to whoever shows initiative.
5.
Action mindset
We are told that we must change or else. But while
this is an age of change, not everything is changing (which we tend not to
notice). Managers with
action
mindsets focus organizational energy on
changing
what needs to be changed, while carefully maintaining those that don't.
|
| |
Integrating the mindsets
Successful
managers integrate the five mindsets into a single whole.
They reflect, act,
and reflect some more; realize that collaboration is necessary, for which they
must enter the world of others to analyze more data and viewpoints; and then
act in an
endless cycle.
|
|