Posts Tagged management
everyone is motivated to do something
what i think is one of the worst pre-conceptions about business and management is that workers need to be motivated. this notion that the workforce is this entity that needs to be incentivized into doing something.
i believe that everyone is motivated by something. i’d say that most accountants have a natural love of working with numbers. i’m sure that stock brokers get a special kind of high out of making the deal that nets their clients big returns. and i’m sure that if you spent even just a little time with three of my colleagues as they talked about solving linear programs and differential equations you’d be amazed at how much they can geek out over it. but when was the last time, as a manager or leader, that you had a discussion with your employees to find out what drives them?
some of you might answer — if you’re being honest with yourself — “the job interview”. how long ago was that? people change over time, and so you must be willing to spend the time to really watch and track how your people are changing and the kinds of people they’re changing into. you might have someone with a modeling and simulation background whom either suddenly or even gradually falls in love with data visualization. you might have a history teacher whom has a newfound love of english literature. but you’ll never know any of this unless you take the time to know your people.
do you have carrots (bonus structures, awards systems) or sticks (hard deadlines, performance reviews) in place because they actually work? or is it just because it makes your job simpler?
everyone is motivated to do something.
find out what that is. then have them do that.
business as a video game
image from softsupplier.com
there has been a bit more attention paid to video games since it became a multi-billion dollar industry. and even though sales were down last year, those figures don’t include many of the emerging facets of the industry such as downloadable content (game add-ons and such) or mobile gaming (angry birds alone raked in $12m). with that much money flowing around, it’s hard to ignore it.
but what if we didn’t just analyze video games as a business and instead thought about how business can be more like a video game? jane mcgonigal gave a fantastic talk at TED in 2010 pointing out what gamers are good at, and why they spend so much time playing them. why not try shaping our businesses to engage and leverage these ‘virtuosos’ as jane calls them?
leadership in the innovation age
image by ortizmj12, flickr artist
one of the higher-ranking members at booz allen has an internal blog titled, “lead, or get out of the way!”
i certainly appreciate his willingness to to pass on the knowledge that he has learned over his distinguished career — and in such a contemporary form — but i have to say that i think it’s wrong.
at least in the innovation age it is.
i’d like to change my colleague’s statement to become “lead, then get out of the way!” and here’s why…
on knee-jerk reactions
things don’t always go as you had planned. something at some point will happen which throws off your expectations. no project is without it’s problems challenges (sorry, in the consulting world we don’t like the word ‘problem’ because it has a negative connotation to it) — but before you institute solutions, you absolutely have to think about how it will affect the entire dynamic.
the problem with knee-jerk reactions is that they are generally conceived by the “fight or flight” portion of our brains; the portion of our brains that doesn’t consider impacts beyond the immediate situation. so while the reaction might be good for you right now in diffusing the situation or mitigating the issue, it may end up having negative impacts down the line.
fight the urge to make those knee-jerk reactions. your task, your project, your business is far too important to hinge its future on a decision made without just deliberation. before you make a decision on how to solve your next challenge, ask yourself two simple questions: “have i gathered multiple points of view?” and “have i really given good thought to this?”
what do you look for when you hire?
image by Round Indigo Rock, flickr artist
we’ve had a big hiring push lately at my firm, and to be quite frank i don’t really like it.
to me it’s not enough to hire bright, intelligent, promising people to add to your workforce. you have to go beyond that and think about the team(s) those people will be on. this is hard to do when you are hiring people for their capabilities rather than a particular task. you need to be asking: can they become the new leaders of this team? can they handle the pressures of a highly dynamic development process? will they be able to form those trusting bonds with their coworkers?
i’ve been a part of many teams in both my academic and professional lives to know that just because someone has all the skills necessary, and their resumé checks all the boxes on your list of “the perfect candidate,” that doesn’t mean that they’re the right fit for your organization. conversely, i’ve known people who have not been the brightest or the most talented but whom have made the organization thrive because they were excellent teammates.
showing appreciation: not just a manager’s role
image by foreverdigital, flickr artist
i’m not sure exactly what my favorite part of hockey is. as a goaltender (in my younger years), i have to admit that few things get me going more than a glove save on a 2-on-1 breakaway. i can still appreciate a fine dangle, however.
i can tell you with conviction, however, that one of the best moments is the celebration when a player scores a goal. the unbridled passion, the camaraderie, everything great about the sport of hockey comes through in one moment shared by 5 players on the ice (sometimes more). it’s one single moment that embodies all of what hockey is about.
teamwork.
always plan on success
image by csitscenter, flickr collection
i was in a meeting recently with a senior associate in my firm, and spent the vast amount of the 4 hours we had together furiously taking notes. unfortunately i couldn’t write as fast as he was talking, so i ended up not capturing all of the information that was there for the taking. for the most part, the vast majority of the time was spent discussing our earned value management capabilities at booz allen. we did talk some about business in general and building capabilities that can grow and expand, and it was from this discussion that my largest, boldest, “even used a highlighter on it” note came from. he said something to me that made a lot of sense:
always plan on success.
it’s a great quote. you may mistakingly take it as an inspirational message, but that’s not at all what he intended. it was actually meant to scare us, and remind us that we need to be prepared to succeed. to be successful in business, it’s not enough to have a good idea. even having passion and being a hard worker isn’t enough. when you’re trying to stand up or start up something brand new, you have to have certain things in place to handle the change in environment. nothing can kill a good idea quite like being unprepared to succeed. if you aren’t ready to expand with the business, you’ll undoubtedly experience growing pains – much like wearing a shoe that’s two sizes too small.
do it, and let them see you do it
image from Crashmaster007, flickr artist
it’s easy to tell people what to do or what’s expected of them, but leading by example says a lot about who you are as a person, not just as a leader.
when you’re a leader, one thing you expect from your team or organization is accountability. you expect your people to embrace their roles, take ownership of their tasks, and ensure that their work is done when it needs to be, at a level of quality that will positively represent your organization. if you expect that from your people — shouldn’t you expect that from yourself as well?
everything that you expect from your people, you should be willing to do yourself. work hard, and let people see you working hard. be prepared for different situations, and let people see you prepare. you should do what you expect the people following you to do, and you should let them see you do it. it’s inspirational, it forges trust, it sets a good example.
you can’t tell your people, “stop working so hard and take time for yourself,” and send emails at 1:00a on a weekday or 9:30p on a weekend. it seems more like a challenge to work harder than a sincere concern about work-life balance.
so as a leader — when you make a promise, or institute new rules, or try to change habits — it’s best if you start with yourself.
leading by example says a lot about who you are. what are your actions saying about you?
“the frank sinatra rule”
image by Matheus Van Lobatos, flickr artist
as i see it (that sounds familiar [looks at blog title] oh yeah!…), there’s one rule of management which trumps them all. it’s what i like to call “the frank sinatra rule.” it’s very simple. it says: “if you’re going to delegate, be sure that you delegate all the way.” many managers struggle with this key capability. people in power want to have all the power, but share the responsibility.
quite frank-ly (see what i did there?) — that situation is hardly ever going to work.
when you delegate, there has got to also be a delegation of authority as well as responsibility. if you don’t empower those folks underneath of you to make their own decisions, then you’ve only come half-way. not to mention, from a strictly business and financial perspective, you’re paying someone many thousands of dollars to be a “deputy project manager” or “functional lead” when you could have saved that money and gotten yourself an administrative professional or intern at a far lesser cost to handle things like scheduling meetings and organizing status reports.
5 reasons your meetings suck
photo by tiarescott, flickr artist
i couldn’t tell you the number of times people have said to me, “i wish i wasn’t in meetings all day; i’d be able to get some actual work done for a change.” if i had a nickel for each time someone moaned or groaned about having to go to a meeting, i’d have easily paid my student loans off by now. it’s no secret: meetings suck.
but they don’t have to!
if a meeting you’re in is ever boring, or uninteresting, or leaves you totally disengaged — you’re doing it wrong. read through these 5 reasons your meetings suck, and learn from them. Read the rest of this entry »
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