Setting up an aquarium requires planning, and so does anything that a manager does. The manager in this case takes the leadership role in setting up the aquarium, and asks three questions: One, “What am I doing that does not need to be done at all?” Two, “what am I doing that can be done by somebody else?” Three, “What am I doing that only I can do?”

        One does not need to do everything one sees or thinks of because management entails judgment, discretion and discrimination. One of the greatest mistakes in setting up an aquarium is to look at another person’s aquarium and set up an exact duplicate, without considering several other factors. Just because the other aquarium has a sea horse does not mean that a freshwater aquarium must have a sea horse. It is very likely that the other person’s aquarium is a saltwater aquarium. One of the greatest pitfalls of managers nowadays is to copy ways that are accepted in another office that may not be applicable in one’s own. Just because a public enterprise earns billions through investments does not mean that a regular government agency should, or may, enter into investments in order to earn. In government, as in private groups of companies, some organizations must earn in order to exist; some organizations must exist in order to earn; while some organizations neither exist to earn nor earn to exist, but are put up in order to serve. “What am I doing that does not need to be done?” is therefore a question that needs to be answered in order to be a better manager. A manager may fail to discover this in the university, but this may yet be learned from a school of fish.

        At the start, it is normal to be excited about a project. The manager has a tendency to either do everything alone or let everybody else do everything. It is proper to consider at this point the question: “What am I doing that can be done by someone else?” It is a well-accepted dictum that there are necessary tasks that the manager does not need to do, and so they may be delegated. Searching for the fish, plant, pebbles, motor or the glass tank that shall become the aquarium need not be done personally by the manager, and may be delegated to another person right for the job. This task is very similar to personnel sourcing whereby one looks for the right people to fill in vacancies. While the manager may opt to interview qualified applicants for vacant positions, there are other members of the team who must be tasked to publish qualification standards, receive applications, administer pre-employment examinations and compose profiles for the manager’s information in interviewing applicants. One of the common problems of managers is lack of time. Sometimes, it is not a matter of time management but lack of delegation. Sometimes, in an irrational fit of demonstrating power or setting up control mechanisms in an office, the manager ends up doing things that rightly belong to others. Managers need to be interested not in one’s authority as a potentate, but in the authority of one’s expertise so that the subordinate delegates and peers have a leader to follow because the manager is good on the job. After all, teamwork is not watching how great the manager does the job; it is rather doing the great job with the manager.

        The third question is what managers always ask: “What am I doing that only I can do?” Sometimes, managers, like runners, stumble. Some managers develop a messianic complex thinking that everything that needs to be done can be done by the manager, and by the manager alone. Delegation, as discussed above, is not a threat to power, or a sign of lack of control, although delegation, itself, that is, finding the right people and giving them the right work, is one task that cannot be delegated by the manager to another person. Before any member of the team sets out on his mission to acquire the fish, plant, pebble, motor or tank for the aquarium project, the manager has to set the parameters and overall direction of the project. What is the size of the fish? What combination is best? Why should one component of the project take precedence over the other? Similarly, authority delegated to the personnel officer to source applicants will have no meaning unless the manager decides which position must be filled up first, and what are the desired attributes for the ideal candidates to these positions. While a manager must learn to delegate, there are a few tasks that either only the manager can do or the manager can do best. The manager, after all, is still a member of the team and has a task, too. The manager is the team leader who leads, motivates, and lets people motivate themselves. The effective manager exercises power over people, yet does not rely on one’s own power, but on the power that are within the people and the outcome that proceeds from the united strength of the team.(To be continued)