New Leader Tuesday-Beware Under or Over Managing

May 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

New Leader Tuesday at Management Excellence

New Leader Tuesday focuses specifically on the topics that all of us face as we take on this most difficult of all business challenges…leading others. In addition to this regular blog feature, I’m launching the New Leader e-newsletter.  If you are a new leader or, if you are responsible for new leader development on your team, the content is designed to help support your efforts.

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The first year of your first job responsible for others (supervisor, lead, manager) is the early-awkward phase. Your technical or functional expertise and someone’s perception of your potential for leadership got you here. Your as of yet undeveloped or at least under-developed communication and coordination skills are what will carry you forward.

Making the transition to leadership is like suddenly shifting your dominant side from right handed to left handed for all of your major activities. Doable with practice, but darned awkward along the way. You’ll make mistakes…that’s expected. The goal here is to minimize the serious mistakes while accelerating your learning and acclimation.  

A common challenge for early leaders is to gauge how much to manage. Too much and you are micro-managing or even worse, doing your old job through others. The outcome is resentment and frustration over you as a leader, and an unhealthy working environment. No one does their best work for a micro-manager.

The other side of this early leader trap is under-managing. Sensitive to how much you and everyone else hate being micro-managed, and sensitive to not wanting to upset the group dynamics, your brain tells you to step back and let things go. Your brain is wrong. You falsely believe that your hands-off style will be appreciated and admired. Quit thinking about that “Boss of the Year” coffee cup…it’s not coming your way anytime soon with this style.

5 Suggestions for Getting the Management Volume “Just Right”

1. Attitude is Everything. Approach your new role with the Zen form of “Beginner’s Mind,” which embraces an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions.  Your enthusiasm, optimism and desire to support others is a great foundation for building a healthy working culture. And let’s face it, you might be a technical expert, but you are definitely not a management expert. Instead of masking your journey of discovery, embrace it…everyone knows that you are new to this role.

2. Answer the “Why?” Your team members need clear context for their work and everyone needs to understand what’s expected of them. I beat this drum a great deal. People (you included) do their best work when they have context for its connection to a bigger picture. For help on this, see my post: Gaining Critical Context for Your Team’s Mission.

3. Learn and repeat often: “How can I help?” As people grow comfortable with you, they’ll have no trouble sharing where the obstacles and barriers are. Help knock those down and you’ll be doing your job.

4. Emphasize Teaching, Not Telling. Your gut will be saying, “tell.” Your gut is wrong. Telling gets the task done, teaching creates sustainable improvement in team and individual performance.

5. Step-In As Needed, but Step Carefully. Things will go wrong and you will have to step in and pitch in…and yes, direct. When you get involved, don’t condescend or accuse. If someone dropped the ball, deal with it in private after the crisis has passed. Never waste a good crisis or problem…they are outstanding opportunities to teach and as a result, strengthen your leadership credibility.

Moving Forward:

When you signed on for the role of leader, everything about how your success will be measured, changed.  Your job is to get the team to the destination, and that doesn’t always involve leading from the front. Learn to modulate your management intensity to the situation. Too much or too little will poison the environment. It’s critical to get it just right. Not easy, but critical.

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

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

Download a free excerpt of Leadership Caffeine (the book) at Art’s facebook page.

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

To talk about a workshop or speaking need, contact Art at via e-mail at art.petty@artpetty.com

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

Just One Thing: Services ARE Performances

May 20, 2012 By 6 Comments

Just One Thing

The “Just One Thing” Series offers ideas for professional and business improvement in small, digestible pieces, one at a time.

From the book: Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic:

“Services are performances. From the customers’ perspective, the people performing the service are the company. A careless bank teller is a careless bank. An arrogant waiter is an arrogant restaurant.”

Few things evoke as much negative emotion in otherwise kind and gentle souls as a bad experience as a customer. Focus in your mind on your last really bad customer service experience and you can sense the tension in your neck growing along with the rise in blood pressure. That bad experience becomes “the company” for us.

The Aetna Rep who yelled at me for seeking clarity on how a claim was handled is the face of this firm to me.   (I escalated that one and was correct.)

As managers and leaders and individual contributors who serve external and internal customers, we intuitively know that every encounter we have…or our people have, is an opportunity to represent the organization. Why then are good customer experiences the minority and great customer experiences a rarity? The fault is ours…for poor hiring, for failing to establish and reinforce values, for lack of accountability…and for generally not giving a shit enough to make sure our organizations are properly represented by people who care and who serve.

The phone representative who agreed with me that Frontier Communications was pretty screwed up, is the face of Frontier to me.

All of the strategy plans, reorganizations and training sessions in the world won’t make up for the failure to respect and serve and honor the customer. It’s arrogant and deceitful to believe you as a leader are representing the interests of your stakeholders if you fail to create remarkable customer experiences through your team members.

Poor customer service is an outcome of a series of flawed and sometimes fatal decisions by people not invested in a cause beyond biding their time and collecting a check.

The battle axe of a grumpy, rude receptionist at the local Doctor’s office is the face of that practice.   

We are all of us at times consumers of healthcare services. These purchases find us at our most vulnerable, our most frightened and even our most ignorant. We are placing ourselves and our family members in the hands of strangers…shedding our clothes and dignity and hoping our trust is not misplaced. While there are some institutions that get this right more than they get it wrong, few that I’ve encountered do it on the scale of Mayo Clinic. I’ve no doubt from my time there that it starts with careful hiring for the right values…and comes from an unyielding commitment on the part of everyone in that institution to reinforce the core values.

Mayo is remarkable in part, because they recognize that every encounter is the face of Mayo. From the workers in the cafeteria to the receptionists greeting and serving patients to the nurses, doctors and administration, the performances are choreographed to serve customers.

What do your team’s performances say about you as a leader and about your firm?

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

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

Download a free excerpt of Leadership Caffeine (the book) at Art’s facebook page.

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

To talk about a workshop or speaking need, contact Art at via e-mail at art.petty@artpetty.com

Filed Under: Just One Thing, Leadership, Performance Tagged With: , ,

Just One Thing-Vary Your Routine For A Change

May 14, 2012 By 2 Comments

The “Just One Thing” Series: Professional Improvement is Best Enjoyed in Small, Digestible Bite-Sized Pieces-One Idea at a Time.

Most of us are creatures of habit. Same route to work…same people on the train and even our work has a familiar cycle…daily lunch with the same crowd, weekly updates, monthly reviews, quarterly briefings and seasonal events. Work long enough in the same role and you can tell the time, month and season just by the event in process

Routines are comfortable..and at the risk of being redundant, habit forming. Eventually, routines become mind numbing.

While breaking the routine is uncomfortable and even frightening for some, deliberate effort to do things differently will stimulate neural activity…wake you up and revive a mind that’s grown lazy and sleepy.

Yes, you’ll be learning. New situations require active assessment and trial and error, and eventually, they lead to learning. Your on-going routine shuts off this mental fitness work and our brains become blobs of gray-matter, growing sluggish and fat.

5 Thought-Starters for Varying Your Routine:

1. Take the path less-traveled. Take a different route to work and pay attention to the new details as you drive. When you get to work, play the equivalent of “this picture isn’t the same,” and jot down as many details as you can recall about this new route.

2. Change up your fitness routines. I know many professionals who are “religious” about their fitness programs. They subscribe to a strong-body, strong-mind philosophy and you can set your watch by the time they’ll show up at the gym. You also know that people are creatures of habit within their workout routines. If that’s you, try mixing up your pre or post-work workouts with different activities. This will minimize boredom, keep you striving and to ensure you exercise different muscle groups in different ways.

3. Change-up your lunch routine. One day a week, find someone in your firm you don’t know well and ask him or her to join you. Don’t talk about yourself…ask questions and listen.

4. Meetings are mind-killers…try mixing things up. Rotate responsibility for facilitating your recurring meetings. Encourage people to put their own twist on the meeting when it’s their turn. Reward people for creative and effective approaches!

5. Read. Read outside of your preferred genre. Read outside of your industry. If you are on the move, change read to listen (podcasts, books, book summaries etc.). Same rules apply. Mix things up.

Bottom-Line:

We all learn in different ways…by listening, by writing, by talking, by reading, by doing and so forth.While you don’t have to vary your preferred method of learning, try something different within that method. Break the routine and enjoy the new rush of energy and ideas. Of course, the next step is doing something with these new ideas and insights, but that is a post for another day.

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

For more ideas on professional development-one sound bite at a time, check our Art’s latest collection: Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development. (download a free excerpt at Art’s facebook page.)

To talk about a workshop or speaking need, contact Art at via e-mail at art.petty@artpetty.com

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

6 Ideas to Help You Move Forward on What Matters

May 3, 2012 By 12 Comments

Dream Catcher

Note from Art. Every once in awhile it’s nice to break from pure management and leadership writing and focus on our human condition. This is one of those posts…with some great help from a few friends.

Whether professional or personal, it seems that most of us carry around ideas and dreams that inspire us and give us hope for our future.

It’s fun to listen and watch as  people talk about their ideas. Their faces light up, their voices grow in enthusiasm, and for a moment in time, nothing else matters but the thought of the dream.

And then reality sets in, the glow fades, the energy level drops and the idea or dream is placed back in the closet and the door firmly shut, not to be opened until some undetermined time in the future.

Frequently Encountered Dreams Locked In Our Mental Closets and Cellars:

  • There are the unwritten books that many claim to have in them…waiting for the proverbial pen to paper or keys to keyboard.
  • There’s the career switch to a field that helps those we care dearly about or that leverages what we know in our heart of hearts is what we were meant to do.
  • I’ve lost count of the number of people who want to be in business on their own. Oddly, a fair number of those profess to wanting to own and operate Hot Dog stands. I suspect the simplicity of the business and the pleasurable (not necessarily healthful) thoughts that hot dogs evoke, are drivers on this latter one. The stand may just be a metaphor for something simple and fun.
  • It’s the degree…long postponed that is so critical to gaining admission to whatever professional game we are trying to enter.
  • It’s working on the skills…public speaking or writing, that are limiting factors in our progression.

Granted, some dreams…like certain wines have to age a bit before they can be opened and acted upon appropriately. There’s a time when conditions are just right. Mostly however, dreams…ideas we believe in or projects we want to pursue, must be seized, prosecuted and pursued with vigor…even if it’s at the pace of 15 minutes per day.

Dreams, like certain wines, go sour with too much time in the bottle.

I talk to people with big professional ideas…with dreams every single day. Most people have dreams they are interested in pursuing, but haven’t found the time to get going. Some are in pursuit, and while stressed and time challenged and slightly sleep deprived, they are happy and excited. Others are chronic achievers…they’ve cracked the code on getting going and on finishing (two very different challenges).

Instead of trotting out some motivational clichés, I polled those people who are in progress on achieving a major professional or life goal…and those who have cracked the code and have become serial achievers. Here are 6 ideas they served up to help all of us get it in gear and get going in pursuit of our dreams.

6 Ideas To Kick You in the Rear and Get You Moving:

1. Read the obituaries. I read the obituary page every morning and focus on the ages of those who have passed. I then wonder what there unrealized dreams were. Frankly, it scares the hell out of me…it scares me straight into action.

2. Kill the Cable. I cancelled the cable subscription. I was a chronic reality show watcher, and I realized that while I was watching these dumb but addicting shows, my own reality was slipping away.

3. Socialize Less to Manufacture Time. Like everyone else, there’s never enough time in my life. At first, all I could do was get up 15 minutes earlier every day, but eventually,  I worked on cutting out the useless stuff that sucked the time out of my days.  Now, don’t ask me to go to lunch…don’t ask me out for coffee, because I’ll say no. I don’t even feel guilty saying “no” anymore. I’m on a mission and that’s mission time.

4. Color Your World in Sticky Notes. I’m a Project Manager by background, so I use my own tools to plan my work. Simple and visual work for me. My office wall is covered in yellow sticky notes. When I achieve something, I draw a big red X through the item on the note, but leave it up. It reinforces progress or my need to make more progress.

5. It Starts with a Note or a Call. I’ve learned that there are always people on my path towards a goal…and instead of wondering what they think, I reach out and call them.  I’ve been thinking about getting my Ph.D. for the last decade, and I’m no closer today. I reached out to a Dean of a program I’m interested in and delicately broached the issue of my advancing age. He laughed and offered tongue in cheek that I was a little young (at 51) compared to the oldest in the program, but that my youth could be overlooked.

6. Hire Someone Who Doesn’t Care About Your Feelings or Excuses. Another offered: I hire a coach who doesn’t care about my excuses…but who delicately (like a sledge hammer on a railroad spike) reminds me of what it is I wanted to do and why I’m not getting there.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

A body at rest tends to stay at rest. Action begets action. Chances are, the idea has fermented in your mind long enough. Get it in gear and get moving before someone uses you as an example of how not to achieve.

If you’ve cracked the code on moving ideas and dreams into actions and achievements, consider sharing your ideas and helping move all of us along on our journeys.

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

Art Petty is a Chicago-based management consultant focusing on strategy and leadership development. Art regularly speaks on innovation in management and leadership, and his work is reflected in two books, including the recent, Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development. (download a free excerpt at Art’s facebook page.)

Art publishes regularly at The Management Excellence blog at http://artpetty.com/blog/

Prior to his solo career, Art spent 20+ years leading marketing sales and business units in systems and software organizations around the globe. You can follow Art on twitter: @artpetty and he can be reached via e-mail at art.petty@artpetty.com

 

Filed Under: "To Do" List, Career, Professional Growth Tagged With: , , , ,

Don’t Get Blindsided by Organizational Politics

April 30, 2012 By 2 Comments

Some people take pride in being deaf and blind to organizational politics. A good friend and now out-of-work colleague confesses that he didn’t see his termination coming. He offered:

“I didn’t want to play the games.”

He now knows that is approach was naïve. By ignoring the internal power dynamics in his organization, he allowed himself to be marginalized and then eliminated.

“My reviews were fine, but I ignored the shifting structure and ended up on the wrong side of someone I had shown no tolerance for during my time at the firm.”

For all of us, ignoring this very real human behavior that manifests itself as organizational politics, is a sure-fire way to end up at best on the fringe of irrelevance, and at worst, to end up outside, wondering what happened.  

Some have power, some aspire to power (or control) and others will stop at nothing to gain power.  Certainly, intentions and approaches vary. There are good people who aspire to more responsibility and to gain the opportunity to make a bigger impact. And there are others who view this as a game to win or lose. The rest tend to be passive observers along for the ride, hoping (a bad strategy all of the time) to be left alone.

“My work speaks for itself.”

Nice thought. No it doesn’t. You have to speak for yourself and, you need others willing to speak for you. Lacking both, you end up isolated and in danger.

7 Ideas for Playing Politics without Sacrificing Your Integrity

1. Build bridges across the organization. Every day. There’s nothing wrong, dirty or evil with networking, supporting others and building productive relationships with those in peer and superior roles in other parts of the organization. In fact, it’s decent, logical and shows you in good form.

2. Don’t fear new opportunities. Even if you are comfortable in your current role, if someone offers you a new opportunity, it’s because they believe you are up to the task. A good many professionals suffer from a bad case of lack of confidence when it comes to taking on something new, something different and something that involves doing more. Say “no” too many times, and the offers will dry up, and you’ll be headed for the margin of irrelevance.

3. Over-deliver, every single day.  Your results do count and word does spread.

4. Learn your boss’s agenda, and support it. Today’s boss is tomorrow’s sponsor, reference or adversary.

5. Speaking of the boss, steer clear of boss bashing. Keep your feelings to yourself, and beware the groups who thrive on breaking bad over the boss. Your words can and will be used against you.

6. Same rule as #5, different audience. Steer clear of colleague bashing sessions.

7. Attach yourself to individuals who aspire to do more in support of the firm. While these individuals might be more aggressive than you in pushing an agenda, your affiliation with people you respect and who are motivated to do good for the firm is a sincere and genuine form of playing politics.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

Choosing to ignore the internal power dynamics in your organization should come with a warning label. “Ignoring reality may prove harmful or fatal to your employment.”

Instead of taking comfort in a naive pride in your ability to “avoid the games,” participate in a manner that allows you to retain your integrity. Keep your eyes and ears open and choose your steps deliberately, all the while maintaining your integrity.

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

Art Petty is a Chicago-based management consultant focusing on strategy and leadership development. Art regularly speaks on innovation in management and leadership, and his work is reflected in two books, including the recent, Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development. (download a free excerpt at Art’s facebook page.)

Art publishes regularly at The Management Excellence blog at http://artpetty.com/blog/

Prior to his solo career, Art spent 20+ years leading marketing sales and business units in systems and software organizations around the globe. You can follow Art on twitter: @artpetty and he can be reached via e-mail at art.petty@artpetty.com

Filed Under: Career, Professional Growth, Values Tagged With: , , ,
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