#56 – GOING WITH THE FLOW: EXPERIENCES IN MICROMANAGEMENT – MALCOLM PEART

Malcom Peart pixPeople say “go with the flow” when things are difficult or there is a crisis looming, but why?  Only two things go with the flow, dead fish and sh*t.

If we sail a boat, ford a stream, or fly an aircraft we need to account for a ‘flow’ of water or wind.  The shortest distance between two points is then a ‘vector’ as we consider the external forces acting on us.

So what happens when we go with the flow?  We get caught up in the stream which is exciting (or is it ‘cos it’s just different), it’s flying by the seat of your pants, and it’s experiencing the rush of white-water.  Unfortunately you can lose sight of any objectives as they rush by (or rather, you rush by them) and you are swept along with little or no control.  There is no control because there is no ‘purchase’ or friction and, exciting as it may be, we end up somewhere else other than the planned goal.

This is what happens when micromanagement takes place, but only for the micromanager.  Everybody else is just ‘going with the flow’ as they are sucked into the wake of the micromanager who revels in the detail but, ultimately, loses sight of the objective and, not surprisingly, is surprised when the overall target is missed and is he well off-course or even lost.

When the management of a project delve into micromanagement, who is keeping the project on track?  If the captain of a ship is in the engine room fixing things (or waving at his aunt) who is on the bridge steering the ship; after all what is the purposes of the engineer and the crew!

When we micromanage are we really fixing a problem or contributing to it?  And when we micromanage we actually encourage others to ‘go with the flow’ as rarely do people challenge their boss.  The situation may be fixed, not necessarily resolved, and we ultimately end up in the proverbial sh*t… after all that is one of the two things that ‘go with the flow’.

Bio:

MBA, MSc DIC, BSc; Chartered Engineer, Chartered Geologist, PMP

Over thirty years’ experience on large multidisciplinary infrastructure projects including rail, metro systems, airports, roads, marine works and reclamation, hydropower, tunnels and underground excavations.

Project management; design & construction management; and contract administrative in all project phases from feasibility, planning & design, procurement, implementation, execution and completion on Engineer’s Design and Design & Build schemes.

 

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