Managing by Walking Around

What it does:
This management style that streamlines interpersonal communication, speeds access to information, reduces meeting time and boosts subordinates' motivation.

Its other names:
MBWA, Managing by Wandering Around

Where it comes from:
Managing by Walking Around was first described in Tom Peters' 1982 classic book In Search of Excellence (now available in a new edition from Warner Books). Since then, many management and leadership experts have endorsed it.

Summary:
In Search of Excellence was based on Tom Peters' observation of management styles in highly successful companies that included 3M, Corning Glass, Disney, GE, Hewlett-Packard and Wal-Mart. Peters, a former McKinsey consultant, noticed that their top executives did not stay behind closed doors. They got out of their offices and visited people where they worked.

Over the years, many other business gurus have advocated MBWA. They have observed that executives who practice MBWA become better, more efficient leaders because they:

- Directly observe what people are doing instead of waiting to be told.
- Catch people "doing something right" and reward them for it.
- Benefit from efficient "on the fly" meetings through the day.
- Become much better informed by observing workers where they do their jobs.
- Uncover information that never "filters up" into meetings.
- Spend less time in meetings because fewer of them are necessary.
- Take action on the spot to correct problems.
- Assess front-line conversations between employees and customers.
- Build leadership by getting to know employees at all levels in the organization.
- Discover future leaders through the ranks instead of waiting for them to be promoted up through the organization.

What else you need to know:
Top executives can encourage MBWA in their organizations with these strategies:
- Practice MBWA visibly throughout so that it becomes part of the corporate culture.
- Openly state that MBWA is valued in your organization and that you do not expect people to sit at their desks all day long.
- Hold meetings on location through the organization, not just in conference rooms.