Management Craft

#Management Team Pact - A Real Example

I was cleaning out some stuff in my office because we are moving from our apartment in Houston into a Loft and I am downsizing the amount of "stuff in boxes" I will take to the new digs. I have moved lots of boxes many times and it is silly and wasteful.

I found a 20 year old letter that a senior management team crafted and signed. This group of leaders was not modeling great teaming and this was their way to acknowledge the issue and make a commitment to be better together. Here is the letter (I have removed all names):

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Commitments to Each Other

As members of the ____ top management team we recognize that we are responsible for the Division's success. That means that we are responsible for each other's success and that there is no business of the Division that is not our business. As teammates, with those responsibilities, we commit to each other the following:

• We will acknowledge each other's successes and contributions
• If we ever disagree with another team member's actions or decisions we will discuss our concerns with that team member (and not others)
• If we cannot resolve issues or concerns we will raise them to the Division President for resolution
• We will learn each other's challenges, goals, and objectives
• We will represent each other's interests in our respective organizations
• We will strive, in all things, to make the Corporation successful and to achieve Division objectives, ahead of individual objectives
• We will represent team decisions as that; we will debate them within the team and support them outside the team
• We will seek each other's input

We also acknowledge that our roles as Division leaders are 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week roles. So, these commitments are always to be lived up to, in all settings and with all audiences.

The letter was them signed by all the senior team members.

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If you have some leadership team dysfunction, you might need to do something like this. I have found that the problem will not improve until team members hold themselves to a higher standard and they acknowledge what's going on.

This letter is not perfect - I would change a few things today if I were crafting it again - but it gives you the idea. Your letter should address the challenges you have and the opportunities you seek to explore.

If you struggle with management teaming issues, you might also check out a post I did on the topic a few years back called Dysfunction Reverberates. BTW - hint-hint, wink-wink, this post was one of 69 that made it into my new "best of" book Never-Ending New Beginnings. Have you picked up your copy yet? Thanks so much, if you have.

 

 

He's not trying to annoy you, that is just the way he breathes.

Think about styles and preferences a bit differently and you will enjoy working with people a whole lot more. It is so easy to get perturbed with people. It is easy to assume that people are trying to frustrate us, make things difficult for us. It is a piece of cake to render a judgment about another person's motives and intent.

The kicker is that while it is easy to respond to people in these ways, we are often wrong. And it is a cop out.

I used to let styles really get to me. And I am not perfectly cured of it. But I am better ad happier and more successful because I truly believe that how we are - not who we are, HOW we are - is something that is so comfortable that it is like how we breathe.

So instead of taking on an assumption that has a high likelihood of being wrong, repeat after me: " she's not trying to annoy me, that is just the way she breathes."

I am not suggesting that we all don't need to learn how to be better partners and I am not excusing bad behavior. My suggestion is to be more choosy about what we classify and the assumptions we have about how people act and communicate.

Most people are smart, hard-working, and well meaning - even if they are frustrating to work with at times. BTW - you are likely smart, hard-working and well meaning AND frustrating to work with at times.

It's just the way you breathe.

Do you really want it or are you wanting to want it? #management #happiness #authenticity

File this post in the category of personal success. Life success. Leading with authenticity.

First, I want to share a very important video. It is not short - just over a hour - but it could transform your life. The video is of Dr. Dean Ornish on the connection between how we live and our health. I watched it this weekend and found it riveting. And I am convinced that to be the best leaders we can possibly be, we need to be the best humans we can be. We need to be the fully expressed version of ourselves. Check out the video here.

Consider this example of authenticity: throwing yourself into whatever you dream without self-consciousness or regret.

There are two sticky parts to the above example. First, is the throwing of oneself into what we dream. I have been challenging myself a lot lately regarding my goals and dreams. I say I want to XYZ, but if I am honest, there are many signs that should tell me that I really don't want to do this. It is a goal I want to want. Something that I think would be interesting to want. But I have to push myself to get enthused about it.

Here is an example. I have been saying for many years that I wanted to get my PhD. I even enrolled in a great program and was underway. It was a slog for all the usual reasons including that I was working full time and trying to have a life. I thought this was normal and it is to a point. But even if I had all the time in the world it would be a slog. And now I can be at peace and tell you I really don't want a PhD. I wanted to want it. Quitting the program hurt because I had already made an investment. But is it ever right to continue spending time and money when it's no longer a goal? No, it is not (especially if you do not need the credential/outcome, which I don't).

I have been thinking about writing a quirky crime novel. I think it is a fun idea. But I am realizing that this might be another one of my wanting to wants, not a real want. What's the clue? I am not enthused to get into it. It is a slog even when I have the time.

I have decided that I will do only the following:

• Things I REALLY want to do
• Things I have to do to be a good citizen
• Things I choose to do to serve others

But I won't do

• Things I want to want to do, that upon reflection, I realize I don't want to do

I can't be authentic - throw myself into it - if I am trying to talk myself into the idea. There will be no room in my tiny brain to focus on making progress.

The second part of the example that is a bit tricky is "without self-consciousness or regret." Yikes, that is a hard but worthy endeavor. I have been working on this. Here is an ego-driven example. I have resisted doing a lot of biking because I was self-conscious about how my big butt must look from behind. So silly, really, especially since A) most people are not thinking of me when our paths cross, and thinking they are is pretty self-absorbed and B) who cares, it is big, which is why I need to bike more.

I have found that when I can adopt a less self-consious approach, I am better able to throw myself into things. It is a gift I can give myself that keeps on giving.

We are mental garbage making machines, aren't we? Success - which I define as fruitful happiness - comes when we can dial down our mental garbage long enough to let our talents manifest possibilities.

Enjoy the week. Throw yourself into something that really matters to you and don't worry if your butt looks big.

Here is your #leadership litmus test.

Is there one indicator of great leadership that shines above all others? I believe there is.

Brace yourself.

Actually, it is quite simple.

The litmus test for great leadership - in my humble opinion - is the degree that you lead according to your stated and understood intentions. The "your" in that sentence means what you have said to your team AND your organization's intentions.

Before you switch over to another blog because I have bored you by stating the obvious, stick with me through this example. It's trickier than we might think....

I know a senior leader who I will call Sam. Sam is a functional leader for a large organization and he has several hundred people working for him in his unit. Sam is fairly new and the early indications are that he has the potential to be great.

The organization, like many, like yours, has big plans. They want to grow and reinvent and revolutionize the market. Sam seems fully behind - excited, passionate - this mission and strategy and speaks often about what it means for his team. He wants his team to be the exemplars - the role models  - for the desired future. To lead, not lag.

Great vision. Here's the potential rub. There are a few folks who report to Sam - at the senior leader level - who are not on the same bus. In fact, they are notorious for being on no one's bus but their own. They come to meetings and politely seem in agreement, then go back to their groups and do whatever they want. They are not cooperative and not a pleasure with which to work.

The buzz in the department falls into a few themes:

1. Most people see Sam as having the right ideas and strategies.

2. However most also have little faith that he will deal with these "on their own bus" folks. They hope and wonder if he will be THE ONE to demand more from them (or let them go when they refuse their seat on the corp bus).

So let's get back to the litmus test. Sam has said that the team - his whole team - should lead the organization into the future. There are lots of smaller efforts happening in the department. That's all great, but as long as Sam does not insist that ALL his leaders get on the bus, he will never be anything more than a good leader who enjoyed average progress and results. It won't happen, it can't happen.

And consider the possibility - if he DID hold his own line, wow, what a dramatic change would occur and he would send a message that could unleash a flood of great work. People are waiting for Sam to do something great.

Leading according to our intentions means for real - every decision is consistent with what we say. When we say, "this shall be," it should mean something.

I get a little impatient with folks who fight their organizations on fundamental vision and strategy stuff. You know that I believe we should be demanding partners - challenge the status quo is my middle name. But this does not apply to the basic structure and business model. If you have joined an organization that is slow moving, traditional, and conservative - don't fault it for not being nimble and uncomfortable with risk. That is not the model. If your organization says is wants to be more global and collaborative and this is the strategic direction - you don't have the right to run your department as a silo. That's not your business model. Get on the bus or go elsewhere.

As leaders, we should be open to feedback that helps us improve. We should seek alternative views and involve people in shaping the future. That said, once we have decided the strategic direction and the desired culture, we have drawn a line in the sand that we should be willing to hold people to.

• You will never know if your vision or strategy is the right or wrong one if you never totally go for it.
• We won't know if running will help us lose weight if we only do it on Sundays.
• We can't tell if spending more time with our kids will help their grades if we only do it when we have time.
• You can't know if your desired culture is the right one if it is optional and spotty.

There is nothing more noble and magnificent than a fully implemented idea. Most of us half-ass it through life. The leaders I admire most go full in - they align all aspects of the work and team. If it does not work, they will change, but not before doing it well and right.

I don't know if Sam will make a difference. If he continues to let the tail wag the dog, I think his efforts will yield unremarkable returns. This is sad, a tragedy. I know of no leader who wants to be unremarkable.

This is the leadership litmus test. Call it follow-through if you like as it is certainly that. But the words don't do the practice justice. Leaders who are willing to make the tough calls to create alignment with a goal/strategy/intention are worth following, supporting, and sweating for.

You might be thinking, "but what if I don't like the direction my organization is going?" Share your ideas and concerns, try to influence new thinking. But if this is the business model - you need to either be a part of making it work or get out. There is no acceptable in-between place as a leader. If you are not a positive force for the change, you are hurting the organization. As leaders, we are hired to manifest an intention - that's our job. And if we are not doing this - if we are fighting it - then we are not doing our job.

So here is my suggestion, because I know you want to be remarkable. Review your organization's strategic plan, its vision, its desired culture, its business model. Then ask yourself, how should these intentions change how I lead? Am I avoiding the tough decision? Is everyone on the right bus?

Things I want to know when I coach people. #coaching

Thinks I want to know about the people I coach:
 
Drive: What’s motivating her – her driving goals?
Fascinating: What’s fun – what fascinates her?
Triggers: What causes her to be uncoacbable?
Pathways: How will she best hear what she needs to hear?
Amazing: What is her special skill(s)?
Fault lines: Where are her personal blind spots or potential derailing factors?

Try asking about these things, and sharing these things during your next coaching or mentoring conversation. It will help you help others.

And if you are not sure how to answer some of these questions yourself, well, you have some thinkin' to do....... And don't be fooled by your surface-level self-talk. Dig deeper until you uncover the real crux of things.

Complexity Requires Group Success @Atul_Gawande @ted

I like this video from TED of Atul Gawande, author of The Checklist Manifesto. Although he is using the example of healthcare in this talk, everything he is talking about applies to all industries.

My favorite quote: "As individualistic as we want to be, complexity requires group success. We all need to be pit crews now."

High Impact Thinking for #Management - Updated for 2012

I will be doing a webinar this Friday on the topic of high impact thinking. I shared the beliefs that I felt helped improve managerial success in my book, High Impact Middle Management. I udpated the list for the webinar, adding a few emerging beliefs. Here they are, tell me what you think - no pun intended.

How to Think Like a High Impact Manager – 2012 Edition

How do you define success? Which mindset will serve you well?

How do successful managers define success? I have noticed that highly successful managers approach their work differently than their less successful peers. What’s more, many of these same ideas are held by successful senior executives. This is important to note because a senior leader’s expectations of his or her managers will tend reflect his or her beliefs about how success is achieved. It also means that this mindset will serve you well throughout their career progression. Would you like to AMP UP your impact? Consider taking on, and acting consistently with, the following beliefs:

Management is a social act—With every meeting you attend and every conversation you take part in, there is an opportunity to either add to or detract from the quality of the relationship. Managers need the support and cooperation of those they work with. Management is a social act. It occurs in conversations. Conversations are your currency for creating progress and getting things done.

Human systems are chaotic and managers manage human systems—Great managers spend more time and energy working on systems, connections, and nonlinear human processes. Nothing is ever cut and dry, right? Expect that the most fruitful path to success might be indirect – oblique – circuitous – meandering. Facilitating progress is incumbent, then, upon making connections that move things forward.

Managers exist to enable people to do their best work in the service of organizational goals—The most “results oriented” thing you can do today is to help someone, or a team, do their best work. What do you do that enables excellence? Do more of that. Think about what your manager does that helps you do your best. Ask your team members what you can do to help them to their best.

Great managers do what others won’t or don’t—The difference between great managers and less effective ones is not the college degrees they hold or their Fortune 100 company experience. Great managers do things that others put off, avoid, or ignore. They still dread doing these things or are uncomfortable doing them, but they do them anyway.

Managers are “make something happen” people—Your job is to think creatively and proactively, and take initiative to improve the business and your team’s performance. This belief reinforces the concept that it is NOT a manager’s job to maintain or oversee what would otherwise happen on its own.

Managers should be outstanding role models because they influence the culture and tone of the business—It is not OK for managers to be unprofessional or model undesirable behaviors. Said another way, you must model the best of what you seek. It is a burden and a privilege. We don’t get to be disengaged. We don’t get to talk trash even if it relieves stress. We don’t get to roll our eyes at leaders who say things that demonstrate how disconnected they are. We don’t get to complain about the culture – we build it. We don’t get to be poor team members or partners. Your team members and peers are watching and will emulate you when they decide how they should respond to situations.

Adaptability is the key competency of our time – be flexible like Gumby! —When you show your teams what agility looks like in action, you are showing them how to work and thrive in today’s times. Agility is a mindset, and it is a set of practices, a way of working that can be both strong and nimble. Managers must have their finger on the pulse and know when changes in approach make sense and would be of benefit. Be open to exploring new options and creative solutions and resist the urge to get comfortable with the status quo.

“Managing” is real work—Managers should want to spend time managing and facilitating the work of others. Managers who do not believe their job is interesting and desirable will not likely serve themselves, or their organizations, well. Helping someone is real work. Coaching someone is real work. Facilitating a conversation is real work.

Great managers are coachable and responsive—Being defensive or combative does not reflect favorably on any manager. Being open and flexible makes one seem more intelligent and talented. If you have the constant need to prove that you are right you will undermine relationships with your superiors and your subordinates. Coachable managers learn more. Management is a hard job. We need to learn. We all need to be coachable.

Dysfunction is the context from which you manage, not what’s getting in your way —Organizational life is messy. People generate drama. Politics often trump courage. Styles clash. People don’t let others into their sandboxes. Stuff breaks. Great managers know that dysfunction IS and that helping their teams work through and in spite of it is part of their work as a barrier buster. Don’t have dysfunction be “wrong” or a “problem.” Minimize or eliminate it when you can, but otherwise, get over it and on with the work. Don’t let it stop you.

Being a manager is the best job ever! —If you want to have an impact, if you want to help make people’s lives better, if you want to make things happen, if you want to leave a mark, you must manage. There is no greater way to make a difference. The opportunity to affect your team members’ lives and careers is a humbling experience and an honor. Enjoy this opportunity and tap into the compelling nature of management every day.

This list of beliefs forms a powerful definition of success, don’t you think?! Tweak this to fit your situation and goals. For example, if agility is a key area of growth for your group over the next few years, put that one near the top of your list.

Imagine what a workplace would look and feel like if all managers took on this mindset. The atmosphere would be electric, exciting, and highly productive. What a great place to work!
Here’s the amazing part: You can adopt these beliefs right now and they will begin to work immediately. How might your world change if you more fully adopted, and acted from, these beliefs? What might be possible?

Which ONE BELIEF has the potential to make the greatest difference for you? Take this belief on – big time – all next week. I promise you that your world will change. Promise!

Fear of, and Anticipation for, Human Tipping Points #management #cancer

As many of you know, I have had a very interesting year health-wise (medullary thyroid cancer, surgery, many life changes including reinventing the way I eat/exercise, food as "health", etc..). I am a reflective person, but have found that I am much more so now. I enjoy letting ideas and concepts bang around in my head a bit longer because I want to discover their meaning and potential.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been pondering tipping points (hat tip to Malcolm Gladwell's awesome book by the same name). My reflection on this topic is mostly self-absorbed and related to my health. That said, I have also considered how human tipping points affect how we manage, lead, and create momentum in our workplaces.

I have read and heard many times that my type of cancer grows very slowly until it doesn't (most people, myself included, are diagnosed after it has spread to lymph nodes and is considered incurable). And because of this most people live for decades after diagnosis and often die from other causes. This is great news and gives me encouraging odds.

And yet, the idea that it "grows very slowly until is doesn't" has been tough to get out of my mind. What the doctors mean by this is that at some point - a tipping point - the volume and spread of the cancer becomes such at the trajectory of the disease changes and is hard to reverse. And apparently the difference in disease progression and likely outcomes are stark. Very slow to very fast - very good to very bad.

Before I worry you dear readers (because this is not my intent), I want you to know that I have no reason to believe that I am anywhere near the tipping point. I am enjoying life, living more healthfully, reinventing my work, and plan to experience a fun retirement in 15 years if only I can save a bit more money in my 401K.

It's the road TOWARD the tipping point that interests me right now. I wonder how much each individual action or decision might/could/does impact my trajectory and how much power I have to slow my body's march toward the tipping point. As a firm believer in the butterfly effect and someone who has seen that this applies to health, I believe (and the science concurs) that each tiny action reverberates.

I will be the first to admit that I was flapping my butterfly wings in the wrong direction - speeding up my journey to the tipping point - for many years. I let excessive travel, poor diet, and life as a road warrior consultant get in the way of exercising regularly and good sleep habits. If you imagine my disease progression as a trip from Seattle to Key West, by car from Seattle to Dallas, and then on supersonic jet from Dallas to Key West (Dallas being the tipping point), I wonder if my years of living less healthfully caused me to speed at 80MPH toward Dallas and wonder how far I have gone. Where am I now? Am I two states away? In northern Texas? Did I catch myself early enough to slow things down in Portland? Can I slam on the breaks and go 5MPH instead of 80?

Here is a specific example. I am taking several supplements (fish oil, curcumin, mushroom, resveratrol, black raspberry, skullcap, etc) that seem to help directly or indirectly reduce cancer growth (not of my cancer, mind you, my cancer is too rare to have been studied). Am I taking enough of each to be therapeutic? What if I am taking two pills less than the right dose? Most studies don't provide cut and dry answers about how much is enough and it would be a shame if two more pills a day would have done something different.

I have cut sugar out of my diet because sugar feeds cancer tumors. I wonder, however, how strict I need to be. Will one chocolate cake bender/celebration fuel growth? Will a week at a conference eating processed turkey deli sandwiches affect my overall trajectory? What if I eat broccoli with my cake - will this make a difference? I know some folks with my disease who eat cruciferous veggies at EVERY meal. Should I be doing this?

I will never likely know the answers to any of these questions (quarterly blood tests will tell me some information about overall speed of progression). And perhaps this is the point of this post and my inquiry into tipping points. It is hard to understand them except when looking back. But we know that these forces occur and are in play in all aspects of life. So what can we do?

I am slowly but resolvedly coming to the conclusion that we will be well served to err on the side of doing too much to achieve our goals. My goal is to slow my disease progression down to the point that this disease does not affect my potential for a full and healthy life. I do not know, and cannot know, the affect of the changes I am making but I can be pretty sure that each change has the potential to have an affect and that some changes will offer additive affects. Going "BIG" and making more beneficial changes does not appear to have a downside (except that eating junk food and being lazy can feel fun at the time - but this short term reward has lost its lustre with me).

When I think about stories about how everyday people generate breakthrough results against great odds, I recall that there is often an element of going big and persevering - of seeming obsessed with the journey toward their goal. We remark, "wow, they really worked hard!"

I will return to the topic of our workplaces, now. There are beneficial tipping points and detrimental ones. If your workplace culture is heading in a direction that you are not happy with, you might need to go big and throw a lot of positive butterfly flaps at it. If you want to start progression toward a new and positive tipping point, you will need to employ dozens of catalyzers to create momentum and get to the place where you will describe "it started slowly and then it hit."

Small actions can generate big results. And many, many, many small actions can impact the outcome even more.

As leaders, our most important skill and practice may well be dogged and focused determinism. A compulsion to unlearn bad habits and take on new practices  - so much so that watching you tires casual observers.

As is the case with most major life changes, my health challenges have taught me how important it is to influence the progression toward tipping points with passion, energy, and accountability. And it has taught me that we may need to do this in the absence of good data. We may not know which actions will work best or what combination will have additive effects. And we will need to decide and get going.

There is a kind of peace that comes from being fully in alignment with a goal. When I have good days - eat the best foods, exercise a lot, manage stress, sleep, remember my pills, enjoy people - I feel at peace knowing that if I can slow down the journey to Dallas (and ultimately Key West), I have done it that today.

We can feel that same sense of peace at work. When we do all we can to be positive and powerful forces for change and for people, we can fuel our organization's march toward the tipping points we seek and away from those we do not. I wish you more peace and less fear.

Life - work - life - work. What works, works everywhere.

Highly Flawed, Messy, Chaotic - Gotta Love #Management!

I taught a 2-day class on high impact management earlier in the week. When I spend time talking with managers about management, I notice the ideas that most resonate with them. Over the last few years, I have noticed that people's ears and mouths (participation) perk up when I talk about:

1. How managers, and everyone, are highly talented and highly flawed. Even the best performers are highly flawed. What does this mean? It means that we need to be tolerant and flexible to bring out everyone's talents. And it means that great teaming, collaboration, and collective work can only happen if we don't let idiosyncrasies get in the way. Relationships - friendship even - do not require full agreement. In fact, they are richer when we challenge each other. The idea that we are highly talented and highly flawed does not excuse us for being annoying or inadequate managers, BTW. We should seek to be a pleasure with which to work while resisting the urge to prescribe too much meaning to style differences.

Here is an example: On my flight back from DC, I sat in front of one of the republican presidential candidates and his wife. I overheard parts of their conversation and I needed to keep reminding myself not to ascribe meaning to the words and tones I heard because they make up only a tiny sliver of the truth of the situation. Was the conversation curt and critical because that is who they are or is it because the campaign trail is so draining and this flight was landing at near midnight? Could it have been a bad day or is this the way they always talk? Even if it is their style of communication, it would not be wise to ascribe too much meaning to what I overheard. It is human to make meaning out of our observations based on our filters and preferences but it is not always in our best interest to do so. Everyone expresses happiness/satisfaction/concern/care/interest in their own ways. My offer might mean the same thing as your critique.

2. Management is, by its nature, messy and chaotic and will always be. Get over it and then love it. Managing people is neither a linear nor logical practice. We know this! So why do we expect people who report to us - or our bosses and peers - to act logically and predictably? Human systems are more like the weather than they are like a manufacturing line - they are chaotic, unpredictable, and sensitive. This messiness and chaos are not conditions that get in the way of management - they are the reasons that management is needed. If there were no fires, we would not need fire fighters. Managers manage people. The essence of our role is to help individuals and teams do their best work in the service of organizational goals. If the human condition were tamable or simple or linear or predictable, we would not need managers. We exist to jump into the mess, be at peace with some mess, and make a difference helping people do great work amongst the mess.

Both of these ideas share a common root - great managers are nimble like gumby - especially as it relates to how they deal with and help others.

Don't Worry Yourself With Others - #doyourjob #management

I am one of those folks who watch the super bowl for the entertainment, not the football. Not just the ads and half-time show, but also the stories of triumph and beating the odds.

During yesterday's telecast, I was struck by the interview with soon-to-be MVP Eli Manning who said that his coach encouraged players to "do their jobs." The point he was making was that each player had a role and needed to focus on executing his role, not worrying about what others were doing or playing armchair quarterback/running back/tight end/kicker/and so on. Team members need to own their jobs and trust their fellow team members to do the same.

We should do this, too.

I am NOT saying that we should focus only on ourselves, work poorly with others, or adopt a survival of the fittest mentality - me, me, me. I am not suggesting corporate narcissism. Regular readers will know that is not my point here because I would never suggest this.

Here is the point: Think about how much better you and your team could be if everyone focused on his or her job, his or her contributions, his or her role within the team. A great team is made up of strong team members.

What gets in the way?

• Some people find it more interesting to think about what others should be doing differently. This is lazy and weak.
• Some people define success as compared to others. This approach will never serve you well.
• Some people don't hold themselves to a high enough standard.
• Some people are not clear on what their role is or how it they are expected to contribute.
• Some people get so wrapped up in the drama of the team that they lose sight of what the team is responsible for contributing. This issue, BTW, is different from being mission driven. I have worked with several health care clients, for example, where the team felt they were dedicated to saving lives and healing but who were not making the connection between their team dysfunction and their ability to manifest the mission.

I see these issues when working with struggling individuals and teams. I have wanted to hit team members over the head with a metaphorical 2-by-4 and say, "just do your job, don't worry about others."

So much energy gets soaked up by this crud. The opportunity costs are HUGE.

I bet we all could do better if we remind ourselves to just do the the work - our work. To do our thing and support others so they can do their things. To define success while resisting the urge to envy or covet other people's lives or roles.

And as managers, part of "our job" is to institutionalize this way of thinking and doing, like Manning's coach apparently did.