Last Friday I cited HBS research that indicates that the best results are achieved when those in charge are both good managers and competent leaders and that the key factor is excellent communications.
Whether you think of yourself as a leader or a manager, communications is about more than talking clearly, it’s about providing all the background necessary for your people to understand why they are doing their jobs, as well as what jobs they are to do.
Think of it this way,
operational communications provide people information on how to do their jobs, while
management communications tell them what their jobs are and why they do them, giving form and purpose.
People need both.
Many of the problems that managers face daily stem from their own poor or inaccurate communications, often as a result of using jargon in an effort to sound sophisticated, knowledgeable and with it.
Jargon doesn’t work for several reasons.
You may not totally understand or be comfortable with the jargon;
your people may have their own individual understanding or be guided by their previous boss’ definitions that have nothing to do with your intended meaning. This happens often enough with words of one or two syllables, let alone multi-syllabic management-babble; or worse,
your people may shut down when they hear jargon.
You can create a relatively jargon-less environment by
keeping it firmly in mind that your goal is to provide your people with all the information needed to understand how to perform their work as correctly, completely, simply, and efficiently as possible; and
providing clear, concise, and complete communications at all times.
Follow these two steps religiously and the results will amaze you,
Productivity will skyrocket; which will
make your company more successful;
your employees happier; and
you a more effective manager with better reviews and an enviable reputation.
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Be sure to check out this months Leadership Development Carnival; it’s been broken up to run over several days, so I can’t repost it here.
Talented managers are taking flack these days for not becoming entrepreneurs.
Whether hinted at or stated outright, their value is demeaned when they choose to stay in corporate positions and they are accused of wasting their talents when they could be out creating jobs by starting companies.
Kindly put, this is a crock.
As Andy Grove pointed out, after the first couple of years job creation is about the same in growth companies as large corporations.
Now Valley legend Esther Dyson, CEO of EDventure Holdings and an active investor in a variety of start-ups around the world, weighs in pointing out that without managers there would be no companies.
The real spur to job and value creation is not turning hundreds of college grads (or dropouts) into entrepreneurs, but hiring thousands – and hundreds of thousands – of people into growing companies that can organize and motivate them and make the best use of their talents.
Thank you, Esther!
This needed to be said by someone with a lot more clout than I have.
Startups are much like marriages.
In marriage, the real work starts after the bride and groom say “I do.”
In startups, the real work starts when the first “outsider” is hired.
There is a reason that very few founders build and run their companies—it’s not what they’re good at.
That’s why we should be celebrating managers with the talent and skill to build the company for the long-term.
“There is no silver bullet that’s going to fix that. No, we are going to have to use a lot of lead bullets.” --Bill Turpin (quote source)
Although Bill Turpin said this in reference to technical problems at Netscape, I see managers at all levels and across industries spending time looking for silver bullets with which to “fix” their people.
There are two reasons that this is a major waste of time.
First, I can categorically state that there is no such thing as a silver bullet. No matter what you are trying to do there is no tool or methodology that can be guaranteed to work in every situation and under every circumstance.
Second, No manager, past or present, has ever fixed anyone. The best that any manager can do is identify the problem, present the information and offer support, but any change or ‘fixes’ must come from the individual.
Lead bullets, however, are how most problems are solved and behaviors changed.
By some measurements lead bullets are expensive, since they cost time and effort over a longer period, but they typically have the highest ROI of anything a manager does.
So, time spent searching for a silver bullet fix or time spent chipping away at the problem with lead bullets?
Thanksgiving is about excess. Excessive food, excessive drink and excessive appreciation.
We give loud and exuberant thanks for all sorts of things at work and at home—people, actions, happenings, things, stuff—a lot of which we take for granted the rest of the year.
Why not take a different path this year and give your loud and exuberant thanks every day starting Thursday (or today if you are ready).
Offer thanks for the little things as well as those that loom large and make sure the thanks are sincere.
Appreciate the good stuff and the not so good, since our best personal growth often springs from how we handle the negatives.
Reach out, instead of waiting to be approached.
Give the people in your world the benefit of the doubt as well as the benefit of your experience.
Give others the spotlight and be thankful when they rise to the occasion—even if it takes some prodding.
Put away your thoughts of quid pro quo and what’s in it for me.
Do it for the next 365 days and I guarantee that your 2011 Thanksgiving will be the most amazing one of your life.
Crucial questions for startups and small businesses, since how they are addressed can make or break the company.
Often the most important hires made when a company wants to grow are in sales.
Founders and owners often have technical, marketing or business backgrounds and many have a tendency to shrug when it comes to sales.
They see hiring salespeople as no big deal—there is an assumption that as long as they have a good track record in their previous sales position and understand the new product they can manage themselves.
If this sounds off base to you, you’re right, it’s not that simple. To use a real-life example, I had a client who thought that way.
The CEO hired “Jack” (before my time), a salesman with a fantastic record selling a parallel product to the same market.
The CEO personally taught Jack the product line and explained what the company was working to accomplish and then pretty much gave him free reign.
In the year Jack was with them he sold only two accounts, spent a good deal of his time on marketing and managed one large client; commissions totaled only $15K.
When he left he went to work in a field completely unrelated to anything he’d done before and in a market about which he knew nothing. In his first year at the new company he earned over 125K in commissions.
The difference was management.
Based on his track record both the CEO and Jack assumed that he could manage himself.
However, Jack didn’t have, and didn’t create for himself, the structure, accountability, etc., necessary to be successful.
During his exit interview he admitted that although he had no knowledge or training in marketing, he spent substantially more time than he should have because it was new and exciting.
After the CEO and I had fully analyzed what happened he concluded that the failure was 80-20, with the 80% his responsibility.
Hind sight is 20/20 and my client believes that if he had taken the time to do what was needed, instead of expecting Jack to completely manage himself, that he would still be with the company and doing a spectacular job.
The important lesson here is that “self-starter” does not mean “self-managed.” Even the best will need direction, structure, and accountability in order to perform brilliantly.
Saturday I recommended spending some of your valuable time on TED, so I thought I’d offer a sample of it that I really liked.
Derek Sivers received a standing ovation for his 3 minute talk on leadership using the video below.
Too often people over focus on the moving pictures, so be sure to pay full attention to what Sivers is saying in conjunction with what is happening in the video.
Because the words are so important you can read a transcript at Siver’s site (along with other good stuff). I hope you take a moment to do so.
I’m not backing down on my contention that leadership is for all, but I completely agree that everyone can’t be leaders simultaneously and that following is just as important, if not more so.
Leadership is over-glorified.
Yes it started with the shirtless guy, and he’ll get all the credit, but you saw what really happened:
It was the first follower that transformed a lone nut into a leader.
There is no movement without the first follower.
We’re told we all need to be leaders, but that would be really ineffective.
The best way to make a movement, if you really care, is to courageously follow and show others how to follow.
When you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first person to stand up and join in.
“What’s more important to you, being right or winning?”
That is what I asked a caller today.
“Frank” has been sequestered on jury duty for several weeks and when he returned to work he found that right after he left his team was assigned a new project and they were just finishing.
Frank said that the project had gone well, was on time and in budget, but he was upset that they had used a different approach from the one he preferred.
That’s when I asked, “What’s more important to you, being right or winning?”
You’d think that was an easy answer, but I was met first with silence and then with multiple reasons proving his approach was better.
He agreed that on time/in budget was a win, but still felt they should have done it his way.
So I ask you, “What’s more important, being right or winning?”
Do you get a lot of spam? Mine is well filtered, but I still have to glance through the junk file to be sure that nothing important was inadvertently caught.
If spam is any guide it seems that Americans sex and meds dominate the American psyche.
Recently I noticed this subject line: Feel 10 years younger in bed today. I’m sure you can guess what product was being hyped.
However, that’s not what hit me and I’ll bet most of you will agree with my reaction—I’d much rather feel 10 years younger out of bed.
Around this time of year I hear from a lot of people looking for answers to the question: How do I keep going? And I’ve heard variations year in and year out, whether the economy is up or down.
Most of the people who ask aren’t down or depressed; rather they are in jobs they like, in line for, or just gotten, a promotion, have kids they are proud of, spouses they love, but still they ask.
They ask because they are tired, not exhausted, but tired, mentally and physically.
So much to do in too few hours; so many balls to keep in the air.
So a pill that made people feel 10 years younger would be worth billions.
There is no pill, but there is something that helps—declutter.
Not your home, but your world.
Prioritize. Decide what truly matters to you and how that fits with others in your world.
Once you have your list start eliminating everything that’s not a true priority.
I’m usually told that they’ve done all that, but it turns out they still Twitter, spend a couple of hours on Facebook and follow hundreds of blogs,
When I hear this I tell them to start again at the beginning and use the thunderbolt screening method. That means looking at each item and deciding if you’ll be struck by a thunderbolt if you stop doing whatever.
For example, you are more likely to be hit with one if you miss your daughter’s soccor game than if you read your email a couple of hours later or don’t update your Facebook wall.
I’m not being fatuous, I’ve seen folks who had them reversed.
If you have trouble with ruthlessness give me a call at 866. 265.7267 or email miki@rampupsolutions.com and I’ll be happy to help.
Tomorrow is my last post and the end of Leadership Turn, so if you enjoy my views and writing don’t forget to bookmark MAPping Company Success or subscribe via RSS or EMAIL.
Last Friday I cited HBS research that indicates that the best results are achieved when those in charge are both good managers and competent leaders and that the key factor is excellent communications.
Talented managers are taking flack these days for not becoming entrepreneurs.
Although Bill Turpin said this in reference to technical problems at Netscape, I see managers at all levels and across industries spending time looking for silver bullets with which to “fix” their people.
How flat should an organization be?
“What’s more important to you, being right or winning?”
Do you get a lot of spam? Mine is well filtered, but I still have to glance through the junk file to be sure that nothing important was inadvertently caught.
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