Management Craft

Traveling Beefs and Bravos

I am in Florida for a couple days and will be speaking to FAA middle managers later today. Whenever I travel, I see both great management and service and lousy management and service.

Beef: Why does it take more than 30 minutes to get checked bags? the last three times I have traveled, I have waited upwards of 40 minutes to get my checked bag. This is unacceptable! How can this system be so broken and not be on the top of someone's list to fix. I know, this is just another in a long list of possible rants about airline service.

Hey Alaska Airlines!
Hey American Airlines!

How about committing to bags in under 20 minutes or we all get $100 or 5000 free miles?

This is a management problem - a system problem, people problem, alignment problem.

Bravo: La Quinta makes their internet access clear and free.

I sometimes stay in a nicer class of hotel, but often I am just looking for a good place with a free and easy internet connection. I have been surprised a few times because the "Free Wifi" was only in the lobby or public areas (even though the description on the website led me to believe they had in-room wifi) or the costs of the internet connection was not clear. La Quinta got my business this trip (two different hotels in two locations) because of their ad campaign which said, "La Quinta. Spanish for Free In-room Internet Access." The access is indeed easy and free. And I like that they include a 24 hour customer support toll free number in case there is a problem getting connected.

The room is comfortable and better than most in this economy business class of hotels.

This is a management triumph. Ensuring that the service is reliable, clear, and consistent takes good management and planning.

As travel related companies (or any company) compete for repeat customers, they ought to keep these examples in mind.

• What are the basic services that customers expect? How can managers create a management system to ensure basic expectations are met?
• What is your unique value proposition? Which products or services do you want to consider part of your unique signature? How can managers create a management system to ensure that you NAIL the execution of these services?

 

Managers need to know about social construction of reality!

One of my publishers, ASTD Press, tells me that my book Coaching Basics is available. Funny, I have not seen a copy of it yet, but I am sure it is in the mail!

In Chapter 3, I briefly share several concepts that I think are important for coaches to understand (the book is for internal coaches primarily, but also external). One such topic is a belief set called social construction of reality.

Whether you become a social constructivist or not is not important, but I think all managers ought to understand and test the notions of social construction. In my mind, it is one of the MOST powerful management concepts you can use to facilitate change.

Here is the brief bit from Coaching Basics on social construction:

Social Construction of Reality

“When people talk to one another, the world gets constructed.” (Burr, An Introduction to Social Construction,1995)

Social constructionists believe that reality is socially constructed. What does this mean? When people talk about something, they define it and make it real. It is during daily interactions that people construct their versions of knowledge and what they believe is real. Two different languages or conversations can create two realities. Your conversations, your talk, make things real to you. The word conversation is used broadly here to include verbal exchanges, written communications, nonverbal communications, and various other media forms. One million people reading a story in the newspaper can create new conversation that shifts reality for themselves. When a crime is committed in a neighborhood, you find several conversations and several realities--those of the police, the criminal, the neighbors, and the witnesses.

As a theory and practice, social constructionism can be helpful to coaches. When your clients are open to the fact that reality is created in conversation, they will more easily notice and modify assumptions that are not helpful. According to Burr in An Introduction to Social Constructionism,

“Social constructionism insists that we take a critical stance toward our taken-for-granted ways of understanding the world (including ourselves). It invites us to be critical of the idea that our observations of the world unproblematically yield its nature to us, to challenge the view that conventional knowledge is based on objective, unbiased observation of the world.”

Don’t confuse what you see as reality with objective truth. In many situations, particularly those dealing with people, there is no one correct way to view the situation. Perceptions about reality are important to coaches and determine clients’ behaviors and results. For years, the prevailing conversation was that the world was flat. During this time, of course, the world was round, but people’s actions and behaviors reflected a reality that the world was flat. It is important to know what your clients believe is real. Is the situation hopeless? Are people conspiring to make them fail? Was the decision dead wrong? These are all views of what’s going on in the workplace, and they are socially constructed.

To change what’s real, change the conversation. One of the most powerful ways to create change is to shift what people are talking about. Notice what your clients are talking about. Are the conversations in support of the change they seek? Often, they are not. Victim conversations are a good example of conversations that define a reality that is unhelpful. It might be a struggle to get your clients to experiment taking on an alternative conversation and reality, but once they do, they will see the benefits.

What do you think? It's Friday and if you are reading this in the morning, then you have the opportunity to reshape what the day will bring based on the conversations you hold and encourage. Experiment with changing your talk today and see how reality changes, too.

Social constructionism and management science is an area about which I am interested in writing more. Is this a topic that interests you?

Dog Poo as Power Source

My husband sent this article to me and I have to share it with you. The headline reads:

"SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — City officials are hoping to harness the power of dog doo."

As the caretaker for 4 large dogs, I have been waiting for this to happen. There is simple too much poo being generated! We need to put our creative brains together to determine how it can come to some good use.

This is a great idea if it can become operational. I hope Seattle gets a pilot going, too.

What does this have to do with management? Not a thing, but it is interesting, no?

Poo Haiku

Poo here, there, everywhere
Need a poo reinvention
What good can poo do?

Ask Lisa Question Answered

Hey "A" - You emailed me a question, but then your email address did not work. So here is a sanitized version of your question and my response. Moral: Yes, I do return emails, but please make sure you give me correct contact info!

Question:

My immediate supervisor is __ year old single woman, who recently completed a degree in _____. She has attempted several self-employed stints as a management consultant and massage therapist. She has been a Team Leader with my employer for a few years. She has told me that this job is currently the only "real job" she has ever held. To me, if asked to describe her in general terms, I would use the word "prissy".

The reason I am writing is I am getting very frustrated with her treatment of me. She makes very great use of the Socratic Coaching method, despite my request she not do so. I have tried to explain to her that I find it patronizing and manipulative. Our organization bases all of its coaching on this believing it is the best way to get employee buy-in. I am starting to have more trouble with her and have recently begun simply not to interact if I can, and avoid as much as possible telling her what I am doing at work each day. She has told others that I am require too much direction and that I am imposing on her for reassurance. I will accept criticism that I have been seeking reassurance but am truly astounded that she feels I need constant direction as that is not my read of this situation at all.

I am at wits end on this. I have always felt that the best thing to do is either adapt to the way a company does business, or accept the fact that you probably don't fit, and move on. Is this my best choice, or is there some way I can sit down with my supervisor and work through some of this? My biggest problem is that I feel unrespected. She says that I am a peer but does not act that way. For example, I feel she quickly dismisses dissent as based on my not understanding something, or narrow mindedness on my part. I accept that I am contributing to things, but know from past life experience that there really is never such a thing as a "one-sided problem".

What I would like is acknowledgment from her of the validity of my previous life and work experience and acceptance of the fact that she needs to change her approach in coaching me. I wanted to feel valued and that I am truly trusted. Any advice that you feel might be useful would be welcome. I hope I have given you enough information. I really don't want to quit, but I understand that may be my only real choice.

My response:

I don't think she is really using the Socratic Method because this should not feel patronizing or manipulative. Genuine curiosity and inclusion never is.

I can only imagine the difference a _____ is from the government! Why did you pick this new line of work? What kind of work lights you up? What type of work best utilizes your special talents? These are important question to consider in determining whether this is really a great fit.

If you just want to get along with your supervisor, you can do that very easily. Just don't let her style get to you. Don't attach too much meaning to the bothersome things. Don't let her define your experience on the job. Determine how you can best have impact and do those things. Feel pride in the great work you are doing and appreciate the positive reinforcement and respect that you get from others.

Your supervisor might mature over time or she may not. You can't bank on or predict this, so you need to make your decision independent of these what/ifs.

Can you do great work there?

In general, I would characterize most government organizations as mature and conservative. Most ___________ organizations are the opposite. If you want to be successful here, you might need to chill out on some of the "new" management techniques they decide to employ like coaching, incentives, and team based motivation.

I agree with you that adapt or move on is the right strategy. And the answer might be both. Adapt for now and explore the type of work that will really light you up. I can't imagine someone with a love of history and economics being attracted to _________ (but I could be wrong). If this is just a stepping stone for you until you determine what you want, then decide that you are not going to let her get to you at all. Have fun and do great work. That said, you will find that if you choose not to let your supervisor get to you, she will likely be more responsive to you and, in time, might give you more of what you need and are hoping for in coaching.

Here are a couple books that you might like:

How to Win Friends and Influence People and How to Stop Worrying and Start Living - both by Dale Carnegie.

The Art of Possibility by the Zanders

Is Your Genius at Work by Dick Richards

Good luck with your situation and I hope this is helpful.

Three Meaty Posts

I'd like to share three meaty posts with you. First up is a post from Sam Decker called 20 Questions to Develop Your Business. Whether we work internal to an organization or have our own business, these are excellent questions. Here's a bit:

"A few months ago a friend who owns a retail furniture store asked me to help him develop his business. My first step was to understand his business, where he had gaps...and also find out what he didn't know (but should). I came up with this list of 20 questions.

As important as the answers are to these, it's as important that you CAN answer them. These aren't all the questions that you could ask, but these were the ones that first lept to the top of the heap for me."

Particularly telling is the following question: "What do you think are the top three things keeping you from achieving success?" Not that I think most people would accurately answer this question - but even their incorrect answer is telling. I have found that many people do not see the key barriers in their way and identify meaningless things as barriers. Check out Sam's post and see if you can answer the 20 questions!

The second post comes from Mark over at Manager Tools in this enticingly named post called, May I Save You $5,000? And some embarrassment? Well, yes, you may! Anyway, this is a great post about the common disconnect between what we say is important and what our daily choices reveal is actually important. Here's a snippet:

"Whenever I’m engaged by an executive to coach them, one of my first (if not THE first) actions is to request their schedule for the previous 3-6 weeks. I want an answer to a question I don’t want them to hear me asking: what is it that you DO? How do you spend your time? Because what you DO really IS what your priorities ARE.

Let me say that again, differently. Your “priorities” are what you DO. The inferential proof of what’s important to you is how you spend your time. Your BEHAVIOR is the pigment on your life’s strategic canvas.

I usually set the calendar aside, and then in our first meeting, I ask them one or more of these questions: “What are your priorities? What do you consider most important in your role? What do you see as the primary responsibility of your role?”

You can guess what happens next. Would you get caught in this trap? Yes, of course you would. Most of us would on an average day. When I have a peak day/hour it is because these two things - importance and attention - are in alignment.

The third post comes from Skip over at Random Thoughts of a CTO in a post called, Deming and His 14 Points. Skip offers a kick butt summary of Deming's 14 points - many of which I think are brilliant and most of which are ignored my managers (unfortunate). It will be no surprise to my regular readers that I selected this one to quote:

"12. Remove barriers that rob people of joy in their work. This will mean abolishing the annual rating or merit system that ranks people and creates competition and conflict.

Skip: Dilbert and The Office portray the workplace as a terrible place to be.  Though it's done in a humorous fashion, it's still a testament to how people view most organizations.  Managers from all levels should pay attention to this one, as they create programs, policies, procedures, etc that seem like good ideas but cause more conflict than they resolve."

Three excellent posts, so go on over and check them out!

Free Webinar that you MUST not miss!

My pal, Laurence Haughton, is giving a free Live Meeting presentation on Tuesday, February 28, at 9am Pacific, 12:00noon Eastern time. The talk is called, The Art of Follow Through.

Laurence is amazing to listen to. He is provocative, sassy, and full of energy. I have had several conversations with Laurence that left me feeling jazzed and mentally stimulated. He can be tough, too! I like that he does not sugar coat things - he calls it like he sees it - and challenges us to get beyond the daily BS of business as usual. This session is certain to be great, great, great.

Click here and sign up now. And pass this link along so that your buddies can also sign up.

If you want to read more about Laurence's work:

• Pal Rosa just did a great 2-part post about Laurence's book and work
• Here is Laurence's website
• Here's a post Pal Bren did about Laurence's book a while ago
• Here is an interesting post on the Emory Leadership blog Laurence wrote about Ford Motor Company's struggles (and the connection to follow-through)

New Free Management Newsletter

I know that some of you will be shaking your heads saying, "newsletters are so yesterday," but hear me out. I love the diverse audience of folks who read this blog (thank you all). I frequently get emails from enlightened blog readers who work with unenlightened folks who don't read blogs. And I hear from trainers, HR folks, and leaders who would like to expose their managers to my work, but a blog is not the best format for them.

They all want a newsletter!

OK! I now have a newsletter. Beginning the first week of March, I am going to produce a FREE monthly email newsletter called Management Craft (why mess with the brand). The newsletter will include the following features to start:

• An interesting management tip, lesson, or bit of coaching.
• A couple brief articles about management, leadership, and related topics.
• Book or website suggestions.
• One "best of the blog" article featuring my favorite post from the last month.
• Other fun, interesting, provocative, or disturbing factoids.

Other than the "best of the blog" feature, the newsletter will not be repetitive with the blog. I will do some interviews every now and then and other special features. I intend to have more fun than a barrell of monkeys doing this newsletter, so you never know what I will offer up!

Since I am pouring the time and effort into the newsletter, I would like to get it in front of bazillions of people. The target audience will be managers, leaders, those aspiring to be managers and leaders, and those who develop managers and leaders. As a reader of this blog, I would love to have you receive the newsletter.

Sign up for my free e-mail newsletter by clicking here!

This is not a secret plan to generate spam. Even though I was born in Canada, I do not like Spam (this might be an inside joke but Canadians are known for consuming a lot of Spam ham products. And Kraft Mac n' Cheese, which I do like.). When you sign up, you will get the monthly newsletter with lots of good information. One email, once per month, that's it - scout's honor. Actually, I should not say that because when I was young, I was kicked out of the Brownies for arguing about how we were spending our troop funds. I was a bit of a tom boy and sought more adventure than the Brownie troop offered....

If a bunch of people sign up for the newsletter, I will be buoyed into creating a masterpiece. Well, I will give it a shot, anyway. Please share this link with folks at work - enlightened or not - who would benefit from a monthly injection of Management Craft. Thanks!

I'm in Chinese!

I just received a few new copies of my book, High Impact Middle Management. It has been translated into Chinese. It's cool to look at and I am thrilled that my Chinese readers now have their own version. I do wonder about the quality of the translation and whether my intended points will come across..... I can only assume and hope that the translators know what they are doing. It is also interesting how different the covers look.

       

Best Management Ideas - Contest Winners

I am pleased to share with your the results of the first Best Management Ideas contest! But before I begin, a few important thank yous:

First, a big thank you to everyone who offered an entry. I found the ideas interesting and diverse! Thanks for sharing!

Also, I want to thank the wonderful judges. Reading, considering, and ranking the ideas took time and I appreciate the care and energy they put into the task. Just so you know, the judges received the ideas without any names or identifying characteristics. The judges were:

Brendon Connelly from Slacker Manager
Dwayne Melancon from Genuine Curiosity
Skip Angel from Random Thoughts from a CTO
Jeffrey Phillips from Thinking Faster

And a big thank you to my fabulous sponsors. The winners are getting several amazing prizes! Here are the prizes:

Grand Prize Winner:
Free copy of my favorite writing/editing software, StyleWriter
Free copy of a great stretching program, Stretch Break
A $25 Gift Certificate to a very cool online store, Hip and Zen
A Signed Copy of Re-imagine, by Tom Peters
A free spot in my next 2 Weeks to a Breakthrough Program
Advance (get the book before ANYONE else!) copy of David Lorenzo's book, Career Intensity
A copy of the fun and cool book, More Space: Nine Antidotes to Complacency in Business
A signed copy of my book, High Impact Middle Management

Three Runners Up:
Free copy of my favorite writing/editing software, StyleWriter
Advance copy of David Lorenzo's book, Career Intensity
A copy of the fun and cool book, More Space: Nine Antidotes to Complacency in Business
A signed copy of my book, High Impact Middle Management

And the winners are:

Grand Prize Winner - Rob May!

Here is Rob's Entry:

One thing I do that isn’t very common is that I write down the decisions I make and the projected outcomes.  Each week, I take a few minutes at the end of the week and I make a list of decisions I made.  I try to focus on decisions that have important consequences, have ambiguous input parameters, or are otherwise difficult to evaluate.  I don’t waste time on simple things, although at some point I probably should take a few weeks and just focus on those.

When I write down a decision, I make some basic notes as to why I picked the final choice.  I don’t write so much that I rehash the whole process, but I do write enough to jar my memory.  Then I write down what I think will happen as a result of the decision.  Each week when I make these notes, I also review my previous decision notes to see whether or not the success of previous decisions can be evaluated.  If it can, I note how whether or not the decision came out as I expected.  Once a month I gather these decision notes together and analyze them to see where I made mistakes.

The point is that management is all about making decisions, and I believe this process of decision analysis is helping me become a better decision maker.

For example, if I am doing some business development and I decide write a phone or email script, I make notes about the anticipated response to the script.  Later I can evaluate the responses and determine whether or not they were in line with my expectations.  If they were not, I can try to analyze the reasons so that I will do better next time.

Another example is sales.  If we missed our targets for a month, I can go back to my notes and look at the reasons I set those targets.  Were my assumptions wrong?  Was my analysis wrong?  Did some economic force or event change the industry?  This way I can tell if I need to improve on my assumptions, my analysis, my execution, or if I made good projections but unforseeable events affected the outcome.

This process can be used for any major decisions.  Are you taking a new management approach with a certain employee?  Have you instituted a new policy of some sort?  Have you decided to allocate your time differently?  Have you decided to be more/less diligent about responding to email?  Have you decided to take on a new type of client?  Have you decided to change your advertising strategy?

I don’t complicate the process by overanalyzing or spending a large amount of time on this process.  Some things are just random and beyond my control.  However, it really helps me out when repeated bad decisions prove to me that some assumption I have isn’t true, or that something I thought was useful really wasn’t.

And the Runners Up Are (In no particular order)

Brent Edwards

Brent's idea: I have implemented a wiki at my research center and have experienced tremendous value with it. Employees use it to document their projects and ideas, others have added collaborative ideas, people keep track of their work status which we use use during our weekly status meeting, and some use it to keep track of interesting social events happening in the Bay Area. Implementing a wiki at work adds capabilities that can enhance collaboration and employee interaction in any office, work group or department

Phil Gerbyshak

Phil's idea: I have a weekly/bi-weekly meeting with each member of my team, where they have 10 questions they need to answer, including the last action completed and the next action needed to get them to complete their goals. Many members of my team are achieving much greater success than before because of this constant attention.

Brian McLeod

Brain's idea: My service company is probably like many in that we have had a tougher year in 2005 than in the last 10 years. One of the ways we've been able to turn that around is by getting staff EXCITED about our company and it's services again. Getting customers excited is the easy part. Keeping your workers excited in another all together and it's just as important! The reality is that memos are usually boring. Newsletters don't get read as much as they should. The company picnic and Christmas parties are social, not business. The way we reached our people and got our results was so simple, yet rarely done...

We simply booked a local hotel conference room for a Saturday morning seminar-style presentation (not expensive, just a conference room and some lunch) and brought all of our sales staff in to watch a demonstration of all our services and participate in a panel discussion with all of our managers and executives where we took questions, gave advice and, basically, fired everyone back up again about working here. Some of our services have been updated and improved dramatically since these guys last saw them. Some of the people had NEVER seen real live examples of that which they sell all day, only the references in their training materials.

I am certain that we are not alone in having found ourselves in such a spot. We are tightly run ship and have been growing year to year for nearly a decade. It was time to catch our breath, reconnect all the dots and get everyone back on the same page. To call it a resounding success would be to understate the effect it has had on our staff. Everyone was ENERGIZED with a renewed sense of confidence, commitment and enthusiasm about working here. Sales have skyrocketed since then and it was, in many ways, instrumental in keeping some of them from falling off.

Now, naturally, this is not a new idea, merely one overlooked time and time again. The costs were very minimal but the rewards will be reaped for a long time to come. If your company hasn't shaken the dust off its message with its sales staff, this is a truly fantastic way to do so without spending a fortune or creating a mountain of preparation work.

Congratulations to all!! There were many great ideas that did not win a prize. Here now, are the other ideas in no particular order:

I have listed these ideas without the names because I do not want to make anyone uncomfortable in the event they would prefer to be anonymous. I would like to call attention to one entry, however:

This idea was sent in from a 17 year old blogger named Matt. You can check out his blog here. Hey Matt - I just wanted you to know that I am impressed. When I was 17, I did not have my act nearly as together as you appear to have achieved. I certainly was not looking for a "good time management tool." I bet you will go far. Thanks for the great idea and for reading Management Craft!

Matt's idea: I've been stressed for time lately and I was looking for a good time management solution when I found David Seah's Task Progress Tracker. It has changed the way I work and live and I absolutely love it. It has helped me become a better self-starter and it is also a great tool to help track how much time you have spent on a project. David Seah's website - www.davidseah.com Link to the Task Progress Tracker.

Here are the remaining great ideas without names:

Great Idea: I sidelined my hotmail account and got me a gmail account.  I use hotmail for signing up to newsletters, ebay transactions and anything that doesn't involve 'real' people.  Gmail is my exclusive email account, which I don't use except to talk to real people.  Filters out all the unnecessary email guff.  And of course you can tag conversations in Gmail, so I can further 'filter' out personal and MBA related stuff.

 Great Idea: At work for email, I use Mail Manager, software from oasys, which manages outgoing and incoming emails, so they're all saved onto the common server.  Important in our line of work to let everyone have access to the emails - and not have it sitting in someone's inbox where no one else knows it exists.

Great Idea: Bloglines is how I manage all my incoming feeds.  My categories are split between 'personal' and 'business' and then again between 'full' and 'partial' feeds.  At work, I can track the business, at home, the personal.

Great Idea: The most useful thing I've come across all year is Librarything.com.  It's suffering from expansion teething problems currently, but I love it.  If a blog directs you to an amazon page, you can tag the book directly from your browser and it will add to your library list.  If I spot a book I might want to read, I tag it 'wishlist' and whatever category it falls under (fiction, business, science, etc).  No more scribbling down book titles or trying to switch between .com and .co.uk when on amazon (librarything recognizes both).

Great Idea:  After reading Managing with Aloha, I realized I need to spend my daily 5 minutes with a different member of each team, and having done so for the last year, my team has become much more effective about bringing me small problems before the manifest into a big one. (By the way, you can check out Rosa's post about this great technique here.)

Great Idea:  We all respond to other people based on what we believe about ourselves and about them. To change what is not working for us, we have to change what we believe. Then everything we do and everything we say changes automatically. Some of the beliefs that can open conversations and promote good working relationships are:  everyone has a good reason for what they say and do, everyone is doing the best they can, we don't know what other people are thinking and feeling.  By believing the best about people and knowing that the only way we can find out what's going with them is to ask, we make ourselves open to what they say and do, without worrying about judging or condemning them.  We can treat everyone the same and treat them well, not because of who they are, but because of who we are.  By using this perspective, I have contributed to creating a positive environment for myself and my coworkers, which helps to bring out the brilliance in all of us.  I have written a book from my experiences called Doing the Right Thing and Achieving All Your Goals at the Same Time.  It is available from on-line booksellers and is also published in its entirety on my website:  www.mariannepowers.com.

Great Idea:  I've taken Tom Peters' "managing by walking around" to a new level: I spend at least an hour walking around the floor, making sure everyone is good to go, sharing a coffee and an ear with some, and with some, just a friendly smile and a Happy Monday (or whatever day it happens to be).

Great Idea:  Starting last year, my team evaluated themselves before I got a chance to self-evaluate their performances, and identify areas of strength they'd like to leverage for greater success in the coming years. We implemented a plan to use those strengths this year. I found this quite helpful, and based it loosely off of Now Discover Your Strengths.
I get hungry several times throughout the day. This is what I hunger for:
People,
Reading,
Bread,
When I take a break from writing, researching or crunching numbers - I do it at Panera Bread. Here's why it's my best management tool.I bring a business book (nothing with sales or marketing in the title), go to Panera, read while holding the book upright so everyone can read the title and I can read their smile as they walk by. I have a business card turned upside down with the image (on the blog) facing up. In 30 minutes, I've usually  made a new contact, said howdy to familiar faces, got my fill of food for both my brain and tummy - then back to work. My first break is at 6 AM, so this happens several times in a day that ends at 9 PM or later.. It's the most balanced and productive thing I do each day. I manage my time, my contacts, and my balance with one shot (of espresso).

Great Idea:  This is my 4 step plan to get your employees happy to do the work you ask them to do and more.. By far, the easiest way to get employees to do the work you need them to do is to make them happy to do it. Here are the 4 steps I use when directing people so they feel happy about the work they are doing.

1.  Show empathy for an employee as a person and the work they are doing.  This is where making an effort before, during and after work makes all the difference.  What are your employees kids names?  What do they do for hobbies?  Getting to know them as people gives you the soft-sell position of being the manager who cares. A good statement to use when asking for a task to be completed is "I know you're swamped, so help me figure out the best way to get ______ done.
2.  Giving specific reasons for your requests.  The word "because" can be so helpful here.  "What can we do to get this done by 5pm? -- Because if we don't this client is going to send us home and tell us not to come back."
3.  Using common courtesy like saying "please" and "thank you" go a long way, to making you the thoughtful manager who cares about them.  A simple statement like "Hey Mary, could you please do me a favor.." or "Hey Bill, could I get you to help me out here..." are almost always welcomed.
4.  Using who, what, when, where and how questions.  "What can we do to ensure this gets done in time?" is much more persuasive than "You better have that done in time."  "How can we resolve this issue so everyone is happy and we can get back to work?  Is much better than "You two need to just get over it." Once you combine a couple of them into one, it makes your requests irresistible to the employee.  "Mary, I know you must be tired having all that family in from out of town.  But we still have to have the report in by five, otherwise Sue is going to report us and you know as well as I do, we don't want that to happen.  What can we do to make sure it gets done?" 

The simplest way to implement this is to actually take the time and energy needed to see your employees as special people.  Each one has different strengths, different weaknesses and different attitudes.  But all can be working for the same goal if you listen every once in awhile and ask the right questions.

How this has benefited me:  I once managed a team of computer installers and we often worked very early in the morning to late at night (3am some nights).  It was difficult to motivate people, but I'll never forget one day one of my employees announced during a break "You know the thing about Brad?  He could tell you to go straight to hell and you'd do it!  And not only that you'd be happy about it!"  There was a sudden blast of knowing laughter from the rest of the team, and a comment from another: "yeah you got that right...scary isn't it?"

Great Idea:  We live in an era of collective intelligence, connectedness, information abundance, constant change and uncertainty. Trying to manage things through control in such an environment is simply impossible and counterproductive because it does not maximize resources. I believe today managers should abandon the old-fashioned control mode. They should replace it by a work environment where the people they manage feel ownership of their actions and take responsibility. I call this the "Open Management Environment" where "losing control" is filled by "governance" where everybody uses his/her motivation and capabilities to its maximum. It's like Open Source Software Development where developers focus on the problems they want to solve and contribute to a powerful big picture.

Lose Control: Open Business Model Design

Today's business environment is characterized by rapid change and uncertainty. Those who tap into collective intelligence by using the strengths of Information & Communication Technology to its best will master this challenging environment and succeed (see also buzzword Web2.0). Open Source Software such as Linux or Apache have become so powerful because they have done this. Open Software Software development relies on thousands of skilled developers that work on small problems which they are passionate about and want to solve. These developers own the problems they work on and as a consequence give their best. A governance body then puts the pieces together to a impressive whole. Nothing hinders us to use similar "open techniques" in management.

In my daily work I have tried to start applying this to the tasks that have to be done inside and outside our global nonprofit organization that works with international organizations, governments and other nonprofits. For example, we have several mailing lists in our internal and external networks where we push out ideas and drafts to be formed and completed by the best suited (non-designated) person in. We are also working on putting in place several wikis that will openly allow our global network and interested people to jointly edit key reference documents used in our services. In general the work we do in the field of HIV/AIDS relies on "losing control" by a) catalyzing local ownership of responses (i.e. solutions) to AIDS and b) fostering collective intelligence rather than applying so-called specialist knowledge.

Great Idea:  My tip is very simple. I learned it from a friend who I think saw it in a book. It enables me to dispel endless list paralysis. When confronted with a long, stale to-do list, use the four D’s to get me going...

DO – get on with it already!
DROP – don’t need to do this anyway!
DELEGATE – give someone else the opportunity to get the task done
DEFER – wait and see, it’s not necessary to do this just yet

Great Idea:  I’m a lead instructor in a tutoring center where I act as the liaison between the teachers and the director. I also act as support staff for the teachers, and frequently end up teaching students.
Wearing three hats at once gets a little crazy, but I’ve learned that while I’m on my way to handle one task, I can generally handle two to three smaller tasks along the way which keeps things running smoothly throughout the center.

I’ve also applied this mindset to working on getting my jewelry business up and running, and it’s helped keep me from feeling overwhelmed by everything I need to accomplish.

I’m nominating this because I find that taking care of small things en route to taking care of a bigger task does a couple of things. It helps reduce my stress because I have fewer things to worry about. It causes those smaller tasks to get done without dropping off the face of the earth. It can also help keep me focused on that larger task by not letting my mind wander.

I often find myself more relaxed and able to handle crises on days when I do this than I do on days when I don’t because when I feel stressed, I typically start reacting by worrying over tiny things.

Great Idea:  In order to improve the execution of critical business processes our company has re-focused resources to manage these business processes from end to end.

For example, instead of the New Product Introduction (NPI) process being managed and divided along functional lines and adopting an 'over the garden wall' mentality, we have appointed NPI managers who manage the process 'end to end'. They are the fulcrum around which all the activities of the NPI process revolve.

The first action is to draw together a project team from the various functions involved in NPI. These resources are appointed to the project on a part-time basis but within their functions it is their responsibility to drive the NPI actions and task that are the responsibility of their function. The NPI manager develops the project plan, co-ordinates activities, hold review meetings and manage conflict resolution.

These managers are supported by an NPI process manager (program manager) who's responsibility is to remove barriers, co-ordinate the wider NPI program, to liaise predominantly with other functional managers and directors, to facilitate the process. Amongst their most important roles is process improvement, looking for ways to reduce time to market, to review project performance, and ensuring lessons learned are captured and incorporated in the NPI process going forward.

This arrangement has also been adopted, as yet in a looser form, for re-engineering project.

Final Analysis:

I found it interesting that ideas clustered into two broad categories - technology tools and connecting with people. Makes sense, really. I have learned a few things:

• I need to learn more about using wikis - I feel utterly clueless!
• The basics are often still the best ideas and techniques.

I hope you will continue to share your great management ideas with me and those around you. I pledge to do the same. Our everyday practices might be just what another manager needs to improve his or her results and satisfaction. Let's not take what we have learned for granted. Pass it along - pay it forward

 

 

Best Management Ideas Awards - Results Tomorrow!

The votes from the 4 judges are in! I will be announcing the winners tomorrow.