Great coaches stress fundamentals—the essential skills and plays that make a workforce a constant winner. Great general managers do the identical thing. They know that sustained superior performance can’t be built on one-shot improvements like restructurings, large value reductions, or reorganizations. Sure, they’ll take such sweeping actions if they’re in a situation the place that’s needed or desirable. However their priority is avoiding that kind of situation. They usually do this by specializing in the six key tasks that constitute the foundations of each general manager’s job: shaping the work atmosphere, setting strategy, allocating resources, creating managers, building the organization, and overseeing operations.

This list shouldn’t be surprising; the fundamentals of a general manager’s job ought to sound familiar after all. What makes it essential is its standing as an organizing framework for the huge majority of activities general managers perform. It helps you define the scope of the job, set priorities, and see necessary interrelationships amongst these areas of activity.

Shaping the Work Setting

Every firm has its own particular work environment, its legacy from the previous that dictates to a considerable degree how its managers reply to problems and opportunities. But regardless of the environment a general manager inherits from the previous, shaping—or reshaping—it is a critically important job. And that’s as true in small- and medium-sized firms as it is in giants like General Motors and General Electric.

Three elements dictate a company’s work setting: (1) the prevailing efficiency standards that set the tempo and quality of people’s efforts; (2) the business ideas that define what the corporate is like and the way it operates; and (three) the people concepts and values that prevail and define what it’s like to work there.

Of these three, efficiency standards are the only most essential component because, broadly speaking, they determine the quality of effort the organization places out. If the general manager sets high standards, key managers will often observe suit. If the GM’s standards are low or vague, subordinates aren’t likely to do a lot better. High standards are thus the principal means by which top general managers exert their influence and leverage their talents across the whole business.

For this reason, unless your organization or division already has demanding standards—and very few do—the one biggest contribution you can make to immediate outcomes and lengthy-time period success is to lift your performance expectations for every manager, not just for yourself. This means making aware selections about what tangible measures constitute superior efficiency; the place your company stands now; and whether or not you’re prepared to make the tough calls and take the steps required to get from here to there.

Clearly one of the vital necessary standards a GM units is the company’s goals. The most effective GMs establish goals that force the group to stretch to achieve them. This doesn’t mean arbitrary, unrealistic goals that are sure to be missed and motivate nobody, however moderately goals that won’t permit anyone to forget how powerful the competitive area is.

I vividly remember one general manager who astonished subordinates by rejecting a plan that showed nice profits on a great sales acquire for the third year in a row. They thought the plan was demanding and competitive. But the GM told them to return back with a plan that kept the same volumes but reduce base value levels 5% under the prior yr’s, instead of letting them rise with volume. A troublesome task, but he was convinced the goal was essential because he expected their chief competitor to chop costs to regain market share.

During the next few years, the corporate dramatically modified its cost structure via a collection of progressive price reductions in production, distribution, purchasing, corporate overhead, and product-combine management. Consequently, despite substantial price erosion, it racked up file profits and share-of-market gains. I doubt the company would ever have achieved those results without that tangible goal staring management within the face every morning. The same kind of thinking is apparent in the comments of a top Japanese CEO who was asked by a U.S. trade negotiator how his company would compete if the yen dropped from 200 to the dollar to 160. “We are already prepared to compete at a hundred and twenty yen to the dollar,” he replied, “so one hundred sixty doesn’t worry us at all.”

High standards come from more than demanding goals, of course. Like prime coaches, military leaders, or symphony conductors, top general managers set a personal instance by way of the lengthy hours they work, their apparent commitment to success, and the consistent quality of their efforts. Moreover, they set and reinforce high standards in small ways that quickly mount up.

They reject long-winded, poorly prepared plans and “bagged” profit targets instead of complaining but accepting them anyway. Their managers have to know the details of their business or perform, not just the big picture. Marginal performers don’t keep lengthy in pivotal jobs. The most effective GMs set tight deadlines and enforce them. Above all, they’re not possible to satisfy. As soon as the sales or production or R&D division reaches one normal, they increase expectations a notch and go on from there.

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