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Chapter 9 ■ Leadership in practice
Other things that managers can do include focusing attention and support on
key people and projects. Partly, this involves simply paying attention to them,
and being seen to do so. Key values can be articulated through simple phrases;
‘right first time’ is a simple and memorable phrase which various companies (e.g.
IBM, Rolls-Royce) have used as the title for quality improvement programmes.
But perhaps most fundamental of all, top management can pay attention to
timing. New programmes, new product launches, organizational changes, new
strategies should, where possible, be planned with timing in mind. Where is the
likely opposition? Can it be isolated? What other ‘events’ are likely? Will they be
relevant? Do they provide opportunities as far as the current project is con-
cerned? Behind all the argument, presentation of the case and ‘selling’ of the pro-
gramme, how much analysis has been undertaken? What pattern and profile of
resources are required? What is available or capable of being obtained? Which are
the limiting resources? Shorter implementation periods can create confidence
and lead people to feel that top management really support the change. But
longer periods may be needed if more experience is needed, or if the resources are
not available.
Thus pilot programmes may form part of the process, along with fuller
involvement and clear communications. Have accountabilities been made clear?
By identifying the leadership of the project or programme we clarify its imple-
mentations. Attention to these issues can aid top managers in finding the means
to achieve action, even in complex circumstances. The timing of announcements
is a crucial issue. Whether we want more or less immediate attention to be paid
to our announcement will influence both how we market it and how we time it.

Managers and leadership

In looking at the leadership aspect of managerial jobs we have focused on the
context within which managers work. We turn now to the whole job. How do
management and leadership ‘fit’ together? Managerial performance is a combi-
nation of knowledge and skill applied in practice. Management is about getting

things done, about action.
Managerial work is surrounded by circumstances which create problems,
including uncertainty, incomplete information, change in the environment or
elsewhere in the organization and conflict. Mintzberg (1973) has developed a
comprehensive, empirical picture of the nature of managerial work through
observing and recording what managers actually do (see Chapter 2).
Managers seem to stress the active element of their work – activities that are
current, specific, well defined and non-routine attract more of their attention: for
example, processing most mail and reading written reports are low-priority items.
The manager may be seen as the conductor of the orchestra and, conversely, as a
puppet pulled by hundreds of strings. To find the extent to which managers con-
trolled themselves, Mintzberg analysed whether in each activity managers were
active or passive; he found only a small proportion of active work and that man-
agers spent much time reacting. However, the initial construction of the man-
ager’s job may have included decisions to allow these reactions and passive

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