Posted:
Hi John
This may be a great place to put a decent "Management Review" together.
I have not seen any writing on how to evaluate your "On Site" manager, but here are some general thoughts to get your board going.
1 Find a copy of "Up the Organisation", its old but very usefull.
In it the Author has a two page story on how the French Finance house dealth
with monthly reports and projections/results.
Thats how I would want my evaluation handled.
2 I don't think the surveys of how you view your direct, or higher superior ask
any of the really hard questions, you want the answers to.
I want to know; How are incoming calls handled. Direct, all necessary info, parties concerned, type of incident, contact numbers, others involved
Are incidents handled promptly, resolved satisfactorily, board advised in timely fashion, monetary exposure, liability exposure if applicable
Are messages left answered promptly, and resolved.
Does the manager have the facts and the personal knowledge
to deal with the situation promptly and to finality.
Does she/he go out and get the information they require.
Does he/she balance speed and ease of resolution with most
economic longterm resolution.
3 Is the manager proactive in bringing ideas and solutions to the board.
4 What is their level of expertise and how long in the job. I'd rather have a
new motivated manager with imagination and practical sense than one with 10
years of "this is the way we've allways done it"
5 Finally the management co and she/he work for you. You can set clear expectations and demand results
I had to employ some secretaries many years back, and got fed up with employment agency reccomendations. Finally I let all the staff know we needed a new secretary, and advertised the position in a small advertisement.
When the interviewee arrived, I said hi, this is who we are, this is what we do.
Then I gave them a typewriter, before computers and still a very good test, and blank paper. Type me two letters, first an application for this position telling me who you are, what you know about us/this area of work, and second a letter introducing yourself to us, who you are, what you like, do and what you would like to be doing in3-5 years.
It was wonderful, in five minutes I could here if they could type, know that they were reasonably organised by the rythm of the typing. In 15-30 minutes I could see if they could compose a letter, be coherent, develop a presentable case, and use good language.
I'll add a more structured list a little later, as too many ideas are jumping around right now.
hope this helps
AdrianC