Managing professionals? Don't!

The powerhouses of our companies today are made up of increasing

numbers of professionals.

The number of companies that would describe themselves as

knowledge-intensive is also increasing think of R&D labs, hi-tech,

IT, media, business support, health and educational organizations.

Managers tend to think that these new organizations and their staff

must be managed like before. But to do so can create more problems

than it might solve.

Professionals are for the most part already motivated and do not

need to be managed. They have studied many years to be able to do

their job. Frustrating their enthusiasm by steering and controlling

them can restrict their ability to perform to the best of their capability.

In any such organization, the avoidance of forms, meaningless

report writing, and restrictive rules and procedures, will lead

to much greater productivity and improved quality. Professionals

should be trusted in advance and given room to exercise their discipline

at a state of the art level.

Mathieu Weggeman has written many books and articles on managing

professionals, on how to conserve creativity, on innovation

and on knowledge management. This book is an accolade. It is

about the new servant leadership: the kind of leadership required

for these companies. It explains the characteristics and peculiarities

of professionals in the workplace. It emphasizes that their most

important production factor is their knowledge, and their most

difficult task is innovation.

The role of the manager is to create the environment in which both

these traits can flourish, and thus to help professional organizations

achieve their collective ambitions.

Mathieu Weggeman is a professor of organization science at the Eindhoven

University of Technology, the Netherlands. He is also a boardroom consultant

for knowledge-intensive organizations.

Cees Hoedemakers is a consultant in the energy industry.