Management Grid

In our conversation last week you asked if I wanted to come to 3M to hear your presentation on women in management and that got me to thinking about the management grid. Picture a baseball infield with a different kind of manager at each position. The catcher is a 1-1 manager, the pitcher is a 5-5, first base is 9-1, third base is 1-9 and second base is 9-9. A 1-1 manager is usually found in the government bureaucracy. He is a low level supervisor who believes if he never does anything, he will not make any mistakes and will make it through to retirement. There cases reported where a middle manager had 1-1 subordinates and didn’t know the guy even worked there until months after he took charge. The 5-5 is a manager who goes the way the wind blows. The 1-9 is so concerned about people’s feelings that he cannot point out areas where they can improve. People do not grow under his supervision. The 9-1 manager is the all production guy who demands that everyone be busy all the time. People fear him and he gets short term results but long term the people work against him behind his back. A 9-9 manager has the proper balance of people skills and production skills and this is what all managers should strive to become. For most of the 20th Century American business varied somewhere between 1st and 2nd base. In the early years very close to a 9-1 production and in later years a slight move toward 2nd base. While women were late getting into business they often times were too close to 3rd base and lacked the skills to push production. Over the last 20 or 30 years this has changed and women now bring strong production skills with them while holding on to the people skills. This is why America which is the greatest country on earth is headed for even greater heights. If you are a manager some believe you have to choose between being liked and being respected but that is not the case as a 9-9 manager is both liked and respected. Women will move both business and government toward 2nd base. There has always been a lack of good managers and women will help to close that gap.