Get some managers who can manage

In the future - and that starts now - we are going to have to place some fresh emphasis on people management and reward people for being good at it. There can't be any excuses any longer. So we will have to invest a great deal of time, effort and money in making managers and leaders out of specialists. The great corporations are already on their way with this, pouring millions of dollars, euros and pounds into it.

They already know that they have to be better, that it is not enough to hire and hold technical geniuses.

An example of that is in the banking industry, where they are dividing up the work so that the smart, technical people who are never going to be people managers, get to do their job, while a people manager makes sure all those specialists have their wants and needs fulfilled. The people manager's bonus depends on how the job is done, measured by the overall performance of the team he ˜ manages ' and the retention rates. This sort of example is going to spread to other industries very quickly. The people manager is, in fact, a sort of junior talent manager - ever watchful for the emerging needs of individuals in his or her group and solving them. If we are in a tech-driven world, we can be sure that not everyone will want to be a people manager or that everyone will succeed in this role. The organization outlined above seems a good option. But think back to what I explained earlier. We currently have well-meaning managers getting it wrong. Managing their way is not the way to meet individual employee expectations.