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February 1, 2008 17:12 - Management Snippets - Beliefs About People
We live our lives on the best picture we can make of the world.
Without assumptions, we couldn't exist.
Yet it's a healthy step to challenge the absolute truth of what we believe - and frequently.
In our businesses, for whatever reason, we may have the wrong impression of someone on our team and that may not be the cleverest thing to do.
A small experience that we jump on as evidence, leads to outcomes we use to build on our first impressions.
Letting go of these assumptions and testing factual results that we can measure, may well be the best change to our own attitudes we can make.
February 4, 2008 16:57 - Knowing When To Look For 'Plan B'
You know how it is - everything is going to plan - running smoothly and you get a chance to catch your breath.
Once in a while - it happens, honestly!
Then the unexpected hits! Some tricky situation blows up quite without warning and you are back to square one - firefighting for your life again!
It's time to find Plan B - and make sure that you get back to the successes you were enjoying before - as soon as possible too.
Here's a hint:-
Prepare your 'Plan B' well before you need it.
If I could share a learning from my years in management, it would be to have your backup plan in place well before it might become necessary.
In fact, I wrote all about it in my first book, Succession Planning Toolkit.
The time to create your Plan B, in so many cases, is just when you start to relax.
It's a great time to reflect on what might go wrong and know how you will positively respond.
Having a Plan B is a great asset. Having your Plan B in your hand ready for when trouble strikes, is way better!
February 14, 2008 13:44 - Management Snippets - It's Not What You Are Taught at School...
"School teaches you to obey authority. We need people to think for themselves"
Maggie Hughes, President, Life USA
School is all about compliance. Get your homework in on time. Respond when the bell goes. Sit up straight.
Over the 10-12 years we live within that framework, we learn to react to orders and deliver, as best we can, what we are told to.
Up to a point, business is like that. That's to say where it requires mere compliance; reactions which fit; behaviors that are knee-jerk, 'just do it' responses.
Our employees become automatons with little reason for any buy-in and even thinking about doing any more than the minimum. Hardly any point in contributing much, really.
Great employers help their people to move beyond this and get involved, safe in the knowledge that their interest; motivation; pro-activity and creativity will be welcomed.
Moving away from the compliant we were expected to be in school, to the fully contributing that a truly enlightening workplace welcomes, is a step up indeed.
February 15, 2008 22:39 - Management Snippets - Slow and Simple Does It
"When we slow down, we go faster"
Japanese saying
How can this be? Logic would suggest that to go faster, we need to go faster.
Yet in life, in work, more pace, so often leads to worse performance.
This is partly because as we add pace and complexity, we hit the sludge of our own drag coefficient. We bog ourselves down by a lack of focus and simplicity that always brings steady results.
Like the tortoise and the hare, a steady focus and progression is much more likely to give a consistent outcome, than uncontrolled pace and the distraction that follows.
Where you can, do less; take your time and focus clearly on your goal.
Slowing down to go faster, has proven itself over the ages.
February 16, 2008 12:18 - Management Snippets - Beliefs About People
We live our lives on the best picture we can make of the world.
Without assumptions, we couldn't exist - it's a matter, literally, of life and avoiding death.
Yet it's a healthy step to challenge the absolute truth of what we believe - and frequently.
In our businesses, for whatever reason, we may have the wrong impression of someone on our team and that may not be the cleverest thing to do.
However often we make our simple day-to-day decisions, there are times when it's worth considering where those assumptions came from and why.
You see, a small experience, that we jump on as evidence, leads to outcomes we use to build on any first impressions.
Letting go of these assumptions and testing factual results, that we can properly measure, may well be the best change to our own attitudes we can make.
Try loooking at your people very objectively this week and test out what you think is true and where that came from.
You never know, you might actually find a hidden gem in one of your people, which will be a great solution for you, your business and that individual too.
February 17, 2008 23:05 - Manager or Team - Who Is Accountable?
It's been a busy week for Cup football in the UK (or soccer - this newsletter goes out all over the world!).
For some managers, they have had quite a shock when their highly fancied team has gone out of the competition to one of the 'minnows' - a smaller team from a lower division.
So, when this happens, where does the 'fault' lie in a below par performance?
Is it the manager - or the players in the team?
As a manager, we can do our utmost to prepare our players for their time at the sharp end.
When they do their job in the workplace. We cannot 'play the game' out for them.
We do our best, yet, if they underperform, is it down to us, or is it all about them?
Truth is, there is no simple answer to this in business, nor on the sports field.
In the harsh reality of the business world, when the bounce of the ball is much more consistent and luck is less of an event, a manager has much better control of the outcomes.
In an embarassing football defeat, a manager's job may be lost - such is the quirky nature of the game.
In business, there is more stability; it is a more predictable outcome.
The success or failure of a team is much more down to the manager than the players.
In your business, you can manage much more effectively than if you are in the unpredictable world of teams against you playing out of their skin on a bobbly pitch.
No excuses then, it's down to you, whether you have a Ronaldo in your side or not.
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