This is part of our management essentials series of articles on leadership, management, and prioritization. This is skill #2 for top 10 skills for managers:
Successful managers need to understand the greater purpose, have the big picture in mind, and work relentlessly towards the end goal.
At first, it may seem that this particular skill can be conflicting depending on the level of management that you are in. Low level managers typically have far less flexibility to modify the big picture, while upper management can be far removed from the day to day execution and can set unrealistic expectations. To make this successful in a large organization, you apply this skill on a fractal level. This means that each level of management must think about the big picture, but only as large of a picture as needed that they can impact. It makes little sense, and in fact, it can create distractions when people on the front line focus on an area too far beyond their area of influence. It is, therefore, the job of middle management to translate the high level goals into metrics that people on the ground floor understand and can act on.
The strategy to be successful at any single project is to visualize in your head what it looks like when the project is completed. Traditionally, management philosophies focus on the executive leaders, asking them to lead with vision. One thing that great leaders do well already is creating a big picture vision that’s within their organization’s means. For instance, startup leaders must know what their product is — and equally important — what it is not. Thus sometimes the terminology of “big picture” can confuse inexperienced managers to think that they need to boil the oceans. The key idea here, as inspired by Einstein’s quote “simple, but not simpler”, is that managers need to think big picture enough to be successful, but not much bigger.
Immediately, you should be asking at least several questions. First, does this hinder creativity at the lowest level of an organization? What if someone discovers an amazing change to the organization but cannot take action on it because it’s outside their boundaries? How can leaders encourage the right amount of creativity and focus on exception from their direct reports?
I believe that there isn’t enough focus at helping middle and low level managers succeed in large organizations. They have the hardest job of interpreting large goals and making tangible outcomes. My question to our readers are: what can we do to to help you succeed?