Manage By the A, B, C’s

I often speak of and talk about management styles in the realm of A’s, B’s, and C’s. There is the bell curve of performance that is categorized as the A’s, B’s, and C’s. But let’s discuss for a moment the methodology of managing managers with the A’s, B’s, and C’s.

In the bell curve of human performance there are the C’s – the bottom 10%, B’s - the middle 80%, and the A’s – the top 10%. I believe in elevating to the management roles those that understand this bell curve and generally are either at the top of the B’s or might be A’s. You might wonder why A’s are not automatically elevated to managers. Have you ever heard of the “Peter Principal”?

So how do you manage manager with the A’s, B’s, and C’s? It’s actually quite easy and simplifies the delegation process immensely. You see, the requirement is to clearly define what are A decisions, vs. B decisions, vs. C decisions.

Those decisions are founded in the principals of supply chain management. A’s, B’s and C’s in supply chain management are directly correlative to the importance of the part to the supply chain. So are the A’s, B’s, and C’s of management. You might liken it to Pareto’s Law (the 80/20 rules).

The C item – thus a C decision – is one that is low priority for me. For my managers I recommend that a C item is one where they can make the decision and I do not even need to know what they did or how they handled it. Just take care of it. This is in the area of your responsibility and you manage the resources for this item. It does not reach my radar screen relative to the 20% of the items that I am constantly concerned with that may impact the future of the enterprise.

The B item – thus a B decision – is one that is a medium-to-high level of priority. In these B decisions situations, I ask my management team to assume the responsibility for the issue, to make the decision on actions, to own the result, but to inform me regarding the issue and their decision. It is in these situations that I may inquire as to the circumstances, the peripheral issues, and how they came to their conclusive decision. I also want to know how the decision was handled and communicated. These are excellent coaching situations. I might have determined to “go a different direction” but it is here that I must support their decision while offering my perspective.

Ah, the A item. This A decision DOES NOT mean that I and only I make the decision. This is again a teaching and counseling opportunity. The A item is one where I expect this senior manager to know the situation, the people involved, the strategic impact, the operational impact, and to make a recommendation of the action/decision to make. That the manager still is responsible for participating in the decision is crucial to building strong and credible leadership of an organization.

The A, B, C’s of management decision-making is crucial to building a strong, accountable, leadership team. It is a balance for the CEO to “let go” so as to focus on the more strategic and longer range requirements of the organization. It is also essential to building the future leadership of the enterprise. It may remind you of my philosophy of why A’s hire A’s, and B’s hire C’s.