Personal Development to Improve Management Performance

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That is all fine and dandy (and I would

certainly count myself among the manage-

ment developers who subscribe to that view)

but pursuing that line of thought is not the

purpose of this article. Its aim is to explore

how the development of self-knowledge of

managers contributes to more successful

organizations in commercial terms and to

report the conclusions as explicitly as

possible.

Personal developm ent and

self-awareness

This article originated in an open space con-

ference. Specifically, it originated at a session

that I offered under the title: What are the

relationships between personal development

and management effectiveness? T he session

was well attended, suggesting that the issue is

a significant one for other management devel-

opers (although the fact that it was held out-

doors, on a warm day, in bright sunshine in a

spot with fine views over the rolling Sussex

countryside may have also contributed to the

attendance!). What happened at the session

was that we brainstormed what we under-

stood by the term personal developmentand this was followed by discussion on what

we understood by the term effective manage-

ment and the possible relationships between

the items that emerged from the brainstorm

and effective management.

Personal development is the key to an

effect ive organizat ion. In fa ct , no one

seemed to chal lenge the bel ief that

managem ent ef f ect iveness and

personal developme nt are related

There seemed to be a widely-held belief

among those who attended the session that

there is a close link between personal develop-

ment and effective management. This was

evident in such statements as: Personal

development is the key to an effective organi-

zation. I n fact, no one seemed to challenge

the belief that management effectiveness and

personal development are related. T he near-est thing to an expression of dissent was:

Managing involves managing people, tasks,

outputs, boundaries, resources so where does

personal development fit in?

But even that statement seemed to be made in

the spirit of summarizing the issue, rather

than challenging the precept.

After the session I worked on the outcomes

of the brainstorm to try to group the results

into more general categories. The Appendix

shows how the outcomes of that process are

related to the raw items that appeared in the

brainstorm. T he general themes that emerged

from the brainstorm are:

clarifying values and personal aims (e.g.

K nowing how you prefer to behave and

how you prefer to be);

expanding comfort zone (e.g. Expanding

your boundaries);

recognizing profound knowledge (e.g.

Seeking wisdom);

reflecting, articulating and acting (e.g.

Telling and retelling your story);

behaving with integrity (e.g. Maintaining

integrity);

learning to be (e.g. Acceptance);

accepting responsibility (e.g. Taking

responsibility for the world you are creat-

ing);

seeking wholeness: mind, body and spirit

(e.g. Finding wholeness and balance);

expanding from the inside outwards (e.g.

Bringing out whats in you).

What stood out for me when I was looking for

themes was that self-knowledge seemed to

underpin so many of them. T his is obviously

so in the case of themes such as clarifying

awareness of values and personal aims.

However, the issue of developing self-knowl-

edge is present even in themes like expand-

ing comfort zone, since in developing self-

knowledge the boundaries of the comfort

zone will be identified.

What is effective managem ent?

What constituteseffective management is a

hotly debated issue. M any management gurus

make good livings from offering advice to

managers about how to manage more effec-

tively. M ost of them, however, seem to agree

that effective management can be measured in

terms of contribution to organizational suc-

cess. And that is a view which is likely to be

shared by most managers. Differences only

emerge in terms of what exactly will make the

largest contribution. In this article we shall

not go below the level of broad agreement: we

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Tom Bourner

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define effective management in terms of value

added by managers to the organization. On

examination, we find that the development of

self-knowledge of managers contributes to the

success of the organization in a variety of ways

and we will look at each of these in turn.

No shocks

How will you respond when placed under

great pressure? How will you respond when

the job involves a high level of routine and

boredom? How will you cope if you are

required in your job to make people redun-

dant? How will you cope if some of those

people are your close friends? How much of

your family life will you sacrifice to do a goodjob at work? How will you respond if the

organization makes impossible demands of

you? There is much that we do not know and

cannot know about ourselves until we are

tested. We can speculate about how we would

feel and act in particular situations but we

cannot be sure. Sometimes we surprise

ourselves. Sometimes we are shocked by our

responses.

For some managers the idea of developing

self-knowledge seems not only irrelevant toeffective management but also unnecessary.

Most managers, like most other people, prob-

ably think that they know themselves pretty

well. We each know better than anyone what

has happened to us, what we have to put up

with and our own feelings and thoughts. The

answer to the question: Do I know myself?

seems to be a clear Of course, I know it in

full and occasionally distressing detail. We

all, however, have experiences when the belief

that we know ourselves fully is tried and foundwanting.

For most of us it is not uncommon to

encounter situations when we find ourselves

experiencing thoughts and feelings that sur-

prise us and behaviour that we had not

expected. In order to make choices and plan

the future it is necessary to be able to antici-

pate our own actions. To understand oneself

is not just an interesting pastime, it is crucial

for the effective manager. Greater self-knowl-

edge means fewer shocks when the chips are

down. For this reason self-knowledge is not a

self-indulgence but the most practical of

knowledge.

Hidden re sources

There are times when we could kick our-

selves because we have not handled a situa-

tion as well as we know we can; when we

apparently did not have access to the personal

resources that we know that we possess. This,incidentally, often happens when we are

stressed or tired or hurting when we feel less

resourceful. Part of the agenda of developing

self-knowledge is to discover additional per-

sonal resources within ourselves and another

part of that agenda is to develop easier access

to them.

We each have a wealth of knowledge about

ourselves that is not in conscious awareness. I f

I ask you What sort of house did you live in

when you were eleven years old? you willprobably be able to conjure up an image.

Where was that picture before I asked the

question? It was probably filed away in stor-

age in your memory.

We each have lots of information about

ourselves that is stored behind what we are

currently thinking about. I t is stacked away

until brought to the surface by an appropriate

stimulus such as a question. Some parts of

that self-knowledge are more easily accessible

than other parts. In the 1940s and 1950s Dr

Wilder Penfield[1], a neurosurgeon, found

that he could provoke recall of long forgot-

ten experiences by using stimulating elec-

trodes. T hese memories were unavailable to

recall without such stimulation. There are

times when a persons effectiveness can be

much enhanced by easier access to personal

resources that are normally outside of con-

scious awareness. An example of this is keep-

ing a victory log of personal successes in

management. When faced with a difficult or

daunting new situation, the manager can

consult it to recall how they have handled past

situations resourcefully and successfully.

Talking wit h the driver

I know I should take more exercise but

somehow I dont. I know I should keep up

to date with current thinking in management

but somehow I dont. Why do I procrasti-

nate so much? Why do I put off difficult

jobs when I know that I will have to do them?

Sometimes we are not clear why we believe

the way we do.

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There are some parts of our past experi-

ence which may not be available at all to

current conscious awareness, but which affect

our current feelings and actions. We can

describe these as our drivers.

A further dimension of the development of

self-knowledge is to bring into conscious

awareness some of the drivers that control

our behaviour. This might be the need to

please the boss even when you feel that this is

against the long-term interests of the organi-

zation or the people who report to you. It

might mean the need to maintain close con-

trol when you know that delegation or

letting go would be better. I t might mean the

need to be liked even when it involves doing

things that are against your better judge-

ment. Your need to avoid conflict might

cause you to employ yes-managers to report

to you. InThe Inner Game of M anagement,

Flamholtz and Randle[2] give a good account

of the common drivers of managers.

Becoming aware of the drivers is the first

stage in freeing oneself from them. T his

means more choices about how to think, feel

and act. Greater self-knowledge also mani-

fests itself in being less controlled by drivers

which are, at least partly, out of current con-

scious awareness.

The skilful use of t he self

When do you work best? Morning or night-

time? Are you an owl or a lark? Where do you

work best? Alone or as part of a team? What

sort of work do you do best in the office? If

you are grappling with a problem that requires

a creative response, when and where is it best

for you to address it? What are the circum-

stances that give you access to the right hemi-

sphere of your brain? How do you recharge

your batteries? For your own unique body,

mind and feelings what do you need to do

when it is important that you achieve peak

performance?

It is not fanciful to think of the manager as

being a person in charge of a self that

includes a body, a set of feelings and emotion-

al responses, and a set of beliefs. It then makes

sense to talk of the managers use of self to do

his or her job and hence it also makes sense to

talk of self-management. Self-knowledge

involves gaining knowledge of the self that

is both being managed and is managing. How

well the manager manages the part of the

organization for which he/she is responsible

depends on how well the self is managed,

which in turn depends on how well the self is

known and understood.

Stre ngths and w eak nesses

Self-awareness of our own strengths and

weaknesses contributes to management effec-

tiveness in a variety of ways. For example,

managers who have a sound perception of

their weaknesses are in a position to compen-

sate by surrounding themselves with those

having compensatory strengths. A manager

blind to weaknesses is not in a position to do

this and the weaknesses can remain as an

Achilles heel within that part of the organiza-tion. Common management development

exercises, such as an exploration of a manag-

ers personal learning styles or team working

roles or blind and hidden areas, are

designed to help managers to become more

aware of their strengths and weaknesses.

A common definition of management is

getting things done with other people.

Greater understanding of the strengths and

weaknesses of other people contributes signif-

icantly in this task. When a manager gains anunderstanding of his or her own strengths and

weaknesses it helps to provide an understand-

ing of others also.

Gaining an insight into oneself is usually

accompanied by greater insight into other

people. More understanding of what makes

oneself tick provides understanding of what

makes other people tick too. T his means more

realistic expectation of work colleagues. I t also

enables a manager to listen more empatheti-

cally. It is interesting that the phrase anunderstanding manager implies greater

compassion in addition to greater cognitive

understanding. The more that you under-

stand about yourself and other people, the

more successful you are likely to be in getting

things done with other people.

Self-know ledge, self-esteem a ndself-confidence

A person with a high degree of self-knowledge

has a sense of this is the person I am, I know

that these are my values, these are my capabil-

ities and this is my purpose in life. With that

sort of self-knowledge a manager can bend

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without fear of breaking. T hat combination of

flexibility and resilience comes from self-

knowedge of what shape the manager really is.

By contrast, an important cause of low self-

esteem is lack of self-knowledge. A person

with relatively little self-knowledge is more

likely to be easily swayed by external pressures

and suffer role confusion. According to

Thoreau[3]: The mass of men lead lives of

quiet desperation. Current high stress levels

among managers suggest that beneath the

bravado of many managers there is a lot of

quiet desperation. Role confusion is most

likely to occur when an individual is not sure

about what kind of person they really are

underneath the image they present to the

world. In that case it is difficult to trust their

self. And if you cannot trust yourself then

your self-belief and self-confidence is likely to

be low.

Managing change

According to Tom Reeves[4]:

Managers basically have to do two overlapping

things. T hey have to keep the existing show on

the road that is to say manage the routine or

recurring activities for which they are responsi-

ble. They also have to innovate and makeimprovements that is to say change the way

things are done or which things are done.

What constitutes effectiveness in terms of

keeping the show on the road does not neces-

sarily constitute effectiveness when it comes

to innovating and making improvements. In

situations when management is routine and

repetitive, self-knowledge is less important. In

such situations managers will less frequently

find themselves surprised or shocked by their

own feelings, behaviour or reactions. As the

pace of change accelerates such situations are

increasingly rare and managers spend relative-

ly more time doing things that are new to

them, so the opportunity for surprises and

shocks increases. M anaging change puts a

premium on forms of management develop-

ment based on personal development and

increasing self-knowledge.

According to Reg Revans principle of

insufficient mandate: Those unable to

change themselves cannot change what goes

on around them[5]. You cannot change what

you are not aware of. I wish to complement

Revans principle with another one: a

principle of insufficient awareness: those

who do not know themselves are unable to

change themselves. Action learning offers one

the means of integrating self-knowledge with

organizational change.

Summa ry and conclusions

I have sometimes asked managers to think

back to the most effective manager that they

have ever had and the least effective one and

then to look for the differences. They have

rarely offered differences in terms of knowl-

edge of marketing, statistics or corporate

strategy, etc. Instead they usually offered

personal qualities such as flexible, calm in

a crisis, developer, inspirational, good

at delegating, etc. I have concluded that

there exists a close link between effective

management and personal development but I

was not clear about the precise nature of the

link.

In this article I have taken a particular

element of personal development, namely, the

development of self-knowledge, and have

looked at various ways in which it contributes

directly to effective management in general

and to the success of the managers organiza-

tion in particular. I recognize that this is a

narrow and instrumental view. T here are

those who would argue for a much wider aim

for management development. There are even

those who would argue for a reversal of the

rationale. In other words they would not ask

how personal development contributes to the

management of organizations, rather they

would ask how does the managing organiza-

tion contribute to personal development?

Perhaps both questions are worth answering.

References

1 Penfie ld , W., Engrams in the human b rain , Proceed-

ings of the Royal Society of M edicine, Vol. 61 No. 8,

1968, pp. 831-40.

2 Flamholtz, E. and Randle, Y. , The Inner Game of

Management, Business Books, Lond on, 196 9.

3 Thoreau . H.D. , Walden, Wordswort h Edit ions Limit ed,

Hertfordshire, 1995, p. 6.

4 Reeves, T. , M anaging Effectively: Developing Yourself

through Experience, Butterworth-Heinemann,

London, 1994, p. 3.

5 Revans, R. , The ABC of Action Learning, Chartwell-

Bratt, Bromley, 1983, p. 55.

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Appendix. Brainstorm ed responses to the question w hat is personal developme nt?

Them es Brainst orm ed item s

Clarifying values and p ersonal aims Know ing how you prefer to behave and how you prefer to be

Findin g values

Identify ing objectives

Living on purpose

Knowing w hat you ve found

Expanding the comfort zone Expanding your boundaries

M oving beyond l imi ts

Going to t he edge and coming back

Whit e-knuckle rides t he pain b arrier.

Recognizing p rofound know ledge Seeking wisdom

Spiritual grow th

Reflecting, articulating and acting Reflecting

Telling and r etelling you r story

Acting your story

Behaving w ith integri ty M ainta in ing in tegr i tyPursuit of quality

Learning t o be Acceptance

Learning to do not hing

Becoming w hat you are

Living w ith paradox

Accept ing responsibil ity Taking responsibilit y for the w orld you are creating

Responsibility

Creating and recreating

Seeking w holeness: mind, bod y and Findin g w holeness and balance

spirit M ainta in ing heal th

Being hungry and gett ing nourishedExpanding from t he inside Bringing out w hats in you

Internal

Opening the w indow

Learning and grow ing

Expanded choice

Other Conflict and reconcil iation

Having fun

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