By Jean Lobell A brief article in the Human Resources Magazine – The Future Manager is T-Shaped -- captured my imagination for the second time.
The first time I came across this concept was when I developed a series of customized management development workshops for Amnesty International, USA. We used it in the series as a way of thinking about the importance of collaboration. The notion of the T-shaped manager looks like this:
The T-shaped manager excels in his/her own work unit/function – that’s the vertical part of the T. S/he also makes significant contributions to other units/functions in the organization – that’s the horizontal part of the T. The authors of this idea (Morten Hansen and Bolko von Oetinger) contend that the future belongs to T-shaped managers. That organizational innovation and growth will come as a result of having a T-shaped culture with T-shaped managers excelling in their areas of expertise while effectively partnering with colleagues in other work units or functions.
Is this concept viable in the nonprofit sector where managers and leaders have their hands full? Or maybe their plates are full because they are precisely already T-shaped managers before the word was even invented?
Our experience working with numerous nonprofit organizations on leadership and management issues lead us to believe that the concept is viable and is already in play in many agencies. Particularly in small to medium-sized CBOs, managers are called upon to fill in for or to work closely with managers of other units. The head of the case management unit working closely with the intake supervisor to develop a more effective and efficient client interview protocol; the head of the counseling unit collaborating with the site director of an afterschool program to develop a new module on building self-esteem; the program director working with the advocacy director to shape a new public information campaign. The examples are many.
It is in the very large nonprofits where specialization and increased complexity of work may at times move the organization to a more siloed work environment. We are asked often enough for help in breaking up those siloes, increasing collaboration, and improving interdepartmental communications. This is not to say that the very large nonprofits have not produced T-shaped managers.
What in fact happens when T-shaped managers inhabit an organization? Morten Hansen and Bolko von Oetinger in their book, Introducing T-Shaped Managers: Knowledge Management’s Next Generation, paint the following scenario:
• There is increased efficiency through transfer of best practices
• Quality of decision making is improved through peer advice
• There is enhanced organizational growth through shared expertise
• New opportunities emerge through cross-pollination of ideas
• Bolder strategic moves are generated through well-coordinated implementation
In essence this concept moves away from the idea of “lone stars” and from the adage – I’ll mind my business and you mind yours. How many of your managers are T-shaped?
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