Posts tagged Vision

Tailor or Force Your Approach

Jan25
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Steve

I woke up this morning to see an email from one of my past new managers at Intel. Nice surprise! He was looking for an answer to a question that had been burning at him for awhile. He asked his current manager, “should managers tailor their approach to fit the personalities of the team that they have?” He remembered that I touched on that subject during “New to Management: Managing Teams to Higher Performance.” Just could not remember exactly what I said. His manager told him that he should do what comes best to him. In short, do what has made you successful and get the team to follow you. Very simple and not very helpful answer I thought. What I liked about the answer was the get the team to follow… Or provide leadership! 

So, here is what I wrote back:

Great question! I think your manager was a bit vague in his answer.. I did like his part on getting the team to follow. So, building on that… Leadership is based in helping others succeed, having a vision, and the capability to utilize the knowledge, skills and abilities of your team to fulfill it. I truly believe a leader must adapt to the personalities of the team. When we discussed this in the class, everything was situational. If you have ever taken situational leadership or anything like that – key to success is in communication. Learning how to get through to each person and best motivate them is the leader’s job. By doing so creates a team of loyal, hard working team of individuals committed to the cause. That will follow you! Trying to have the team adopt to you would be like an old sports coach that only knows how to lead by bullying with a “heart” or setting up competition for the few scarce prizes. Those two ways may get results when you are around, but leave and so do the results. I have had those coaches and managers over the years, maybe good for short term results but no one every really wanted to follow them anywhere.  I hope that answered your question, if not we can always discuss further.

What do you think? Did I answer that question?

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Posted in Leadership, New To Management - Tagged , , ,

A Tale of a “Bad” Boss

Feb27
2010 2 Comments Written by Steve

Ever have one of the “those” bosses? Hate to go to work? See how you used to work, change (not for the better)?  How about when you are talking with others and you hear them complain about their work situation? There usually is one common theme – they work for a terrible boss. I have my internal blog and write many of the same topics I do here. When I write about management, I usually get quite a few comments that center on the bad supervisor. I would like to relate this to a story. For anyone that thinks they know the players because they know me – think again. This is a made up situation (but, I have a feeling this will probably hits close to home).

Company Z is a small company made up of about 200 folks. Enough to have some senior, mid level and front line folks. Got to have some bosses… Debbie is a new employee to Company Z, she is a project manager with a pretty impressive resume. She comes with experience and a passion for her work. Debbie starts out fast and really does good work. Her immediate supervisor, Brenda, finds that she does really well and starts to give her more of the meaty assignments. Over time, Debbie has proven that she is definitely a strong performer. What happen next? She gets promoted! This promotion moves her to a different team and now she reports to Bob, VP of product development.

Bob has been with Company Z since it started. He was in that first wave of friends that sat around the bar stools during college discussing an idea. He is best friends with the CEO. That friendship is his biggest claim to fame! Bob still tells the stories of that evening when Company Z was drawn on napkins over many beers. He definitely views himself as a visionary. Dreams up plenty of ideas and delivers on none. Many of Bob’s employees are very happy to see a new manager on his staff, as the last one was just a nightmare to work for. Debbie starts out well, she is working with her team and overall things are better.

As time goes by, Bob and his visionary style has an effect on Debbie. Bob likes to drum up the idea’s and dump them onto Debbie. There are no expectations, no reasonable understand of goals and just plain minimal thought put in. Bob’s way of dealing with not seeing enough progress is to belittle Debbie. He is short with Debbie and spends more time yelling and belittling at her. Debbie feeling the pressure starts to pass on same to her team. She is expecting them to pick up the pieces she is dropping. The team has seen this behavior before. This goes on for a couple of years, until Bob decides that he wants to leave.

A new VP is hired and Debbie decides to ask that she go back to project management where she has done a good job for the company. This management gig was just not her passion. Everyone thought that would be a great move. Debbie was extremely successful as a project manager. Problem was Debbie has not returned to the past. Her time with Bob, had changed Debbie – forever. Debbie thought she would be happier, but that just is not the case and decides to leave the company.

I think we all have seen some scenario similar to this one. Fact is, a bad boss can damage your spirit, career and passion. Everyday we all look into the mirror – do you like what you see? No, I don’t mean the visual aspects – just the work part… Are you true to yourself? Are you happy with your job? Are you doing your best? Are you Bob? Are you the early Debbie that is turning into the promoted Debbie?

Posted in Leadership - Tagged , , , ,

Transitions Happen All The Time, So Why Do They Go Badly?

Jan25
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Steve

Over the years, I have been involved in many transitions; as a leader coming into a new situation; as a member for a team getting dissolved; as a member of an existing team getting a dissolved team. There is one thing that is definite, they cause all sorts of churn. In these types of transitions, we are dealing with people. From the years of experience, I have come up with a list of items that I feel are must haves in order to make everything seem okay.

  • Communicate, Communicate and Communicate – When communication is timely and real, most folks will move forward quickly and not worry too much about what is happening. It is also, the first thing that breaks down or never is established fast enough. Set up immediately the communications channels, set aside time in your calendar to be more open, never miss an opportunity to just walk around and be visible.
  • Get the top folks together, quickly – With all organization transitions, there are the top folks that must come together and get to know each other quickly. Getting the “A” team in place and moving forward together – will help greatly with the rest of the organization. There will be people on either side that carry the leader role in folks minds, you need to tap into those folks. If there are people that are not going to workout together, time to make changes. Don’t be afraid to change the overall structure at this time. Don’t just fill a gap with a strong person. You need to put the right folks in the right places.
  • Start small and start fast – What I mean here is really get some wins under your belt. Those wins could be as simple as removing roadblocks or changing the way things always have been done – that people complained about. It is important to demonstrate to the new organization that hitting the ground running and winning is first! The longer times goes by and the shape and form has not been clearly set – the longer it will take folks to move forward as well.
  • Shape “your” vision with the new team – As a leader, the vision is critical for setting the path that the team will be going on. Using your “old” vision from the old team may work, but frankly the new members will just not see why the transition needed to happen. Revisit your vision, tweak it if necessary and really get that vision out to all of the team.
  • Build your support network- there are always folks that you can lean on for real information. Those folks that just tell it like it is. Some from within the organization are nice, but make sure you are getting some of the key partners, support and customers. Need to have a complete 360 view. Nothing worse than having some blind-spots.

There is no perfect solution to any transition. Remember the majority of the churn comes from people, be aware and stay connected. I have witnessed many that had the leader go underground to work out all of the details, by themselves. Come up with the magic sauce and pass it out to all. Then later asks, what is so difficult, I did all the hard stuff…. Well, the magic sauce maybe good, but you forgot that people were out there.

Anyone else have anything that they do that eases transitions?

Posted in Leadership, Observations - Tagged , , , , , , ,

Predictions – What I would like to see!

Dec29
2009 Leave a Comment Written by Steve

The days for 2009 are going fast.. By the time some have read this post – we are in 2010 already. I am not one for predicting the future – as if I could I would be independently worthy and enjoying myself on my own island somewhere.  In the spirit of the this time of year, I want to put my top ten list of predictions for the upcoming year. These are in no particular order or category…

  1. The economy will rebound not once but 3 times. We all have heard that the corner has turned, but I predict that we will be turning that corner more than a few times. When will we really see a true turn around?
  2. Role models will not be celebrities or sports figures in the future. Mass media will stop painting them as role models – we don’t need the disappoint. Go back to really showing the true role models. This means – local area news will have to feature ordinary folks doing extra-ordinary stuff for no reason at all. Just because is good enough.
  3. Human interaction has gone more on-line everyday. I predict that dinner time conversations will make a comeback. Verbally discussing the day activities rather than texting, emailing, wall to wall or twittering updates. I am an empty nester now, so – for me that maybe a bit tougher to do, but every chance I get – I want the discussion verbally..
  4. Electronic gadgets will continue to spring up all over the place. My hope is that Intel chips are everywhere.. Which could have an impact on the stock! The only downside – too many gadgets, so little time.
  5.  Arguments around social computing (Enterprise 2.0) technologies internally will move from what and why to implementation of more agile capabilities that do not tie to one size fits all philosophy I see with most companies. I do want my cake and eat it too… Why can’t I have both?
  6. After years of complaints, software vendors will insure that upgrading or their new releases – will not require hours of work to insure that what I already have will work in the new. Seems that every upgrade has me spending hours to relearn, migrate my content or reset up permissions. Enough already – using your stuff was supposed to save me time.
  7. Decisions that I have been putting off – will move to the forefront of my to do list. We all have stuff that we should do, know we should do; but put off due to too many other reasons. I am saying no more excuses… Time to do something for me.
  8. There are way too many overly serious folks in the world. Fun, should not be something that you have to schedule, force or demand. Fun should just happen. Smile more, laugh more. Surprising how better you feel.
  9. Educating the future will become a reality. Budgets will match the expectations of what we want to happen. Time to prioritize the future – and stop living in the past…
  10. I will get to know my neighbors. It is amazing how when I was growing up in the 70′s – every house had a front porch and neighbors used to talk with each other. Today, how many front porches do you see? How many of your neighbors do you really know? For me, I know I have to do better…
Posted in Observations - Tagged , , ,

Motivating Employees

Dec22
2009 Leave a Comment Written by Steve

Last week, I was meeting with a brand new manager. On his request, he wanted to ask a few questions. His first questions took up all of our time together. “How do I motivate my employees?” Wonderful question – one that I first told him to step back and look at the overall work situations and his employee’s.

  • Make sure that their work is meaningful. When the work is meaningful it is much easier to be passionate about what you are doing. Meaning motivation sometimes is truly internal. Helping your employee’s understand how the work contributes to the organization goals helps. Remember, even though you can do that – it does not mean that the employee sees the work as meaningful. Manager role is to help set that vision.
  • For most places I have worked – pay for performance is how employee appraisal system works. Pay is a short term motivating factor in my opinion. If you have regular performance discussions and tie the employee’s goals and work – this should help to motivate.
  • As a manager you need to get to know your employees. Helps to understand what makes your employees tick. Once you get a better understanding, you can insure that you are helping them to achieve their goals or what truly is important to them.
  • Invest in your people. This can be done through coaching, sending them to conferences or training and maybe something as simple as providing them a book on a topic that will help them in the future. You have to make their growth as important as the business goals.
  • Lastly, no matter what – never throw away work. Priorities and business goals change; but the work that was done to a point was important at one time. Throwing it out just demotivates the person. They see all of their work is wasted. Nothing is truly wasted. Wrap the work up with putting some additional cycles documenting where it is, where it could go in the future – and put it on a shelf. You may have to come back to it. Best not to start completely over. I always reward that work, just as I do any other project.

Our decision went into the what next factor… I tried to level set with the new manager – that this is a time consuming effort, if done right. Please do it right. Your employees will see right through you if you are just giving this lip service. The next steps are simple – you will see them just like a map to the other distances in take. Grounding and level setting – help to set the stage for what is next. If you don’t see the next steps – then call me. Or better yet, double check the stuff above.

Any other ideas on how to help motivate employees?

Posted in Leadership - Tagged , , , , ,

Observations and Leaders – Do they go hand in hand?

Oct28
2009 Leave a Comment Written by Steve
photo via flickr by reidsrow

photo via flickr by reidsrow

Some of my past posts, I have commented on why I enjoy just sitting back and observing. Hell, I even have a category for observations. Why? Time to tie a couple of my blog categories together. Leadership and the power of observation. Successful leaders need to develop and practice their powers of observation.

 

Few behaviors or thoughts in helping to develop observation skills:

  • Knowledge of the behaviors and attitudes of people
  • Sizing up people – people watching
  • Clarity – seeing the world as it is
  • Curiosity – asking why
  • Listening or paying attention skills
  • Willingness to set aside personal biases
  • Willingness to seek the inputs of others

Observation is learning on the fly – there is no book you can learn from, no class to take. You sit, watch and learn as you go. Every situation over the years, adds to your knowledge base. Something as simple as sitting in the mall – watching all the actions, listening to the discussions or interacting with strangers – adds to your bank of experience. It is easy, yet many leaders struggle to do this well.

How many meetings do you go to that would be rated a waste of time? I have some… I challenge myself in those sessions to sit and listen and using some (if not all) of those listed above – come out with 3 different and new observations. Some of them maybe about the meeting and the member dynamics. Other maybe about understanding better what motivates certain team members. Maybe even looking deeper into what really is the purpose of the meeting and maybe the meeting just needs a kick in the butt. Take those away – and maybe you will increase your knowledge. Maybe get the meeting in gear. You just never know, tell you try.

Leaders that value this skill are likely to be more successful than those that don’t. Ever go to the decision making meeting and not pay attention to the tone, body language or attitudes? If so, how did that go? I bet not very well. You have to be able to read and react to almost every situation. Notice I said almost every situation – simply put – you can not have every possible situation locked in your knowledge database. Impossible, but that should be the overall goal; get experience with everything.

In this day and age – we have folks that walk around all day wearing their headphones; head down texting; anything be observing their surroundings. It is time to pay attention, you just might learn something about people or situations.

Posted in Leadership, Observations - Tagged , , , , ,

Time for Reflection

Aug10
2009 Leave a Comment Written by Steve
image by Todd Baker via Flickr

image by Todd Baker via Flickr

I have a friend that carries with him a notebook everywhere. In this day and age, with all of the digital everything’s – I had to ask him why the old pen and paper? He said, simply to write stuff down. Stuff – being one to get to a better understanding, I followed up with another question – what kind of stuff? Another simple answer – everything (from notes, comments, observations and thoughts). That was many years ago and I have to say – I carry my notebook and pen (most of the time) now. I really use mine for reflecting on stuff. I look at everything as an opportunity to have some thought on – a simple series of questions get my creative juices going – like:

  • What happened?
  • What was I trying to achieve?
  • What went well and why?
  • What didn’t go so well and why?
  • How did it affect me?
  • How did it affect others?
  • What were the consequences (positive or negative) for myself and others?
  • What could be done differently next time?
  • Would this change improve the consequences?

These questions are printed on the first page of my notebook. They help to get me into the right frame. I don’t always make the time to sit down and think about stuff – but when the moment strikes, you have to be ready. Old paper and pen – never have failed me. Just the other day, I was out at lunch by myself and left the notebook in the car. I grabbed the closed paper like item (napkin) and wrote down my thoughts on what had happened in a very tense meeting that morning. Got back to the office and transferred the napkin to notebook.

I have to thank my friend again for a simple but effective way to capture my thoughts.

Posted in Leadership, Observations - Tagged , ,

Vision – Is it more than your sight?

May18
2009 Leave a Comment Written by Steve

 

“A leader’s role is to raise people’s aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.” David Gergen

Let’s start of with trying to define what is vision. When we talk about, that a leader has vision, we are referring to the ability to see the present as it is and formulate a future that grows. A leader with vision is able to see into the future without being blocked by the present or being somewhat near-sighted. In this post I am also writing about the vision of an organization, which looks at it from a slightly different perspective. A vision is an idea of the future, it is an image, a desire to get to a dream.

In order to really see into the future, you have to have dreams and aspirations to achieve what you can see, which maybe most can not. What are the fundamentals necessary for a vision to excite and motivate people to follow that leader? For me, I think the must have’s are:

  • Clearly organized direction and purpose.
  • Inspired loyalty and caring through involvement of the team.
  • Display and reflect the strengths, culture, values and direction of the team.
  • Help the team to believe that they are part of something bigger than just themselves.
  • Regularly communicated and share with the team.
  • Challenge the team to outdo themselves. Help them stretch and reach the teams goals.

How do you take this and apply it to your team? Putting your thoughts to paper and being able to share this vision with others. Practice with describing the vision with a mentor or coach to insure that you have covered everything. Then take it to your team. Sharing your vision with your team, you’ll let them know they have a leader who is thinking of the organization’s future and of each team member. Share the vision with your superiors, by doing that you are demonstrating that you are an innovative thinker – not content with the status quo. Keep sharing the successes and hiccups with the team. Getting to your vision should be a journey – that you and your team enjoy.

 Thoughts?

Posted in Leadership - Tagged ,
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