Mintzberg: what managers actually do
When somebody sat beside real managers and wrote everything down, it turned out they barely plan — they talk, switch and firefight.
Mintzberg sat beside five managers for a week each and wrote down every episode; the textbook 'forecast, organise, coordinate, control' was barely visible on those pages.
- Calm, reflective planningShort, constantly interrupted episodes
- Working through documentsA conversation, a call, a corridor meeting
- Four functionsTen roles in three groups
- The situation
The president ends the day exhausted and sure they achieved nothing: answering messages, putting out fires, explaining the same thing three times.
- What the model says
That is what the job looks like. Write the episodes down, though, and you see the other half: the fires ate the day, and nobody is doing the liaison role.
- What you do
For one day write down every episode with its length, assign roles that evening, and at the next meeting give the missing role to a named person.
What it claims
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These works are related to the one you just read — and not by accident:
shared competencies: Self-command, Rhetoric, Judgement
shared competencies: Self-command, Rhetoric
shared competencies: Self-command, Judgement
shared competencies: Self-command, Rhetoric
Of the ten gslk competency domains, this work grounds:
The same work written for a member: what to do with it in the club.
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