Art of Managing: Tackle the Big Issues by Creating Time to Think Deeply

May 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment

ArtofManagingSometimes, you just have to call a time-out.

While our tendency is to respond to the gravitational pull of our devices and the unceasing demands of the urgent and urgent-unimportant in our work lives, some issues simply require deep thought.

Most organizations and professionals get into a groove of recurring meetings and outlook calendar-driven days. They associate “being busy” with working.

The hardest work is finding the quiet time to allow you and your colleagues to stare at and talk through and solve the real issues in the way of progress.

You won’t solve: “design new approach to market and supporting organizational structure for new strategy” or, “outline succession plan for management team” in-between your 8:00 a.m. production meeting and the 10:00 a.m. call to London.

The big issues of talent and strategy and structure all demand more than transactional treatment. The decisions that commit us to distinct paths merit the thoughtfulness that can only occur when we hit the stop button, change the environment and allow ourselves to honestly engage on the issues, risks, opportunities and fears about the path.

When working with executives who are struggling to get something right…sales, profits, team dynamics etc., I look for signs that they understand the need to occasionally slow down and focus. I asked one sales executive when he took time to think about the big issues in front of his team and the firm, and his response said it all. “Never. I enjoy the thrill of the daily hunt, and I focus my energy there every day.”  OK, that explains the visible stress fractures and performance problems all over his team.

6 Ideas for Creating Time to Think Deeply:

1. Make this part of your job. Recognize and accept the need to create time to think and talk deeply about the core issues with one or more of your key colleagues.

2. Accept that off-line time is still work time. In fact it’s the right work, even though you’ve turned off your devices and are ignoring for the moment the 147 issues that seemingly can’t move forward without you opining or approving.

3. Don’t restrict “thinking deeply” to the annual offsite. Be spontaneous. Don’t restrict deep thinking time to one or two off-site retreats during the year. In my experience, the best progress is made on the big issues when the planning is less deliberate.

4. Recognize the signs that it’s time for some deep thinking and talking. Most of our big plans are developed in an iterative fashion. A compelling strategy on the surface still requires deep thinking about the assumptions and the practicalities of implementing the strategy. Don’t let the pretty pictures and great words keep you from digging deeper and throwing some mud at the ideas.

5. Learn to stimulate thinking through re-framing. Just recently, I talked through a strategy program with the head of sales and we shifted frames 4 or 5 times on how we might build a go-to-market. Every time we got one side of the multi-colored  cube right, we would look at another side and something didn’t line up. This told us to keep thinking and talking.

6. Keep talking until the discussion exposes the real issues and the honest assumptions, opinions, biases, excitement and fears. If you never hit the fears, you’ve not thought and talked deeply enough.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

Remember, being busy doesn’t mean you’re working hard. Call the time-out and create time for you and your colleagues to think deeply on the big issues. And then act.

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More Professional Development Reads from Art Petty:book cover: shows title Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development by Art Petty. Includes image of a coffee cup.

Don’t miss the next Leadership Caffeine-Newsletter! Register here

For more ideas on professional development-one sound bite at a time, check out Art’s latest book: Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development.

New to leading or responsible for first time leader’s on your team? Subscribe to Art’s New Leader’s e-News.

An ideal book for anyone starting out in leadership: Practical Lessons in Leadership by Art Petty and Rich Petro.

Filed Under: Art of Managing, Management Innovation, Performance, Strategy Tagged With: , ,

New Leader Tuesday-Job One is to Strengthen Others

May 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment

newleadertuesdaygraphic“Long before empowerment was written into the popular vocabulary, exemplary leaders understood how important it was that that their constituents felt strong, capable and efficacious.” Kouzes & Posner, The Leadership Challenge

Strengthen others.

It’s the advice no one gives you on day one.  Or, day 1000.

It’s more than advice. It’s your mission.

Early in our career our focus is on the individual staring back at us in the mirror. We’re preoccupied with engineering our own success.

And then at some point, some boss decides to make us responsible for the work (and career steps) of others. Everything has changed, yet all too often, we continue to smile back at the increasingly successful person in the mirror. 

It’s time to shift the view.

It’s not easy to move from a self-focused professional to someone who suddenly is measured by the success and growth of his or her team members.

Recognition is the first step. Too bad it’s a step that many team leaders and functional managers never make. The urgent and the urgent unimportant distract them from their rarely or never-discussed mission of strengthening others. People become tools to make numbers and complete tasks.

In reality, people are the instruments of creativity, innovation and sustainable success.

6 Helpful Reminders for Your Mission to Strengthen Others

1. You must break the mirror you’ve been staring into looking for signs of success. It’s not about you. It’s what you can do to support the learning and growth of those around you.

2. You need to change your measure of success. You will be successful if your team members feel “strong, capable and efficacious” as Kouzes and Posner share in the quote above.

3. “Strengthening Others” isn’t code for being soft. On the contrary, it comes through holding people accountable, pushing them beyond their perception of their capabilities and providing experiences that lead to experimentation, occasional failure and frequent learning.

4. Remember: teach, don’t tell. The leaders who get this right are teachers first and bosses second.

5. If you fail today, you can fix it tomorrow. There’s no expiration date on this mission.

 6. See number 5. You will fail many times. This is hard work.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

At different points in your life, you’ll shift your own personal definition of success. The day you gain responsibility for the work of others is one of those points.

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More Professional Development Reads from Art Petty:book cover: shows title Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development by Art Petty. Includes image of a coffee cup.

Don’t miss the next Leadership Caffeine-Newsletter! Register here

For more ideas on professional development-one sound bite at a time, check out Art’s latest book: Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development.

New to leading or responsible for first time leader’s on your team? Subscribe to Art’s New Leader’s e-News.

An ideal book for anyone starting out in leadership: Practical Lessons in Leadership by Art Petty and Rich Petro.

Filed Under: Leadership, New Leader Tuesday Tagged With: ,

Leadership Caffeine-Coping with Critics in the Workplace

May 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment

image of a coffee cupIf the flak is heavy, you’re near the target. (No flak, no target) –Eric Lieberman and Paul Byrne “Lessons from the Memphis Belle”

A retired senior executive offered to me that the biggest accomplishments of his teams during his career were preceded by the loudest and often personal gibes of his critics:

“It was surprising and disappointing that supposedly rational people and colleagues would work so hard to attack me as a means of attacking my ideas and the programs of my teams. I turned that disappointment into anger and then finally resolve to push forward. The critics provided the fuel for our ultimate success.”

Actors, writers and artists aren’t the only ones who have to cope with the slings and arrows of outrage or superficial praise from those looking in from the outside. As a business or function manager and someone responsible for leading others, those ready to offer their thoughts on what you’re doing wrong are never far away.

Push beyond the edge of the status quo and the critics multiply. Propose something unique and the background chatter heats up.  Hire talent that doesn’t fit the culture’s preconceived notion of “normal” and you’ll fuel the gossip fires.

While the volume and severity of the flak varies from organization to organization, it’s always there…sometimes a bit more stealth-like and at other times visible as a full-scale onslaught of criticism. When the flak gets heavy, it’s important to have a good coping strategy.

7 Ideas to Help You Deal with the Flak and Keep on Flying Towards Your Target:

1. Recognize that workplace criticism is often about fear of change and less about alternative ideas.  Never discount the gravitational pull of the status quo. When you threaten this force with change, fear promotes a variety of reactions, including criticism.

2. Beware cultivating a sense of creeping self-doubt when faced with criticism. Critics are great at making us doubt ourselves. Remember the benefits you are chasing and just focus on executing your mission.

3. Resist the urge to immediately fire back after receiving a barrage of criticism. If you perceive you must engage with a critic, choose a time and place when you’re not emotionally agitated. Above all, back away from the keyboard and avoid crafting that angry e-mail response you’ll regret as soon as you hit send.

4. Respect constructive criticism and alternative ideas from your stakeholders. Seek out the critics offering this form of input and strive to understand and where appropriate, incorporate their perspectives. Dialogue reduces friction.

5. Don’t be naïve and tune out the critics with political heft. These individuals merit attention and engagement. Start face-to-face and focus on uncovering interests, not arguing over positions.

6. Know that some critics just want to be involved. In your best Art of War approach, bring a critic on to the project team and give him or her an opportunity to contribute.

7. Resist bowing to the tyranny of consensus to silence the critics. Too many managers respond to criticism by conceding on their vision and diluting their ideas to the point of uselessness. No one gains in this situation.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

Change of any form is difficult to realize in most organizational settings. It takes courage of conviction and a strong dose of self-confidence to absorb the flak from the naysayers. Cultivate an active coping strategy to dodge, deflect or counter the flak as the situation merits.  And remember the target of your mission. If you’re taking flak, you must be getting close!

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More Professional Development Reads from Art Petty:book cover: shows title Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development by Art Petty. Includes image of a coffee cup.

Don’t miss the next Leadership Caffeine-Newsletter! Register here

For more ideas on professional development-one sound bite at a time, check out Art’s latest book: Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development.

New to leading or responsible for first time leader’s on your team? Subscribe to Art’s New Leader’s e-News.

An ideal book for anyone starting out in leadership: Practical Lessons in Leadership by Art Petty and Rich Petro.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Getting Ahead, Leadership, Leadership Caffeine, Leading Change Tagged With: , ,

It’s Your Career-7 Key Do’s and Don’ts for the Newly Minted MBA

May 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment

It'sYourCareerIt’s graduation season again in the U.S. and for most newly minted MBA graduates, it’s time for a reality check. Here are some hard-won words of wisdom on how to navigate the steps immediately following your graduation.

All over the U.S., there’s a fresh new crop of MBA candidates preparing to say goodbye to their classmates as they wrap up what will be for many, the final phase of their academic careers. A key question on their minds is, “What’s next?”

For the graduates, there’s an expectation that the degree will reasonably and quickly translate into new opportunities, fresh promotions and improved earning power. While those who graduate from the top-tier schools may find themselves on a fast or at least faster track towards opportunities and increased earnings, many (read: most) MBA graduates face a reality that looks an awful lot like more of the same, albeit, with a bit more free time.

There will be ceremonies and speeches and parties, and rounds of drinks offered up by coworkers at local watering holes.  Bosses will congratulate the new graduates, and then June will melt into July, and in many cases, not much will change for the now former students.

For those who find themselves facing a post-school return to corporate or professional normalcy, without the hoped-for “pop” from the degree, here are some thoughts on coping and capitalizing:

7 Key Do’s and Don’ts for Newly Minted MBAs:

1. Do accept that your boss views you the same on the Monday after graduation as she did last Friday. Nothing has fundamentally changed about you in her mind. Sorry, but there’s no immediate mantle of legitimacy or wisdom bestowed upon you as you shake hands and grab the diploma. You’re a work-in-process, just like the rest of us.

2. Do congratulate yourself for having the intestinal fortitude it takes to complete your degree while working, balancing family responsibilities and all of the other challenges of life. Believe it or not, your current and many future bosses will view your accomplishment not so much as remarkable or rare, but rather as a sign of your tenacity and ability to stay-the-course.

3. Don’t expect a promotion just because of the degree. It happens, but it’s not as common as you might have anticipated. The almost immediate post-MBA promotions are most often an outcome of a development program already in-place coupled with the recognition that the timing is right to task you with more. Every boss knows that the new MBA will toy with the idea of moving to greener ($) pastures, however, if you weren’t on the high-potential or fast-tack list prior to the degree, the sheepskin won’t make much of a difference in the current environment. Translation, you’ll have to navigate your own way up or out.

4. Do use the milestone as an opportunity to work with your boss and refresh your professional development plan.  It’s a great time to sit down with your boss and update or create a professional development plan. There’s every reason for you to assert that you can and want to do more for the firm, and every civilized boss will recognize the need to start feeding this fresh appetite or risk losing you.

5. Don’t even remotely hint that unless you are promoted you are gone. It’s time to show what you can do, not show that after 3 years and $150,000, you’ve grown arrogant.

6. Do accept that the completion of your MBA is the beginning of your next apprenticeship as a leader and a professional. Grad school doesn’t teach you how to lead, nor does it turn you into a great strategist, a future CEO or a management innovator.  You’ve apprenticed on the tools…mostly the science of management (hey, no jokes about the dismal science, please!), and you’ve got a license to begin applying them.  The real work of learning to lead and learning how to create value for your stakeholders has just begun.

7. Do recognize that your primary task is how to make yourself more valuable to everyone around you. Now that you are no longer distracted by school, it’s time to answer, “What have you done for us lately?” Accomplishments are the currency of the realm, not degrees!

The Bottom-Line for Now:

Congratulations! I’ll buy the first round and then tomorrow, we’ve got to figure out how to thump competitors and survive and thrive in this incredibly complex and fast-moving world. Sure hope you paid attention. Now show me what you’ve learned!

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More Professional Development Reads from Art Petty:book cover: shows title Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development by Art Petty. Includes image of a coffee cup.

Don’t miss the next Leadership Caffeine-Newsletter! Register here

For more ideas on professional development-one sound bite at a time, check out Art’s latest book: Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development.

New to leading or responsible for first time leader’s on your team? Subscribe to Art’s New Leader’s e-News.

An ideal book for anyone starting out in leadership: Practical Lessons in Leadership by Art Petty and Rich Petro.

 

Filed Under: "To Do" List, Career, Getting Ahead, It's Your Career!, Marketing Yourself, Professional Growth Tagged With: , ,

Just One Thing: How to Defuse Difficult Workplace Discussions

May 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Just One ThingAlmost all of us get this wrong in the professional environment at some time or another. Myself included.

We find ourselves in a tense situation with someone or some group who is attempting to assert a direction or insert themselves into the area we perceive as our domain, and we react by aggressively defending our position and by challenging or attacking their position.

In this situation, the part of our brain that says “fight” has won, and by dealing with the situation as a turf battle or a battle over “how” we’ve given up the chance to learn, advance and importantly, help our team or our firm.

The opportunity and the challenge is for us to take a step back and focus on uncovering the interests of our colleague (the Why) and to reconcile his or her interests with our own core thinking on the issue.

5 Ideas to Help Derail Arguments by Uncovering Interests:

1. Learn to recognize and tame your “fight” response when approached with a position-based assertion or encroachment from a co-worker. Your natural inclination is to react in kind. The right inclination is to pause and recognize the situation as an opportunity to move towards interest clarity.

2. Use “Why?” questions to uncover interests. One of the tools popularized in the Toyota Production System,  the “5 Whys Method,” is an example of this at work. When someone presents you with an idea or need, a series of “why-focused” questions will help you move from position to the essence or interest behind the idea. While it can be obnoxious to respond to every utterance of your co-worker with “Why?” you can creatively adapt this technique to fit your situation.

3. Lead the conversation by example and share your own interests. Effective resolution requires a dialog and it’s fine to be the first one to open up on the drivers behind the issue at hand. You immediately change the tone and tenor of the conversation by moving off of position and on to the motives and intentions for your approach. Your counterpart will typically respond in kind.

4. Seize and single out convergent interests. Too many people end up arguing points they already agree upon. Capture points of alignment, acknowledge the agreement and move on to identifying and discussing any divergent interests.

5. Add an objective third party to the discussion on remaining divergent interests. The objective 3rd party can listen and probe and help whittle down points of seeming divergence to their base level. Unless you’re faced with a world-domination versus let’s all live peacefully set of opposed interests, most workplace topics share a common set of interests around one or more of: improve, learn, reduce, strengthen, move faster etc, and this third party can help both of you zero in on the points of alignment.

 The Bottom-Line for Now:

Like it or not, our world of work is held hostage to our ability to communicate effectively with each other. Focusing on interests and eliminating the arguments over positions is a great way to improve communication effectiveness and gain better alignment in your organization.

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More Professional Development Reads from Art Petty:book cover: shows title Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development by Art Petty. Includes image of a coffee cup.

Don’t miss the next Leadership Caffeine-Newsletter! Register here

For more ideas on professional development-one sound bite at a time, check out Art’s latest book: Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development.

New to leading or responsible for first time leader’s on your team? Subscribe to Art’s New Leader’s e-News.

An ideal book for anyone starting out in leadership: Practical Lessons in Leadership by Art Petty and Rich Petro.

 

 

Filed Under: Career, Getting Ahead, Just One Thing, Professional Growth Tagged With: , , ,
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