Question: What is the #1 most productive thing that any manager in any enterprise can do?
The most productive thing that any manager in any enterprise can do is to ensure that all their employees, all their knowledge-workers, are skilled thinkers about better ways to do their job. Those managers and staff that are not skilled thinkers are just like automatons marking time, missing opportunities for growth and maybe even losing sleep.
There are many ways to develop thinking skills. One very useful thinking skill I have devised is called ‘X10 thinking’. For more than 25 years I have been advising business leaders and their employees on how to use X10 thinking. I have assisted a wide range of enterprises from 70,000 New York City hospital employees to US corporations like GE.