What will managers manage?

It seems like it will take a long time before the Philippines reaches 60 percent vaccinated population or what they say may be herd immunity. In the meantime, many businesses may collapse, throw in the towel, or declare bankruptcy. Then we will expect a surge in unemployment not just of rank and file employees, but managers as well. When that happens, which is more like when that time comes sooner than later, what are managers to do?

Manage your home

You may be surprised that managing the home takes more than just a few hours a day. How many times have you cleaned the airconditioners this year? How much water do you consume? How do you gain from inverter aircons? Do you need a wifi with mesh? These are questions you never had to ask because you spent most of your time at the office. Not anymore.

Manage your finances

Do you have at least six months of expenses saved up in the bank? What can you dispose of that may be worth some money? What do you have too much of? What other income sources might you have, other than your job?

Manage your relatives

If you have children, make sure they can still go to school. If they are done with school, let them start a business, a hobby, a career that is not dependent on the usual way of doing business.

Manage your relationship

Invest time in your relationships because these will be very vital during these uncertain times. You do not need a divorce, legal separation or even a heartbreak during an economic crisis.

Manage yourself

Take time to reflect on your career, your skills and your experience. You can prime yourself for a career change. You can start to learn new things from Masterclass or Coursera. You need not have another diploma, what you need is a choice, an alternative career.

I often joke that tour guiding is an alternative career for me. That was when we could still go out and bring people around. Even that alternative is no longer possible now. I also tried writing and had editors check my work. For about 10 years now, I have been contributing to dailies and through my organizations. Luckily, some pieces get published and some pieces, well, stay in my LinkedIn article files.

I also adopted a passion project—a farm development project that may take a couple of years, not just weeks or months. You can also adopt someone’s farm, try your hand at management of people and other living creatures. I can tell you, there is no rulebook. I have had electrical outages due to theft, no water because of drought and other similar management problems any manager faces. Yet we have to manage. But there are its rewards: fresh vegetables, discovering trees and other living things in the farm, and fresh air.

Not everyone will be absorbed by the new economy in their usual jobs. We all have to learn to put our management skills somewhere else. And also learn a new craft or skill. What will the new world need more of?

Answer: Younger people who are digital natives. Older ones can immigrate to the digital world by learning to navigate the internet. You have to start learning how to manage people, but you have to talk their language: UX (User experience), UI (User interface), SEO (Search engine optimization), SEM (Search engine marketing), Bitcoin, etc. Warning: Many of them manage themselves.

Unless you will establish a new biotech or digital company, it’s time to think of what else you can do besides being a manager. Because many businesses will pivot and they may not need managers anymore. So try and imagine firing yourself and check what options turn up.

Management is not only for managing people down the line. Management is planning not just our jobs but our life. Management is directing ourselves, keeping things operational at home and of course, controlling the details. Same management principles. Just different venues.

In the meantime, still think of your triple bottom line: people, planet, profit. Is your chosen field going to be good for people, good for the planet and will have some money coming your way? Then you are off to a good start.

Management is not just for the usual office. Management is needed everywhere where your new “office” or career may be located. Think about this now so the sooner you start your new career, the better it is for the whole economy. INQ