Don't manage: lead

1. Don‟t manage: lead
Paul Ballard
…morning!

2. Examples of what leadership looks like

3. It‟s about behaviours
The manager…
Me? %
The leader…
Me? %
administers
innovates
is a copy
is an original
maintains
develops
focuses on systems and structure
focuses on people
relies on control
inspires trust
has a short-range view
has a long-range perspective
asks how and when
asks what and why
has their eye always on the bottom line
has their eye on the horizon
imitates
originates
accepts the status quo
challenges it
is the classic good soldier
is his or her own person
does things right
does the right thing
Warren Bennis, On becoming a Leader

4. Culture eats strategy for breakfast
©The Drucker Institute
©ScoopIt

5. First, stop managing, or stop delivering
• You only have so much time
• Drop or delegate some of your management or delivery activities
• Focus your delivery on what you are best at
• Or on where opportunities for leadership will present themselves
• Just stop doing something and see who notices

6. Raise the bar
• For everyone, not just your team
• Set standards that reflect the
business objectives
• Benchmark a leading competitor
or admired company
• Only raise it a little at a time
©The Times
• One step „better‟, is easy for
others to imagine and believe in
• Don‟t forget your own standards

7. Talk to the people who don‟t know you
• Challenge the assumptions about who you need to talk to
• As a minimum, talk to „the boss‟, and talk to your audience, and
understand your value between the two
• Identify, and get to know, potential allies, and blockers
• More than one-off conversations
• Be creative, take some risks, and be patient

8. Speak the language of your business, not
your profession
• Understand what you do in
the language of your business
Information Process Maturity Model
Level 1
Adhoc
• Example: JoAnn Hackos‟
IPMM
Level 2
Rudimentary
• Elevator pitch
Level 3
Organised and Repeatable
• Match your vision to the
ambition of your boss
Level 4
Managed and Sustainable
• See Rachel Potts‟
„Communicating Value‟ article
Level 5
Optimising
© JoAnn Hackos, Information Development

9. Understand how change works
• You can‟t avoid it: it‟s what
leadership is for
• “Switch: How to change things
when change is hard” Chip and
Dan Heath 2011
• What drives change in your
industry?
• What changes are coming?
• “Transforming Business: Big Data,
Mobility, and Globalization” Cerra
et al 2013

10. Tricky to do but worth the risk
• The transition to leadership is fraught with danger
• Don‟t take your eye off delivery
• Don‟t confuse being „in‟ meetings with influence
• Leadership quickly turns back into management
• The changes you introduce could make you vulnerable
• Thought leadership is not leadership

11. Leadership takes you beyond the “…but”
• Leadership is creating the ability to deliver on a great idea
• It‟s taking people beyond what they are comfortable with
• Not just pointing: it‟s actually taking people there
• “That‟s really cool!...but”
• Leadership takes you beyond the “…but”
• It turns a great idea into something tangible and real

12. Don‟t manage: lead
paul.ballard@3di-info.com
Many thanks!