Surface Ripples

"Funnel" vs "Umbrella" Management

Justin Wright in an article on LinkedIn distinguishes between two very different sets of behaviour that result in either a distracted team or a productive team.

What matters? Whether their manager is a “funnel manager” or an “umbrella manager”.  

Let’s start with the distracted team: these are the ones with the “funnel manager”.  Imagine being part of a team and overhead of you all is a giant funnel on top of which sits the team manager.  Into this funnel, the manager just puts everything: 

• Office politics
• (Too many!) meetings
• End of day fire drills
• Unrealistic deadlines
• Changes in project scope (scope creep)
• Refusing to deal with toxic coworkers
• Rumours and gossip
• Office politics. 

Small wonder that, bombarded by all this information and activity, a team doesn’t know where to focus its energy. 

The “umbrella manager” does the exact opposite instead of placing their funnel above the team and then sitting on top of that, they sit with their team and hold an umbrella over them. This umbrella deflects all the “toxic distractions” that rain down on the team. In other words, the “umbrella manager” shields the team from distractions to allow them to deal with their work.

The results? For the “funnel manager” a distracted, demoralised and frustrated team with no direction or priorities who often failed to deliver results.

Contrast this with the umbrella manager’s team who know that they are shielded as much as possible.  The differences in behaviour are easy to understand, but perhaps less easy to put into practice with all the pressures on modern day leaders. 

I previously wrote about an example of a “funnel effect” on our business.  I’m still waiting for a response and doubt I’ll ever get one. 

How many of our team may need help on this, or how many more businesses like that are out there?  How can we as leaders, help them?

I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.  

Labels: Leadership, Productivity, Teamwork

posted by William Martin @ 11:15