Business leaders last night called for the UK to adopt a ‘back to basics’ approach to management, as they awarded entrepreneur, Richard Newton, top prize at the national final of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Management Book of the Year competition for his book: The Management Book: How to Manage Your Team to Deliver Outstanding Results.
The competition, which is run in association with the British Library and sponsored by Henley Business School, is judged by a panel of business leaders including Sir Anthony Cleaver, former chief executive and chairman of IBM. He explained why Richard’s book stood out:
“Last year the Oxford University Press chose the word ‘omnishambles’ – a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged – as their word of 2012; suggesting something has gone seriously wrong with the UK’s management skills.
“It is now 43 years since I first became a manager but I can still remember the anxiety of constantly encountering new situations. In this economic environment, managers need to be more skilled than ever before. We can no longer afford the luxury of learning on the job and Richard’s book provides the perfect guide for anyone, regardless of seniority or experience, to consider the essential people management skills required to become a successful leader.
“It is the kind of book that I wish I had had access to when I was starting my career – it would certainly have saved me a lot of time and trouble!”
Commenting on his success, winning author Richard Newton, said: “In my experience, most management failures occur when the basics are not done well. Likewise, even a good strategy is unlikely to be implemented effectively if managers do not have the straightforward skills to lead their team. Trends and fads in management may change, but what remains is the fundamental importance of good management.”
If you only take three tips from my book to get back to management basics, they should be:
• The management role is made, not given. You need to shape it rather than let it shape you.
• If you let your team be successful, you will be successful.
• Being a manager is something to be proud of. Fundamentally every organisation builds from its management.”
Professor Cary Cooper of Lancaster University Management School and this year’s Chair of Judges, continued:
“CMI’s recent ‘The Quality of Working Life 2012’ survey found that the predominant management styles last year were bureaucratic, authoritarian and reactive: all styles that have a negative impact on motivation, well-being and productivity levels. There are far too many recent examples that illustrate the ineffectiveness of this approach to management, and if we are to support the UK’s economic recovery, there is a real need for change.
“The Management Book speaks directly to this issue, and it is for this reason that we decided to name it CMI’s Management Book of the Year.”
The Management Book – which also won the Practical Manager category at the award ceremony held last night at the British Library Conference Centre in London – is accessibly structured in 36 short sections that you can dip into and read as an individual piece of advice. Focusing on the people side of management, it identifies that there are still a great many businesses where managers, even at a senior level, do not know the best way to manage and get the most out of their staff. It is the eighth book from author Richard Newton, who has over 25 years’ experience in line management and consultancy across a range of sectors.
Ann Francke, chief executive of CMI, who run the competition, said:
“We know what a minefield it can be for managers to choose a management book that will help them in their careers, when there is such an array of choice out there. We created the Management Book of the Year competition to help people identify the very best in management writing from the thousands of books available. It means I can confidently say to managers, if you read nothing else this year, read Richard Newton’s ‘The Management Book’”
Caroline Brazier, Director of Scholarship and Collections at the British Library, who support the competition, said:
“We are proud to work with the CMI Management Book of the Year competition to celebrate the best management writing, and hope that this year’s winning authors will provide much guidance to UK managers in search of inspiration. The British Library is committed to providing information, inspiration and practical support to the management community, through our extensive collections and the digital resources available on our Management and Business Studies Portal (http://www.mbsportal.bl.uk/).“
The Management Book of the Year category winners were announced follows:
- Management & Leadership Textbook category:
Managing Equality and Diversity: Theory and Practice by Savita Kumra and Simonetta Manfredi.
Published by Oxford University Press
- Innovation & Entrepreneurship category:
Winning at Innovation: The A-F Model by Fernando Trías de Bes and Philip Kotler
Published by Palgrave Macmillan
- The New Manager category:
The Leadership Skills Handbook: 50 Essential Skills You Need to be a Leader by Jo Owen
Published by Kogan Page
- The Commuter’s Read category:
The Strategy Book: How to Think and Act Strategically to Deliver Outstanding Results by Max Mckeown
