Mintzberg is a famous Canadian management scholar. His students tracked the work of managers to determine what they usually do and how much time is spent on each task. When the recorded results were compared with the subjective feelings of the managers, it came as a great surprise to them. For example, one manager believed that his daily working time was divided into three parts: one-third for internal affairs, one-third for external communication, and one-third for other matters. However, the actual records showed that the manager spent very little time on effective work, and most of the time was spent on trivial matters or things he shouldn't be doing at all.
When managers do things they shouldn't, or when they do things that should be done by their subordinates, or when they do ineffective tasks, this phenomenon is called mismanagement. Mismanagement wastes the most precious resources of managers - time and energy - yet most managers are completely unaware of it and still feel good about themselves!
Six Questions for Managers:
To avoid mismanagement, managers should ask themselves three questions every day before starting work: Who am I? What should I do today? What should I not do today? Then they should seriously answer these questions through self-reflection.
Who am I? This question seems simple, but in reality, there are not many people who correctly understand it. The purpose of answering this question is to make managers clearly aware of their role positioning. Reinforcing role positioning through self-reflection is known in psychology as self-suggestion. Managers indeed need continuous self-suggestion. Because once they enter the workplace, they will be surrounded by various kinds of affairs and people, often losing control over themselves, making it particularly easy to experience mismanagement.
What should I do today? Answering this question essentially involves making a plan for the day's work. Effective managers must do what they want to do and what they should do. Managers should take the initiative to work on planned tasks instead of passively handling unplanned tasks that don’t belong to them. Managers often make the mistake of "doing whatever comes up." For instance, while concentrating on market expansion strategies, a subordinate might come asking for a signature, causing the focus to shift to signing documents. Soon after, another subordinate comes for advice, leading to helping them brainstorm solutions. At the end of the day, nothing substantial has been achieved regarding market expansion.
What should I not do today? This question constantly reminds oneself: which mistakes am I prone to make and should not repeat. Some managers start the day with a plan, but once they get into the flow of work, they lose control. By the end of the day, they realize that most of what they did was unnecessary. Such situations happen repeatedly every day, requiring deliberate reinforcement to break the cycle.
To avoid mismanagement, managers should also ask themselves three more questions when beginning their work: "If I don't do this, what will be the consequences?" "Which tasks could others possibly do better?" "Which tasks are wasting others' time?"
"If I don't do this, what will be the consequences?" This question asks oneself: which tasks are simply unnecessary and would only waste time without contributing to achieving the company's goals. However, many busy individuals keep doing things they can't seem to stop, such as frequently attending banquets, ceremonially participating in meetings they could skip, or giving bland speeches. These activities consume a lot of valuable time, year after year, without any real escape. In fact, dealing with such matters just requires asking whether it helps the company, oneself, or the other party. If none of these apply or if the contribution is minimal, it’s perfectly fine not to do it.
"Which tasks could others possibly do better?" This question asks oneself: Am I committing a common mistake among managers - micromanaging? There are many reasons for micromanagement; some aim to show loyalty to superiors, others distrust subordinates and fear they won't perform well, so they end up doing the subordinates' jobs themselves. Even if the manager performs better than the subordinate, considering that the manager has more important tasks to handle, it makes sense to let the subordinate take care of it.
"Which tasks are wasting others' time?" This question asks oneself: Have I improperly assigned tasks, causing subordinates to do things they shouldn't, which they find hard to refuse due to the manager's authority? For example, a company manager always invites the finance director to meetings, even though most meetings are unrelated to finance. If the finance director doesn't attend, it feels awkward; but if they do, isn't it just a waste of time?
By correctly answering the above six questions and acting accordingly, mismanagement can be avoided. It will then become apparent that managerial work is actually quite light, and efficiency will significantly improve.