Bottom Up Management

Management the McIvor Way

When I was doing my Business Management degree there were three recognisable tiers. The top level was Executive, headed by a CEO answerable to a Board of Directors, then there were middle managers who were essentially on the firing line between the Executive and the Regional Managers. Below the Regional level were the local managers and their underlings, deputy managers, supervisors and the like. The top level controlled vast numbers of worker ants who were there to do their bidding or face the axe. I laboured under this regime for five years in the banking industry and by sheer luck or hard work, depending on your opinion of me, I was transferred to the Los Angeles branch. There were many changes to adapt to, like seeing a sun that was actually warm and no snowbound roads, but the three tier system was still in place.
Some three months later, much to my surprise, my boss put me forward for a Management Enhancement course, (MEC). The three week course is run by a loose conglomeration of companies who run courses at various retreats to share their management skills and expertise. The final ten days saw us paired with one of the CEOs who’d given the lectures. We were then ‘employed’ by them for ten days as PAs in order to gain on the ground insight. These placements are always carefully vetted in advance and thus my hope I’d be picked up by Bank of America was dashed, instead I was placed with House of McIvor….

…People have limits, boundaries and if you respect the limits and boundaries they’ll reward you with increased productivity. Forget it and you’ll still get the results but you’ll spend more money training new employees when you’ve worn the last crop out.” Read more…

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