Dromen Managen. Casus: het Managen van Dromen.

"It has been almost forty years since Peter Drucker observed the single greatest error and deception of our accounting system: people are placed in the liability column on the balance sheet. Machinery and computers are categorized as assets and people as liabilities. The reality, of course, is that the right people are an organization's greatest asset. We may have acknowledged this truth in theory, but we have not allowed it to sufficiently penetrate the way we manage our organizations, and indeed, the way we manage the people who drive them." Zo begint Matthew Kelly's boek The Dream Manager.

"It's not that we don't want to engage the people who work with us and for us. In most cases it seems that we simply have not found a practical, efficient, and affordable way to do it."

& Kelly vond die 'practical, efficient and affordable way to manage people' namelijk door hun Dromen te Managen! As simple as that! (Zou het?)

De bron voor Kelly om deze novelle, want dat is het, te schrijven ligt bij berchten zoals die in recente jaren verschenen o.m. in Business Week:  "Over the next ten years, 21 percent of top management and 24 percent of all management jobs across all functions, regions, and industries will become vacant. Add to this trend an aging population, a shrinking workforce, and a growing intolerance for the illegal immigrant population that provides much of the unskilled labor in the United States today, and you have a talent and labor crisis of enormous consequence across all disciplines-from the highly skilled to the completely unskilled." (2007). Herkenbare uitdaging voor ons, niet dan?

De uitdaging die hier voor veel organisaties nog bij komt, al dus Kelly, is disengagement:  "The problem is, the great majority of people in the workplace today are actively disengaged. This is the dilemma that modern managers face. To varying extents, people don't feel connected to their work, the organizations they work in, or the people they work with. No single factor is affecting morale, efficiency, productivity, sustainable growth, customer intimacy, and profitability more than this disengagement."

Leuk, herkenbaar zelfs, maar interessant wordt het pas wanneer we lezen wat anderen over het boek schrijven. 800 CEO Read stelt: "The fictional company in this remarkable book is grappling with real problems of high turnover and low morale -- so the managers begin to investigate what really drives the employees. What they discover is that the key to motivation isn't necessarily the promise of a bigger paycheck or title, but rather the fulfillment of crucial personal dreams. For some, it's buying a first home; for others, learning a new skill or finally taking a proper vacation."

800 CEO Read verkoos The Dream Manager tot the best fable of 2007!

'Fabel?' zeg je. Daarop geeft een andere recensent het antwoord namelijk Acquinas & More: "While at first glance this book may seem like it is only geared toward business owners or managers - don't be fooled! Written as a novel (not a manual or dry educational book) this story is one you will not be able to put down. Truly inspiring, you will want to implement the Dream Manager mentality into your own life before you are half-way through the book. It will teach you how to identify your dreams and then to make a plan that will change your dream to reality. You will start to see yourself, your family members, your co-workers and your friends in a refreshing new way. When was the last time you asked yourself, "What are my dreams?"." Op deze manier lijkt het boek wel op The Secret, da's een boek waarmee ik dus niets heb.

TIP:

& Toch zit er 'iets' in de boodschap van Kelly, 'iets' wat managers kunnen oppakken om hun medewerkers, hun mensen (meer) te betrekken bij hun (nb; ook die van de medewerkers!) organisatie namelijk: Manage hun Dromen! 800 CEO Read laat in haar recensie zien dat die dromen vaak 'heel dicht bij huis liggen'. Zo vormen ze een mooie Management-Uitdaging! Leert mijn management- & advieservaring.....

Kelly: "We become our dreams. You tell me what your dreams are and I'll tell you what sort of a person you are. Your dreams tell me not only what sort of a person you are today, but also what sort of a person you aspire to be in the tomorrows of your life...Helping people chase and fulfill their dreams is one of the primary functions of all relationships, and this is true whether that relationship is between husband and wife, parent and child, or employer and employee."

& Dromen? Dat doe je met je ogen open.......

{Ook mensen met Dromen kunnen zich aansluiten bij de ManagementPro Group; prima zelfs.}