Who is in top management? Who is the top manager - Basics. Resting on laurels

Perhaps each of us dreams of a normal, prestigious profession that will pay well. Also, each of us has probably heard about such a profession as: top manager. After all, she is constantly heard, in absolutely any field of activity. Well, not everyone can answer the question: “top manager: who is he, and what functions does he perform?” So, let's take a look at this profession in more detail.

The term top manager usually means one of the top officials of the company. This could be the CEO or president of the company, or any other chairman of the board. This person does not necessarily have to be the owner of the company, but he can simply be a member of the team, for hire.

After a person receives the position of top manager, the following persons become directly subordinate to him, as deputies:

• financial director;
• production director;
• commercial manager;
• development director (in some companies).

If the company has quite a lot of personnel, and very large monthly turnover of products and finances, then several people can act as top managers. But, all of them are required to have a position not lower than director or manager.

Main functions

All top managers are the inner circle of enterprise owners, and their main responsibility is to try with all their might to achieve the main strategic production goals set by these same owners.

Well, all goals, in turn, can be divided into two main groups:

• functional;
• emotional.

The functional goals of any owner are to increase their capital using the enterprises at their disposal. Based on this, it is possible to calculate the main functional tasks of top managers, which consist of increasing the cost of enterprises, increasing its authority, and developing the production of its products.

As for the emotional goals of the leader, they consist in increasing personal authority, directly within the framework of his enterprise. Well, the task of the top manager, in this case, is to form a positive opinion about the owner by citing objective facts.

Among domestic firms and companies, most of their owners are more interested in emotional goals than in functional ones. This is what often causes bankruptcy and financial collapse of an enterprise. Based on this, the main task of any top manager is to prevent such a turn of events.

Based on the above information, we can conclude that a top manager must be fluent in two skills:

• ability to create and increase company value;
• the ability to realize the owner’s personal goals.

But, since technologies for achieving these goals are constantly changing, the top manager needs to undergo constant, timely training regarding the above-mentioned skills.

Of course, many managers, in order to save money, refuse to provide training to their subordinates, citing the fact that top managers can learn on the job. But, as practice shows, the average employment of a top manager is only up to 20% of the time of a full working day. And such a practice will certainly have a negative impact on the activities of the enterprise, reducing its competitiveness and profitability.

What you need to know and have to be a top manager

First, what is necessary for any manager to take the place of a top manager is a higher technical education. Today, this condition is not only mandatory, but is even included in the list of rules and requirements for future tops. And we are talking specifically about technical education. Specialists with honors diplomas in the field of chemistry, physics, mathematics, and similar sciences will have much less chance of occupying an honorary position.

The second thing you can’t become a top manager without is basic knowledge in business and finance. After all, it is the graduation from universities in this field that gives a person the necessary skills to achieve the functional goals set for him by his leader. Well, since these goals are among the main ones, when applying for a top position, a diploma from the country’s leading universities will be welcomed.

Further, after a person takes the long-awaited position, he will have several courses of individual education and training aimed at the interests of the particular company in which he will work. As a rule, this preparation consists of attending various seminars and trainings where so-called “business games” are held and real examples of possible situations are analyzed.

It is worth noting that individual courses can be completely different, since all financial companies and firms are divided into two groups that are different from each other:

• market;
• not market ones.

The first category includes those industries whose products are in very high demand in the market. For example, this could be: food, hygiene products, computer equipment, etc. As a rule, the training course for a top manager of a market company is much more difficult, since in the future he will have to work in an environment where there is constant competition.

As for non-market firms, they are, for the most part, monopolists and do not have much competition in a particular market. As a striking example of such a company, we can cite Gazprom, RAO UES or MPS. Also, non-market corporations include unique enterprises, such as AvtoVAZ, Norilsk Nickel, etc.

Example of a program for training a top manager

We have already answered the questions: “top manager - who is this and what does he do?”, and now you can safely move on to the next step - mastering an effective training program. Most often, when drawing up this program, many make the same mistake - deviation from the general norms and rules of company development. And such negligence, in turn, leads to a further decrease in the effectiveness of top managers.

Therefore, in order to avoid such troubles and maximize the level of top performance in the future, it is recommended to adhere to a program that has long been developed and tested in practice.

And it consists of the following points:

• determination of the primary strategic goals of the enterprise owner. Moreover, we are talking about both functional and emotional goals;
• based on the information received, develop a detailed action plan to achieve these goals;
• Having a plan in hand, with clearly defined tasks, proceed to developing a new business structure, which should include the coordinated work of all business units and functional divisions;
• For each branch of the new structure, designate your responsible person. Just remember that this must be done with maximum optimality. For example, the responsible person for all financial issues should be the financial director, and for advertising issues, a PR manager is most suitable, etc.;
• to increase the efficiency of further management of the company, develop a list of requirements and rules that will be mandatory for fulfillment by both the current top manager and his deputies, as well as subsequent colleagues who occupy the corresponding positions;
• It would not be superfluous to test the existing knowledge and skills of employees holding top positions. Moreover, their knowledge must fully comply with the requirements that were presented for the new business structure;
• After developing new rules and requirements for top managers, and testing their knowledge with the current generation of workers, proceed to creating individual training programs that will be used by subsequent personnel who will occupy any of the above positions. Thus, each newcomer, before starting his work, will be familiar with the business structure of this enterprise, and during the period of this personnel replacement, production efficiency will not decrease;
• and finally, develop so-called “educational products”. They are several combined training programs that allow new top managers to develop the necessary skills as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Don’t forget that you will need to allocate some budget to develop a training program for new top executives. But, in no case do not save at this stage, because the further development of the company and its production depends on it.

How to create the necessary “educational products”

About the concept: top manager: we already know who he is and what he does. Now, let's move on to the question of their training. Today, to organize proper training for top executives, it is recommended to use a full package of educational products. But it is formed based on 6 main steps, the sequence of which can be completely different, depending on the structure of the enterprise.

These steps look like this::

• analyze existing tools for creating educational products, extracting from them the most useful and necessary data;
• based on the information received, formulate a general optimal program that will provide for the absence of errors of previous educational products in practice;
• in order to present information to employees as effectively and correctly as possible, hire a special trainer-consultant;
• choose the most suitable supplier of educational products who will be able to provide timely additional training for existing top managers during their direct work. Typically, such suppliers include companies and firms that conduct special business trainings and seminars;
• conclude a deal with the selected supplier, discussing the terms of cooperation for the next 5 years;
• after one year, evaluate the quality and effectiveness of the selected educational products directly in practice.

Let's delve into this issue in more detail and consider options on how to choose the optimal product for a top manager.

Definition: top manager says that the person in this position is obliged to resolve all strategic issues of the enterprise. That is why educational products must provide top students with the maximum amount of skills and knowledge. So, it is best to build these products from scratch rather than try to improve already exhausted options.

If several options for an educational product are offered at once, and all of them are essentially good, then a so-called tender should be organized. During this event, you will be able to analyze in detail each of the proposed options and personally discuss all the nuances with the providers.

If there are only a few products, and each of them has its own positive qualities, then they should be inclined only to their assigned tasks. After all, only by analyzing them will you be able to evaluate the final result of the training and how closely it matches your expectations. After all, taking an unjustified risk by updating an educational program from scratch is far from the best option, especially for market companies.

By the way, remember that under no circumstances should you save money at this stage. After all, the further development of any enterprise will depend on the quality of training for top executives. The lower the cost of training, the greater the chance that you will not receive, in fact, anything useful, and will only waste your time. As for the most expensive trainings, their cost will still be less than the monthly salary of an employee, regardless of what the top manager is doing: functional goals or emotional ones.

How to choose a business coach for a top manager

One of the most effective options for improving the quality of work of top executives is individual lessons with business coaches. Of course, this option will be much more expensive than collective classes at seminars and trainings, but the effect will be many times higher. Well, in order not to waste your money, you need to know what criteria you should use to select a business coach.

The first stage in selecting a trainer will be an objective assessment of his activities, training program, and, in fact, his personality. This is very important, since relying on someone’s opinion about this or that person is a big risk. Indeed, today, a successful trainer is more likely to be not the one who knows how to explain the material well, but the one who knows how to sell himself well. Most often, such tricks are inherent in psychologists by training.

The second stage is to check whether the coach has a business education. Please note that the development of functional and emotional business strategies came to us from Western countries, and that is why the trainer who has a diploma from American or European universities will be most welcome. If the trainer’s education was obtained at a domestic educational institution, then try to choose from such candidates only those who graduated from the most prestigious universities.

By the way, it should be noted that if the trainer has a Western education, then he will most likely conduct seminars in English. Therefore, the list of requirements for top managers should include mandatory proficiency in at least English. Of course, it will be perfect if the subordinate knows more than 2 or 3 foreign languages.

The next stage of assessing a trainer is an analysis of his work experience, exclusively in this field. Any business coach teaching financial disciplines must have at least three years of experience in absolutely any company or firm, as part of personnel from the financial department. Work experience gained at enterprises in Western countries will be very welcome. Also, pay attention to the additional skills of the trainer. For example, if he has a diploma in psychology, then he should be approached with special caution and skepticism.

Another stage that you should pay attention to when selecting a coach is the material he proposes. You should familiarize yourself in detail with the goals of the proposed trainings and their main objectives. Analyze the information received and draw conclusions: how effectively this knowledge can be applied in practice.

Also, study the quality of the material presented. After all, if a coach explains financial strategies exclusively using fingers, then this will not give much results. Without fail, the trainer must have with him training materials on disks and floppy disks, which can clearly show any strategy in action, based on graphs and tables.

The next stage is having the opportunity to attend open seminars of a business coach. Today, such an event is carried out exclusively by those trainers who are 100% confident in themselves and in their teaching methods. After all, having attended an open seminar and personally seen the learning process in action, you will understand what you are paying money for. And this, in turn, will not allow you to buy a “pig in a poke”.

Well, the last stage is the availability of additional consultations on the topic: where can you effectively apply the acquired knowledge in practice? Such consultations will help the newly-minted top manager start working in a new position as quickly as possible, and from the first days begin to raise the level of production.

In general, among many business owners there is an opinion that assessing the activities of any financial business coach is impossible until he conducts paid seminars. But this is not true at all. It is quite easy to identify a person who will tell your subordinate as clearly as possible how to become a top manager.

The first thing you should pay attention to is the overall goal that the trainer pursues in his seminars. In general, there can be only two of these goals: short-term and long-term. As for the first goal, its solution is aimed exclusively at specific problems of the company or enterprise. Therefore, it will be quite simple to determine the assessment of such a goal in advance.

Things are a little different when analyzing long-term goals. After all, their solution is aimed at completely changing the stereotypes and thinking of employees. In such a case, you can make an objective assessment of the goal in advance only by trying to turn the improved skills of your subordinates into successful investment projects.

Thus, the results obtained can be compared with the cost of training, and a conclusion can be drawn: how useful such seminars will be. If the purchased educational products cannot justify their cost, then you should not buy them. Otherwise, you will simply waste your time and money.

In this article, we examined the concept: top manager, who is he, and what is he responsible for in production? From the information received, we can conclude that the top is considered the main managing person who has full responsibility for making strategic decisions and who has the right to manage all key units of the company.

Also, we were able to learn that without proper education and special training, a top manager will have no meaning in the enterprise. But special training must take place under the guidance of an experienced business coach. We have also studied with you the criteria by which to choose it, and in such a need, you will not have any problems.

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TOP management is usually understood as the highest level of management of a company, whose main responsibility is the effective management of the work of all its structural divisions. Who is a TOP manager, how to become one and what is his role in the development of the company? Let's try to figure it out.

Who is a TOP manager?

TOP managers are usually called the key figures of a large organization who perform work to manage the company’s activities, take measures to promote the business and increase the efficiency of interaction between all structural divisions. By definition, a senior manager is an engaged specialist who is endowed by the owner of the company with a number of powers necessary to manage its work, influence each employee, resolve a number of issues and interact with partners.

As a rule, TOP managers of large holdings, banks or corporations are hired employees who hold the positions of heads of boards or general directors. Along with this, a team of senior managers who share powers among themselves and are responsible for a specific type of activity can manage the work of a commercial organization.

What role does top management play in the development of companies? First of all, we should highlight the search for the most effective tools for doing business, as well as options for organizing it. In addition, the responsibilities of managers include competent positioning of the company in the market.

Owners of large enterprises set several main goals for top managers. The responsibilities of managers include the creation and development of strategic steps of the organization, which are aimed at increasing the amount of capital of the owner. Managers must arrange the activities of the enterprise in such a way that its authority in the market among consumers and competitors increases, as well as the volume of production increases and the quality of products improves.

Often, company owners require management to increase their own authority in the eyes of all employees of the organization. That is, the TOP manager must form a positive opinion about the owner, based on objective facts. But often such ambitions lead to managers not paying due attention to the functionality of the enterprise, as a result of which there is a slowdown in the company’s development, which can lead to bankruptcy. In this case, it is the CEO's responsibility to ensure that the business is not conducted based on the owner's emotional goals.

Be that as it may, the owners of large companies place two main requirements on hired managers: the ability to increase the value of the enterprise and realize their own goals. As practice shows, success in the field of managing organizations and increasing the efficiency of their work is achieved only by those managers who, in addition to specialized higher education, have the ability to think outside the box and deviate from established stereotypes in business. This allows us to find new solutions to implement company problems of varying complexity and successfully develop in a fiercely competitive environment.

Tasks of a TOP manager

Many people want to get a higher education, get a well-paid job, make a career and become TOP managers. What tasks does a company manager perform?

First of all, it is worth noting that he is responsible for checking the work of all structural divisions of the organization and analyzing its effectiveness. In addition, the manager is obliged to make efforts to ensure their smooth functioning. Also, a TOP manager must be able to:

• objectively evaluate the activities of the company entrusted to him;
• make proposals to promote the development of production;
• identify negative and positive aspects in the activities of the enterprise;
• competently implement and control the work of changes in structural departments;
• defend your own point of view about ongoing processes within the corporation.

One of the key tasks of a company director is the ability to select personnel and adapt new personnel within structural divisions. A top manager must understand the specifics of employee training and check the quality of implementation of the acquired knowledge in the production (labor) process. It is clear that if an employee, for example, cannot or quickly, the task of monitoring the knowledge and level of qualifications of personnel should be assigned to the immediate head of the department. The responsibilities of the company's management also include:

• making operational decisions on current and unforeseen (crisis) problems;
• production work planning;
• ability to communicate with subordinates;
• ability to describe to employees goals and ways to achieve them.

Top managers also plan the work of the entire enterprise and develop innovations that will improve the activities of structural divisions. If a violation is identified during the work of the organization, and the head of the department is unable to solve it, the general director assumes this responsibility. He can also initiate an audit of the company to identify those responsible for the incident.

One of the most effective methods for improving the performance of each structural division of a company is the motivation of their leaders, which is carried out by TOP managers. In turn, this tool allows you to stimulate other subordinate employees and increase productivity in your work.

Important: If the organization plans to introduce any new products, the possibility of their implementation is accepted by TOP managers. Their responsibilities include considering the feasibility of the proposed project, calculating costs and possible profits. It is innovations (purchase of high-performance equipment, optimization, changes in work within departments, etc.) that contribute to the development of the organization, increased productivity, and increased profits for owners and all employees in general.

How to become a TOP manager?

TOP managers are not born, but achieve success thanks to their extraordinary abilities, self-organization and, of course, the ability to think strategically. Every specialist who has proven through his work that he is worthy of promotion or who already manages a structural division of the company has a chance of success. If you don’t know, you need to strictly adhere to certain rules that will allow you to conduct your professional activities as efficiently as possible and increase your chances of getting the desired position.

So, the first thing to start with is increasing your own authority among your subordinates. It is important to show persistence and strength of character when working with personnel. Many department heads earn popularity among their colleagues by turning a blind eye to the quality of their performance of their official duties. But such connivance leads to the fact that in the end the head of the unit works on equal terms with his colleagues, and they cease to perceive him as a leader. The activities of the department must be structured in such a way that each subordinate unquestioningly fulfills his direct duties and maintains subordination with the manager (this rule applies to TOP managers of both large corporations and ordinary companies).

Subordinates want to see next to them a leader who does not just sit in his office, but spends time at the enterprise and studies its activities from the inside. People are always drawn to such a boss and respect him as a manager. In addition, this allows you to objectively evaluate the organization’s activities and adequately respond to various changes. If a person is closed from employees, a negative opinion is formed about him, that, they say, he does not work and is not interested in the life of the team. In this case, respect from subordinates will have to wait a very long time. This means that the “boss” has not succeeded as a leader, and his dismissal will soon follow. You need to constantly prove your authority in the enterprise, for which you should:

• work actively;
• introduce various innovations in production;
• take an interest in the activities of employees;
• make proposals to colleagues to improve the quality of work;
• regularly report on the department's achievements.

Each manager of a large corporation works with his own team, which helps implement the developed business strategies, as well as manage structural divisions. Only professionals and highly qualified specialists in a certain type of activity should be hired as assistants. These people know their business well, so they will most likely be able to cope with the responsibilities assigned to them. Without a team, even the highest-class TOP manager will not be able to get his job done. For example, a person received the position of general director of a dairy plant. The team needs to attract specialists who know all the nuances of the production process, marketing of finished products, and working with suppliers and customers. These could be technologists, sales specialists, logisticians, mechanics, accountants, environmentalists, suppliers and other employees.

An important quality of every top manager is the ability to make independent decisions and implement their own management methods into the work of the organization. The main thing is that the result should be an increase in sales (provision of services), coordinated activities of all structural divisions of the company and the implementation of the wishes of the business owner.

How much do top managers earn?

The amount of income of top managers largely depends on the company’s activities, its dominance in the market in a certain niche and a number of other important factors. Thus, the remuneration of the head of Gazprom based on the results of work over the past year was about $25 million, and the chairman of the board of VTB was about $30 million (according to Forbes magazine).

Deputies of the largest Russian companies receive from 300 thousand to 3-5 million dollars annually. The income of the heads of boards of some commercial banks ranges from 2.5-11 million dollars, including bonuses. Top managers of heavy industry enterprises receive significant sums for their work, the amount of which reaches $9 million per year.

On average, managers of various Russian companies earn about 150-500 thousand rubles monthly. The most profitable industries include the telecommunications market, construction industry, retail, pharmaceuticals, insurance business and the production of consumer goods.

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To summarize, we note that today there is very high competition in the labor market, so in order to obtain a leadership position, candidates need to stand out among the applicants. To do this, you must be a professional in a specific field, have extensive experience in management and organizational activities, demonstrate your achievements in promoting enterprises, have an impeccable reputation and positive reviews from previous jobs, and also have innovative thinking.

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Top manager and his role in the company, characteristics of top managers

Top manager as the central link in company management, requirements for a top manager

Section 1. Basic facts about the profession of top manager.

Top manager is business owner, creator and thought leader or hired manager - hired professional manager.

Basic facts about the profession of top manager

Top management implements policies (formulated by the board of directors) into goals, strategies, business plans, budgets and projects. Top management makes decisions that affect every employee in the organization and are also responsible for the success or failure of the organization.

Top managers have different specializations and are responsible for different areas of the organization or company. Each position has certain requirements covering educational, personal and other characteristics of top managers.

Top management positions

CEO;

Executive Director;

Technical Director;

Chief Operating Officer;

financial director

Today, the period of rapid market growth of organizations of various profiles and directions has already noticeably slowed down, and a period is coming when the economic success of any enterprise largely depends on its competent management. And now both professional skills and personal qualities of people whose profession is called a top manager are coming first everywhere. Usually these are the top officials of the company, that is, directors, presidents, or chairmen of the board. Sometimes they can be direct owners or co-owners of the business. Also, this profession may include other specialists, such as: commercial or financial director, production or development director, head of the marketing department, security director, or head of the information department. Increasingly, heads of information technology departments are also included in the category of top managers. If we focus on the experience of developing the European market, then it is leading IT specialists who are among the first candidates for the post of CEO.

Whatever category a manager belongs to, the most significant requirement remains for education and work experience. A higher education is required, and, as a rule, more than one. The very word “top manager” has foreign roots, and therefore an applicant for this position is often required to have a high-quality education abroad. In addition, in the domestic labor market there is a very noticeable lack of truly professional specialists in the field of management. This is primarily due to the specifics of education. As for experience, here the requirements of employers are basically the same. Companies rarely hire too young specialists for such positions. Preference is given to candidates aged 35-45 with at least 5 years of experience in this field. Other requirements for candidates for the position of top manager are responsibility, planning and control skills, knowledge of marketing strategy, and the ability to identify market development trends. Finding a truly professional top manager is not at all easy. Truly competent specialists are highly valued, and it is extremely rare that they find themselves freely looking for work.

Russian entrepreneurship has been around for more than 10 years, during which time companies have managed to adapt to market transformations, gain momentum, and understand the intricacies of management and marketing. Among the managers of Russian small and medium-sized businesses today, entrepreneurs-owners mainly predominate. Most often, they combine both the functions of strategic planning and the functions of operational management. This combination, of course, has its advantages and disadvantages.

Many Russian companies have already reached maturity. At this stage, as a rule, the growth rate of the company's main performance indicators slows down somewhat, although there is a high potential for their improvement. To realize this potential, many transformations and changes need to be made in the organizational structure, production, marketing, etc. A change in strategy is inevitable. At this stage, the strategy for gaining a strong position in the market changes to a leadership one. Generating changes requires a business owner to have versatile professional knowledge, and implementing changes requires enormous management efforts. Just as it is impossible to know and be able to do everything, it is also impossible to be on time everywhere and cope with everything. Then there is a need to attract a partner to the company, with whom you can share the range of your “incompatible” tasks and, as an option, assign a block of functions related to operational management.

It is known that the top manager is the central figure of the company. It is he who is called upon to organize and successfully promote her business. Presidents or general directors, as well as heads of a management company in large corporations or holdings, can act as top managers. In addition to the listed options, there are cases when the company was managed by a team of top managers who divided powers among themselves.

The traditional approach to defining the role of a top manager, as a rule, involves assigning two main functions to him:

Searching for options for organizing and running a business;

Ensuring the company's positioning in the market with the chosen option for organizing and conducting business.

It is known that the top manager is the central figure of the company. It is he who is called upon to organize and successfully promote her business. Presidents or general directors, as well as heads of a management company in large corporations or holdings, can act as top managers.

In addition to the listed options, there are cases when the company was managed by a team of top managers who divided powers among themselves. The traditional approach to defining the role of a top manager, as a rule, involves assigning two main functions to him: - searching for options for organizing and running a business; - ensuring the company’s positioning in the market with the chosen option for organizing and doing business.

These tasks are certainly the most important for the company. Only a talented and highly educated specialist who has experience in the company’s core business, and also knows how to create and work in teams of performers, can successfully solve them. At the same time, the greatest results are achieved by top managers whose thinking is not limited by the framework of traditional logic, i.e., capable of illogical thinking.

Novelty is born only when we deviate from stereotypes. This type of top manager requires a skeptic as his closest assistant, who will select emerging proposals based on the criteria of feasibility and usefulness. The above can be considered as the first task of a top manager, for the solution of which specialists are selected who meet the listed set of requirements.

In our opinion, there is a second task of a top manager, which can be defined as less creative, unlike the first, but requiring the same serious attention and the involvement of highly qualified specialists.

The top manager must ensure the sustainability of the company’s functioning in the market in the chosen niche and the prospects for the development of the proposed business. Turning to logic in mathematics, we can say that the first problem is a necessary condition, and the second is a sufficient one. The goal is achieved when both necessary and sufficient conditions are formulated in mathematics, and in business both designated tasks are fulfilled.

To implement the second task, it is necessary to have: an acceptable level of financial and economic indicators of the company, corresponding to the successful conduct of business; a well-functioning product quality management system; optimal price-quality ratio for manufactured products; effective systems of logistics, budgeting, personnel management; operational and strategic planning program; developed social block of the company and much more. The list of issues that need to be resolved to complete the second task can give even the most talented and capable top manager a headache.

And, naturally, he will begin to shift the solution of the listed issues to other specialists of the company within the framework of the created functional divisions. In this way, a functional structure of company management is formed. Let's look at what comes out of this in practice.

First of all, let's look at some of the shortcomings in organizing company management that arise when using a functional approach. The functional structure of the management organization was inherited from the administrative-command system of economic organization that operated in the former USSR and continues to remain the main one for domestic companies.

This methodology for managing companies existed as a base until the 1980s. and in the global economy, since there were no necessary software and hardware tools for the formation of other, more advanced approaches to company management. The fundamental disadvantages of the functional structure are: - separation of the functions of an integral management object, which is the company, between structural units that weakly interact with each other, which ultimately leads to the manifestation of a monopoly in their work based on their own interests; - conventionality and vagueness in the division of powers and responsibilities between the company’s structural divisions; - poor information permeability of channels of interaction between structural divisions horizontally and vertically, reducing the efficiency and quality of decisions made by managers.

So, when specialized functional units are created to solve a set of issues related to the second task, the number of company personnel is rapidly increasing, and the level of its manageability is also sharply falling.

Thus, a typical situation arises for most companies when a top manager receives a “sticky” management model, in which the company is not capable of quickly responding to changes in market conditions and innovation. The shortcomings of the functional management structure are most clearly manifested when particularly difficult situations arise. In this case, the company begins to lose control, and the so-called functional management is transformed into situational management, based on the experience and personal characteristics of managers and using subjective criteria for the correctness of decisions made. Realizing the shortcomings of the current management model, the top manager, as a rule, looks for a way out of the current situation by acquiring information systems for various purposes. The central place among them is occupied by company resource management information systems, the so-called ERP systems.

The most advanced abroad and on the Russian market are software products from SAP AG, Oracle and Microsoft that implement ERP systems, complemented by OLAP systems (On Line Analytical Processing), designed for analyzing and processing information in real time at user workstations. These are quite expensive software products that require the involvement of highly qualified dealers from the above-mentioned manufacturing companies and training of their own personnel for installation and operation.

The paradox for a top manager who has decided to implement modern software products that implement ERP systems is that the money spent and organizational efforts do not bring the desired result. Focusing on functional management, companies have created local information systems within their own structure that are heterogeneous and incompatible in terms of data organization and regulatory support used, implementing the functions of existing structural divisions.

It is impossible to combine this patchwork set of local systems into a single company management system using only a modern set of software tools. Chaos can neither be automated nor computerized.

Today it can be argued that the functional structure of the management organization has exhausted its capabilities. It has been replaced in world practice by the methodology of process management, recorded, among other things, in the systems of total quality management (TQM - Total Quality Management), the work flow management system (WFMS - Work Flow Management System), as well as in international quality management standards management series ISO 9001:2000. In a short article it is not possible to dwell on the essence of process management.

Next, we will look at what opportunities open up for a top manager when moving to a process structure for managing the company as a whole. A simplified diagram showing the role of a top manager in managing a company with an organizational structure formed according to the methodology of the process approach: at the initial stage, enlarged groups of processes are identified, hereinafter referred to as business processes, such as: logistics; product life cycle; financial and economic activities; marketing and innovation; personnel Management; document flow, accounting, control and regulatory support; social block of processes, etc. As a rule, the number of allocated enlarged processes does not exceed ten.

For each of them, a leader is appointed who is solely personally responsible for the organization and results of the process he leads. The stages of implementation of each of the identified business processes are provided by specialized functional units, whose employees are administratively subordinate to the head of the functional unit, and for the organization of work - to the process manager.

The latter is the main contact person for the customer of the project on which the company is working and, most importantly, reports directly to the first person of the company, which is the top manager. With this approach, the top manager is freed from the need to delve into all the details of emerging situations and gets the opportunity, working only with process managers, to ensure operational management of the company in the scope of the entire range of issues that make up the content of the first and second tasks. The described organizational scheme is devoid of the above-mentioned disadvantages of the functional structure of company management.

For the practical implementation of the process approach to company management, software products have been developed that include a set of methodologies recorded in the international standards IDEF0, IDEF3, ARIS, DFD.

So, what is the place and role of a top manager in managing a company? A top manager must combine the generation of business ideas and positioning of the company in the market with the work of managing it. Managing a company in this case allows for feedback - to quickly respond to a rapidly changing situation in the external environment and in the company itself and, if necessary, adjust the strategy of the top manager. Without such work of the top manager, the company's management system is essentially without feedback, and its effective functioning in accordance with the known management postulates is impossible.

Implement the control principle schematically depicted in Fig. 2, and a top manager can informally become the central link in company management only if a process approach to management is used. Let's look briefly at what he needs to do for this. First of all, you should conduct a survey of the company and present its structure in the form of a system of interconnected business processes. Then it is necessary to reengineer this structure, identifying and eliminating weak and redundant links. Only after this can changes be made to the personnel arrangement, appointing heads of business processes and functional departments and endowing them with rights and responsibilities in the newly created company structure. Only then can the top manager begin to form a holistic company management structure within the framework of the existing or planned ERP system.

Next, the top manager will have to link heterogeneous databases, regulatory and administrative documents of functional departments that existed before the reengineering into a single information space; create uniform directories for the entire company of purchased products, services provided and current tariffs for consumables. It will also turn out that the regulatory framework regulating the company’s activities is outdated and does not meet international standards. All of the above difficulties are an objective consequence of Russia’s transition to a new market model of economic organization. Today, actions “from above” reach the main link of the economy - enterprises. In these conditions, the role of the top manager in the company is especially significant.

Only through his efforts can the process of restructuring the company be carried out in the right direction and quickly. To solve this problem, the top manager must have at least three highly qualified consultants:

Specialist in data organization and regulatory support for the functioning of the company;

Computer technology specialist;

Analytical specialist in preparing solutions.

In relation to the tasks of organizing data and regulatory support of enterprises in terms of implementing the provisions of the adopted Federal Law “On Technical Regulation”, the author of the article has worked out a number of recommendations that can be useful for a top manager when forming a company management system in modern conditions of its functioning. In conclusion, I would like to note the following. For obvious reasons, the top manager of the company cannot and is not obliged to personally resolve the entire range of issues related to the management of the company - this should be done by the team of performers created by him.

However, he must be the initiator and, to a certain extent, the methodologist of the formation of an integrated business management system. Only under this condition can a top manager ensure the success of the organization’s core activities. He can implement this using a process approach to company management.

The top manager is the initiator. This is the person with whom everything should begin: the work process, the idea. Even top managers study on their own initiative, because they are interested in knowing more and being able to do more.

Top manager is a mentor. He must teach his subordinates. By the word “teach” we mean not only learning to do some work, but also learning to be an organized worker and a decent person. They often say: “Like the boss, so are the subordinates.” This is true, because employees read the behavior of their leader and begin to inherit it.

A top manager is a perpetual motion machine. He cannot have crises or bad mood. Just as advertising drives progress, a top manager is a driver for his subordinates. He must be energetically charged and positively disposed.

Top manager is a strategist. He, as they say, “looks to the root.” The boss calculates the strategy of the company or department based on priority goals: money, authority, clients.

And finally, the top manager is a speaker. He must be eloquent and be able to answer questions from employees. It is also very important to be able to hold meetings and hold the attention of meeting participants for a long time (this will be very useful during monthly/annual planning meetings).

From all of the above, it is clear that the top manager not only scolds and stomps his feet, but is the center of the company or department. This is a stress-resistant speaker-strategist who teaches and learns himself.

10 most successful top managers in the world

Harvard Business Review has published the latest results of the popular ranking "The World's Most Successful Top Managers." During the analysis, the magazine examined the financial activity of managers of more than two thousand companies in thirty-five countries around the world. We provide the top ten leaders of this rating, from which it can be seen that the success of the business visited the following leaders:

1. Company: Berkshire Hathaway-Warren Buffett

“If everyone around is so smart, then why am I so rich?” - this phrase is prescribed specifically to Warren Buffett, who found success in business in investment activities. And his intuition helped him achieve success, thanks to which Buffet bought only what he liked. So, Buffett’s business has gone through different times: ups and downs, like all entrepreneurs, in principle, but it is the intuition and experience acquired over the years that helps to cope with difficulties.

2. Company: Oracle - Lawrence Ellison

As you know, the story of business success is the path of an obsessed genius. Ellison achieved business success through perseverance and optimal staffing. A guarantee of success was his emotional leadership in the team.

3. Company: Reliance Industries - Mukesh Ambani

Mukesh is the eldest brother in the Ambani family. Reliance Industries, founded by his father in 1966, was headed by Mukesh Ambani in 2005, and today the success of his son’s business is confirmed by the company’s income, which accounts for 3% of the GDP of all of India. One of the most respected business leaders in the world, his story of business success began with his love child, the Jamnagar Oil Refinery.

4. Arcelor Mittal Corporation - Lakshmi Mittal

Heading the world's largest steel manufacturing enterprise, the successful industrialist Mittal achieved success in his favorite business - his business thanks to clear planning. His achievements are included in the annals of Arcelor Mittal, the largest steel producer in the world. Mukesh Ambani Corporation operates in 14 countries. 6. Louis Vuitton, Moët, Hennessy and about 60 other brands - top manager Arnaud Bernard

6. Owner of Reliance Power, Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Natural Resources - Anil Ambani

Ambani's ability to think strategically and see the prospects for business development helped him achieve success in business. After a quarrel and separation with his brother, Ambani was able to build an entire empire in a couple of years, which today includes energy and infrastructure enterprises, as well as telecommunications.

7. Company: Mashreq - Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair

As the business success story of this successful leader has shown, prosperity is impossible without perseverance and perseverance. Heading one of the largest banks in the Arab world, which brought him worldwide fame. Abdul Azis Al Ghurair is simultaneously the Chairman of the UAE Federal National Council and the Speaker of the UAE Parliament. The ability to assemble a strong, effective team and maximize its potential helped him achieve success in business and in the public sphere.

8. Company: Microsoft - Stephen Ballmer

His success story is the biography of a strategist, a man who is constantly moving towards his goal. Once upon a time, Bill Gates himself appointed him to his place when the antitrust trial that divided the Microsoft company took place. And, after some time, he did not regret it. As time passed, Ballmer and Bill Gates argued that Ballmer's appointment was a carefully thought-out move that brought major success to the business, as evidenced by the fact that the company not only stayed afloat, but continued to make a profit.

9. Founder of the Amazon store - Jeff Bezos

Determination, vision of the situation and the ability to predict events down to the minute helped a talented businessman achieve success in business. And his business success story began with the fact that he asked his friends and acquaintances to tell everyone they could about Amazon. In the first month of operation, the site sold books in 45 countries. With zero advertising costs, the first year of operation brought in approximately millions of dollars in revenue.

10. Company: Fast Retailing - Tadashi Yanai

The intuition of an entrepreneur has proven that a business success story leads to a positive outcome. And his business success came from selling inexpensive clothing. Representative offices opened in New York and Paris helped Yanai achieve business success and worldwide recognition.

Sources

Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia, WikiPedia

job4it.net - Job4it

otvety.google.ru – Google Answers

Top management carries out the course developed by the board of directors, thinking through tactics, mission, programs, business plans and estimates. Top-level managers authorize actions that affect any employee of the company, and at the same time are responsible for the success or failure of the company.

The term itself top manager" is the Russian version of the position "top manager" ("top-level manager") or, by analogy with Western countries, a C-level manager.

C-level (“C-level”) does not imply the existence of bosses under the letters A and B. There is no such division. C means “Chief” level (leader, chief, boss, head).

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This name is used to refer to almost all first persons companies:

• Chief commercial officer (commercial director);
• Chief human resources officer (HR director);
• Chief executive officer (general, managing director);
• Chief financial officer (financial director).

Top managers are considered to be the heads of exclusively reputable companies that are under the direct control of the general director.

Such specialists inevitably make a significant investment in the results of the company's activities. To achieve the milestones they define, managers use an autonomous budget. These specialists make decisions on the expenditure of funds independently.

Top manager - business general

Generals do not lead companies, battalions or regiments, but command an army at the scale of a division or more. There must be at least 10 thousand people subordinate to them. A similar situation exists in commerce.

Often top managers are the owners of a certain part of the securities of the “native” company. Today in Russia, top managers are those managers whose monthly earnings are over $10 thousand.

As a rule, these are the main people in the organization (chairmen of the board, directors, presidents).

Among other things, other employees can also occupy a top position, for example: development manager or production director, commercial/financial director, security director, director of the information division, head of the marketing department.

There are more and more cases of IT department heads being included in the top list. When looking at the processes of functioning of the Western labor market, one can notice that leading employees in the IT sector are prime candidates for the position of CEO.

Thus, the management of small companies does not belong to top managers. They are similar to majors and lieutenant colonels in a commercial structure and are the so-called “middle management” (middle managers), despite the fact that they manage organizations.

• Assistant manager: responsibilities, job requirements

Roles and responsibilities of top managers

The accepted view of the position of a top manager implies that he/she fulfills two main functions:

• selection of ways to establish and carry out commercial activities;
• elaboration of the market position of the enterprise, taking into account the selected type of device and implementation of business activities.

Undoubtedly, such goals are the main ones for the company. Only a competent professional with an excellent education who has experience in the relevant commercial niche can achieve them productively. In addition, such a leader knows how to form a team of employees and interact with them.

The most impressive results are achieved by those top managers whose mental activity is not limited by the boundaries of conventional logic, that is, those who have illogical thoughts.

Creativity arises only when moving away from generally accepted concepts. For such top managers, a loyal skeptic assistant is required to filter new ideas for benefits and opportunities for implementation.

To achieve this goal, a professional is selected who meets the stated list of conditions.

There is another mission of a top manager, not so creative, but it also requires similar close consideration and the work of high-level professionals.

The top manager is obliged to provide for the stable market activity of the organization in the chosen manner and the growth horizons of the designated business.

Concerning responsibilities top managers, they include:

1. Designing the activities and improvement of the company. They form and ratify norms, plans, standards, etc., and think about what to use the finances intended for capitalization in order to increase profitability. In the case where the creator of an innovation is an ordinary employee, its introduction requires the signature of the top manager of the desired department. Thus, the future of the company is in the hands of top managers.
2. Most often, top managers are responsible for verification in the last instance (excluding shareholders). If a major violation is identified in the company, and the head of the department cannot eliminate it, the top manager launches an audit, searches for those responsible, determines ways to solve the problem and the degree of responsibility of the culprits. The decision of the supreme authorities is not subject to appeal (it is possible only in court).
3. In most cases, it is top managers, led by the CEO, who provide reporting to shareholders. Individual managers formulate the results of the reporting area, prepare documents on spending, and the CEO summarizes the report. In the event that the owners are not satisfied with the work of top managers, they are authorized to hold an early vote and elect new senior management. In addition, one of the key parts of the activity - interaction regarding the allocation of funds - is entirely entrusted to top managers.
4. Top managers of large companies are obliged to encourage middle and lower level managers to work, otherwise ordinary employees will not want to work. The more engaged managers are, the more satisfied workers are and the more productive their work is.
5. Every innovation included in the company’s activities must be presented to the top manager.
6. If there is a need to represent the company when interacting with competitors or partners, the general director or other top manager is most often responsible for this.

Qualities of an effective top manager: the difference between domestic and foreign candidates

A typical definition of the concept “top manager” is “an invited head of a serious company.” This is a person who has real influence in the company and uses it in carrying out his activities. The top manager is entrusted with the authority for administrative work and strategic planning. He guarantees the security and legal support of the functioning of the company, manages finances, the production process, marketing, information technology, sales and the team.

Portrait of a classic domestic top manager

It is very difficult to identify the general characteristics of a top manager. All managers are different, and even more so senior management. It is reasonable to note certain trends, but hardly axioms:

• age over 35 years;
• men more often occupy such positions, but the number of women in the army of top managers is increasing;
• education - higher (by and large, any, but the predominance of legal or economic can be traced);
• Experience in business process management from 1 year.

Management in Russia has become more confident, professional and experienced, as has the very nature of domestic business activity.

Specifics of business management in different industries

Middle-level managers are required to have a decent level of knowledge regarding the nuances of the operational process. A top manager of the highest order, a master of his craft, does not care what type of business he manages, since in essence he manages personnel. Its goal is to establish productive interactions, and individual specialists will understand the processes at each stage.

The main indicator for assessing an individual manager is how useful his management is in resolving issues.

Standard qualities of a top manager

• suitable level of education;
• familiarization with the features of a particular business;
• good administrative skills, possession of current approaches to the management process and knowledge of the necessary tools;
• projective manner of resolving difficulties and great authority;
• leadership ability (the ability to influence others and train the team);
• ability to distribute responsibilities and duties;
• the gift of self-control;
• a keen interest in the mission and intentions of the organization.

The following will be useful: a clear structure of personal guidelines, a high level of personal culture, a creative attitude to solving unusual problems, a desire for continuous self-improvement and productive resolution of difficulties in conditions of increased complexity, and the ability to promote a team spirit within the company.

A top manager must have solid knowledge in the field of applied management or be a natural leader. Other elements are not considered decisive, although financial skills and knowledge in the legal industry can still be very useful.

• How to form a dream team: tips for a manager

The difference between domestic and foreign top managers

The key difference is that domestic leaders, or rather managers in the CIS, are bosses elected mainly based on the degree of trust from the owners of the company or shareholders. This situation arose for many reasons and was rather forced.

In Western countries, top managers are most often appointed taking into account their ranking position and salary (from outside), as well as skills and demonstrated performance (inside the organization). In addition, it is necessary to recognize the disparate volumes of functioning of organizations in the Russian Federation and Western countries.

10 most effective top managers in the world

The Harvard Business Review analyzed the economic productivity of 2,000 company managers from 33 countries and published a list of the most profitable top managers on the planet. The magazine examined the actions of managers at the helm of organizations from 1995 to 2007.

For this reason, Jack Welch (GE), Warren Buffett (influential investor), Larry Ellison (Oracle) and Bill Gates (Microsoft) - these characters became the heads of firms before 1995 - are not on the list.

The productivity of managers was calculated based on the profits of shareholders during the period of the directorate's tenure. The average age of the bosses on the list is 52 years, among them only 1.5% were women.

According to the Harvard Business Review, the leaders included Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Samsung Electronics representative Yun Jong Yong and Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller.

Opens the list of world famous Steve Jobs. During his leadership, Apple's earnings and dividend income increased by 3,188%.

Next was the CEO of Samsung Electronics. Yoon Jung Young with an indicator of +1458%.

Alexey Miller with an increase in the profits of the co-owners of Gazprom (by $101 billion, 2000%), it settled in the respectable 3rd position on the list.

On the 4th line is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cisco Systems John Chambers.

5th place is occupied by the richest citizen of India, the head of Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani.

The executive director of Gilead Sceinces took the 6th position. John Martin.

The creator of the Amazon online store took 7th place. Jeff Bezos.

8th place went to the president of the online auction eBay Margaret Whitman.

The 9th position was earned by the CEO of Google Eric Schmidt.

• Forms of executive training: how top managers learn today

Where to look for an effective top manager of a company

A character assigned to the position of a company's top manager is capable of radically changing the course of affairs. How to ensure that changes are exclusively positive? It is necessary to select a worthwhile employee.

It is necessary to follow the established selection rules in order to find a top manager. Searches often involve recruitment companies and employment resources.

Some organizations choose a not entirely noble path - the so-called headhunting, which means targeted selection and poaching of a good employee working in a similar position in a competitive company.

Some bosses choose top managers based on private advice.

At the moment, according to the evidence of a large number of Russian companies, it is very difficult to find a worthy contender. This situation is determined by the shortage of professional personnel in the labor market. If a worthy candidate is found, there is a need to arouse interest in future interaction.

The best top managers only occasionally leave their profiles in public services and are reluctant to agree to a conversation about cooperation. Any request to find a high-level professional is specific, as it is necessary to combine a wide range of nuances. All organizations have their own factors: from personality characteristics to the agreement between the professional skills of a manager and the size of entrepreneurial activity.

There are a number of known core technologies selection of leading top managers:

• Professionals unanimously believe that the most creative search method is the selection of a boss in a competitive ranks. This is the most difficult method, but it is precisely the one that can add updated, creative moments to the company’s activities.
• Often, when searching for a manager, HR employees resort to the help of recruitment firms. This makes it possible to transfer the task of selecting a professional to other hands and save time, because before the recruitment company chooses a specific person, it organizes a large number of conversations with various candidates. In this option, you should pay attention to the skills of the staffing agency employees and opinions about their activities.
• The leading manager can also be found at various seminars and conferences that are constantly organized in the business environment. At such meetings, it is possible to evaluate the applicant and look at him from the outside - at his mode of action, principles of communication, skill in developing a report. Most often, in this way you can take a closer look at the candidate for a leading position in order to attract the collected materials during a personal conversation in the future.
• It should not be excluded that the company itself may already have an employee who is capable of leadership activities. This option seems to be very energy-intensive, since personnel officers will need to sort through a lot of candidates, and then involve the selected applicant in long-term training. At the same time, it is precisely such “nurtured” top managers who collaborate with the organization for a long time.

Principles for selecting a top manager

When selecting an applicant for the position of top manager, the company must take into account his education. Professionals note this point as the main point when choosing a leader. An educational institution does not have to be paid or elite; it must provide an exemplary amount of skills for work. It would be preferable to compile a list of universities, the certificate of completion of which will be considered a positive condition for employment in the company. In addition, a significant selection criterion is reviews of the applicant from the previous company. It must be borne in mind that competitive organizations are not interested in losing good employees, and therefore are capable of providing inadequate reviews and false ratings, and therefore it is worth comparing information from the employee himself and data from the previous place of work.

Since the activities of a top manager involve communication, when choosing a candidate, you should also pay tribute to the person’s appearance. In addition, the manager must have the ability to build contact with each person in various conditions, which implies his correctness and delicacy. Resilience in stressful situations will also be a plus for the applicant.

• The secret of a female manager's success: an interview with a Samsung top manager

Expert opinion

It's hard to find a good top manager, but keeping one is even harder

Yuri Bogopolsky,

Vice-President of the National Association of Highly Qualified Top Managers - Management Experts, St. Petersburg

The search for actively growing top managers to join the team is combined with fear - they can be lured into a competing company, promising better conditions. The owner should know that every applicant for a top manager position is a permanent participant in the labor market. He strives to use any position that comes to him as the next step to increasing his price. This specialist is not able to avoid doing this during his working period.

How to interview a top manager

An HR employee must prepare more thoroughly for a conversation with a top manager than for a meeting with an ordinary specialist. During preparations, you need to work through the applicant’s profile, accumulate significant feedback and information about him, develop an outline and individual talking points, and also outline the factors for evaluating the candidate’s answers.

When looking through the profile of a future top manager, it is necessary to note his work experience and period of service in one company. Such information may indicate the skill and productivity of the applicant. You should not lose sight of working with information about a specialist posted on the Internet - scientific papers, reports at seminars, as well as pages on social networks or characteristics of past subordinates. This kind of material can tell much more about the applicant than negotiations.

When working through a conversation with your boss, it is worth indicating in what form it will take place and who will undertake it. For a potential top manager, it is necessary to prepare a presentation of the company in order to outline the state of affairs and at the same time awaken interest in cooperation.

There is no need to give false information to the candidate or avoid mentioning difficulties in the company, since a serious professional will still see them, and this may put him off. Specifically, during the conversation, you should concentrate on aspects which are the most significant for the boss:

• appearance;
• punctuality;
• grammatically correct speech;
• self-presentation skills.

During the interview, you need to determine what exactly the candidate worked on, what personnel skills he has, what information he learned during additional training. There is no need to talk about what can be learned from the questionnaire. The candidate should be given time to tell a more detailed story about himself.

During the conversation, it would be useful to ask the applicant’s opinion on problematic issues of our time - social responsibility or bribery, for example.

Typical questions To a top manager applying for a vacancy:

1. Who do you admire the most and for what reason?

The response information will tell you enough about what kind of applicant is taking part in the conversation, what he gravitates toward, and whether he has characteristics that will make it easy to get involved in the company’s culture. Such a subject of discussion forces the interlocutor to decide: to answer sincerely or to try to convey what is expected of him.

1. What skills and personal characteristics were you advised to improve during the previous analysis of your work?

If the applicant is truthful, he will show that he is aware of his gaps and reveals them to the interlocutor. Such information helps to select an applicant with minimal flaws. It is easy to clarify the information received by contacting the previous management.

1. Why did you come to us?

It is mandatory to say this phrase when the applicant takes the place offered to him. This is a very effective method to find out whether the applicant really wants to work for the company or whether he just wants to get any position.

1. You are a fan of such and such a team. If you became its owner, what measures would you take to improve it?

This point makes it possible to assess how quickly the applicant thinks and knows how to competently present his ideas. Will the candidate tell you about the necessary replacement in the team? Is he able to restore the team's reserves in memory? Will it produce serious evidence without verbosity within 5 minutes?

1. What is your hobby?

Personal passions lead to success.

1. Talk about an unfavorable environment that will not help your success.

The applicant most likely did not prepare information on this topic in advance, which will demonstrate the success of reflection in real time, and also reveal personality traits, social and cultural influence, which is extremely interesting.

1. In the case where you were allowed to act as you wish, what would perfect work look like for you?

The information received from the candidate will tell about his experience. This topic also reveals the inclinations and advantages of the applicant. The applicant can talk about his desire to make a political career, own a restaurant, start a business - this is how his deepest desires will appear.

Particular attention should be paid to the end of the interview

When the conversation is over, it’s worth rethinking the resulting interview:

• whether there was any dissonance in the candidate’s information;
• to what extent it was believable;
• whether prejudice has arisen regarding his work skills;
• Is it worth telling your boss that this applicant meets the specified parameters for the position and should be scheduled for a conversation with senior management and the owners of the company.

Set a time frame for the final verdict and communicate it to the applicant. If all the advice was taken into account at the previous steps, there should be no difficulties in future actions.

If the applicant turns out to be suitable, you need to formulate a final opinion about his person, supplement his questionnaire with clarifying comments, and think over a plan for the proposed financial incentive. All papers must be sent to the boss for an additional conversation and the final conclusion on the topic: whether to approve the applicant for the position of top manager of the company or to refuse him.

Managing top managers: training and motivation

1. The most difficult aspect of leadership is thinking through productive motivation schemes top manager and the structure of adequate assessment of his work.

Available two main trends in motivating top managers:

• The economic option relies on monetary incentives.

In this case, a plan for his financial incentive is being thought out, namely: a compensation package for the top manager, which encourages his interest in improving the company, increasing income, increasing business capitalization, increased commitment in developing management decisions, and a focus on promising work.

• The top manager's compensation package includes two parts: constant and variable.

1. The constant component is a clear salary assigned to a top manager for having a specific list of skills and abilities that help resolve pressing problems.
2. The variable component represents funds that depend on performance indicators

It may include various bonuses, option payments, as well as deductions from the company’s income. Most often, this part takes up at least 50% of the invited manager’s salary. The proportion of bonus funds for third-party bosses increases according to the productivity of their work.

Bonuses for top managers are paid based on performance during the year, subject to specific standards. However, the actual result sometimes cannot be accurately assessed. This is largely due to the “transparency” of business activities, a well-functioning scheme of leadership, management and financial accounting.

Sometimes the thirst for an increased bonus prompts managers to give orders that help resolve immediate problems, but do not take into account the distant future of the life of the company. Mistakes by top managers threaten the organization with serious losses, so motivation methods should be correlated with the long-term consequences of their work, as well as with team thinking.

Investment approach to motivation

1. The foundation of incentive schemes designed for the long term, which encourage invited managers to work taking into account future results and to strive for growth in business capitalization, is the investment option. With it, the manager’s reward is correlated with the presence of a clear material result - an increase in income or the value of the company. These are so-called option schemes, most often prepared 3-5 years in advance.

Highlight:

• An option to purchase securities at a certain price during a specific period of time in the future.
• A discount scheme for purchasing securities at a price below the market price.
• A bonus plan that allows the manager, after a specific period of time, to receive not securities, but the difference between the current price of a designated quantity of them and their future value. This plan is called a “phantom option” and is used when owners do not want to “dilute” the business.
• Permission to receive securities free of charge, subject to specific material results.
• A limited option is an unpaid purchase of an approved number of securities, subject to cooperation with the firm for a specified time.
• Index schemes are permission to purchase securities at a price that is determined by a market or industry index.

The ultimate desire of a company owner is a leader who is completely dedicated to the business, has great commitment, is interested in improving the company, and has a creative approach to solving pressing problems. In a word, he treats the business as if he had become the full owner.

1. An additional motive is "white" wages, which serves as an auxiliary tool for providing loans from banks.
2. It is also worth mentioning social package as a stable stimulation for the manager, since this contributes to the solution of individual private goals or problems with the help of the company.

The social package may include:

• the right to use a company car;
• pension and health insurance;
• personal car insurance;
• life insurance;
• food allowance;
• absolute or partial payment for education;
• the right to use a fitness club and swimming pool;
• covering travel expenses;
• payment for kindergarten and education of employees’ children;
• moving and renting housing at the expense of the company, etc.

The company, in addition, can develop separate social programs for top managers, for example, issuing loans on preferential terms for the purchase of housing, a car, a country house, providing elite education, etc.

1. Non-material incentives also matter:

• activities at seminars;
• membership in professional clubs and associations;
• trips abroad and internships abroad.

All of the above points can become additional significant motivating points that make it possible to retain important employees at the company.

Developing an ideal balance between the financial and ideological components of the invited top manager’s motivation serves as the foundation for his effective work for the benefit of the company and for building open interaction with the owner. Both invited managers and the owners of the business themselves need to build such a motivation scheme. Designing a personal motivation plan for every hired boss, taking into account their self-motivation and private needs, is a very important point. And the basis for productive communication will be mutual trust, spiritual comfort and common goals of the owner and the invited top manager.

2. Training also provides for certain nuances.

The company is not capable of improvement without assimilation of external information and skills. Thus, the head of the organization, as a source of growth for the company, is obliged to gain new knowledge and deepen his professional and personal range of interests.

Directions The progress of a top manager can be:

• competence in management issues (forward thinking, improving leadership skills, designing and structuring actions, methods of productive management, etc.);
• training in creative vision and plasticity of thinking;
• interaction with your hidden reserves;
• working with the team (creating a productive group of managers in which there is a common orientation and cooperation, motivating the team for success).

So that neither the HR department nor the top manager directly has any doubts about the need for personal growth, the company should organize a working atmosphere in which bosses will independently feel the desire to constantly work on themselves.

What and how should be taught?

To begin with, it is worthwhile, in principle, to obtain information about various methods for increasing the effectiveness of a top manager.

• Study under the guidance of famous business mentors (public plans or individual company request).

Of course, in this case, you should turn to powerful, well-known teachers who occupy leading positions in the market, with brand names that are legendary.

A top manager needs summation and structuring of accumulated knowledge and the ability to study the environment from the outside. Not everyone knows this, and it is especially difficult for new managers who feel the need for a foundation of strategic skills and tools. For all types of top managers, working with renowned business coaches is in any case an additional point to motivation and fresh thoughts.

• MBA courses

The programs have already proven their effectiveness. There, bosses not only replenish the stock of information on professional issues, but also master the metafunctional material that is needed for a more successful understanding of work processes in the aggregate. They also become involved in the activities of effective companies and meet successful employees, whose exploits stimulate the desire for personal success. In a large number of organizations, mastering MBA programs is an integral part of the work of top-level managers.

• Seminars/trainings with entrepreneurship gurus

They are mainly necessary for the management of companies to replenish energy and raise the emotional background, which is also worthy of attention.

• Specialized congresses

At such events, bosses function as spectators or speakers. One way or another, this is a mutual enrichment of developments and considerations, a convenient moment to discuss the current difficult aspects of entrepreneurship with those who are best versed in business issues.

• Cross-talk/practice

This shows bosses the business from a different angle, promoting the development of creative thinking and a creative view of the state of affairs, which is required by every manager in a moving market.

An example might be an executive internship at a Silicon Valley firm to improve understanding of how creative thinking influences entrepreneurial performance, or temporary work on a famous soccer team to improve leadership skills.

Each company decides for itself which method to choose. It’s great if there are resources to use all the ways to develop top managers. However, one nuance should be taken into account - training within the company (that is, with the help of corporate trainers) is strictly prohibited in the case of management.

A home teacher simply does not have the information and skills that top managers need. In addition, he is not authoritative for management, so there is no need to talk about the success of training.

Expert opinion

Long-term motivation programs for top managers do not work in Russia

Alexander Glushkov,

General Director of the Mone beauty salon chain, Moscow

It seems to me that at the moment in domestic entrepreneurship, strategic motivational plans calculated for a period of more than three years are not effective. Organizations of a similar scale to us are able to project a growth path for a maximum of three years into the future, which cannot be said about, say, companies in Japan, where they have long been planning activities for 25-50 years.

Designing for a long period of time is extremely difficult due to the instability of the economic situation in the state (including changes in tax law), and the unforeseen speed of growth of entrepreneurship in the Russian Federation. Because of this, long-term motivational plans are still being improved and applied occasionally. In addition to the above-mentioned points, the skeptical attitude of top managers directly to such projects is also important. A large number of top managers have not yet determined for themselves what niche they want to operate in after a few years.

Anyone can become a top manager

A top manager is not a specialty, but a special degree of information, skills and knowledge of information, which involves not only leading positions, but also a wide area of ​​accountable issues.

This is an attractive, but far from the easiest job for those who are capable of self-organization and organizing others, for those who know how to make verdicts and consider problems from the point of view of possible risks. This is a kind of game for the survival of the company.

Secret No. 1. Take a closer look at your personality and calculate your possibilities

It would not be entirely fair to classify only the management of companies as the highest level. Strictly speaking, a top manager is a person who is capable of bearing a greater degree of obligation than others and is ready for autonomous decision-making. Therefore, those who are wondering “how to become a top manager” will have to work hard on themselves.

So it turns out that these are the heads of either entire companies, or large divisions of some companies. However, there are also experts at an expert level in various areas. Often such specialists are not interested in management positions, but the size of their salaries can be compared with management remuneration. For the organization, they are considered very significant employees, in whose hands all the threads of the success and prosperity of the company are collected. It would be incorrect to call them anything other than top-tier professionals.

Everyone can become a top-level specialist

In this case, a number of personal characteristics are required, supplemented by systematic improvement:

• The basis is fundamental education, best of all - exactly in the field where you want to work. However, theoretical knowledge is a necessary, but not the most significant component of success.
• Non-academic experience is required, a real understanding of processes and structures, applied skills in working with a team, and an autonomous view of the business situation are required.
• Personal initiative, courage, ambition. All together forms the basis for subsequent growth; without these conditions, professionals simply will not be able to assimilate the abundance of material at a fundamentally different level.

If a person fits these standards and has a desire to achieve a lot, it is worth considering that to join the ranks of top managers, you may need GMAT test results, which confirm the presence of mathematical and logical knowledge. Of course, to master foreign courses you will need an excellent degree of proficiency in the relevant language (which must be provided with special documents).

It’s not just young people who tend to learn

Some already successful bosses do not plan to make room for newcomers, but are inclined to improve with them. However, they most often choose more serious courses, for example, Executive MBA or Global MBA.

Meeting such a leader during the training process is great luck for future bosses, since in addition to the desire for growth, he already has enormous knowledge. And for the manager himself, communication with novice specialists will also be useful, because they evaluate many familiar phenomena differently. The enrichment becomes two-way: a fresh look at what is happening, combined with techniques tested many times, guarantee excellent results.

Secret No. 2. Gain knowledge within the walls of educational institutions, and not through personal mistakes

Of course, in the circle of top-level managers there are unique people who have raised themselves on their own. They slowly, but steadily moved towards the set results, collecting the necessary information and profitable contacts along the way. They took risks and tried not to make mistakes, demonstrated diligence and persistence, and ultimately gained a lot.

Now the youth of speech are hanging on the tail of their predecessors, intelligently and systematically working on career growth. At the moment, it is well known that the nuances of entrepreneurship can be mastered, and there are a lot of courses open at foreign universities and business schools for these purposes.

In addition, if an activity is planned, say, in Australia, then they go there to get the necessary information. If in European countries, the choice stops at one of the local schools. In the case of the United States, attention is paid to American options. Accurate horizons are the main characteristic of those who are interested in achieving serious positions. They clearly understand why they need any materials and how they will be used.

It should be noted that mastering courses on business topics for top managers allows you to achieve real success, of course, if the accumulated information is immediately put into use. The professional selects from the methods voiced by the coach or colleagues those that work in a certain company in a specific position.

This is an extremely important point. It has long been known that information left unused becomes passive and disappears after some time. In this regard, when striving for learning, it is necessary to choose the right moment, assessing personal experience and preparedness. The funds spent must serve as an investment on the path to career growth.

Information about the experts

Yuri Bogopolsky, Vice-President of the National Association of Highly Qualified Top Managers - Management Experts, St. Petersburg. National Association of Highly Qualified Top Managers - Management Experts. Field of activity: management expertise. Form of organization: non-profit organization. Location: St. Petersburg. Number of personnel: 114.

Alexander Glushkov, General Director of the Monet beauty salon chain, Moscow. The Monet network unites 15 beauty salons in Moscow and two in St. Petersburg. In 2005, its own line of hair care products was launched, and the Monet Beauty House was opened. This year we launched our own line of hair dyes, Mone Impression Color. The company founded the Mone Beauty Awards for women who embody the harmony of external and internal beauty. The total number of personnel is 360 people. Annual turnover: $8 million. In 2007, the Scandinavian private equity fund Mint Capital acquired a blocking stake in the company for $8 million.