Manage not Lecture

Here's another of my ramblings on workplaces. One culture that's missing from the Malaysian workplace is peer review. Now, here it is again - peer review. We know what review means. How about peer? It means People who are equal in such respects as age, education or social class.

What that means is, before (as an example), an engineer submits his drawings to his manager for approval, he does a review with his engineering colleague. Not boss, not supervisor, but someone else at his level. That's called peer review. 

In Malaysia, and to a large extend Asian countries, Managers ended up being lecturers. They get report will full of errors, spelling mistakes, etc. I have been there. I have seen, other managers, throwing entire stack of reports out of their rooms. Not the best - but I can understand. Not one sentence without error. Manager gets mad, and the whole stack flies out of the door into the corridor. 

Other managers end up being lecturers or teachers. Correctly typo, correcting ideas, plans and what-not. So, how come managers end up being like pre-school teachers? When they do it to me repeatedly, I will ask them if I could dock their pay, and make them pay a school fees instead. Of course, sometimes, I would just want them on my knees and give them a good spanking. But I do keep such unprofessional thoughts to my mind. I however must admit I have had such thoughts. Moving on.

Executives themselves are to blame, some times. For example, some would say "You think you are my boss ah, correcting my mistakes?". Then, we also get the "Why should I make you smart? Then, you get the promotion and not me.". If you, as a Manager, notices that, please fire the whole lot. These are individual bastards - not team players or team members.

So, as Managers, please start a culture of peer review. Reward those who seek reviews. Reward those who give good reviews. Those who give proper and constructive reviews should be ear-marked for promotion. 

Yeah - some will say, "I am so smart, no need to review". Go coach him, or get rid of him too. As smart as Newton is, he was proven wrong by a guy called Einstein. Frankly, I expect one day, some smart Alex will prove Einstein wrong. Only then, we will have progress.

And the, there is always a bitchy (can be a guy or gal - guy bitches too). "Everyone is so busy / unfriendly. No one wants to review my work for me". If everyone is being unhelpful or unfriendly to this one guy - I suspect this gal or guy has issues. Unless of course, he or she is being bullied by the rest. In any case, Management needs to intervene fast.

Managers are here to approve, coach and guide - not have red-ink pens to correct work from subordinates. Executives must learn how to work with peers and get peer reviews before finalizing and submitting work to their Managers.

The saddest part is, I have seen so many Managers go "Oh. My subordinates are idiots. The work they submit is full of mistakes. I have to correct them till past mid night.". Learn to work smart, and spend more time with you wife / mistress at home la. Or get a good massage. There is more to live than correcting other people's mistakes over and over again.