The Accidental Manager

OLA Superconference 2012 The Accidental ManagerRebecca JonesDysart & Jones Associatesrebecca@dysartjones.com905.731.5836

Focus for today Offer tools, approaches & ideas to new leaders, managers & supervisors  Transitioning  Tendencies  Creating a Motivating Environment What you will be tomorrow, you are becoming today. Jim Clemmer

Your New ToolKit Commun- ication Politics Role Managing & Leading Planning Delegating •Priorities Learning

Roles  Skills Form follows function Roles dictate the skills required Skills can only be learned through practice We will discuss skills You will learn these on the job

From CEO’s & managers in a variety of settings.New managers need to know:  How to assert themselves as leaders today when they were colleagues yesterday.  How to determine the priorities.  How to manage “up”.  That people come first…if staff isn’t on board, you will never succeed.  Communicating – getting the point across – now.  That the world will not end if they delegate.  That politics are all about relationship building.  That balancing of needs and expectations with realistic budgets is one that can only be learned on the job.  That doing too much will ultimately become too much.

Some favourite sources:  Harvard Business Review blog www.hbr.org  Hill, Linda. Becoming a Manager. Harvard, 2003  Sheldon, Brooke. Interpersonal Skills, Theory & Practice  Mintzberg & Gosling, “Five Minds of a Manager” HBR Nov 2003  Managers Toolkit: The 13 Skills Managers Need to Succeed. Harvard, 2004.  Watkins, Michael. The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders. Harvard, 2003  Ury, William. Power of a Positive No: How to say NO and Still get to YES

Mintzberg on Managers’ Role managing self managing relationships managing organizations managing contexts managing change Setting the context for our conversations

The First 90 Days by MichaelWatkins  Personal disciplines:  Plan to plan  Defer commitment  Schedule time for priority goals  Go to the balcony to review situation  Use transparent processes  Reflect on how you’re doing  Take breaks  Build & maintain relationships Furious activity is no substitute for understanding. H.H Williams

Critical Skills Establish, impart & implement a vision & strategies that make your organization indispensable Create & maintain a productive & motivating work environment Embrace ambiguity There - simple enough?

As a member of management Your current role incorporates leadership, management & supervision You do things with people, not to people You work up, down, across & beyond the organization You are responsible for strategies, initiatives & implementation • We lead people • We manage project & processes • We supervise details

“Leaders do not sit in the stands and watch. Neither are leaders in the game substituting for the players. Leaders coach. They demonstrate what is important by how they spend their time, by the priorities on their agenda, by the questions they ask, by the people they see, the places they go, and the behaviors and results that they recognize & reward.” The Leadership Challenge Kouzes & Posner

Transitioning SelfTendencies Role

Start with Transitioning requires a plana plan for you  To plan anything effectively you must know:  What you want  What you’ve got  Barriers and acceleration points that may impact your journey between the two states  Formally & consciously let go of what you were doing and the professional or functional expertise you relied on  “Promote yourself”  Mentally move yourself from colleague or ‘young staff’ to team leader  Develop or re-develop relationships with boss(es), colleagues and staff

Your boss It’s more important for you to develop a relationship with your boss than vice versa When new leaders falter it’s usually because they “concentrate on doing more of what theyhave done to succeed…they typically spend too little time cultivating important relationships, especially with their bosses.” Almost Ready: How Leaders Move Up, Harvard Business Review, January 2005, p.49

Your goals must support your managers’ goals Keep drafting your expectations while you learn • Manage the management  No blaming of predecessors or relationship the past • Regular, effective interactions  No surprises for superiors to understand:  Potential solutions for problems ▫ Their perception of the you’re identifying situation  Areas where you need their ▫ Their style support ▫ Their preferred communication mode Negotiate – expectations, timelines, approaches, resources

Start by clarifying your role1. Identify the differences between your old and new positions:2. Identify the similarities between your old and new positions:

And how you will fulfill & succeed in that role3. What strengths and skills have made you successful in the past?4. Which of these strengths and skills can you continue to draw on?5. What skills do you need to develop?

Your individual planWhat do you need to What do you need to What do you need to start stop doing? continue? doing?

Highlights the need for: Clear expectations You must know what your manager or Board expects of you  What do they expect you to “deliver” in 3 months?  6 months? 12 months?  How will they define success for you? What will success look like from their view point?

Tendencies Understand your own, how you see the world, and how the world tends to see you Myers-Briggs Keirsey DISC Birkman Strengths-Finder

Your accelerators & Your inhibitors  Know your preferences, behavioral style, motivational needs, stressors.  Keep The Red Sheet and The Green Sheet

TransitioningOrganization Planning

Smart plans rely on smart goals Must be written SMART goals:  Specific  Measurable  Acceptable  Realistic  Timed

Establishing Goals: be smart“By July 20th, identify the 4 critical issues impacting the group that need to be addressed before year end.”“By August, develop a plan for implementing e-book & tablet loans by January.”“By November, 100% of staff will have received training in:  using the e-books & tablets  assisting patrons in using the devices

Focus on the goal Most common error of new leaders is failure to focus Focus on 2 or 3 critical areas Identify wins that:  Enable you to learn about the function or group  Build credibility for both you and the group  Matter to management  Are doable in the culture

Goals are decisions Discipline means choices. Every time you say yes to a goal or objective, you say no to many more. Sybil Stanton

Establishing goals  What are your goals for the next 6 – 12 months?  Refer back to worksheet #1; if there are skills you need to develop, include them in your goal-setting Goal Measures Target Date Steps What will be in place What will success lookthen, that isn’t in place like? today?

Transitioning Relationships Context MotivatingTendencies Environment

People Today is really about people It’s all about people

One more time with feeling... I CANNOT motivate people repeat I CANNOT motivate people I CAN create a motivating environment……………………..and that is my primary job

Context To “lead” means to take a library, a•Be clear on where you are unit, a program, a service or a•Be clear on where you are project from where it is today toheaded where it needs to be in the future•Be clear on the ‘influencing to be or continue to be successfulfactors’ for the library & theunit•Keep the context in front of The library or unit’s context is whateveryone is doing today, what is happening around it in its community & beyond, and what it wants to do tomorrow

Establish the contextTo “lead” means you want to go forward:  decide where  draft the framework  determine the “givens”  describe it in simple terms  Involve the team - their input, ideas & details  make it real

Create a positive pull within the contextYour context setting should address 4 things for your team: 1. Why they should want to be in your organization 2. Why customers should want to do business with you 3. Why this is the most exciting organization to be connected with 4. What it “looks” like - the details, as you see them

Establish goals with team Within your organizational structure, work with staff to establish expectations and their goals Ensure their goals “support” achievement of your goals Ensure your goals “support” achievement of the organization’s goals (your manager’s goals)

Start at the beginning Most problems within organizations are the result of people:  not understanding where they are going  how their job fits  what’s expected of them Forget the 3 R’s; concentrate on the 3 C’s:  Context  Communication  Clarity 85/15 Rule

Context, Communication, Clarity To link people & what they do to the{library} (business) strategy & visionrequires connecting the dots for people.It means making sure that peopleunderstand how they can contribute, thatthey are able to contribute, that they havethe right information when they need it sothey can contribute& that they’ll benefitfrom the results they produce. The Leadership Solution, Jim Shaffer

But “where do I fit?”  Always link organizational, team & individual goals, roles & expectationsArticulate with each team member:“This is how your job impacts our ability to engage the community/campus/organization..…….. ……….to achieve our vision… ………..to serve our clients...etc..”

Motivating environments rely on communication  Visions become real for people when they see where they fit, where they contribute & the benefits they’ll realize when they do contribute  You cannot hear while you are speaking  If your team doesn’t understand you, they can’t hear you  You can’t not communicateWhat you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear a word you aresaying. Samuel Johnson

Creating motivating environments Confusion causes conflict. Clarity diffuses conflict. Insights develop clarity. Feedback produces insights. Clarity keeps the windshield cleanKeep the windshield clean

Clarity is in an individual’s eyes  Put on their lenses, their perspective  Listen:  For why they are saying what they are saying  for ideas  for words that make it real for others  for gaps  for misunderstandings  for resistance  these will give you the details needed to achieve clarity for all involved

Creating motivating environments Identify:  An individuals’ strengths  Ways their job can capitalize on their strengths & talents  Rewards that are meaningful for the individual – time with you? Time with a mentor? Time to work alone?  The best ways to coach them or provide them with feedback:  Do they need information?  Need to “do” things?  Need to observe?

What gets in the way? History Human nature  Tendency is to try to understand the motives, values & interpretations of those people we like  What happens if we don’t like the person?  Ask yourself this strategic question: What must it be like for “x”, with their character & perspectives, to work with or report to someone like me, with my character, drives & stimuli? “How to Motivate Your Problem People,” by Nigel Nicholson in HBR January 2003, pp 57+

Motivating environmentsStart with you:What are your strengths or energizers?How does your job capitalize on these strengths?What rewards are meaningful for you?What’s the best way to coach you or provide you with feedback?

Motivating environmentsNow talk with those you for whom you are responsible:What are their strengths, talents & energizers?How does – or how can their job capitalize on these?What rewards are meaningful for them?What’s the best way to coach them or provide them with feedback?

Trust Determined by every moment of truth Difficult to earn, & once gone, difficult to recover We trust others when they are told something will happen & it does Relies on communication When do you lose trust?

Keep the focus“Leaders ..........demonstrate what is important by how they spend their time, by the priorities on their agenda, by the questions they ask, by the people they see, the places they go, and the behaviors and results that they recognize & reward.” The Leadership Challenge Kouzes & Posner

Your New ToolKit Commun- ication Politics Role Managing & Leading Planning Delegating •Priorities Learning

Managing yourself When a you make a decision or take a key action, write down what you expect will happen (what success will look like), and keep going back to it – in 3, 6, 9 months – to measure where you are  Adapted from Peter Drucker, “Managing Oneself” in Harvard Business Review, January 2005, p 102

Moving forward 1. What will success look like for me in 12 months?2. What personal disciplines or skills do I need to develop to ensure I do what I can towork towards that success?

You are all leaders The leader of the past was a person who knew how to tell. The leader of the future will be a person who knows how to ask. Peter Drucker, 1993You are people who know how to ask, and how to learn.You are the leaders of the future. Rebecca Jones

Let me know how you are doing! Rebecca Jones Dysart & Jones Associates 32 Apple Orchard Path Thornhill, Ontario, CA L3T 3B6 905/731-5836 Fax: 905/731-5411 rebecca@dysartjones.com

The Accidental Manager

by Rebecca Jones on Jan 31, 2012

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The Accidental Manager — Presentation Transcript