Top-down and bottom-up approach examples
Effective management is critical to running a successful organization. When it comes to managerial approaches, there are two that are commonly practiced at most companies: top-down and bottom-up. Show But what are the benefits and potential drawbacks of top-down and bottom-up management? And how do you get your managers especially your newly promoted ones to adopt and apply these different approaches? Well address all these questions, and more, in this article. What is top-down management?Top-down management occurs when goals, projects, and tasks are determined among your companys senior leaders usually independently of their teams. These goals, projects, and tasks are then communicated to the rest of the organization. Pros
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Ideas to train managers for effective top-down leadership:
What is bottom-up management?Bottom-up management occurs when goals, projects, and tasks are informed largely by employee feedback. Employees are invited to participate in goal setting sometimes simply with feedback, sometimes with a stake in the decision. These goals, projects, and tasks are then communicated by each team to senior leadership. Pros
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Ideas to train managers for effective bottom-up leadership:
The importance of utilizing both approaches to managementThe needs of companies and employees are constantly shifting. Thats why its likely that your managers will need to adapt both the top-down and bottom-up approaches at different points of the organizational journey. Training managers to effectively apply both of these approaches will make it easier to transition between them as different needs arise. Well share examples of what this could look like below: Example of top-down management in action You work at a healthcare organization, where multiple teams are tackling a project that will have significant implications on the bottom line, as well as for medical patients who use your services. As a result, there are a lot of legalities and regulations that need to be carefully addressed. In this type of situation, your managers may want to take on more of a top-down leadership role. Since the stakes are quite high, directions should be coming straight from executives who likely have the most insight into the project. Its also critical to have as much alignment as possible across teams, since its easy for wires to cross on such a complex undertaking. Example of bottom-up management in action Your engineering and product teams are working on a new feature for customers. The purpose of this project is to make the lives of your users easier and strengthen your relationship with them. In this scenario, it makes sense for your managers to adopt a bottom-up management approach. Since your engineers are familiar with your companys technological capabilities, and your product managers will have the best sense for what customers actually want, their insights will likely be more valuable than those from the Head of Engineering, who may not have the same level of visibility. Top-down and bottom-up management both bring value to the table. Whats more important is making sure your managers are trained and aligned on how to put each of these approaches to action in the most effective way possible. If youre looking for additional ideas to effectively train your new managers at scale, download our ebook here. |