ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°158 - Janvier/Février 2015 - 63

CARRIÈRE

Win-win attitudes for star managers
Summary of Q&A session held at the end of the conference
How do you convince senior team members that you are a capable manager?
Fabrice Sepulchre : «It is not easy. When I became manager, I knew very little about the business. My
team members -some of them older than me- were well aware that they knew more than I did. I think
that you need time to listen and learn from them».
Helen Farrow: «Indeed, one of the most important things is listening. With more experienced people,
two styles of management are preferable: delegation and participation. This is how someone can
demonstrate he/she is a good manager.
Delegating means giving people the responsibility for a project from A to Z, without interfering. This
way their experience is valued and recognised. Participation is when a manager asks team members
how they would do the job and then takes into account their ideas for his/her recommendation. It also
implies sharing new ideas with them».
How should managers find time to listen to team members, when they have deadlines to
keep and objectives to achieve?
FS : «We all have deadlines! I think it is Einstein who said: «if you know you will be dying in 5 days,
spend 4 days thinking about what you will do, and spend the 5th day doing it». Planning helps you earn
time, since you know that time is short, take most of the time to plan. It's easy to say, but you cannot
reach your goal without making your first step: planning! Then, if you feel that your plan is not correct
and that your goal cannot be reached, then start again: re-plan!»
How should managers deal with the frustration due to the lack of control over people's
work?
HF : «As a young manager you want everything to go well and therefore you feel you should control
everything! As Fabrice mentioned, it is important to take the time to plan, so that there are tasks that you
can delegate to people you trust, and you don't need to control. Some people do need intermediate
control: it all depends on the task and how competent they are for it. If you try to control everything,
you will have no time left to do anything else. Besides, you will get some people very frustrated and
demotivated if you try to control them all the time. The important thing is getting to know your team,
listening to them, knowing how competent and how motivated they are for different tasks».
How can managers maintain credibility when asking team members for feedback?
FS : «When my boss asked me for feedback, I was grateful that he listened to me: he did not lose any
credibility, on the contrary I felt I was part of the project. I am convinced that when you ask your team
members for feedback, they thank you for that, and you gain even more credibility».
HF : «As Fabrice said, when managing someone it is all about putting yourself in the other person's
shoes. How would you feel if somebody obliged you to do things his/her way, without listening to you.
Asking for feedback means that you want to learn and to grow as a manager, to build on what you do
well, and to improve what you do not do so well».

ESCP Europe Magazine N° 158 - Janvier/Février 2015

ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°158 - Janvier/Février 2015

Table des matières de la publication ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°158 - Janvier/Février 2015