MBWA : The Lost Art of Managing by Wandering Around
Managing effectively using data is all the rage today. But most of it is shallow "hard data". The real challenge is to get so called “soft data”. How do you get the real pulse of your teams, or your customer’s true opinion?
There’s a simple method that can tell you more than any amount of data. Most managers either don’t do it, or simply miss the point of the whole exercise. It’s the lost art of MBWA.
MBWA stands for managing by wandering around. Variations include wandering about, or walking about. The military calls it “battlefield circulation” while others call it “visible management”. Lean methodology calls it the “gemba walk”. But the core idea is the same.
It is to break through the walls of organizational bureaucracy by using informal communication channels. How? Simply by walking around and having direct one on one conversations. Sounds too simple? As with many simple ideas, it's not necessarily the method but the consistency of execution that makes it potent.
Managers and leaders can easily become ensconced in a disconnected reality of paperwork, functions, organizational silos and titles. It’s about getting out of that bubble and cutting through the typical hierarchy and filters to understand what’s really going on directly from the frontlines.
