I read an article recently by Steve Tobak titled “The Problem with Know It All Managers” at http://blogs.bnet.com/ceo/?p=3361&tag=nl.rSINGLE. The issue that Tobak presents is that often when people become managers, they start acting like they have all the answers. These managers stop asking questions and start telling everyone what the answers are. Tobak’s conclusion is that this is bad for employees and bad for the organization and bad for business. I agree but I have to ask myself what motivates people to become “know it all” managers? It could be arrogance or it could be an organizational culture that implies that value is linked to one’s ability to always have the answer. It is not uncommon for compensation and promotion decisions to be based if not explicity then implicitly on one’s reputation for always having the answers. Conversely and unfortunately, managers are often devalued by senior management and stakeholders when they are seen to ask a lot of questions, openly consider many alternatives, and rely on their subordinates for up to date subject matter expertise. As we transition from do-ers to leaders, our value to the organization needs to come from our ability to elicit knowledge, ideas, issues, and possible solutions from the workforce and then to use that information to develop and execute strategies that achieve differentiating business goals. Answers based on the experience of many are more valuable than answers based on the experience of one person. One of our challenges is to help our senior management and stakeholders recognize and appreciate the value to the business of this sort of higher order, leadership behavior.
Know It All Managers
December 7th, 2009The Ten Fatal Flaws That Derail Leaders June Harvard Business Review: Are We in Denial?
May 24th, 2009Have you read the pithy one page article entitled “The Ten Fatal Flaws That Derail Leaders” in the June 2009 Harvard Business review? I quickly skimmed the flaws to see if I had any of them. At first I was relieved. While I can be pretty hard on myself, I didn’t think I had any of these flaws. But the authors’ closing comments caused me to reconsider. ”But the ineffective leaders we studied were often unaware that they exhibited any of these behaviors. In fact those who were rated most negatively rated themselves substantially more positively. Leaders should take a very hard look at themselves and ask for candid feedback on performance in these specific areas. Their jobs may depend on it.” Denial is a dangerous thing.
I read the ten flaws a bit more thoughtfully and my conclusions the second time were sobering. For each behavior, I took the time to think about things I had done or had not done in the last two weeks that a third party might view as examples of “flawed” leadership behavior. I was able to recall at least one example for each of the ten flaws. While this doesn’t necessarily mean I am a hopelessly flawed leader, it made me own up to the fact that I regularly exhibit sub optimal leadership behavior. This exercise made me realize that seemingly small transgressions that I excuse because I am busy (and a leader – see the Toxic Tandem in the same issue of HBR), when seen objectively, are powerful examples of poor leadership and they add up. Maybe going through this exercise will help you identify some areas in which you could raise your game and improve your image as a manager and a leader!
The Ten Fatal Flaws by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman
Lack of energy and enthusiasm
Accept their own mediocre performance
Lack clear vision
Have poor judgement
Don’t collaborate
Don’t walk the talk
Resist new ideas
Don’t learn from mistakes
Lack interpersonal skills
Fail to develop others
Influencer: The Power to Change Anything
April 12th, 2009Influencer: The Power to Change Anything was published in 2008 by McGraw Hill and was written by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan and Al Switzer. It is a New York Times best seller.
The authors start out by flat out debunking the notion that the ability to influence is reserved for people with charismatic and silver-tongued DNA. They firmly and kindly suggest that this notion is an excuse used by those of us who have tried to influence and failed or who feel daunted by the prospect of using influence to bring about significant change. Deciding that we aren’t equipped to influence gives us permission to work on that spreadsheet that will convince the world we are right or to yell louder hoping that people will eventually “get it,” rather than getting out there and making change happen. Having momentarily snapped us out of denial, Patterson et. al. give us a how-to manual for influencing that is solid, accessible and informative.
While I am tempted to summarize the whole book here, I will not. I will share a bit about the three elements of the book that I found most useful. (I have been much more heavy-handed than the authors. In my defense I have a few paragraphs to win you over, they have a couple hundred pages)
1) Change the Way You Change Minds: ”People choose behaviors based on what they think will happen to them as a result.” ”When it comes to resistant problems, verbal persuasion rarely works.” Sharing personal experience is a great tool but in the absence of this tell people a story. Tell a story that acts on their internal view of the world and gets them thinking that they have the ability to change and that change might be in their best interest. The lesson here: TELLING PEOPLE WHAT THEY SHOULD DO AND WHY DOES NOT WORK. STOP TRYING THAT APPROACH.
2) There are actually six influence points not the one (whatever it is) that YOU know and use over and over (with, the authors predict, limited success). The authors provide an intuitive and simple to remember influence framework that you can refer to you when you are planning (note, planning) to influence. While the examples and teaching that the authors provide will help you quickly internalize the elements, once you see the framework you might feel a little sheepish that you hadn’t thought of it yourself. The lesson here: INFLUENCE IS NOT MAGIC, THERE IS A “FORMULA.” IF YOU USE IT, YOU CAN BRING THE CHANGE YOU DESIRE.
3) There are six influence points and the more of them you use, the more success you will have. Conversely if you use just one or two, you will fail. The lesson here: PEOPLE ARE COMPLEX. PEOPLE RESPOND TO DIFFERENT THINGS. YOU ARE NOT A SHEEP, STOP TREATING THOSE YOU WISH TO INFLUENCE AS THOUGH THEY WERE. USE MULTIPLE STRATEGIES.
I highly recommend this book. I suggest reading it through once and marking up the parts that seem particularly relevant to you. Chances are you will want to come back to the highlighted sections again and again as you apply the lessons of Influencer to the change initiatives you are trying to move forward.
New IT Capability Depends on Operating Model Changes
April 11th, 2009An article in the April 2009 Harvard Business Review by Julia Adler-Milstein describes research that suggests that organizations need to make changes to how they are organized and how they operate in order to enjoy the benefits of new technologies they introduce. The article cites a study by MIT Sloan School’s Erik Brynjolfsson and others that finds that the following specific operating model changes were required for successful implementation of new technologies:
1) increased training
2) increased individual decision making authority
3) flattened hierarchies
4) greater use of skilled resources
5) decentralized teams
5) incentives for team performance
Organizations that didn’t make these changes fared worse than they would have had they not introduced the technologies in the first place. The article focuses on adoption of electronic health records but the findings apply across the board.
One thing we can take away from this is that successful change that brings value and is sustainable is multi dimensional. We need to take time to think deliberately about the whole system into which we are introducing a change (people, the processes, physical assests and the organization structure). We need to think openly and strategically about what other parts of the system need to be changed to create the conditions for success and to minimize the conditions for failure.
As managers we may find that “we don’t have time” to think about all of this or that the prospect of thinking about it all is daunting – like confronting a multi dimensional chess game. We often find that our management just wants the change to happen and doesn’t want to get bogged down in considerations and activities that might increase cost and slow down delivery. You can use this HBR article and the underlying research to make your case!