The Problem Is Not The Worker/Employee
One time I discussed this matter in depth:
- Why are many companies not really improving their performance?
- Why does management keep falling into micromanaging people, creating pressure, intimidating workers, and forcing everybody into survival mode?
Because most managers have never done the things they are asking others to do. That is the root of the problem.
If somebody never experienced the work themselves, they have no real understanding of:
- capacity
- timing
- limitations
- resource allocation
- pressure points
So what happens? Random and completely arbitrary deadlines:
“I want this done by tomorrow.”
“I want this done in 10 days.”
“I want this fixed immediately.”
Why those numbers? Most of the time, they have no idea. Or worse, the numbers are chosen because of external pressure.
Pressure Is Not Management
External pressure is not an excuse. In fact, that is where management starts failing.
If a C’something‘O is making decisions based on pressure instead of actual resources, that pressure cascades through the whole company. Then every layer starts doing the same thing:
-> Managers pressure supervisors.
-> Supervisors pressure workers.
-> Workers panic and try not to get fired.
Eventually, fear becomes the operating system of the company.
And ironically, the people actually holding things together are usually not the managers. It is the workers trying to survive the environment.
“Pressure without understanding, turns management into noise.”
The Visibility Problem
The solution is actually simple in concept. If you want somebody to manage resources, they first need visibility. How can even someone possibly manage what they cannot even measure?
This is not a new problem. We have dealt with this concept for more than a couple of centuries. Yet somehow people still think management means:
- meetings
- pressure
- deadlines
- status updates
No!
Management starts with understanding what resources actually exist.
People. Time. Capacity. Dependencies. Friction.
Without visibility, resource allocation becomes guessing and guessing becomes culture.
Technique Before Tool
At one point I personally developed a system around this idea. It was actually very simple in appearance. An Excel-based model with custom logic (VBA/Visual Basic for Applications) behind it.
But the idea was different from traditional project management software like Microsoft Project. The purpose was not to generate reports, the purpose was to give practical visibility. A manager should be able to look at:
- X number of people
- Y number of projects
- real workload
- real timing
- real constraints
And actually understand what is happening, not emotionally, not politically, but Practically. Because most managers, if you ask them directly, do not even fully know what projects they currently have running. (Hey, this is not something Monday.com can fix!)
The Core Of The Solution
This is why I always separate technique from tool. Technique is the heart of the matter. The technique is:
- understanding resources
- measuring capacity
- understanding allocation
- creating visibility
Then comes the tool. The tool only makes the technique implementable. But today many companies reverse this process. They buy the tool first. Then hope management magically appears afterward. Sorry, it never does.
“A dashboard cannot replace understanding.”
The Real Management Skill
Real management is not pressure. Real management is understanding limitations before demanding output. Because if you do not know:
- what resources you have
- how they interact
- where the bottlenecks are
- how pressure affects execution
Otherwise, you are not managing, you are reacting. And reaction eventually becomes chaos.