When a promotion becomes unacceptable

ELBONOMICS: An empowered work force is often the enemy of a command-and-control manager.

The manager of our sales department was forced to resign due to his poor performance and I was immediately tapped as the replacement. I was ecstatic to receive the good news, until the CEO talked to me and made clear that I cannot change everything in the current program but made me responsible for revenue. I was told not to change our partnership with an advertising company or make staff changes, among other things. Also, just like the former manager, I’m not allowed to sign any expenses on my own if the amount involved is more than P500. I’m not comfortable with such an idea because I feel like being imprisoned with the old system that made the life of my former boss difficult. Should I accept the promotion? — Troubled Mind.

Have you noticed that the only people who truly welcome change are wet babies? Even well- educated people and those apparently in the know don’t want change. Now, I remember of another cute story about a housewife who loves to bake.

She told of her two young boys who love to help in the kitchen but fight over who gets to lick the beater of the appliance after the mixing was through. At one time, the 10-year old had beaten the four-year old kid to the kitchen, but the latter was the first one to ask his mom the chance to lick the mix on the beater.

With no choice, the eldest gave way to the youngest. At that instant, he was immediately grabbed by the arm by his mom and received a heavy spanking. After the spanking, his mom looked at him squarely in the eyes and in a stern voice said: “Next time, turn the mixer off first!”

The same thing is happening every day in many organizations. Many people in high places fail to “turn the mixer off first,” resulting in a potentially dangerous situation for everyone. This can happen in many forms, including the fact that your promotion carries an apparently stern condition not to change anything, and yet you’re made responsible for the result.

You’re right. It’s like prison. For one basic thing, you’re not empowered despite your ascent to the post of department manager. You’re not given substantial authority to make decisions. In situations where true empowerment happen, you as the department manager must have enough confidence in your ability to perform your job and make things possible.

More than this, in order for an empowered department manager to thrive, you must be able to work in an environment where the following conditions are present:

One is corporate-wide employee participation. All workers with proper guidance of their managers must be actively and willingly empowered to improve work processes for cost-control purposes and to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. Problem-solving and decision making are not a monopoly of management.

Two is having a culture of innovation. Managers and their workers must be encouraged to challenge the status quo. If they are mechanically programmed to stick to the old ways of doing things, then chances are, they will also receive the same kind of mediocre result as what you can imagine with your former boss.

Three is having access to correct company information. It’s about open-book management. If you don’t have those kind of facts and figures at your fingertips, then you will not be able to do your job. And worse, you may be responding to wrong situations.

The big problem is that you are being held accountable for the results. Once you accept the promotion and the responsibility, you become obligated to perform the assigned task. And so, would you accept the promotion? It’s up to you. If you’re not happy with the conditions, then you have the right to reject it. But how? First, resolve the issue with the CEO. Explore the possibility of removing those onerous conditions. Personally, I can live with having to work with the same advertising agency or having the same set of workers in the department, unless they prove ineffective in due time.

If you have a different view, you must be able to come out with the best argument against them. On the issue that you’re not even allowed to sign for transactions worth more than P500, then I guess the company needs to overhaul its level of authority, which I believe, applies to all department managers. The CEO must decentralize so that his office is not burdened with so many documents to sign, leaving him with no time to focus on strategic things.

However, a department manager must not confuse power with authority. These two terms are related, but they mean different things. Power is the ability to influence the workers to follow your instructions. On the other hand, authority is the manager’s right to command and at the same time spend corporate resources.

If you don’t have the authority to perform your job as you’ve described above, then you’re in for a lot of trouble that could put you in the same situation that befell the former manager of the sales department.