Know It All Managers

Posted on by
Reply

I read an article recently by Steve Tobak titled “The Problem with Know It All Managers“. The issue that Tobak presents is that often when people become managers, they start acting like they have all the answers.  These managers stop asking questions and start telling everyone what the answers are.  Tobak’s conclusion is that this is bad for employees and bad for the organization and bad for business.  I agree but I have to ask myself what motivates people to become “know it all” managers? It could be arrogance or it could be an organizational culture that implies that value is linked to one’s ability to always have the answer. It is not uncommon for compensation and promotion decisions to be based if not explicity then implicitly on one’s reputation for always having the answers. Conversely and unfortunately, managers are often devalued by senior management and stakeholders when they are seen to ask a lot of questions, openly consider many alternatives, and rely on their subordinates for up to date subject matter expertise. As we transition from do-ers to leaders, our value to the organization needs to come from our ability to elicit knowledge, ideas, issues, and possible solutions from the workforce and then to use that information to develop and execute strategies that achieve differentiating business goals. Answers based on the experience of many are more valuable than answers based on the experience of one person. One of our challenges is to help our senior management and stakeholders recognize and appreciate the value to the business of this sort of higher order, leadership behavior.

The Ten Fatal Flaws That Derail Leaders June Harvard Business Review: Are We in Denial?

Posted on by
1

Have you read the pithy one page article entitled “The Ten Fatal Flaws That Derail Leaders” in the June 2009 Harvard Business review?  I quickly skimmed the flaws to see if I had any of them.  At first I was relieved.  While I can be pretty hard on myself, I didn’t think I had any of these flaws.  But the authors’ closing comments caused me to reconsider.  “But the ineffective leaders we studied were often unaware that they exhibited any of these behaviors.  In fact those who were rated most negatively rated themselves substantially more positively. Leaders should take a very hard look at themselves and ask for candid feedback on performance in these specific areas.  Their jobs may depend on it.”   Denial is a dangerous thing.

I read the ten flaws a bit more thoughtfully and my conclusions the second time were sobering. For each behavior,  I took the time to think about things I had done or had not done in the last two weeks that a third party might view as examples of “flawed” leadership behavior.  I was able to recall at least one example for each of the ten flaws.  While this doesn’t necessarily mean I am a hopelessly flawed leader, it made me own up to the fact that I regularly exhibit sub optimal leadership behavior.  This exercise made me realize that seemingly small transgressions that I excuse because I am busy (and a leader – see the Toxic Tandem in the same issue of HBR), when seen objectively, are powerful examples of poor leadership and they add up.  Maybe going through this exercise will help you identify some areas in which you could raise your game and improve your image as a manager and a leader!

The Ten Fatal Flaws by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman

  1. Lack of energy and enthusiasm
  2. Accept their own mediocre performance
  3. Lack clear vision
  4. Have poor judgement
  5. Don’t collaborate
  6. Don’t walk the talk
  7. Resist new ideas
  8. Don’t learn from mistakes
  9. Lack interpersonal skills
  10. Fail to develop others

Influencer: The Power to Change Anything

Posted on by
1

Influencer: “The Power to Change Anything” was published in 2008 by McGraw Hill and was written by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan and Al Switzer.  It is a New York Times best seller.

The authors start out by flat out debunking the notion that the ability to influence is reserved for people with charismatic and silver-tongued DNA.  They firmly and kindly suggest that this notion is an excuse used by those of us who have tried to influence and failed or who feel daunted by the prospect of using influence to bring about significant change.  Deciding that we aren’t equipped to influence gives us permission to work on that spreadsheet that will convince the world we are right or to yell louder hoping that people will eventually “get it,” rather than getting out there and making change happen.  Having momentarily snapped us out of denial, Patterson et. al. give us a how-to manual for influencing that  is solid, accessible and informative.

While I am tempted to summarize the whole book here, I will not.  I will share a bit about the three elements of the book that I found most useful.  (I have been much more heavy-handed than the authors.  In my defense I have a few paragraphs to win you over, they have a couple hundred pages)

1) Change the Way You Change Minds:  “People choose behaviors based on what they think will happen to them as a result.”  “When it comes to resistant problems, verbal persuasion rarely works.”  Sharing personal experience is a great tool but in the absence of this tell people a story.  Tell a story that acts on their internal view of the world and gets them thinking that they have the ability to change and that change might be in their best interest.  The lesson here:  TELLING PEOPLE WHAT THEY SHOULD DO AND WHY DOES NOT WORK. STOP TRYING THAT APPROACH.

2) There are actually six influence points not the one (whatever it is) that YOU know and use over and over (with, the authors predict, limited success). The authors provide an intuitive and simple to remember influence framework that you can refer to you when you are planning (note, planning) to influence.  While the examples and teaching that the authors provide will help you quickly internalize the elements, once you see the framework you might feel a little sheepish that you hadn’t thought of it yourself.  The lesson here:  INFLUENCE IS NOT MAGIC, THERE IS A “FORMULA.”  IF YOU USE IT, YOU CAN BRING THE CHANGE YOU DESIRE.

3) There are six influence points and the more of them you use, the more success you will have. Conversely if you use  just one or two, you will fail.  The lesson here:   PEOPLE ARE COMPLEX. PEOPLE RESPOND TO DIFFERENT THINGS.  YOU ARE NOT A SHEEP, STOP TREATING THOSE YOU WISH TO INFLUENCE AS THOUGH THEY WERE.  USE MULTIPLE STRATEGIES.

I highly recommend this book.  I suggest reading it through once and marking up the parts that seem particularly relevant to you.  Chances are you will want to come back to the highlighted sections again and again as you apply the lessons of Influencer to the change initiatives you are trying to move forward.

New IT Capability Depends on Operating Model Changes

Posted on by
Reply

An article in the April 2009 Harvard Business Review by Julia Adler-Milstein describes research that suggests that organizations need to make changes to how they are organized and how they operate in order to enjoy the benefits of new technologies they introduce.  The article cites a study by MIT Sloan School’s Erik Brynjolfsson and others that finds that the following specific operating model changes were required for successful implementation of new technologies:

  1. increased training
  2. increased individual decision making authority
  3. flattened hierarchies
  4. greater use of skilled resources
  5. decentralized teams
  6. incentives for team performance

Organizations that didn’t make these changes fared worse than they would have had they not introduced the technologies in the first place.  The article focuses on adoption of electronic health records but the findings apply across the board.

One thing we can take away from this is that successful change that brings value and is sustainable is multi dimensional. We need to take time to think deliberately about the whole system into which we are introducing a change (people, the processes, physical assests and the organization structure).  We need to think openly and strategically about what other parts of the system need to be changed to create the conditions for success and to minimize the conditions for failure.

As managers we may find that “we don’t have time” to think about all of this or that the prospect of thinking about it all is daunting – like confronting a multi dimensional chess game.  We often find that our management just wants the change to happen and doesn’t want to get bogged down in considerations and activities that might increase cost and slow down delivery.  You can use this HBR article and the underlying research to make your case!

Getting What You Want in Trying Times

Posted on by
Reply

With the New Year just two weeks behind us, are you still thinking about the year to come and what you want to accomplish? Are you thinking big?  A year is a long time and you are capable of so much.  Why not “go for it” this year?  If you did, what would “it” be for you?  Just about everyone I speak to has been touched by the economic turmoil of the last quarter.   A natural response is to hunker down, conserve, reduce expectations, make do with less.  Getting more fiscally thoughtful is sensible but it is never healthy to set our sights lower, to expect less of ourselves, to hope and dream smaller.  The only cause and effect relationship between the economy and the human spirit is the one we create; it is not a naturally occurring or inevitable relationship.

In my work with individual and with groups, I see again and again how much capability people have to get the things that are important to them.  My clients surprise and delight me (and themselves) with their ability to dispel the obstacles they have created for themselves and to overcome the obstacles that really do exist outside of them. Once they can see past the obstacles, they can see the way forward and then they make rapid progress toward their goals and they have fun doing it.

How do people achieve big goals?  They commit to their dream;  they set goals that have value;  they bravely confront obstacles and embrace enablers; they develop an informed strategy; and then they execute relentlessly.  I taught a very successful seminar last year called Uber Planning which is based on these five concepts:  Commitment, Value Proposition, Reconnaissance, Strategy and Execution. 

The steps help to organize thinking around achieving a big goal but the devil is in the details.  How do know when your vision is the right vision and not just a fantasy?  How do you find the tangible value in your goals and get others excited about it too?  How do you get past your own preconceptions and fears and blind spots so you can really see the obstacles and opportunities?  This is where it gets hard, and this is where even the most well-intentioned goal seekers often “hit the wall” and give up.  

There are two things that can help you on your journey to your big goal:  1) guidance (who would climb Mt. Everest without a guide?) and 2) support (who would climb Mt Everest all alone?).  I propose that we work together to create the conditions for success.  I will guide you and all of us can provide each other with encouragement, insights, and suggestions.  Together I know we will all surprise ourselves with what we accomplish in these trying times!  Fifty weeks to go!!!!!

 

 

 

Rocking the Boat: How to Effect Change Without Making Trouble

Posted on by
Reply

Rocking the Boat: How to Effect Change Without Making Trouble describes research findings concerning the strategies that managers use to create bottom up, incremental change from within their organizations. Bottom up, or “continuous and fragmented change” as Myerson characterizes it, effected by “tempered radicals” from deep within the organization is contrasted to the “revolutionary, episodic change” that “you read about in best-selling management texts.” The author describes six strategies that tempered radicals use:

  • Resisting quietly and staying true to self
  • Turning personal threats into opportunities
  • Broadening the impact through negotiation
  • Leveraging small wins
  • Organizing collective action

While the author’s research focused on social change: socially responsibility, gender, race and sexual preference equality, the change strategies and underlying mechanisms are very applicable to other kinds of organizational change including systems, people, infrastructure, and process change.

In particular, Turning Personal Threats into Opportunities, Broadening the Impact through Negotiation, and Leveraging Small Wins chapters contain a wealth of specific, practical ideas that managers can apply immediately and easily to effecting any kind of change. The author also summarizes the key elements of the strategies and the tools in tables that make excellent reference tools.

Rocking the Boat: How to Effect Change Without Making Trouble
Debra E. Myerson
Harvard Business Press
2001, 2008

What If You Could Start Over on Monday Morning?

Posted on by
Reply

What if you could could start over on Monday morning? What if you just clear off your desk, delete all your emails, crumple up ALL of your to-do lists and just start over? What if you could pick one goal to focus on 80% of the time that you are at work? What goal would be of real value to your company, would get you charged up every day, would let you do the things that you are best at and would require you to learn some things that you always wanted to learn? What goal would you pick? What goal would make senior management sit up and take notice? What goal would be a joy to hear yourself talk about with your colleagues, friends, and family?

I challenge you to come up with that goal. If every manager structured his or her time and energy and resources around achieving one exciting, valuable, differentiating goal at a time, work would be a lot better place to be and productivity would soar. I believe that you can find ways to make your company want you to achieve those goals. I believe your company would rather have you creating change that leads to profitability and competitive advantage than going to meetings, double-checking and second guessing other people’s work, explaining why things didn’t get done, aren’t going to get done, will cost more than expected or just plain broke down, again.

My blogs going forward will focus on helping you pick a great goal and on helping you achieve it. I look forward to hearing which goals you are considering and why, what has stopped you from pursuing them until now, which one you have chosen to focus on, what is worrying you about it, what is going well with it, what is not going that well, and what you need help with. In return I will share with you questions, ideas, resources and a supportive ear.

I believe that it is possible for every manager to make a real difference every day.

Uber* Planning: Five Things the Pros Know About Getting Anything Done

Posted on by
Reply
  • How are you are going to get the projects assigned to you this year done?
  • Is Annual Performance Objective setting still an open item on your to do list?
  • Do your projects end up unfinished because priorities are constantly changing?

Trying to achieve challenging projects in today’s world with an ordinary project plan to guide you is like trying to stay dry in a typhoon with only an umbrella for protection!

This entertaining, no-nonsense, one-hour presentation describes five practical tactics that successful managers use to consistently achieve important goals despite the inevitable challenges lurking in the organizations they work in.

During the presentation you will practice each of the five tactics and you will develop your own high-level Uber Plan.

Each participant will receive a free coaching session to help them further develop their Uber Plan.

Invitees are all experienced professionals with people management and delivery responsibilities. This intimate setting provides a great opportunity for informal networking with like-minded peers!

Presented by: Suzanne Zemke Management Coaching LLC

Presenter: Suzanne Zemke

Date: Thursday June 5, 2008

Location: In Good Company
16 West 23rd Street 4th Floor
New York, NY 10010

Time: Informal Networking 6:30 – 7:00
Presentation 7:00 – 8:30 (starts at 7:00 Sharp!)
Optional Discussion 8:30 – 9:00

Cost: $50.00 per person
Limited to 20 participants

RSVP: SuzanneZemke@aol.com
212-982-0069
Suzanne Zemke Management Coaching LLC
69 West 9th Street 11F
New York, NY 10011

* Uber: from the German über and commonly used by American gamers as a synonym for “super.” Also see Saturday night live usage: “What if superman was German? Would he be uberman?”