Joe and Wanda on Management

In his book Tipping Sacred Cows, Jake Breeden provides some leadership advice…

Perhaps you were attracted to leadership because you wanted to stand and deliver inspiration to a room full of people. That may be your need. But true leaders put the needs of their people and their organizations above their own. Before you give that fiery speech to your team, ask if they need it. If you feel the need to motivate some people, maybe you can volunteer to coach a youth sports team. Sometimes leaders are better leading from the back of the room. As Nelson Mandela said, “Put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”

Thoughts Joe and Wanda?

Joe Kerr: I must admit, that I am a reluctant leader. I wasn’t so much attracted to leadership as leadership was attracted to me.

Wanda B. Goode: I’m with Mandela, although leading from behind has gotten a bad rap recently with President Obama’s adopting the strategy as part of his foreign policy. It is being characterized as weakness. Not sure if this is a fair assessment or not, but in general, it does appear we mistakenly favor bold, brash leaders that tend to be more bluster than substance.

Here are a couple of related posts

First Time Manager? Put the Spotlight on Others
Leadership: Courage, Attitude, and Behavior
Leadership in Action: Putting Others First

Bill Matthies, CEO of Coyote Insight, explains the importance of knowing your people and assessing their ability to change. Listen to this 10 minute podcast to find out more.

 

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In his book, Tipping Sacred Cows, Jake Breeden mentions the importance of being decisive.

Leaders should reflect on a decision and then make it. There are a dozen reasons to delay a decision, and if you want to find a reason to hold off, you will. But delaying decisions is a cop-out strategy.

Thoughts Joe and Wanda?

Joe Kerr: Either reflect on a decision briefly and make it, or just ask your wife!

Wanda B. Goode: One common delay tactic is to continue to request additional information. More facts can always be gathered. Not a good practice, though. Much better to follow Jake’s advice.

Here are a couple of related posts

How to Be More Decisive
Here’s a Tool to Help You Make Quick Decisive Decisions

Dan McCarthy hosts the April, 2013 Leadership Development Carnival. Sample the dozens of management and leadership articles posted this month.

In his book The Supermanager, Greg Blencoe uses the analogy of changing the oil in your car to demonstrate the importance of listening to team members.

Listening to employees to uncover problems is a lot like changing the oil in your car. If you don’t change the oil, problems will begin to build up until the dreaded day comes when you are stuck on the side of the road after your car has broken down and you have to call a tow truck.

Thoughts Joe and Wanda?

Joe Kerr: I go with the synthetic oil, which means I just pretend to listen, and I don’t have to do it as often!

Wanda B. Goode: Listening is not just good for preventative maintenance. It’s also a great source of new ideas. You can’t be selective though. Some manager will wait to solicit feedback until they are in a jam. Once a car breaks down, the oil change won’t help.

Here are a couple of related posts

Active Listening is an Effective Listening Skill and Strategy
Effective Listenting: 10 Barriers and How to Overcome Them
The Practice of Successful Managers

I’m not a bit fan of the “reality-based” shows that litter the television programming landscape these days, but recently I stumbled upon a show from which I was able to glean some value.

The show is called, “Bar Rescue.” Each episode, expert bar consultant Jon Taffer, helps revitalize an underperforming bar. In the episode that I watched, Jon asks the manager of the bar, “Are you a good manager?” Naturally, the manager answers, “Yes, I surely am.” Jon then asks the manager a series of fundamental questions about the performance of the business, and the manager is not able to answer any of them.

Jon then loudly proclaims, “You’re not a manager, you’re a host.” Followed by, “You are a failure.” Naturally this doesn’t go over too well with the manager, but in the end, the manager comes to realize that he has abdicated the core of his responsibilities and he accepts and embraces Jon’s tutelage.

Thoughts Joe and Wanda?

Joe Kerr: I’m not a manager or a host. Rather, I’m a leader. As a leader, I do wear many hats, to include my manager hat, and yes, even my host hat. Further, no hot-shot consultant knows my business better than I do.

Wanda B. Goode: One of the questions I’ve been asked by my manager in the past is, “Is your team better this year than they were last year?” After answering with the obligatory, “Yes,” I got hit with the follow-up, “How do you know?”

If you don’t have performance measures (and yes, every team can have performance measures), how can you prove you are better?

Here are a couple of related posts

The Importance of Metrics
How to Measure Team Success
Measuring What’s Important as a Manager
Your Team’s Success Begins with Good Goal Setting

Last Sunday’s Philadelphia Inquirer had an article written by Larry Platt about Philadelphia Eagles former coach Andy Reid. For those of you that are not aware, Andy got fired after the team struggled through a dismal 4 and 12 season.

The premise of the article is that Andy “Did something rare in America: He took responsibility.” He never called out his players. Eagles fans were incensed by his weekly news conferences where he parroted the familiar refrain, “That’s my responsibility… I need to do a better job.” Andy never wavered in his commitment to take ownership of the problems.

Truth be told, the performance of the Eagles was Andy’s responsibility. He was the head honcho, responsible for player personnel as well as the head coach. He was unable to improve upon his team’s lackluster 8 and 8 record last year, so he was fired.

But, Andy didn’t play the blame game, which is so easy to do. The author points out that blaming others has become routine. In fact, it’s even encouraged and often rewarded. He goes on to make the argument that we need more managers to take the high road. We need more buck stoppers and fewer buck passers.

Thoughts Joe and Wanda?

Joe Kerr: I almost stopped a buck dead this year – an eight pointer. Unfortunately, my lousy gun misfired.

Wanda B. Goode: Amen. Leadership is tough. It’s summed up in another quote from the article. “Victory has a hundred fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”

Here are a couple of related posts
Great Leaders Don’t Blame, They Serve
Ten Signs of a Leader in Denial

In a 2007 white paper on Empathy in the workplace, researchers with the Center for Creative Leadership share results of a study they performed. It indicates that manager empathy is positively related to overall job performance. The paper also references a 2009 study which claims that 50% of managers are seen as poor performers or failures in their jobs. So why not teach managers to be a little more empathetic?

Thoughts Joe and Wanda?

Joe Kerr: Well, I’m a terrific manager, so either I’ve learned to successfully compensate for my lack of empathy, or I’m incredibly empathetic and don’t even realize it!

Wanda B. Goode: Might as well try something! Selling the advantages of the softer side of management is tough, but this study should help as it points to a positive correlation to hard results.

Here are a couple of related posts
Sales Managers as Empathetic Leaders
Management Skills: Three Ways to Build Empathy
Empathy Can’t be Taught but it Can be Practiced

In their book, Playing to Win, Authors A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin relay how many leaders approach strategy ineffectively. One common mistake is to define strategy as a vision without backing up that vision…

“They offer no guide to productive action and no explicit road map to the desired future. They don’t include choices about what businesses to be in and not to be in. There’s no focus on sustainable competitive advantage or the building blocks of value creation.”

Sound familiar Joe and Wanda?

Joe Kerr: We haven’t talked strategy in a while, so this is a good opportunity to remind the masses that I said, “Get ‘er done” long before that flannel shirted Cable Guy, and I’ve been winning ever since.

Wanda B. Goode: Vision and Mission statements are starting points, I agree with the authors that there is much more to it than that. I also like their short definition of strategy – Strategy is choice – choosing to do some things and not others. Again, these are just the words, and the words are the easy part.

Here are a couple of related posts

The Golden Thread: Linking Strategy to Execution
Ram Charan on Linking Strategy to Execution

In their book, Practice Perfect, Authors Doug Lemov, Erica Woolway, and Katie Yezzi make the case that repetition unlocks creativity. They reference legendary basketball coach, John Wooden – “Drilling creates a foundation on which individual initiative and imagination can flourish.”

It’s based on the premise that once you’ve mastered a series of rote tasks, you do them without thinking. This frees up your mind to focus on other things. They explain that this is why some of our most creative ideas come when we are in the shower, or out for a run. Our unconscious mind executes the repetitive steps while our conscious mind is free to wander.

Thoughts, Joe and Wanda?

Joe Kerr: That explains why I do some of my best work on the crapper.

Wanda B. Goode: Thanks so much for that visual, Joe. This certainly is an interesting concept. Seems a bit counterintuitive, but it makes sense. This same premise also seems to apply to learning fundamentals. It seems that without mastering the basics the ability to develop creative solutions is thwarted.

Here are a couple of related posts

Enhancement Through Repetition
Repetition – Act of Saying Over Again
The Curse of Creativity