The Hidden Cost of Mismanaged Management, According to Leanne Bridges

In a recent LinkedIn post, Leanne Bridges discusses a critical issue facing many businesses: the hidden costs associated with managers performing tasks outside their core responsibilities. Bridges argues that the true expense isn’t just the salaries paid to these managers, but the significant opportunities and proactive work that are neglected when they are bogged down in operational details that should be handled by other team members.

Bridges highlights a scenario where high-salaried project, design, and contracts managers are caught performing the duties of their subordinates. She paints a picture of inefficiency, stating:

“The project manager was out on site sorting things the site manager could have handled himself. The design manager was redoing his team’s drawings because it was quicker than explaining what was wrong. The contracts manager was chasing variations from the site staff instead of getting ahead of the resourcing for next week.”

The True Financial Drain: Beyond Salaries

According to Leanne Bridges, the £200k annual salary figure for three managers is merely the tip of the iceberg. The real financial impact, she contends, stems from the critical tasks that are left undone. Bridges points out that when managers are constantly stepping in to fix immediate problems or complete lower-level tasks, their strategic responsibilities fall by the wayside. This includes crucial forward-thinking activities that prevent future issues and drive business growth.

As Bridges elaborates on the consequences:

“No one was lining up the right labour for the jobs coming in over the next few months. No one was focusing on getting people trained up or dealing with those safety improvements you’ve been talking about.”

This lack of focus on proactive work, Bridges argues, leads to a cycle of recurring problems and missed developmental opportunities within the organization. The managers, though working hard and appearing busy, are not performing the high-level functions for which they are compensated.

Opportunity Cost: The Unseen Burden

Leanne Bridges emphasizes that the most significant cost is the ‘opportunity cost’ – the value of the strategic initiatives and improvements that never materialize. She suggests that many managing directors (MDs) fail to calculate this indirect but substantial loss.

Bridges states:

“That’s the cost most MDs never add up. Not what your managers cost you in salary. What the business misses out on because they’re all doing everyone’s job instead of their own.”

This perspective challenges traditional notions of cost management, urging business leaders to look beyond direct expenditures and consider the broader impact of how managerial time and focus are allocated. The core message from Bridges is that effective management involves strategic oversight and development, not merely intervention in day-to-day operational tasks.

Refocusing Management for Strategic Impact

In her post, Leanne Bridges advocates for a re-evaluation of management roles and responsibilities. She implies that by empowering teams to handle their own tasks and by ensuring managers are focused on their designated strategic duties – such as long-term planning, resource allocation, and team development – businesses can mitigate these hidden costs. Bridges’s analysis underscores the importance of clear role definition and the delegation of tasks to the appropriate levels within an organization to maximize efficiency and strategic progress.