Producing great work or making things happen? Which motivates you?
Think back to the last time you felt really pleased* with your work. What caused you to be pleased? Did you produce some really good quality work - a design, a report, an ad campaign? Or did you make something happen - hit a target, win a new client? I don't want to suggest that these things are mutually exclusive, but there is a fundamental difference. One is about outputs, the other about outcomes. The nature of you role will determine which one you focus on - and get measured on. If you're a designer, you'll be judged on the ...
The one thing that enhances your chances of career success
What makes some people more successful in their careers, particularly leadership careers, than others? It's tempting to answer that by considering the attributes of successful people. Generally, they are smart enough to handle the complexity inherent in a senior role and to make decisions whose ramifications may not be fully understood for five or ten years. They have good interpersonal skills. They have the resilience to deal with pressure and setbacks and to cope with having their judgement subject to constant scrutiny. They have the drive, energy, ambition and determination to get to the top. But there's another way ...
Myth #1: Technical specialists make lousy managers
This is the first in a series on workplace myths, many of which are based on stereotypes - soft female leaders, socially awkward geeks, psychologists obsessed with feelings. Like most stereotypes, there's generally a grain of truth in them. There's a reason we talk about German efficiency and Italian style, not the other way round. But stereotypes don't apply in every case, as I discovered when using the Bavarian rail network this summer (couldn't even manage a queue for a replacement bus service). It's the same with workplace myths - something which has some value as a generality can be ...
Delegation: The art of self-management?
Last month, I discussed the dimensions of delegation, which prompted one reader to tell me that, for him, the hardest part of delegating is managing his own responses - dealing with frustration and reining in his inner control freak, for example. I recognise from my years of coaching that this is something many people struggle with. So this month, I'm looking at what to do and, more importantly, how to manage yourself in various delegation situations. So what if..... They just don't get it No matter how often you explain it, they just don't seem to grasp what to do. Try ...
Giving it all away? Seven dimensions of delegation
Getting someone else to carry out tasks on your behalf is a key management skill and one that a lot of people struggle with. They micro-manage and interfere too much or they abdicate responsibility and leave people floundering. There's no formula for good delegation - it depends on the task and the individual you're delegating it to. But you may find it useful to think more carefully about what exactly you're giving someone responsibility for in any given situation. I've come up with seven dimensions of delegation to help you work that out. 1. Process Who decides how the task will ...
Lopsided leadership – Too much of a good thing?
Play to your strengths - that's good advice, right? Well generally, yes, it is. There's a whole school of thought in HR and business psychology that says you're much more likely to improve your performance if you keep developing something you're already good at and use it more, than if you doggedly try and overcome some persistent weakness. But that's only half the story. What's implicit in this idea is that somebody else, someone who's brilliant at the things you're not so good at, will be providing a counterbalance. That sounds intuitively obvious, but when it comes to leadership, I've ...
Can you be a nice leader? How to grow as a leader and develop your ‘inner Jim’
A little while ago, someone sent me an article from the Havard Business Review about the dangers of hiring a nice CEO. I found I had quite a strong reaction just to the title. I know a number of nice, decent, successful CEOs, MDs and other leaders in senior positions and was primed to leap to their defence. Were they suggesting hiring a nasty CEO instead? (Spoiler alert - no they weren't). The dangers of hiring a nasty leader The dangers of hiring a toxic leader are well-documented and, to my mind, outweigh the risks of being too nice. In fact, I ...
Finding your own natural authority – Can you handle power?
How do you feel about power? Is it something you crave or something which makes you feel uncomfortable? And how powerful do you actually feel as a person? I’ve been thinking a lot about power recently while working with some senior leaders. In particular, I’m interested in the match – or mismatch – between the power people get from their roles (their positional power) and their sense of themselves as powerful people. I’m defining power here as the ability to direct the course of events, to make things happen or prevent them from happening. Who, little old me? People who lack ...
Looking for the potential in people – Should your career have breadth or depth?
Many organisations spend a lot of time and money identifying and developing ‘high potential’ employees. This is understandable – at least some of them are likely to be future leaders of the business. But what about everyone else? Don’t they deserve the chance to fulfil their potential too? Maybe it’s time we stopped looking for ‘people with potential’ and started looking for the potential in people. Everyone has potential I believe everyone has potential; we just don’t all have the same potential. Clearly some people are likely to go further than others and it’s not just a question of ambition. ...
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. How much experience do you need to dabble in someone else’s job?
How much do you need to know about someone else’s job to have a say in it? Do you have to have done the job yourself to know whether they’re doing it properly? Common sense would suggest not – you don’t have to be a trained chef to recognise a badly cooked meal, for example. Yet a lot of people, particularly highly technical people, like engineers or IT professionals, seem to take umbrage at anyone who doesn’t share their expertise having any involvement in their jobs at all. In this blog I’m exploring how much you need to know to ...
Producing great work or making things happen? Which motivates you?
Think back to the last time you felt really pleased* with your work. What caused you to be pleased? Did you produce some really good quality work - a design, a report, an ad campaign? Or did you make something happen - hit a target, win a new client? I don't want to suggest that these things are mutually exclusive, but there is a fundamental difference. One is about outputs, the other about outcomes. The nature of you role will determine which one you focus on - and get measured on. If you're a designer, you'll be judged on the ...
The one thing that enhances your chances of career success
What makes some people more successful in their careers, particularly leadership careers, than others? It's tempting to answer that by considering the attributes of successful people. Generally, they are smart enough to handle the complexity inherent in a senior role and to make decisions whose ramifications may not be fully understood for five or ten years. They have good interpersonal skills. They have the resilience to deal with pressure and setbacks and to cope with having their judgement subject to constant scrutiny. They have the drive, energy, ambition and determination to get to the top. But there's another way ...
Myth #1: Technical specialists make lousy managers
This is the first in a series on workplace myths, many of which are based on stereotypes - soft female leaders, socially awkward geeks, psychologists obsessed with feelings. Like most stereotypes, there's generally a grain of truth in them. There's a reason we talk about German efficiency and Italian style, not the other way round. But stereotypes don't apply in every case, as I discovered when using the Bavarian rail network this summer (couldn't even manage a queue for a replacement bus service). It's the same with workplace myths - something which has some value as a generality can be ...
Delegation: The art of self-management?
Last month, I discussed the dimensions of delegation, which prompted one reader to tell me that, for him, the hardest part of delegating is managing his own responses - dealing with frustration and reining in his inner control freak, for example. I recognise from my years of coaching that this is something many people struggle with. So this month, I'm looking at what to do and, more importantly, how to manage yourself in various delegation situations. So what if..... They just don't get it No matter how often you explain it, they just don't seem to grasp what to do. Try ...
Giving it all away? Seven dimensions of delegation
Getting someone else to carry out tasks on your behalf is a key management skill and one that a lot of people struggle with. They micro-manage and interfere too much or they abdicate responsibility and leave people floundering. There's no formula for good delegation - it depends on the task and the individual you're delegating it to. But you may find it useful to think more carefully about what exactly you're giving someone responsibility for in any given situation. I've come up with seven dimensions of delegation to help you work that out. 1. Process Who decides how the task will ...
Lopsided leadership – Too much of a good thing?
Play to your strengths - that's good advice, right? Well generally, yes, it is. There's a whole school of thought in HR and business psychology that says you're much more likely to improve your performance if you keep developing something you're already good at and use it more, than if you doggedly try and overcome some persistent weakness. But that's only half the story. What's implicit in this idea is that somebody else, someone who's brilliant at the things you're not so good at, will be providing a counterbalance. That sounds intuitively obvious, but when it comes to leadership, I've ...
Can you be a nice leader? How to grow as a leader and develop your ‘inner Jim’
A little while ago, someone sent me an article from the Havard Business Review about the dangers of hiring a nice CEO. I found I had quite a strong reaction just to the title. I know a number of nice, decent, successful CEOs, MDs and other leaders in senior positions and was primed to leap to their defence. Were they suggesting hiring a nasty CEO instead? (Spoiler alert - no they weren't). The dangers of hiring a nasty leader The dangers of hiring a toxic leader are well-documented and, to my mind, outweigh the risks of being too nice. In fact, I ...
Finding your own natural authority – Can you handle power?
How do you feel about power? Is it something you crave or something which makes you feel uncomfortable? And how powerful do you actually feel as a person? I’ve been thinking a lot about power recently while working with some senior leaders. In particular, I’m interested in the match – or mismatch – between the power people get from their roles (their positional power) and their sense of themselves as powerful people. I’m defining power here as the ability to direct the course of events, to make things happen or prevent them from happening. Who, little old me? People who lack ...
Looking for the potential in people – Should your career have breadth or depth?
Many organisations spend a lot of time and money identifying and developing ‘high potential’ employees. This is understandable – at least some of them are likely to be future leaders of the business. But what about everyone else? Don’t they deserve the chance to fulfil their potential too? Maybe it’s time we stopped looking for ‘people with potential’ and started looking for the potential in people. Everyone has potential I believe everyone has potential; we just don’t all have the same potential. Clearly some people are likely to go further than others and it’s not just a question of ambition. ...
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. How much experience do you need to dabble in someone else’s job?
How much do you need to know about someone else’s job to have a say in it? Do you have to have done the job yourself to know whether they’re doing it properly? Common sense would suggest not – you don’t have to be a trained chef to recognise a badly cooked meal, for example. Yet a lot of people, particularly highly technical people, like engineers or IT professionals, seem to take umbrage at anyone who doesn’t share their expertise having any involvement in their jobs at all. In this blog I’m exploring how much you need to know to ...
