Many books du jour address how to be a manager, and how to organize, motivate and lead people. Writing these books doesn't necessarily require experience; enough platitudes can make a bestseller. I posit, however, that it takes practical, hands-on experience to know something about how not to be a manager. I offered some examples in a recent column, thinking I'd covered the field. As usual, colleagues and ex-employees pointed out my sins of omission. So, here are some additional ideas for mastering the art of effective mismanagement.
• Create apathy by introducing the latest buzzwords and expecting people to get enthused about them, especially when no one knows what the words mean. Think in terms of Jidoka, Kaizen, 4S, 5S and other arcane combinations of numbers and letters. Make speeches. Put up new banners to cover up the worn banners about earlier programs that failed. Then wonder why no one is excited about this latest epiphany. This works especially well if you bring in self-described experts, and even better if they clearly don't know anything about your products and processes.