5 examples of best practices in management

  1. One to one weekly meeting
  2. Cross functional meeting
  3. Delegation
  4. Escalation path
  5. Definition of business objectives

What are the "best practices" in the company?

We can define best practices as good habits or methodological approaches to the execution of business activities or processes. Examples of best practices can be very varied and different from company to company:

  • A software development company may have a best practice in having developer meetings to define how the code will be written before starting to write it or having a code review meeting after it has been written “peer review”.
  • A website company might have as a best practice to have non-technical and non-technical people do a site usability test to see how user users behave with the interface.
  • A human resources department may have as a best practice to carry out an annual internal survey of all employees to verify that the benefits and concessions proposed are always in line with the changing expectations of colleagues.

The opposite of best practice.

On the other hand, there are corporate behaviors that are at the opposite extreme of the so-called best practices, which can negatively influence the corporate climate and which are evidence of the absence of a corporate culture. The use of best practices in the company, and therefore the existence of the term "best practice" in the company vocabulary, is part of those elements of corporate culture that either exists or is very difficult to create see also my article Plato and the science of management.

Some examples of inconsistent behavior can be:

  • Do not make the most of internal resources for reasons related to the office politics
  • Promise to do certain things and not do them, lack of the so-called "walk the talk"
  • Implement policies that reward office attendance rather than merit
  • Discriminating treatment based on the company's office politics and not on objective and motivated criteria

The weekly 'one to one'

The one-to-one meeting with your collaborators is something as simple as it is useful. It is a pity that it is not known in Italy. In my work experience in Italy of 16 years and 7 companies with turnover from 400k to 3 billion the 1: 1 weekly I have only heard it mentioned sometimes but never done with any of my managers, and not for lack of will on the part my. Let's see why.

The weekly one to one has two purposes: the first is discuss the progress of the week's activities the second is to have a open communication channel with your collaborator.

It is evident that if there is no trace of the activities in progress and if the activities in progress are not clearly assigned to a person, the speech does not stand up. In other words, as a manager, you cannot ask for an update on the activities in charge of a person if you have not entrusted them to them first. Got it?

Second point, if you don't want to hear what your collaborators have to say… well, one to one you will never do. Then we do a survey.

Cross functional meeting

The cross functional meeting is a weekly meeting of the heads of functions who meet for a round the table of updates and discussion of problems.

Have you ever heard of it? I don't think so, but if you work in an Italian company that does it please write to me to report it to me, you never know in life.

Even the operation of the cross functional meeting, as well as the 1: 1 is very simple. A group of function managers from various functions and at the same level + or- find themselves in a room and share what they are doing (briefly) and the problems they are experiencing. Something so civil in Italy has never been seen for two reasons first that we don't know what a cross functional meeting is and two because so many people go to meetings if they feel like it, otherwise they find an excuse.

Delegation

Asking someone to do something other than a simple task by giving him the responsibility for the thing and accompanying him in achieving the goal.

In Italy it is practically prohibited. Talking about delegation is in itself a signal of misalignment, a slippery and somewhat unpleasant subject that begins with defining what a person should do to end up with acknowledging the merit of having achieved a goal in the case. Practically heresy, but more profanely a subversive and intolerable attitude to the Italian management. Rather I cut my veins. Wink.

However, among all those mentioned so far, in fact, delegation is a complex managerial practice that requires skills in managing it, skills that are obviously lacking in Italy.

To learn more: go to the free lesson basis for effective delegation management.

Escalation

Escalation is a process of bringing to the next level an issue that cannot be resolved to the level at which it is being debated, because two managers of the same level cannot find an agreement.

Imagine that the production manager and the logistics manager cannot agree on where to install a new warehouse. If the two managers have the same line report, they will talk to their mutual boss to find a solution.

It is very simple and effective, it is a pity that it only works in a managerial environment where the senior line manager intervenes only when necessary in management decisions.

In an environment where the business owner intervenes in every single decision this process simply cannot exist.

Targets

I left the most important business process for last. The definition of business objectives is the most important process because it is the one that guides the behavior of all employees for the reporting year.

Business goals should be in a number ranging from 3 to 5 and should apply to all employees. For example, objectives such as the growth of X% turnover or the improvement of EBIT from X to Y are objectives that concern the whole company. But also goals such as improving product quality or customer satisfaction are goals that can involve all employees. In cascade, each employee will have to adapt the three company objectives to his own work environment and decline them into his own objectives.

Other examples of business goals can be:

Growth of X percent of turnover while maintaining the current level of profitability;

Create a more sustainable work environment and reduce the 10% turnover rate

Launch two new innovative products on the market by the end of the XX year.

Each employee will have to take these three company objectives and define them for their area, necessarily with the support of their line manager.

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