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Lead By Walking Around

From a historical perspective, George Marshall or Dwight Eisenhower would not have succeeded in their Second World War strategy without tactical leadership of George Patton and Bernard Montgomery. Though all four men were committed to strategic objectives, Marshall and Eisenhower lacked tactical, operational leadership and could not have achieved the mission without the leadership skills of Patton and Montgomery. While Marshall and Eisenhower were outstanding strategists and managers, it was Patton and Monty who were the outstanding leaders on the front lines.

Leadership is an act where one person influences another to accomplish an action. To lead is to influence.  Management is the activity of planning, organizing, coordinating, directing, and controlling a process. To manage is analogous to an administrative function: planning an event, directing an activity or accounting for a process. While management and leadership are distinct actions and should not be confused, they are not mutually exclusive. A person can lead without managing and you can manage without leading. Ideally, one would prefer to see their managers as leaders and vice versa but this is not always the case. 

In the early 1980s management guru Tom Peters introduced the world to a key
management concept of MBWA or Managing by Wandering Around. The concept is said to have originated at Hewlett Packard and was also put to use in other prominent companies. The outcome, Peters said, was that top management would find greater success interacting with employees and customers than by remaining in isolation from them. Rather than micromanaging employees, MBWA allowed management to informally communicate with employees and to coordinate at a more personal level.

The first decade of the 21st century has so far been a time of strategizing. Management is attempting to identify and integrate technology with the business interests on a global scale. It has always been senior management's responsibility to create the strategic vision, establish the mission in line with the vision and establish strategic objectives. It is now management's task to communicate those strategic objectives and see that departments and sections align their goals with the vision.  In some cases this has been done quite successfully. But with so many other responsibilities, it is difficult for senior management to have a hand in, or even be aware of the day-to-day operations that accomplish their goals and objectives. These day-to-day operations are, in essence, the core competencies of the company. 

Conversely, a manager can do very little management simply by wandering around
because it is difficult to do much planning or organizing on the fly. Attempts at this type of management have been dubbed swoop management, fly-by or drive-by management to name a few. In fact, this style of management only serves to be reactive instead of proactive. 

Management in the information and business technology world is crucial to maintaining project scope, project schedules, and alignment with strategic objectives. Leadership on the other hand is the critical factor in influencing and inspiring self-directed, information technologists and engineers. Leading by Wandering Around (LBWA) can be a very effective method of communicating the objectives and motivating employees to succeed.  All good managers must have strong leadership skills.

Managers can lead by being seen, by showing an interest in what their employees are doing and asking questions, as opposed to just appearing when something goes wrong.  Management not only needs to push the employees to meet key performance indicators, but they must also lead the employees to want to meet established goals. Managerial leaders must know what their employees face day-to-day; the only way to do that is by "wandering around," asking questions and showing an interest. 

LBWA can be educational for the manager and also inspirational for the employee. 
Managerial leaders can motivate employees by getting involved and simply walking
around and checking out the day-to-day. All managers should strive to be managerial leaders because everyone agrees that motivated employees can lead to greater productivity.

It's no coincidence that this is precisely what made Patton and Montgomery so effective in the field.  They got more out of their troops than other generals because they were visible leaders who communicated the importance of the objectives.


Dr. Michael Abeln is Adjunct Professor Management Information Systems at Webster University.

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