We Are All Just Temporary Stewards
My blogging volume is off a bit due to client engagements and teaching activities (a good problem), but I had to take a timeout this afternoon and share some thoughts from a recent discussion. A very thoughtful manager summed up his perspective on his role in the organization as that of a Temporary Steward.
With his permission, and I am paraphrasing: “It’s not our business, it’s not our company, but we have a responsibility to those that will inevitably take over from us to leave the business in the best possible condition.” Thoughtful comments and an interesting way to look at things.
While I suppose you could interpret the Temporary Steward label as a means of rationalizing subpar performance or lack of engagement, for this manager, it was just the opposite. It was clear from our discussion, that he cares very deeply about the organization’s success, about its future state given the changing world that we live in, and importantly, about the people that work in the organization.
From my own perspective, I like the concept of thinking about our tenure as finite. It creates a sense of urgency and it helps us focus on priorities. I’ve observed too many corporate managers that lost track of the fact that they are not guaranteed a job or even that their company will be there next week. Once you start acting like you own the bricks and mortar and the chair and desk that you sit at and even the people that work for you, your judgment clouds, your motivation weakens and your intentions become suspect.
- I’m responsible for contributing more everyday than I take out of the organization.
- I’m accountable to future leaders, managers and employees to do my best to ensure that there is an organization in place for them to contribute to, earn from and to grow.
- I recognize that I am here on the good graces of customers and stakeholders, and I will seek to create value for them every day.
- If I manage people, I’m responsible for doing the heavy lifting and difficult work of providing constant feedback, supporting individual development and eliminating those that can’t perform or that don’t match our values.
- I’m responsible for watching what is going on in the world around us and for helping pick a path to march down. I’m also responsible for recognizing when we’ve chosen the wrong path and helping us change course.
- I won’t take myself so seriously that it causes me to strike out in anger, play politics or spend unproductive time complaining.
- I’ll work hard to recognize when it is my time for my stewardship to end, and I’ll look back on the successes and failures as learning experiences. I’ll leave the regrets for someone else, because as a Temporary Steward, I’ll know that I left everything that I had on the playing field.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Don’t take yourself so seriously that you start believing that you transcend the organization. Start focusing on what you can do to create value today that will ensure that there is a future for your organization. And remember that you will not pass this way or live this day again. Leave things better than you found them.
Decision-Making and The Three Rules of Risk Management
Filed under: Leadership, Leadership Skills, Life and Business, Making Decisions, Management Education
Your decision-making style says a lot about you as a leader. Some people make a lot of decisions with little more than a gut hunch to guide them and others spend a lot of time gathering insights and information to support their decision. Others struggle to make decisions on anything and might still be considering what to order for breakfast when it’s time for dinner. And still others avoid making decisions because taking a stand increases the odds that they will be held accountable for results.
Our decision-making style is driven in large part by our tolerance of risk, something that can change based on many personal and professional circumstances. An executive guiding a turn-around might operate with a high-degree of risk tolerance, while a project manager leading a construction project might have a much lower risk tolerance. First-time leaders might not have formed a solid decision-making style and might process risk at a slightly more conservative level than how they perceive their direct manager dealing with it.
A participant in a recent leadership workshop that I conducted offered up the Three Rules of Risk Management that she learned from her father (an engineer). I am grateful that she shared and appreciative of the wisdom her father passed along in these simple but powerful rules.
The Three Rules of Risk Management
1. Don’t risk more than you can afford to lose.
Good advice for corporate leaders, mid-level managers and everyone in their personal lives. Determining what you can “afford to lose” is of course the key issue here, and sometimes not so easy to calculate. A patient requiring a heart-transplant to live has one definition and a single parent that needs a paycheck to feed his family has another. It’s OK to agonize over this one a bit…it is the foundational data point of the Three Rules.
2. Never risk a lot for a little.
Common sense, yes, but I see this one violated everyday. People risk their credibility arguing over who’s right and who’s wrong on small issues. Boards and executive teams pursue ill-conceived acquisitions based on questionable assumptions. Marketing and development teams invest heavily in new products without a good understanding of the problem they are trying to solve for their prospective buyers. The operative issue here is defining whether the perceived end game or outcome is worth a lot (usually the assumption) or some fraction of a lot (usually reality). Align risk with the true definition of the outcome.
3. In general, take the risk if you can affect the outcome.
In my opinion, this is the most profound of the three rules, and another point worth agonizing over as you formulate your decision. Hoping that the dice roll your way is what helped build all of those grand palaces in Las Vegas. You cannot control the dice…they have a mind of their own, and in a business environment, hoping for the market to move your way is a guarantee that you will make your better-prepared competitor rich. You cannot affect the outcome of most situations at 100 percent, so once again, you are left to sort what you can control and what is beyond your control. This rule guides you to accept risk if you can control a significant portion of the outcome.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Learning to think through your risk-environment can help you make the right calls on the tough issues. The Three Rules are not a silver-bullet, but they do offer a simple framework for mentally processing the implications of a decision.
In general, I’ve found that most people prefer working for leaders that make a lot of decisions and that make decisions quickly. Certainly, a leader that is slow to make up her mind or that will never make a decision has an adverse impact on her team and her organization. Alternatively, a leader that is too fast to decide or that decides more on a hunch than a good understanding of the facts, issues and risks, is prone to making significant mistakes as well. The trick is finding the right balance, and balance is about understanding and measuring your risks against possible returns. Use the Three Rules to find the right risk/return balance for your decisions.
What to Do With a Lousy Boss
Filed under: Leadership, Middle Management, Surviving Lousy Leaders
More often than not during a workshop, someone will raise their hand and ask, “All of this stuff about being a good leader is nice, but what do I do about my lousy boss?” Being fairly fast on my feet, I resort to the facilitator’s fail-safe of “asking the audience” before offering my own suggestions on this dicey issue. Not surprisingly, there are few satisfying answers (that don’t include jail-time for you as a possible outcome) to this dilemma shared by so many.
Generally, the complaints fall into one of the following categories:
Doesn’t support me
Offers plenty of criticism
Criticizes/berates in public
Contradicts himself/herself
Micromanages and then criticizes me for not making decisions
Takes credit and dispenses blame
Loves his ideas…won’t listen to our suggestions
And so on…
The fact is that as the subordinate you don’t have many good options unless you have grounds for complaint based on harassment, discrimination or other legal concerns. For sake of discussion, let’s limit the complaint list to the interactions and issues highlighted above.
What’s An Emotionally Abused Employee to Do?
The responses back from other workshop participants fall into similar categories and reflect the limited number of options that the victimized employee truly has in this situation. (My value-add in italics.)
Approach the manager and provide feedback on the disturbing behaviors.
I like this one, because it reflects that someone is thinking about applying the workshop content to a real situation. Some well-intentioned managers are not aware of all of their bad habits, and the properly constructed feedback conversation can be a valuable coaching tip for the manager. Less enlightened managers will respond with anger and/or retribution. My advice…read the situation, read the manager and it might be worth a carefully constructed conversation to raise the topic. If the manager views you as wanting to help him/her improve results/performance, you may pull this off. If you start softly and the conversation quickly deteriorates, bail out.
Take your complaint(s) to HR
HR professionals everywhere may rankle, but I hate this suggestion. Setting up HR to be the father and mother confessor and creating the expectation that HR can fix all of these issues is poor practice in my opinion. I’ve worked with a few deft HR professionals that can help individuals and teams navigate this type of a situation, but they are in the minority.
Leapfrog your boss
This is another risky proposition, and people employing it need to keep in mind that in a “he said/she said” debate between you and your boss, you lose.
Approach the boss en masse
This, “safety in numbers” strategy has a high failure rate, because when push comes to shove everyone is more concerned about their job than trying to get the boss to change. If you are leading this charge, be prepared to go it alone.
Transfer within the company
If you like and are committed to the organization, a transfer can be one way to potentially escape a lousy boss. Follow your firm’s posting rules, don’t do anything behind your manager’s back and hope that he/she doesn’t make the process more difficult for you. Also, if you apply for and don’t get a job in another department, remember that you still have to work for the lousy boss.
Leave the organization
This is often the path that good people take, and it certainly solves the immediate problem. If you do not believe that you can escape the clutches of this lousy manager and if you are not committed to your organization for your near-future growth, exiting stage right is great. However, look before you leap. Choosing a job just to escape a boss is an emotionally charged situation that can have you making a bad and potentially career damaging choice.
The Bottom-line for Now:
I suspect like most of the workshop participants seeking wisdom from their peers, that you might leave this post feeling like you didn’t find the answer you were looking for. My polite rebuttal is that the easy answer you are seeking doesn’t exist. Most of us have worked for leaders that we’ve not respected and have probably tried some or all of the above approaches along with a “Wait and See” tactic. Choosing your approach depends a lot upon your situation. How badly do you need the job? How comfortable are you in dealing with potential repercussions? Is your organization’s culture tolerant of aberrant leader behavior or are those types eventually flushed out and eliminated?
My guidance is to take personal stock of your situation, recognize the risks that you are taking in pursuing any line of action (or the psychic damage in doing nothing), prepare and act. I offer polite, constructive feedback (I coach upwards) and if that doesn’t work, transfer or leave. Life is short and you should not let your career or your self-esteem be held hostage by some chuckle head of a leader.
Ironically, Mid-Level Managers May Save Your Business
Filed under: Leadership, Middle Management, Organizational Transformation, Product Management, Project Management, Strategy
Ever since terms like reengineering, right sizing and downsizing became part of the corporate lexicon; midlevel managers have been taking it on the chin. This once populous class has been synergized and right-sized almost to extinction. Those that remain often struggle with spans of control as wide as the Golden Gate Bridge and limited authority that is constantly challenged from above and below. I find it just a bit ironic (and appropriate) that this much-abused class of leader may just hold the key to surviving and prospering in tough times.
In a great article in the July 7. 2008 Wall Street Journal, entitled: In Search of Growth Leaders, authors Carr, Liedtka, Rosen and Wiltbank offer the results of their multi-year study of the role that midlevel managers play in fueling organic growth. Their conclusion: “most companies have managers who can turbo charge results. The trick is finding—and nurturing—them. Read the article for some great insights on finding and developing these critical midlevel leaders. (And read my post: Management By Jane: Leading Effectively from the Middle for some additional thoughts.)
The Power of Great Managers in the Middle:
- Appropriately trained and armed, midlevel managers are directly focusing on strategy execution—they lead the teams that do the work that drives performance. If your organization is failing to execute on strategic objectives, look to the middle, not to place blame, but to identify what you can do better to help your managers succeed.
- As the article authors highlight, a tremendous amount of innovation comes from the middle. In my own experience, the managers that fuel innovation are the ones that are relentless about creating the right conditions for their associates to succeed. Breaking down barriers and taking the heat for bending the rules are common and comfortable tasks of the innovative midlevel manager.
- The most important talent scouts and developers are often found in the middle of organizations. The savvy manager recognizes the import of identifying and developing emerging leaders, competent role players and potentially brilliant individual contributors. While top management might want the organization to become good at this talent scouting and development, like strategy execution, the majority of the heavy lifting takes place in the middle.
Five Ideas to Strengthen Your Support and Success In the Middle:
1. Change your perspective on the midlevel management layer. Instead of looking
at the organization chart and seeing cost to be minimized or taken out, look at this group as resources to enable strategy execution, fuel innovation and scout and develop talent. Quit broadening spans of control to the point of ridiculousness, and begin setting goals around strategy, innovation and development, and suddenly the cost perspective starts melting away.
2. Involve midlevel managers in strategy formulation...not just in rubber-stamping the strategy formulated by executives. Remember, the people in the middle likely understand your customers and your organization’s capabilities at a much more detailed level than those of you with V’s or C’s in your title.
3. Create systems to help midlevel managers experiment with and implement new ideas. Provide key managers and manager groups with executive sponsors charged with cutting through corporate clutter to help get things done.
4. Reward successes, provide visibility and learn from misfires. Easy words to write and speak, but realizing this environment takes discipline.
5. Recognize the fact that new classes of virtual leaders…Project Managers and Product Managers have emerged over the past two decades to replace the former middle level. These critical positions often carry tremendous responsibility burdens with little real authority across functional boundaries. If these positions exist in your organizations, strive to create the sponsors, systems and infrastructure to allow them to perform.
6. As an executive, get over yourself. No one said that you are required to have all of the answers. It’s a sign of strength, not weakness if you are emotionally secure and intelligent enough to recognize that your strength comes from your ability to get the best from willing contributors. Take the time to invest in reinventing your leadership style.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
The article referenced above is must reading for every executive looking to solve the challenges of how to fuel organic growth. Innovation doesn’t occur on command, and while good accidents happen (e.g. think 3M and Post-Its), hope as we all know is a lousy strategy.
I teach, train and support midlevel managers in all forms of organizations and by and large, I find them generally miserable about their tasks and their ability to positively impact their organization. The majority of their frustration stems from working for leaders that succeed in stifling the conditions required for innovation and execution to flourish. The opportunity is in the middle…not the problem. For the source of the problem, take a long, hard look in the mirror.
Yeah, “Why Don’t Managers Think Deeply?”
Filed under: Leadership, Leading Change, Middle Management, Organizational Transformation
There's an interesting post today in the Harvard Business Review Working Knowledge newsletter entitled "Why Don't Managers Think Deeply?"
Professor James Heskett highlights GE CEO Geoffrey Immelt's recent pronouncements that he is: looking for managers to think deeply about innovations that will ensure GE's longer-term success. He has vowed that he will protect those working on the breakthroughs from the "budget slashers" focused on short-term success. (Professor Heskett also reviews the book Marketing Metaphoria and the perspectives of the authors: Gerald and Lindsay Zaltman on why managers don't think deeply.)
As I leader, I've wrestled with this topic for years, and have worked around and with many individuals perfectly content to let their days unfold in a transactional nature, with no time to think deeply or even strategically. Days pass into months and months to years, and still these individuals prefer conquering the issue of the moment versus wondering whether they are even working on the right issues.
I look forward to learning more about what the Zaltmans have to say about this issue above and beyond what Professor Heskett highlights in his post when I read their book. For now, here are a few of my perspectives on why managers don't think deeply:
- Personal characteristics: some people are not great strategists but excellent operators and they focus on where they are most comfortable making a contribution.
- Poor leaders above them that don't create the forums and opportunities to think big. This fits with my strategy-fueled theme where in my opinion; the best leaders involve everyone in sharing insights and developing ideas for strategy. This provides ample opportunity for individuals to contribute and teaches otherwise task-oriented people that it is OK to get out of the moment once in awhile.
- Bad personal time management habits. Some managers like crossing off a bunch of lower-level, "C" priorities than focusing on one "A" priority. This can be corrected.
- Fear of being accountable for something. I worked with a sales manager that absolutely hated to work on anything beyond the deals of the month. While his focus on results created some good outcomes for us, as the business changed and evolved, his ability to contribute dropped dramatically. When it was said and done, he admitted that he was uncomfortable considering big changes when it was so hard to drive short-term results.
- Frustration with impediments to change. If Immelt is imploring his people to innovate, the GE culture better darned well be willing to turn ideas into actions or the creative flow will shut down quickly. I've observed cultures where the leader preaches change as the rest of the team nods and then proceeds to do nothing.
The bottom-line for now:
It's hard for most of us to think creatively on command. Moving from a transactional model to a state of lateral or divergent thinking requires making and taking time. As leaders, we can help improve and support Mr. Immelt's suggestion (hard to argue with the intent) by creating opportunities for the right types of discussions and by supporting the movement of ideas into actions, products and services. Try holding your leaders accountable for creating a culture of innovation and then let them loose. The results may surprise you.
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