Results over Process, or Process over Results... Managing the Balance

Statistics

In my first sales job, the company micromanaged the process. They had it all the stats figured out and the process was a pure numbers game. If you do X number of cold calls per day, you will get Y number of new customers. Simples. So, you had to tally up your cold calls for the day, and you could stop when you reached that magic number. If that didn't yield the expected results, you were put on probation, because it was assumed that you hadn't done the number of cold calls that you claimed. Again - Simples. They removed the human element and reduced sales ability to pure statistics. As far as they were concerned, anyone could be a good sales person, they simply had to follow the programme.

Were they wrong? Not entirely. Were they right? Partly.

Repetitive action (habit, perseverance, or whatever you may want to call it) in the wrong direction is still wrong. You just get better at being wrong.

Repetitive action in the right direction is still right. You get better at being right.

Management

In our previous example, where statistics rule, there is no such thing as a bad manager. The success of the team was purely as a result of following strict processes. The manager was the stick who made sure that you were following the rules, and the financial bonus was the carrot.

The Emotional, the Hands-off, the Micro-Manager and the Entrepreneurial Manager

I have worked for all of the above, and I have learned so much from each of them.

The Emotional Manager 

No Process, and results are a matter of chance

They say you should do one thing today, and then the opposite tomorrow. They have no clear strategy or process, and therefore no clear parameters for measuring performance or attributing praise or blame. They would be better off in a team of one.

The Hands-off Manager

Some Process, and the results are in your hands

They will let you succeed (or fail) on your own terms. They may or may not have benchmarks for measuring success / failure, and they may or may not have procedures in place. Working for someone like this is the next best thing to being self-employed. Go forth and experiment.

The Micro-Manager

I am the process, and the results are all my doing

It's my way or the highway. This person does not welcome feedback on the system (or lack of). Just do as they say (and not necessarily as they do), and even then, they will take the credit for everything.

The Entrepreneurial Manager

Process is evolutionary, results are understood, and the team is central to that

This is really the holy grail of management styles. Usually this person runs their own business and they are very much a part of the business. If you have hopes of working for yourself one day, this is the best person to learn from and to collaborate with. You can question this person and be assured that they will have sound and balanced business reasons behind what they do and why they do it. You can trust them to put process, quality and results on an equal footing and you can recommend them with confidence to your network. They harness the collective expertise of their team and place a great deal of value on it.