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Why Managers not Leaders?

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I am often asked why I chose to set up a Progressive Managers’ Network. Surely a Progressive Leaders’ Network would be more appealing.

Well that maybe so – but the focus of this network is fiercely practical – and I want it to appeal to people who want to get things done. In my experience talking about ‘leadership’ attracts people who are strong thinkers and communicators – but not always doers.

And so much leadership theory is overly complicated – while this network is about doing the basics exceptionally well and then building from there. Too much leadership training fails to be effective because the basics of good management – especially the interpersonal stuff – are not in place.

But finally I just love good management. Done well it is a fine and noble profession. A good manager can be an even more powerful force for good than a good teacher or mentor. It is just sad that so few people can point to the experience of working with a really good manager.

Making Values Live

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I helped to manage the production of a conference in Hull called Making Values Live – featuring the work of Mathew Smerdon and Geraldine Blake from Community Links. At the conference they provided an introduction to their report – Living Values: A report encouraging boldness in the third sector

The value-driven ethos of third-sector organisations is often cited as their distinguishing feature. But is this really the case?

The third sector has no monopoly on ‘values’. But are certain values more prevalent in the third sector than either the public or private sector? I have worked in all three sectors and from this personal experience – I doubt it.

Excellent organisations exist in all sectors. And excellent organisations always have strong values – a consistent set of values that runs through all of their work and helps to recruit, retain, and inspire talented people. The challenge is how to build an excellent passion and vision led organisation – regardless of its legal structure or the sectoral label it attracts.

The conference raised some further interesting questions – perhaps the main one for me being:

Is working explicitly with values worthwhile – or does it lead to hours of navel gazing with little real performance gain?

Can you work directly with something as abstract and ‘slippery’ as values?

How can you make the concepts involved more concrete and action oriented?

The best managers focus on working with behaviours, actions and results. Things that they can directly observe rather than infer. They then give affirmative feedback when these reinforce and express organisational values – or give adjusting feedback when they undermine them. This keeps the process of working with values very practical and action oriented.

In my experience though few managers give regular and rigorous feedback and many of those that do feel uncomfortable referring explicitly to values.

PMN Podcast 1 Now Available

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Our first podcast explaining what we are trying to achieve with the Progressive Managers Network is now available at: http://www.podcastfm.co.uk/about.php?id=238

In our first podcast Lee asks Mike the story and ethos behind PMN and how Common Purpose and Gordon Ramsey has influenced its development! Why is it so different? A general FAQ type podcast for everyone who is a member of, or interested in PMN.

Hope you enjoy the show! We would love your feedback so that we can make it better.

Managing Underperformance

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I am sure that every manager worth his or her salt has at some time had to confront the challenge of managing someone who is under performing.  So what is the first thing that you do:

  1. Collect evidence of under performance;
  2. Start to define the expected performance and look at ways to coach the person to close the gap;
  3. Avoid the issue and leave it for the annual review?

Well  the first two of these are pretty good options.  The third is probably the most common – and usually disastrous for all concerned – the manager, the employee, the organisation and the customer.

There is a better place to start the process of managing under performance and that is to ask ‘Do we really understand this person’s strengths?  Are we using them in a role that plays to them?’  Instead of putting the spotlight immediately on them, this gives us a chance to reflect on whether we really understand the person involved.  Are we really giving them the best possible chance to succeed?

This allows us to consider the option of developing the persons role so that the under performance simply goes away.  As Jim Collins puts it – it is about getting the right people, on the right seats on the bus.

Playing to peoples’ strengths rather than trying to ‘coach’ around their weaknesses is a fundamental characteristic of high performing teams.  Are you doing all you can to allow your employees to use their strengths?  Are you setting them up with an opportunity to win?

What Makes a Progressive Manager?

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I enjoy working with progressive managers. People who know that as a manager their focus is on making progress – and that this is best done by balancing personal development, the development of team members and execution of tasks. Progressive managers are not all that common. Here is my ‘starter for 10‘ for whether or not you are a Progressive Manager.

  1. You recognise that not only must your team achieve great results – but you must also develop the capacity of the team to perform better in the future.
  2. You continually develop new skills and behaviours that will make you more effective in your role as a manager.
  3. The outputs of your work make a positive contribution to the community.
  4. You recognise that ‘all power is trust’ and accordingly you strive to improve working relationships with team members and other stakeholders. You understand that relationships have to be worked on – they rarely just happen.
  5. You respect those who work for you – and understand that your success as a manager depends on their success. As such you see a large part of your role is to enable them to do their best work.

Can you suggest any further criteria for progressive Managers – or improve on the criteria I have listed here?