The Globe and Mail (Toronto), November 29, 2006, Wednesday

Globe and Mail (Toronto)
November 29, 2006, Wednesday

MANAGING BOOKS: IDEAS
Putting momentum in your trajectory
HARVEY SCHACHTER
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061129.CABOOKS29/TPStory/Business

Keep Them On Your Side
By Samuel Bacharach
Platinum Press, 234 pages, $26.95

In sports, teams seek momentum, knowing that success almost magically begets success. It's the same in politics, as politicians -- the current Liberal leadership race is an example -- seek all-important momentum. Similarly, to achieve anything enduring at work, it helps to sustain momentum.
"The basic challenge to your managerial competence is your capacity to manage for momentum -- that is, your capacity to keep your projects, your initiative, and your people moving ahead in spite of emerging obstacles and uncertainties," Cornell University professor Samuel Bacharach writes in Keep Them On Your Side.
Last year, Prof. Bacharach released Get Them on Your Side, offering perspective on how to develop the political competence to persuade others to support your ideas and initiatives. This companion book assumes an idea has been enacted, and explains how to effectively implement.
In physics, we learn that momentum is mass in motion, enshrined in the formula momentum = mass x velocity. That's interesting, but not terribly helpful for managers, and much that we read about momentum tends to give it a mystical flavour.
But Prof. Bacharach argues momentum has four dimensions.
Structural momentum: Keeping things moving requires giving people resources and making clear who does what. "If people don't have the right resources, if they aren't sure what they are and are not responsible for, if they don't know how much autonomy they have in their job, they will constantly be bottlenecked and slowed down," he warns.
Performance momentum: You need to ensure that evaluations are conducted, progress is measured, and feedback is given so that you can make the requisite adjustments to keep moving in the intended direction. He finds this is where momentum is lost, as leaders walk away from the challenge because it is both uncomfortable and difficult to monitor people and projects. But you can't sit back and just hope the initial momentum will carry the day. "Even with talented people who do not need much direction, you will still need to monitor their performance and provide them with feedback on how they are doing."
Cultural momentum: You need to keep people socially and psychologically motivated, sustained, and directed. The right culture and peer pressure can help to sustain projects to completion. "Have you heard: 'We have a can-do culture?' Or: 'We have a culture that stays on top of things?' Sometimes momentum is a question of your ability to ingrain the culture of the group into the individual," he says.
Political momentum: Conflicts must be dealt with, and opposition either challenged or incorporated. "Leaders capable of sustaining political momentum understand exactly whom they should mobilize and whom they should exclude. They know exactly how much room to give people to criticize and discuss, but they never give them enough leeway to revolt."
Each dimension is critical to your success. Sometimes you have to place your attention on just one dimension. Sometimes you have to work on all of them, seeking the appropriate balance. Proactive leaders have to be aware of these four dimensions, and manage them astutely for success.
In each case, you will face a choice of whether to place an emphasis on control or empowerment. In essence, you must decide whether to be a directive or facilitative leader. Do you choose what resources to give people, for example, or allow them to make those choices?
"In sustaining momentum in each arena, the challenge is how to balance directive leadership and facilitative leadership. Managing for momentum is a study of contradictions. It is a question of knowing how to balance these two distinct skills," Prof. Bacharach observes.
These concepts aren't new of course. We know about structure, performance management, and facilitative leadership. But the beauty of the book is that Prof. Bacharach blends these ideas into an easy to understand -- and easy to follow -- formula for managerial implementation, with concrete examples to help assimilate them.

In Addition: In Get Your People To Work Like They Mean It! (McGraw-Hill, 265 pages, $31.95), Jean Blacklock, chief operating officer of BMO Trust Co., and Evelyn Jacks, best known for her books on tax tips, offer advice to middle managers. They set out four responsibilities (understanding yourself as a leader, team structure, the plan, and the people) and four opportunities (taking time for new assessment and evaluation, preventing and addressing performance gaps, managing top performers effectively, and connecting your team to the big picture). That makes sense, and they provide a comprehensive -- if not overly detailed -- approach, with good ideas sprinkled within. But the book never got off the ground for me, failing to inspire or sharpen their advice into a memorable prescription that could be understood and applied.

Just In: Two well-known names in management advice, Frances Hesselbein and Marshall Goldsmith, bring together a galaxy of other luminaries who offer short essays in The Leader Of The Future 2 (Jossey-Bass, 318 pages, $35.99).
In China Now (McGraw-Hill, 385 pages, $34.95), consultant-lawyer Mark Lam and international business professor John Graham explain how to do business in that dynamic market.

The Surfer's Code (Gibbs Smith, 192 pages, $17.48), by Shaun Tomson with Patrick Moser, is lavishly illustrated with photos of surfboarding as it drives home 12 simple lessons for riding through life, such as "I will never fight a rip tide" and "I will catch a wave every day."
Jonathon Flaum, who co-wrote The 100-Mile Walk with his father, which I reviewed (and liked) earlier this year, has penned a fable, How The Paper Fish Learned To Swim (Amacom, 146 pages, $15.72), which shows how to inspire creativity in the workplace and test it in the real world.

Nationally syndicated cartoonist Charlos Gary's workplace humour is gathered in It's Always Great To Be The Boss (Sourcebooks Hysteria, 144 pages, $12.95).

harvey@harveyschachter.com