Changes to the Terrain and Mechanics allows managers be autonomous and at the same time forces them to be so. The optimum level of autonomy will always depend on the nature of the business and the individual manager. The structure provides balance and a tuning mechanism. The detail allows the needs of the business and the need of the manager be identified and addressed.

Ideally managers need to be objective driven rather than solely focused on Metrics or KPI's. The more autonomous managers are, the greater the need to be holistic in their outlook. They should be in a position to pick up micro trends and indicators before they necessarily impact on the KPI. They also need to be able react to issues as they emerge before they are necessarily measured. The feedback, and the way it is distributed, can have a big bearing on this.

Proactivity is about eliminating problems rather than just dealing with their impact. The problems can be people or process related. As it stands, a huge amount of management effort is reactive, Harley's study sets it as high as 85%. A reactive approach will tend to be the default unless the structure enables and forces a proactive one.

All managers have a mix of specific and general skills. Specific skills are generally technical or discipline based and come through from the manager's core discipline. General skills are primarily management related and the reality is that a lot of management skill is learned rather than taught. When the structure is set up properly, it facilitates the development of management skills. Roles are precisely defined, appropriate facts are always available, problems are correctly identified, and ignoring a problem is not really an option. The skills developed in this way are essentially generic. It means managers are more likely to have a strategic approach to problem solving and will have a greater capacity to contribute strategically in areas outside their own.

Open and Honest sounds simplistic and aspirational but it is actually difficult to achieve. It means managers must set aside their political and defensive instincts to have just one, clear agenda. Open and honest managers will deal in facts, they will flag problems as soon as they arise and they will ask for help when they need it. This again is a matter of balance. The combination of task defined roles, full feedback, clearly identified problems, anchored communication, and transparency is instrumental in developing an open and honest attitude. There is an incentive to be so and a risk in not.

An ability to change quickly or accommodate change is a very important management attribute in the current climate. Managers often resist change. The resistance can have a variety of motivating factors. Fear of the unknown, lack of clarity, and inadequate communication would all be fairly typical contributors. A properly balanced structure will address those issues and progressively reshape people's attitude to change. Like all the others it is something that needs a deliberate focus. The structure, in effect, needs to open up the way forward and block the way back.