Resurrecting “MBWA”

When was the last time when you stepped out from behind your screens and reports to actually talk to and engage the people doing the work?

In the late 70’s Tome Peters and Bob Waterman started talking about the concept of Management By Walking Around . In was a cornerstone of In Search Of Excellence (1982).

At the time, they believed leaders were losing touch with what was really happening in their companies. They sat in their offices, participated in meetings with their direct reports, but were seldom engaged with their people. In some organizations, it went so far as reserved executive parking spaces, elevators reserved for executives. Admission to the executive floors/offices required prior permission.

I remember calling on top execs in the automotive companies. They would pull into a special garage with their company supplied cars (always high end and fully loaded). They would leave the cars, which would be washed and serviced everyday. They never had problems with those highly maintained vehicles. And when conversations about customer dissatisfaction with service levels arose, they struggled to understand. They never had problems with their own vehicles. They had lost touch with their customers’ experiences.

We’ve evolved into a modern day version of this. The “elitism” has shifted to a digital elitism, managing through dashboards and analytics. But it is still very isolating. The perspectives of performance are all driven through staring at a screen and endless reports/analyses provided through the data. We can track 1000s of data points, often in real time, we have tools that report the performance issues, recommend changes. Dashboards have become the refuge of too many managers, causing them to lose touch with the work that is actually being done.

But we become detached from our businesses–we don’t know/understand our people and what drives them. We don’t know/understand our customers and how we can help them. They all become data points. They give us false confidence because the data is showing what we want, when what’s really happening may be much more complex. And it’s always trailing, by the time we see and can act on the data, the issue may have passed-or may have changed profoundly.

MBWA is not a “nice, feel good practice.” It’s very purposeful. It’s about connecting with the people actually doing the work–understanding them, their ambitions, where/why they struggle, their ideas. It’s about connecting with our customers, not just for the sake of a transaction.

MBWA is about establishing presence–showing up where the work is done, seeing what’s really happening. It’s about connection–informal, unstructured conversations. Listening to the people doing the work, getting their perspectives. It’s about context over abstraction–seeing what’s happening provides a deeper understanding of what drives the numbers. It’s about learning, seeing issues or gaining insights that would never show up in a report or in analysis.

MBWA creates visibility. People get to see and engage leaders, understanding more personally the what/why of strategies and decisions being made. In this increased visibility, leaders can begin to build trust. People are more likely to share their concerns and ideas with someone they have actually met and exchanged ideas.

MBWA is a two way street. It’s not just learning from our people and customers, but it’s sharing strategies, priorities, ideas directly with the people that are impacted. It removes all the filters helping people understand what’s important and how they can contribute.

MBWA is culture shaping. The examples set by the leaders drive the cultural norms. Seeing leaders actually walking the talk, accelerates the acceptance of these norms through the organization.

Resurrecting MBWA isn’t about rejecting the data, but it’s about integrating the data with direct observation and experience. The data points to potential issues/opportunities, the direct engagement enables leaders to both understand them and with the people to take immediate action.

Effective implementation of MBWA is not aimless wandering and showing up unexpectedly. It’s highly intentional–meeting with people with specific goals of what you are trying to learn and understand. Having specific goals of what you want to communicate and help people learn.

The good news, with all the data, tools, and AI, providing data and reporting, our time is freed up to give us the time to MBWA.

How are you integrating MBWA into your leadership agenda?

Afterword:  This is the AI generated discussion this post.  As has become the norm, this discussion is outstanding.  But I do chuckle with how these AI characters struggle with the pronunciation of very common words.  Enjoy!