 |
Archive for the ‘coaching skills’ Category
Monday, May 19th, 2008
In families, organizations, and indeed even our society, one of the reasons for failure is the inability by leadership to establish and enforce accountability. Accountability in leadership is a topic that is not frequently discussed and the result is often relating to compliance to procedures, following work rules, treating customers with respect, achieving results, and getting along with co-workers. Accountability is at the heart of empowering people to perform well, demonstrating initiative, and acting responsibly. When a climate of accountability exists, things work smoothly; and when it is absent procedures fail and policies are ignored.
Let me describe parental leadership first. I read a newspaper report about a father who had an emotional outburst and caused a scene in a school board meeting regarding the suspension of his son from school. His eleven-year-old son had threatened the life of another student on the playground. Following district policy, the principal had suspended the boy for three days saying, “In light of tragedies that have happened in schools around the country, we take all threats such as this very seriously. The policy requires a three-day suspension.”
The irate father emotionally pled his case to the school board saying, “He’s a good boy and even though this is the second time this year he’s been suspended he doesn’t deserve punishment this harsh. Three days is just too much, because it’s embarrassing for him and our entire family.”
The father apparently was saying that because the suspension would be embarrassing that the punishment ought to be reduced. In other words, the consequence of the son’s behavior is trumped by the father’s desire to evade embarrassment. That is interesting in light of the father’s emotional outburst in a public school board meeting.
 Now let me describe organizational leadership. A manager complained, “My employees just don’t take me seriously.” She said, “Even though I tell them over and over, some employees won’t even call in to say they are sick. They just don’t show up.”
I asked what she did when an employee didn’t take the time to call in sick. She replied, “I just find somebody else to work the shift and then when they do show up I tell them to be sure to call me next time.”
I asked, “So how is this technique working?” She said, “It’s not! That’s the problem. I can’t find good people these days.”
The situations with the irate parent and the ineffective manager are related. They both show the absence of a leader establishing and enforcing individual accountability. When people do not feel that they are held accountable for their behavior, they often lower their performance to the lowest possible level acceptable to the leader. In other words, leader behavior regarding the establishment of accountability does a lot to determine a person’s highest level of performance. That’s what the eleven-year-old boy did on the playground. He had gotten away with inappropriate behavior before (certainly at home and possibly at
school) and believed he could do it again. His previous inappropriate behaviors had not resulted in undesirable consequences for him. That’s similar to what the employees were doing to the manager. They had not been held accountable when they didn’t call in sick before, so they had no belief that it was a necessary requirement to maintain job security. The manager’s failure to hold her employees accountable created an overly permissive climate where the employees could dictate their own policies and procedures.
The foundation of establishing accountability is the principle of Behavior Must Equal Consequence. When people do not believe that their behavior will result in a consequence, they are free to choose any behavior that feels good at the moment. When people believe that their positive behaviors will result in positive feedback or even rewards, and their inappropriate behaviors will result in corrective feedback,
coaching, or even discipline, they will raise their performance to the standard expected by the leader. The leader sets the standard through his or her application of feedback, coaching and discipline.
I don’t know all of the details about the parent and his son, the schoolyard bully, but it is a safe bet that the son had not been held accountable for his behaviors in the past. The reason he threatened another classmate’s life is because he didn’t believe that his behavior would have any undesirable consequences. He thought he could get away with it. And, the reason why the manager’s employees didn’t call in sick, and didn’t even apologize for not doing so was because they also thought they could get away with it. The two examples are related because in each case the leader failed to establish personal accountability by practicing the principle of Behavior Must Equal Consequence.
Effective leaders believe in and practice the principle of Behavior Must Equal Consequence. When an employee performs well and/or adheres to organizational rules, an effective manager will notice and provide the employee with appropriate feedback to reinforce the good performance. Likewise, when an employee does not perform well and/or does not follow the rules, an effective manager will notice and provide the employee with corrective feedback, or coaching to change the performance. Exactly the same thing is true when raising children. Behavior Must Equal Consequence, both positive and negative, must be a guiding principle to raise responsible children who as a consequence act responsibly.
Personal accountability is a climate that is created when a leader consistently practices Behavior Must Equal Consequence. The word “consistently” often bothers managers, because they think it means “every time.” Clearly, a manager cannot provide supportive or corrective feedback every time an employee does something. That obviously is not possible. But a manager can do what is necessary to become more aware of an employee’s performance and then provide appropriate feedback as often as is practical. Simply, if employees feel and act as though they are accountable, then the leader is practicing consistent feedback. If employees do not feel and act accountable, then the leader is not consistent with his or her feedback.
Consistency not only involves the frequency of feedback in that it must be frequent enough to create a climate of accountability, but it also includes the ppropriateness of the feedback. In the principle of Behavior Must Equal Consequence, good performance must result is supportive feedback, and poor performance must result in corrective feedback. If a manager, due to stress, anger, lack of understanding, failure to take time, or habit gives negative feedback for good performance, positive feedback for poor performance, or no feedback for any performance, then the employees will sense a lack of consistency and conclude that they are not accountable for their actions. Thus they are free to act any way they want.
So the secret to creating a climate of accountability is to become more aware of performance levels, take the time to give the correct type of feedback or coaching, give feedback as often as practical, and do so as consistently as conditions permit. Done over time with the proper administration of rewards when deserved and discipline or sanctions when appropriate, a manager can create a climate of accountability and become more effective.
Tags: Employee Coaching, Strategic Management
Posted in accountability, coaching skills, leadership | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
In order to successfully position your organization in the marketplace, leadership teams must create a compelling and distinctive value proposition. Customers must believe you are there to champion their needs, not just to make a profit. However, defining a really attractive value proposition is actually the easy part. The hard part is getting the organization totally aligned and in sync with a customer focused value proposition. Everyone in the organization must understand and see that the customer is part of their personal responsibility. This customer-oriented culture relies on front line leaders that help people understand how they fit into the strategic management of the business and why they matter.
If you can get people to think strategically about the customer at an individual level and act in ways to exceed their current and emerging expectations, you can keep the organization well ahead of your rivals. However, developing a passion for customer problems and creating solutions doesn’t come naturally to most people and can be challenging to develop. Begin by thinking about your own experience. Ask yourself how well you like doing business with the last company that had lack of interest in your problem? In fact, you might even ask yourself if your current suppliers are anticipating your future needs and problems.
More than 30 years of strategic management and consulting experience has indicated to us that “customer acumen” is the heart of successful business strategy. However, creating this customer oriented culture is hard work and it is not an exact science. Here are a few tips to get started:
Insure everyone in your organization understands that giving customers value is a clear priority. Leaders at all levels have to instill a deep understanding and reverence for what the company stands for and what your value proposition is. In essence, knowing what the company is trying to be, why the company does the unique activities it does, and why these activities are hard to replicate by competitors. A customer centric culture is a function of the behaviors, attitudes, and training of each individual employee.
As leaders you have to preach customer value every opportunity you get. This movement must become part of the daily vernacular. Let people know that bringing value to the customer is the core goal of the organization. Then, coach employees to take responsibility and act in ways that show they embrace customer value.
Finally, give them honest and immediate feedback when they succeed and when they come up short. The end goal is to help members of your organization understand that creating value for the customer is the ultimate measure of their success. It is what keeps you in business and pays the bills. To do this, leaders need to understand their role as change agents and coaches. You must extend the call to all leaders to be courageous coaches and hold people accountable. It is also important that leaders receive development opportunities so they know what feedback and coaching looks like and feels like. These discussions are different than the usual business opportunity discussions. Robust coaching sessions will focus on strengths, weaknesses, and actual behaviors that are occurring on the job.
 With active strategic management you can achieve long-term sustained success for your employees, customers, and owners. Once people understand their role as customer advocates, they will begin to see opportunities to grow the business and serve customers by exceeding today’s needs, anticipating future problems, and creating innovation solutions. As leaders and employees alike become comfortable challenging the status quo, they will create a dynamic and rewarding organization for everyone.
Tags: Coaching, Strategic Management, team building
Posted in coaching skills, management, strategy | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
Personal Example
 In a previous organization, I worked for a manager who embraced new styles of leadership. Each time he attended a training workshop, he arrived at work the next day claiming it was a life changing event. Each time he would instruct his management team to immediately change their leadership style to incorporate his new learnings. While most of his initiatives were good and became part of our culture, unconsciously he created confusion, frustration, and finally he destroyed any trust his employees had in him as a leader.
This man’s intentions were true and good natured. He really wanted to be a great coach and for each member of his management team to be good coaches as well. So why did a man so intent to make the business better for all employees, through coaching, fail? Ultimately, he thought he had proved himself through physical and structural changes. However, it takes much more than just surface changes and training classes to make a good coach; it requires changes to the internal management style. Because he thought himself an expert and his role complete, he had become un-coachable.
A Look At Effective Coaching Behaviors
Dr. Steven J. Stowell and CMOE (Center for Management and Organization Effectiveness) through extensive research have identified 47 “Differentiating Behaviors that Distinguish Successful from Unsuccessful Performance Leaders.” Dr. Stowell then condensed these behaviors into eight categories that are taught in CMOE’s Coaching Skills Program.
Some of these significant behaviors that world-class coaches exhibit include:
- Gives recognition of employees worth
- Listens carefully, using reflective listening
- Provides positive feedback – gives credit
- Respects confidentiality
- Owns some responsibility
- Doesn’t point blame
- Asks questions to gather information, asks others to share their views
- Is collaborative and open to other methods to completion of tasks
As I reflect on these differentiating behaviors, I can identify that while my previous supervisor claimed to understand the importance of trust in a coaching relationship, his undermining behaviors with the other managers indicated it was not so. The following examples show his lack of trust.
The Wrong Methods
My supervisor had been told that employees need to take responsibility to grow both professionally and personally. His role was simply to “empower” his team and let them “figure out the rest.” Unfortunately when an employee failed in some capacity, the employee would be reprimanded by this supervisor. In some cases, the person would be ridiculed (he called it joking around) in front of the other team members, simply because he was left to guess his way to success, with no “true” coach helping him find the way.
Additionally, this manager seldom listened to his team. He made “snap” judgments without getting all of the facts or perceptions of anyone or everyone involved. He often cut into the explanations because he felt he had the answer even though he had heard only half the issue.
Finally, the most damaging trait was his inability to keep confidential remarks confidential. He often discussed his meetings with individual team members with other members, especially if some disagreement of thought was explored. With this type of feedback, it didn’t take long for communication from and within his team to cease.
The Making of a Disgruntled Team Member
If people within an organization are reprimanded, ridiculed, and have their confidentiality breached, it makes for a destructive environment. When managers “empower” others, it is critical to allot enough authority, support, and resources so that the employee can complete the task successfully. When a subordinate is asked to be a leader and then fails because they were not setup for success, that person begins to question his/her own judgment. That self-doubt can seriously inhibit their effectiveness to be resourceful or creative for the business.
Build a Positive Culture
To build and maintain a culture of trust, an effective coach must listen. A coach must hear out their employees so that conflicts, problems, and misunderstandings can be rectified. Further, a good listener must be calm and confidential. When there is a disagreement, personal beliefs need to be put aside so the beliefs of each party can be understood. A coach who doesn’t listen, doesn’t know what the real issues are and employees will not only distrust the supervisor, but each other.
In the case of my supervisor, his management team tried talking with him about his coaching and leadership style. Each time he explained that since he had the training, he understood the situation better than they did. Finally a Vice President called for a 360° survey assessment, and as a result, he left the company.
Does this mean all coaching training workshops will have the same results? No, not at all. What it does mean is that coaches need proven methods and processes in their training and education to become effective leaders. This man had many good traits; nevertheless they were overlooked because of his few bad ones. Had this man been given the right training he might have been able to develop his leadership approach that would create a strong personal leadership approach and team that would have taken the business to higher levels. Instead, the business faltered for two years before the team was able to rebuild itself.
Tags: Leadership Coaching, Leadership Development, Leadership Training
Posted in coaching skills, communication, management | 1 Comment »
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
Burning the Candle At Both Ends
It was 11:45pm. The light was off and my head just landed on my pillow. It had been one of those long and busy days! I was starting to drift into sleep when I hear my boy Talmage (3 years of age) out of his bed and moving around. I got up and walked into the hallway where he was lying and I asked impatiently why he wasn’t in bed. After giving excuses and nonsense answers I said in a stern voice “get back in bed.” This battle has occurred many times before. His response was “I can’t,” “why not,” I immediately replied? “Because I went pee-pee in my bed.” I let out a big sigh of frustration. It’s late, I’m tired and I now get to change the bed linens, give my boy a bath, and get him ready for bed again.
Before I tell you what went wrong, I need to provide you with a little more background. My boy has no problem in controlling his bladder during the day. It is at night when he’s in bed or asleep where the problem exists. As I put him down to bed I explained to him that we need to keep our underwear dry. I explained that this makes Mom and Dad happy, our teachers at pre-school happy, and makes him a “big boy.” I made it explicitly clear that we DO NOT go pee-pee in our underwear, knowing that at his age accidents would at some point happen again. His response was a cheerful and loving, “okay Dad, I won’t.”
So after this late night discovery I asked the question “Talmage why did you go pee-pee in your bed?” He said “I needed to keep my underwear dry so I took it off.” I let out another frustrated sigh and thought to myself “you decided to wet the bed and that is okay in your mind, you did exactly what I asked which was to keep the underwear dry.” I love the simple thought processes of children.
As I finally made it back to bed, I thought to myself where did the communicating and coaching go wrong. I linked it to CMOE’s Eight Step Coaching Model and the well regarded Step 2: Define the Topic and Needs. It was very clear to me that because of my impatience and desire to get to bed, I failed to generate a clear understanding of the “Topic” which was keeping his underwear dry and “Need” which would be to use the bathroom to accomplish this.
The point of this story is when we are in a rush, impatient, or frustrated it’s easy to throw out our intended course of action without thinking clearly. Regardless, of how skilled or unskilled we are, these are often the situations when we need to pause and ask our self the question “Are we providing accurate coaching and effectively communicating to those who are in need or seeking our help?
Here are a few things I missed:
1. Taking the time to accurately explain the expectation or what some might call an assignment
2. Explaining the greater importance of fulfilling the expectation wasn’t fully explained
3. I failed to offer clear and effective ideas or suggestions to help him succeed
4. I was oblivious that a conflict of opinion or misunderstanding even existed
Every Conversation Is Important!
Forget the fad that only crucial conversations are important, every conversation is important! Leaders, especially, cannot be in a rush to communicate or provide instructions to individuals they work with or manage. By learning and developing a habit of effective communication, it will minimize conflict, improve efficiency, and will help you solve problems before they become unmanageable.
Tags: coaching gone wrong, effective communication, impatient communication
Posted in coaching skills, communication, leadership | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
When you hear the word Coaching, what comes to mind? You may see and treat it as a separate task, as a “side dish” on the menu of business responsibilities. You will lose a lot of leverage and influence if you view coaching in the narrow context of correcting deficiencies in performance.
Our view is that coaching is an integral part of management, an indispensable tool and fundamental way of relating to team members. Managers resist the coaching role when they view it as an extra job in the busy day. However, when they see that the skills of coaching can improve their interactions throughout the day, then the enhancement of these skills generates a great deal of interest and excitement. Many leaders find that coaching can improve business results, lead to greater leadership satisfaction, and better time management and greater levels of performance from others.
The Task View of Work
The narrow view of coaching stems from a body of thought that suggests managers should be detached, analytical, and control people’s performance in mechanistic and instrumental ways. From the days of Taylor’s “Scientific Management”, we were taught that performance can be maximized by focusing on the task. As a result, managers developed a love affair with control. Most find it hard to reduce their dependence on control as the tool of choice to maximize task performance.
This view of work asserts that each job can be broken into the smallest constituent parts by experts who can figure out the one best way to do the job. A job is broken down to become a set of independent tasks.
The negative result of this traditional task approach to work are many:
- Our perception of job focuses on doing these tasks and activities without focusing on results, effectiveness and the real mission.
- Managers became busy planning, organizing, controlling and directing while the workers are stuck with all the doing.
- People actually doing a task are not too concerned with the relationship between tasks or relationships among the people doing these tasks.
- Employees are expected to do the tasks and comply with management direction.
- Employees do not feel ownership for the job – their motivation and contribution are limited.
- The quality of work and attention to quality, workmanship, and customer satisfaction suffer.
- Managers end up with the responsibility, knowledge of the tasks and the burden of motivating employees and directing (controlling) work efforts.
The Process View of Work
Our global competitiveness is related to the way we view work. The “big picture” of work integrates multiple tasks and stress quality processes that lead to results. The broad perspective values the notion that people and relationship do make a difference.
The quality improvement efforts of Deming, Juran, Crosby and others have in common a more advanced view of work. These quality improvement approaches emphasize work as a process. The process orientation expands our view of work to include the interrelationships of task as part of a process to produce something. Continuous improvement is not simply doing move, but improving the way you do it. Coaching and managing these relationships then becomes the core of continuous improvement in the technical and people side of any business. Coaching is the process of continuous improvement in the human element of work.
Eight Skill Areas
From CMOE’s ongoing research and observation over the past thirty years, we find that the following eight coaching skills are needed to manage any business relationship.
Supporting. The core of coaching is to sustain and enhance relationships. Supporting behaviors include inviting and using the suggestions of others, offering encouragement, and accepting some responsibility when things do not go well.
Defining topics and needs. These skills focus our attention on a specific issue, gathering information, giving feedback and clarify roles of each person.
Having impact on the other person’s perspective. The purpose here is to help the employee, customer, etc. see how their actions are perceived by others, they are more likely to change themselves.
Initiating a plan. These skills involve reaching agreement on what the next action will be. Who will do what, when, and where in a manageable way.
Getting commitment. This is the ability to solidify a personal commitment to the new plans. The purpose is to develop integrity over time by committing to those plans that people believe in and will achieve; this is the “verbal signature.”
Redirecting excuses or resistance: These set of skills include the willingness to listen to the other points of view so that excuses can be confronted and legitimate obstacles can be examined and new alternatives included in a revised plan.
Clarifying the full range of possible consequences. The purpose is to help the employee, supplier, etc., be clear on the possible results of the future actions to which they have committed. Performance is more predictable when people’s expectations match realistic outcomes.
Follow up. The purpose is to consistently monitor the results that people are achieving, recognize successful efforts, and redirect struggling efforts. The coach needs to show his/her own commitment to the relationship and to the plans being undertaken by not giving up.
Examine your job as a manager. Consider the things you do in a “typical” business day. Notice how much of your job involves relationships with customers, suppliers, your management, and your employees. Since only a small part of your job is doing a task independent of your relationship with others, most, if not all, of your job success depends on how well you manage your relationships – how well you employ these primary coaching skills.
Indeed, your effectiveness as a manager is dependent on how well you coach, consistent with these basic principles.
Coaching is the ability to manage a relationship in a way that mutual goals can be achieved. Today, the integration of technical and business aspects with the human element is critical for long-term success. This involves moving beyond the old task view of work toward a process view of work. This expanded view of work stresses the interrelationship between tasks and among the people involved in the process. Managing relationships then, becomes the main dish, not just a side dish occasionally used to correct individual performance.
When coaching is viewed as the heart of both the job and the relationship with our people, managing begins to look different. When applied in a broad consistent framework, people will see a powerful and effective pattern in all business discussions.
The primary skills of effective coaching can then be applied to multiple relationships and interactions on the job – relationships with customers and suppliers and with one’s boos and higher management or with your peers, and in relationships with all the people you supervise regardless of their performance level.
Steven J. Stowell and William Stone
Tags: management coaching, Strategic Management, the keys to management
Posted in coaching skills, management | No Comments »
Monday, February 18th, 2008
“Hey you. Yeah, you over there. What are you doing?” “If I don’t see that report on my desk by 3:00, you are fired!” It is amazing how powerful just a few words can be. Words can be used to put down, degrade, and discourage or to build up, edify, and encourage. Managers who try to lead with a command and control approach will likely get only what they ask for and not much more, but team members will not be motivated to be highly successful. A great leader is one who motivates others in a positive way and inspires them to accomplish tasks and assignments with effectiveness. The motivation of a team or workforce doesn’t necessarily lie on the teammates or the co-workers themselves, rather in the leader and coach who guides them.
In order for organizations to compete in today’s highly competitive economies, employees need leaders who inspire them, instill a desire for excellence, and have the ability to light a fire within their team. While there are many styles and theories on how to motivate others, a lot can be learned from the similarities and differences between two major theories: the goal theory and coaching.
Similarities
A vital part of both the goal theory model and the coaching model is feedback. In order for goals to be achieved, one must receive immediate feedback to see where improvement is needed in order to accomplish the goal. Good coaching requires constant feedback on behaviors, attitudes, and skills for long-term change or improvement. It is important in both of these models to be specific and concise and avoid generalities or exaggerations.
Another similarity between the two is that the parties within both models must be in agreement, meaning that the followers must accept the goals and advice placed before them. If the one being coached rejects what the coach says, then little can be accomplished. Likewise, when a group member rejects the goals placed by the group or the leader, he or she will not be motivated to accomplish the goal completely or in a timely manner.
Finally, both theories support the notion that groups are more effective than individuals. With goal setting theory, employees working as a team toward a common goal are more productive and effective than individuals with individual goals. Likewise, in coaching, group members are considered part of the team and encouraged to serve as backup resources for each other. This then produces greater group performance.
Differences
The differences between coaching and the goal theory are very distinct. Goal setting is demanding. It often can cause frustration and tension when goals aren’t met and people become discouraged and dissatisfied. Goals themselves, the very basis of the theory, do not motivate. The motivating factor is a desire to avoid becoming a failure. Sometimes, this negative motivation can become so strong that a leader will demand from him/herself and others to do whatever it takes to reach a specific goal. In extreme cases this can even lead or result in unethical behavior.
On the other hand, coaching is about the person. It has to do with making permanent changes. Coaches are taught to listen attentively and genuinely care about the success and welfare of the team member. They do not get lost in goals or achieving personal greatness, but are committed to team accomplishments and personal pride. The coaching style motivates through praise, recognition, empowerment, personal development, and personal relationships. Unlike the goal theory, coaching provides a support system.
Conclusion
It is evident that the goal theory is more task-oriented, whereas coaching is more people-oriented. Coaching can be effective because a world-class coach will implement a form of goal theory in his/her coaching but will add support so that person can complete the goal successfully. These two theories can be highly effective if used in tandem to motivate and inspire others to greater performance.
Posted in coaching skills, goals & goal setting | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
At a fair or amusement park you might find a game of skill called “Whack – a – Mole.” The point of the game is to wait for one of several moles to raise its head through a hole in a platform and then “whack”
it with a padded mallet before the mole quickly ducks below the platform. Just as fast as you whack one mole, another one appears. The point of the game is to test your concentration, reaction time, and
hand-eye coordination. On a game I recently watched my grandchildren play, there were nine moles that poked their heads above the platform. Points are won each time a mole is whacked before it disappears.
I recall playing the game as a child many years ago, my five children played the game a few years ago, and now my grandchildren play it yet today. Clearly, the game of Whack – a – Mole has been around a long time. Something else that has been around a long time and is still practiced today is “Whack – a – Mole Management.”
Whack – a – Mole Management is a style of managing or leading others where a manager waits for something he or she believes to be wrong to happen, and “whacks” the behavior with words and/or actions. This style has also been called “Managing by Exception,” because the manager exclusively or primarily reacts to people who act in exception to his or her expectations.
One of the most important things to remember when analyzing Whack – a – Mole Management is to note that the manager’s behavior is completely reactionary. No action is taken until the mole raises its head. The manager is not proactively trying to prevent things from happening, or trying to direct things to happen, or even making things happen, the manager’s behavior is a reaction to some other stimulus.
In other words, Whack a Mole Management is non-strategic and totally tactical. Future problems, issues, trends, threats and opportunities will be a surprise, because the manager has his or her head down waiting for the next mole to raise its head. There are at least five things that can cause a manager to practice a Whack a Mole style. Perhaps a brief description of each cause will enable you to reduce any
reactionary tendencies you may have in your personal managerial style.
1. Poor Organizational Skills.
Some people are simply more organized than others. Part of a person’s ability to be organized comes from temperament (personality), and another part comes from desire and training. In other words some people have a natural skill to be organized and others learn the skill through life’s experiences. How are your organizational skills? Do you live in a state of clutter and mess? Are you embarrassed to have people see your work area? How often are you unable to find something you need? If you need better organization, find someone who is organized and make a deal. Say, “I need you to teach me how to be better organized.” Then, pay attention and do what the person suggests.
2. Failure to Prioritize.
The ability to prioritize is essential in order to be proactive and plan ahead. Have you ever written down a list of your personal priorities? Do you have another list of your professional priorities?
If you haven’t taken the time to prepare such lists, you may be less prioritized than you think. A person who has not prioritized his or her life leaves an open door for someone else to do it by proxy. In other
words, a person, manager, department or company that has not established clearly communicated priorities lets anyone else, including the competition, set those priorities. That is a sobering, but true,
thought, because effective leaders and managers have learned that first things must be done first.
3. Failure to Delegate.
In my teaching, consulting, and coaching practice I frequently encounter managers and leaders who have a deep-seated resistance to delegation. Perfectionists can resist delegation because they want the
job done perfectly; control freaks can resist delegation because they want to control everything; and the untrained or inexperienced manager can avoid delegation because he or she may not know better. One of the most critical skills a new manager must learn is how important it is to let go of some tasks and responsibilities and delegate them to others. As difficult as that may be for some managers, it is one of the most important lessons a person must learn. I’ve heard managers say, “Yeah but, I can do it better and faster than anyone else.” But that isn’t the point. The manager got to be a manager because as an individual contributor he or she could do the task better and faster. That’s what gets people promoted. The job of managing others is to develop them through the delegation of both responsibility and authority, not hold them back for your own personal weakness.
4. Activity Addiction.
Some managers become addicted to being busy. They think that having their plate full each day means that they are effective as a manager. Being busy is not the same as being effective. Truthfully, some highly effective people are not overly busy at all. They have learned how to delegate, how to say no, when to act, and when not to act. The most effective managers today are not addicted to being busy; rather, they are addicted to producing measurable results by doing the right things, in the right way, and at the right time. Another problem with activity addiction is that it is self-reinforcing. Being overly busy can feel so good to a manager that the act of being busy reinforces itself. This can create a downward spiral of ineffectiveness.
5. Feelings of Insecurity.
A manager can be plagued with feelings of insecurity. There are many causes for feelings of insecurity, but the most common is low emotional intelligence due to having been parented badly. When a manager suffers with profound insecurity, he or she can over-compensate by seeking out and embracing any task or activity available in an attempt to feel worthwhile, productive, and useful. Insecurity can be a difficult limitation to overcome, because any meaningful remedy will include considerable self-evaluation and personal commitment.
Tags: management
Posted in coaching skills, leadership | No Comments »
Monday, June 18th, 2007
The Center for Management and Organization Effectiveness (CMOE) would like to welcome you to the Leadership in Action blog where you are invited to engage in a conversation with us on the topics of leadership, teamwork, strategy, and coaching skills.
We are excited to provide this new service and offer our 30 years of experience in building lasting partnerships in the workplace. CMOE has created, designed, and delivered performance solutions to organizations which stand out as leaders in their industries. Johnson Controls, Wells Fargo, HP, Pfizer, Cargill, Delta Airlines and many who have benefited from CMOE’s proven and research based learning and performance improvement services.
In this new blog, CMOE’s consultants, facilitators, and industry experts will offer their insights, provide practical application tips and unique ideas to important conversations around leadership, teamwork, strategy, and coaching skills.
CMOE understands that one of the core elements to any excellent strategy, team, or organization is effective communication skills. It’s about knowing, understanding, and listening to clients and customers, those whom you’re serving. That’s why we are excited to connect with you in a new and active way. Our hope is that the dialogue found in this blog can serve as a vital feedback loop for us, helping us grow and better our own processes in serving you.
We also seek to make our contribution to the blogosphere and corporate leadership one that stands the test of time. So in the spirit of mutual learning, collaborative growth, and strategic and future thinking, we introduce to you the CMOE blog Leadership In Action.
Comments are encouraged and feedback is welcome, so bookmark us, add us to your feed reader and make yourself at home.
Posted in coaching skills, leadership, strategy, teamwork | No Comments »
|
 |
