Managing directors must be respected to succeed

I am writing about your article Stepping in the right direction, (Consultancy, DW 3 December).

The main point of your article was to show how difficult it is for a managing director to take up the reins of a design consultancy, particularly when the founder is still around.

I thought that Rodney Fitch got close to the heart of the matter when he said, “A managing director who is held in low esteem is simply unable to manage people.”

Getting people to accept a new leader is always the biggest challenge and the main reason why so many budding managing directors fail. In my experience, there are four questions that staff will ask of their potential new leader before following them.

First, what are your motives for wanting to lead us? Are you committed to the success of the company or are you more interested in your own personal success?

Second, what are your core values and do I really want to subscribe to them?

Third, how competent are you at your job and what can I learn from you? Are you a great designer or a great marketer or simply a great businessman?

Fourth and finally, what sort of style do you adopt? Will you be supportive and nurturing and help me to grow or will you adopt an autocratic style?

What we are really talking about here is respect, and gaining respect has to do with motives, values, competence and style.

So the founders of design groups need to ensure that their heirs will be able to secure the respect of the team and then they need to be able to stand back and let them get on with the job!

Ian Cochrane

Chairman

Ticegroup

Bucks SL9 8QD