CHAPTER 1
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT

Management is the art of getting things done with and through other people. The bigger our aspirations, the more we need to work with others to achieve them.

But under many traditional management approaches, people are treated more like machine parts than, well, people. And this is no accident-many modern-day management practices have roots in U.S. slavery and worker exploitation.1 They place profit and a narrow definition of productivity above all else-including the well-being and dignity of employees, the greater good of society, and the health of our planet.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of Black Lives Matter and other movements for justice, we've seen some long-overdue pushback against this model. More people are reevaluating their priorities. Many are deciding that too much of their time and energy is spent at work.

People are also expecting better from their employers-as they should! Now, more than ever, especially in social justice spaces, people want employers to practice what they preach about equity, sustainability, and justice. Staff and managers alike want to be valued as human beings, not treated like cogs in a machine. We want to do purpose-driven work-without sacrificing living wages, good benefits, and reasonable hours for the sake of "doing what we love." We want to build authentic connections with our colleagues. We want managers who believe in us and help us realize our potential.

At The Management Center (TMC), we believe that truly effective management means living up to these expectations-and getting important things done. This chapter covers our overall approach to management, the dimensions and mindsets of effective management, and some of the fundamental tools we use to practice it.

OUR CONSPIRE-AND-ALIGN APPROACH TO MANAGEMENT

If managing is about getting things done with and through other people, most traditional approaches are almost all "through" and no "with." Staff are treated like highly skilled automatons and are rarely consulted for their input. 2 This is often referred to as a command-and-control style of management.

The command-and-control approach is too inflexible and impersonal for those of us doing complex, human-centered work on systemic and social change. This kind of work thrives on collaboration, trial and error, and relationship-building-all of which a command-and-control approach stifles.

We take a different approach. We call it conspire and align. It means coming together with our team members for a collective purpose and getting on the same page about realizing that purpose. As managers, we view staff as partners-people we exercise power with, not over. We're not drill sergeants barking orders; we're in a team huddle, whispering plans and working out plays.

We chose the word conspire deliberately. For one thing, we believe folks working for justice, equity, and social change should be getting into "good trouble," as the late U.S. House Representative John Lewis put it. We're up to something-and that something usually involves trying to topple a status quo that doesn't serve us.

Conspire is also meaningful for another reason. Back in 2007, Jakada participated in a Rockwood Leadership Institute year-long program. In one of its final sessions, then-president Akaya Windwood led the group in a breathing exercise. She said, "This is the meaning of conspire-to breathe together. To be so deep in it with each other that we share the same air. This is the level of closeness-of alignment-that we aspire to as leaders and as movements."

It's true; the word conspire also comes from the Latin conspirare, which means "to breathe together," and shares a root with the words inspire and aspire. When we conspire, we co-inspire ourselves and our team with a shared, co-created vision of success. When we align, we get in formation-not like battle formations, but the way birds flock, dancers get in their place, and people assemble at marches and actions.3 When we conspire and align, everyone understands where we're going and our role in getting there.

When we reframe management in this way-and create structures and practices to support it-a new world opens up. We're no longer limited to the brilliance of one person. When a team works well together, its members' combined powers are greater than the sum of their parts. It's still up to us to own our power and responsibility-but it's not up to us to have all the answers.

The conspire-and-align approach can be used in both nonhierarchical settings4 and in places with positional power-the kind of power most people think of in the workplace, where an executive director has more power within the organization than a middle manager, who has more power than their direct report. Conspire and align is about recognizing power, being honest about it, and exercising it thoughtfully.

Many of you might already take this approach. If you've ever brainstormed a vision of success with your team, sought input before making a decision, or tapped your team's knowledge and expertise to solve a tricky problem, you've conspired and aligned.

EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT AND WHITE SUPREMACY CULTURE5

Author and activist Tema Okun names 15 "White Supremacy Culture Characteristics" that white dominant culture holds up as virtues.6 Those characteristics are perfectionism, a sense of urgency, defensiveness and/or denial, quantity over quality, worship of the written word, the belief in one "right" way, paternalism, either/or binary thinking, power hoarding, fear of open conflict, individualism, progress defined as more, the right to profit, objectivity, and the right to comfort.

Packaged together and left unchecked, these are some of the worst habits of ineffective management and toxic workplaces. They promote a narrow definition of success, keep power in the hands of a few, demand productivity at all costs, and stifle diversity and difference. The antidotes to white supremacy culture are a social justice-oriented management approach, centering equity, inclusion, and belonging.

We want to be clear: effective management isn't just about saying "no" to everything on Okun's list and doing the opposite. After all, we do feel a sense of urgency about social injustices, and sometimes progress is more-white supremacy culture didn't invent goals, y'all! Effective management isn't just about being against racism and other systems of oppression. It's about being staunchly for racial equity and social justice, which leads us to question the status quo and seek different approaches. Instead of believing in only one "right" way, we work to apply multiple ways of knowing,7 and draw on the wisdom of marginalized communities-whether they be BIPOC, queer, trans, disabled, immigrant, or many others.

THE THREE DIMENSIONS OF EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT

A command-and-control view of management treats people like robots and the natural world like something to be tamed and conquered. It takes a stance of domination, extraction, and exploitation-classic examples of white supremacy culture in action.

Conspire and align, on the other hand, approaches management the way we'd ideally tend a garden: by engaging in reciprocal acts of care. By gardens, we're not talking about manicured green lawns in desert climates and prize-winning roses behind fences. Instead, we're talking about healthy, sprawling ecosystems that sustain life for generations through thoughtful, active stewardship.

This is why, under the conspire-and-align approach, we believe management can only be "effective" if it has three dimensions: equitable, sustainable, and results-driven.

Equity, sustainability, and results are like three strands of a braided rope. The braid weakens if you try to separate the strands. They reinforce each other and depend on each other. And effective managers don't play favorites-they don't routinely focus on one dimension at the expense of the others.

Equitable

Ever tried to grow a tomato in a desert? In the same way that specific environments favor some plants while creating barriers for others, some workplaces are easier for some people to succeed in than others. Most people aren't consciously trying to oppress others, but we can't help being steeped in white supremacy and other systems of oppression. Equity is about disrupting these systems and creating new practices so that more people-especially those with marginalized identities-can thrive.

Note that equity and equality are different. Equality means treating everyone the same-but equal treatment doesn't always lead to equal outcomes. Equity calls for managers to account for unconscious bias and systemic barriers in supporting people to...