The Five Minds of a Manager

A manager is a person who has control resources or takes. The writers further argue that management cannot be separated from leadership; that is, they work hand-in-hand. In fact, they state that, it is dangerous to separate the two because, ‘management without control encourages an uninspired method that dampens activities, leadership without organization encourages a detached style, which supports hubris’ (Gosling & Mintzberg, November 2003, p 55). Most of the people today fight so hard to be good leaders and forget that good leadership is engineered by good management. This underscores the relationship that exists between management and leadership. It is with this idea of integrating the two that the ‘five minds of a manager’ came up (Gosling & Mintzberg, November 2003). The five mindsets referred to are all integrated into one another; they include reflective, active, collaborative, worldly, and analytic mindsets.

A reflective mindset entails the experiences that a manager goes through. He or she makes current and future decisions basing depending on experiences. Only after they have been thoughtfully reflected upon and ‘digested’ does events become experience. People must be thankful for the experiences they go through to enable them use the present to achieve better future results. The writers say, “These days, what managers desperately need is to stop and think to step back and reflect thoughtfully on their experiences” (Gosling & Mintzberg, November 2003, p 57). Although, a reflective mind could ensure success for a visionary manager, it might fail to yield the envisaged results if proper implementation is not done. After reflection, the manager has to act because ‘reflection without action is passive’ and passive reflection does not lead to success.

Action, therefore, comes in as the element in the five minds of a manager. As much as all the five need one another, I would say action and reflection are the most important as they are dependent on one another. Without one, there may not be positive results at all since action without reflection is thoughtless while reflection without action is passive. Both of these issues must exist and applied together because in the absence of one concept, the other becomes ineffective (Gosling & Mintzberg, November 2003).

A reflective mindset and an active mindset cannot just integrate without any assistance. Here is where the third element comes in, the collaborative mindset. The collaborative mindset enables the manager work cohesively with other mates both the juniors and outsiders, this is the only way to amicably manage all relations and issues in the institution “if you see yourself on top of a system, looking down on it, then you are out of it” (Gosling & Mintzberg, November 2003, p 60). The collaborative mindset leads us to the worldly mindset. In order for managers to be effectual, they have to be able to integrate the active, reflective and collaborative mindsets that will enable them work harmoniously and cohesively with other employees in the workplace.

The worldly mindset as we are told puts the reflective mindset into context. Here is whereby the manager has to go to the world and study how things are done especially the cultures/society in relation to his companies resources and products, reflect or rather compare it to the past experiences before making the decision. The decision, in most cases, does go with the cultures and lifestyles of the present people. This underscores the importance of cultural issues that come at play where an organization operates especially if that society is the target consumers. Thus, the manager should understand the best way to approach such issues (Gosling & Mintzberg, November 2003).

Analysis comes in automatically as the fifth element of the five minds of a manager. This can literary be explained as an issue that must be present to ascertain how and in which ways the other four mindsets can work in harmony. Analysis has to be there to make the other four mindsets work hand-in-hand and be integrated. The analytical mindset in this case is there to help the manager make sound decisions. It does not necessarily mean that the analysis helps the manager simplify complex decisions but it helps in weighing the situations and making the correct favorable decision. Analysis is an essential tool that managers must use in running organizations. Analysis has to be done to substantiate the efficiency of the application of the other four mindsets.

In my opinion, the five managerial mindsets are very important in institutions that seek to prosper. I would say that during ones tenure as a manager, all the elements must comes into use at some point, although not all situations call for the five at once. Action reflection and partly analysis are mandatory and basic concepts in all situations. However, collaboration is good though to some extent since, at times, some situations might call for the manager to be the ‘boss’ for the sake of harmony and peaceful co existence within the institution. The worldly mindset is not called for in all situations depending on the kind of institution and its location. Therefore, all the five mindsets are imperative for a manager since they all have significant functions to play even though they might not be needed at once.

Reference

Gosling, J., & Mintzberg, H. (November 2003). The Five Minds of A Manager. Harvard

Business Review , 54-63.