Leaders vs Managers: Adaptive Leaders Pursue Change; Old Style Managers Cling To The Past
June 9, 2008
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Stan Truskie, Ph.D.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates recently criticized the
But in a world of chaos and ever changing conditions, Mr. Gates realizes that the ability to change and adapt is key to military success: What worked well in the past may now be an outmoded and ineffective approach.
Mr. Gates is pointing out a truism that US business organizations of all types and sizes have witnessed and/or experienced during the past 75 plus years: Unadaptive organizations underperform and/or fail in the long run. Companies like Sears & Roebuck, K-Mart, Pam Am, Howard Johnsons, Armour & Company, Westinghouse Electric are examples of businesses which were once at the top of their industrial sectors only to be toppled by competitors who looked into the future, adapted and out performed them. And the way their competitors did it was with adaptive leaders, not top-down managers.
So what’s the difference between the two?
Consider top-down managers first. These managers, for the most part, are predominantly linear thinkers. Linear thinkers are rational, logical and analytical. They are mainly concerned with the present, not the future. They tend to stick with things that have worked well in the past as opposed to experimenting with the unfamiliar.
They are very organized individuals who value orderliness and predictability. They favor rules and procedures to ensure that orders from the top are followed through to the lowest level. Their mentality is that managers think, workers do (as they are told)….an idea generated by the father of management science, Frederick W. Taylor during the early 20th century. This approach worked fine back then, during the early
If you have ever worked for one of these authoritative managers, you know first hand how autocratic and controlling they can be. Gather a group of these linear thinkers and place them at the top, running the organization, and guess what you get? A very rigid top-down organization that does everything by the rules, creating a bureaucracy that stifles innovation and creativity making it short-sighted, inflexible and unadaptive.
Enlightened, adaptive leaders are much different from top-down managers. They tend to be more non-linear in their thinking. These leaders are more intuitive, have greater insight, and are more creative. Being more conceptual, the see the “big picture”, are futuristic oriented, possess holistic insight and emotional intelligence.
They have greater spontaneity and flexibility—a balanced integration of rational analytical and unconventional imaginative processes. They have the ability to take a new perspective to an old complex problem and reassemble interrelated parts of the problem in novel and unusual ways leading to a viable solution. They are much better at coping with the non linear complex nature of the competitive context of our global business environment.
One would think that most of these adaptive leaders head up the newer hi-tech companies like Apple, Google, Nintendo, Microsoft and Amazon.com. But if you look at the recent list of the top 25 innovative companies recently compiled by BusinessWeek (
The good news is that managers can change and become more adaptive leaders just as traditional companies can become more innovative. As a corporate executive leadership coach, I have worked with hundreds of managers and executives for the past 20 years and I have witnessed a transformation of many individuals who have changed from top-down managers to adaptive leaders. All thinking and behavior can be changed…it is called learning. Through assessment, self awareness, action learning, and coaching, managers can become more effective and adaptive leaders.
In essence, my experience, research and observations have led me to conclude that the assertion, “Leaders are born, not made,” is a myth.
Stan Truskie,Ph.D. is President of MSD Leadership Consultants Inc. a
Five Ways To Alienate Your Employees: A Manager’s Guide to Investigating Errors
June 8, 2008
Norm Howe
Are you a manager with too much time on your hands? Do you go home at the end of an eight hour day with boring regularity, leaving a clean desk and a clear conscience?
When rare errors occur in your organization do your employees openly discuss what went wrong so that you can find the root causes. Do they then compound the problem by volunteering to implement solutions?
If you work in the drug, medical device, or any other FDA regulated industry, then you must be particularly troubled. When the FDA inspectors show up and ask for your Corrective And Preventive Action files, are your's too thin? Do the inspectors leave your company too quickly in search of someone else to inspect?
If all this sounds familiar, then you are not alienating your employees enough. Your employees have too much trust in you. They are too willing to share their experiences because they have no fear of retribution from you when you decide on corrective actions for errors.
Wouldn't you rather have NO discretionary time in your life? Here are five sure-fire tips to create more fear in your employees and keep them from ever sharing facts openly during problem solving discussions.
1) Blamestorm, don't brainstorm. When you investigate errors, focus on the people, not the business process. Frame your questions around the assumption that the employees are at fault. When you write up your corrective actions, use such terms as "Employee needs to be more alert" or "Employee assigned to be retrained". Your employees will never realize that these terms are business-speak for "This employee is a negligent moron."
Your corrective actions should never include engineering or procedural changes. These changes are a waste of time because they address basic business processes. After all, management designed the business process, and so couldn’t possibly be wrong.
2) Don't use a Standard Operation Procedure for investigating errors. Use a different method for investigating errors every time. This makes so many good things happen. First of all you will never have to worry about getting better at root cause investigations. How could you, if you use a different technique every time?
Another advantage is that your employees will never know what's going to happen. Predictability allays fear. You don't want that to happen. You want to show them who's boss.
3) Assume that none of your employees want to do a good job. You'll be surprised how people will live down to your expectations. Sure, you might get disappointed. Every once in a while someone will overcome your expectations and actually contribute a thoughtful suggestion during problem solving sessions. But those occasions will be rare. They will feel your attitude and will cover up problems just like you assumed they would.
4) Don't be concerned about fear in the workplace. W. Edwards Deming, the famous quality guru, insisted that managers must drive out fear. But why should employees fear you? After all you're a nice person and besides, you are just doing your job.
Forget that Deming said that fear arises from the structure of the employee – manager relationship. Forget that in the mind of the employee the manager has all the power in the relationship. Forget that the manager determines the employee's raise, that the manager can hire, that the manager can fire.
You don't have to drive out fear from your relationship. You don't have to build trust on a daily basis. You don't have to meet simple commitments that you make to employees. If you say that you will meet an employee at a particular time to discuss something of concern to him, don't worry about it. You're the boss. He'll understand it if you just blow him off.
5) Management By Walking Around. Stay parked in your office all day and don't get out where your employees work until the next crisis comes up. Make sure your employees only see you when you storm out of your office with a problem and an attitude.
Don't try to build relationships when you have time for a calm discussion about something the employee thinks is important. You want to give the impression that you're overloaded with important manager stuff. You can't waste time with their problems.
Follow these five simple principles and you'll never have to worry about having any free time on your hands. Your root cause solutions will never start to build on each other to form a solid operational foundation that prevents future errors.
Your desk will be stacked to Biblical proportions with uncompleted projects. Your email in-box will explode out of your computer monitor almost daily with complaints about the latest error in your department. Eight hour days? Forget it. You're going to be living at work.
About the Author
Norm Howe, Senior Partner at Validation and Compliance Institute, consultants for FDA regulated industries. He got his BS at UC, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in chemistry at UCLA. He has held many management positions, most at BASF. vcillc.com
What's new this week at Call Center Cafe` May 16th
May 16, 2008
What's new this week at
With so many new articles and features, it might be hard to keep up with all the great articles on Call Center Cafe. We thought we would make it a little easier on you.
Enjoy!
The Call Center Cafe` Staff
What Every Supervisor Should Know To Succeed - Set the Example
Did you get a chance to read this post on what a supervisor needs? Shaun Kieran shares with reader that you may not need to be perfect but you should know how to handle yourself at work. Interesting thoughts.
Have You Had Your Laugh Today?
Jody Urquhart strikes again with another of her articles on bringing fun into the workplace. Did you realize that a two-minute belly laugh is equal to 10 minutes on a rowing machine in terms of boosting your heart rate? Have fun this one!
How to Manage Attrition Levels
Julie Mcvey writes about a subject near and dear to many of us- attrition.
One of the biggest costs for most employers in today’s market place is recruitment of quality staff. In order to reduce this cost every organization should have in place ‘staff retention action plans’.
Motivation - 7 Tips To Keep Your Motivation Fire Burning!
Motivation is an essential part of everything we do … it governs whether or not we will successfully achieve our goals and dreams throughout life.
Martin Haworth wrote this piece a awhile back to talk about how to manage in a crisis. I found his 3 priorities to be spot on. Take a few moments to read Martin's message and let us know what you think through the comments section just below the article.
How to tell if HR hired the wrong person
A little call center humor by Gail. She pokes a stick toward training attrition. Hope this one brings a chuckle or two.
What's New This Week on Call Center Cafe` May 9th, 2008
May 9, 2008
With so many new articles and features, it might be hard to keep up with all the great articles on Call Center Cafe. We thought we would make it a little easier on you.
Enjoy!
The Call Center Cafe` Staff
Hands Off Management - Frying Pan, Fire or Neither?
In this posting we are reminded that being a manager doesn't mean we have to be the one to fix everything. We can and should take the 4S Method of managing- Show, Supervise, Stand Back and Succeed
How tempting is it to fix things? You know, you are passing by one of your teams cubicles and they are doing something you know all about. So you give a hand…
Push that Agent from the Nest!
In today's posting by Gail Yahner, you will find 7 ways to tell if you have left a newbie in the nesting area just a bit to long. We hope you enjoy this slightly humorous look at
Fed Up? Lighten Up! – This is a light hearted reminder that the average person spends eight hours each day at work and we should lighten up and do what we can to enjoy our time while on the job. If that means a little less grumbling and a little more fun, then so be it! Enjoy!
How to Help a Boss Who Holds Bad Meetings – do you have a boss that holds meetings that don't seem to have a purpose, have no real direction, or are a complete waste of time? If so, then this article by Steve Kaye might just be your ticket to helping your boss …and you! Steve gives 10 suggestions that might just get your bosses meetings on track.
Ten Top Ways for Managers to Motivate Their People We hope you'll find this post by Martin Haworth to be both entertaining and enlightening. Martin gives us 10 down to earth suggestions for motivating your teams. His advice to "Get Out of Their Way" when delegating brought back a few memories. Let us know what you think of Martin's suggestions via the comment section below the post or through our "Contact Us" form
Delighting Customers – In this posting from the team at Coaching Businesses to Success, you'll find ways to delight your customer. They are your lifeblood. And through Delighting Customers frequently and often, you will drive success to your business or organization.
The key to understand here is that Delighting Customers is just that - it is more than satisfying, it is delighting them. Making their journey to you memorable. So, sorry, OK is not enough from now on - ever.
Hands Off Management - Frying Pan, Fire or Neither?
May 8, 2008
How tempting is it to fix things? You know, you are passing by one of your teams cubicles and they are doing something you know all about. So you give a hand…
And then it's fixed, and you feel a rosy glow all about how you've 'helped'. But who is this about, you or them.
You see, it can be so frustrating, for someone already frustrated, when some smart-ass boss comes along to show their superiority. In fact, after it's fixed, all they get is a general feeling of inadequacy. And more frustration.
And next time you have the same problem, you can't remember what they did because they did it so fast, in such a smart-assed sort of way. You either need to wait for them to pass by again or, well, struggle again.
As a boss, it's easy to do something that you know how to do. In fact it's a big psychological boost to your little own sense of self, when you've achieved something that someone else is struggling with. So it's a 'nice' feeling to be better at something when someone else isn't.
It's not your fault, in fact it's not even an action you think consciously about, it just happens that way.
And with some bosses, it happens often. I know, I've done it myself. It comes out of another emotion too. It comes out of a sense of 'helping' someone in distress - it's the 'knight in shining armour' thing. And it feels good.
Yet, it has a big downside. Getting someone else out of their 'frying pan' gets you into another 'fire'. Because if you get so good at fixing other people's problems, that's what they'll expect of you. And wait for you to do it.
So, you frustrate the hell out of them because you fix things for them all the time and then they start waiting for you to be the problem-solver. Your 'fixing' everything starts to pile up on you. You then get frustrated with them because you have such 'useless' employees around you.
I wonder why!
So, here's a way to try. For someone struggling with something, however small, use the 4S Method.
Show
Supervise
Stand Back
Succeed
This means that you Show them how to do something, then you watch them and Supervise as they do it, maybe they get it wrong - if so, let them analyse why. Stand Back whilst they at last Succeed - and then get it right forever.
This is the 'Neither'. You get the job done right, by the person whose job it is to get it right and then you are freed up to do more of this.
Thus building a team of capable, fulfilled and 'motivated to learn more' individuals.
No Frying Pan, no Fire and Neither of you feel bad about it.
In fact, everything is a bit rosy, after all!
Copyright 2006 Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He works worldwide, mainly by phone, with small business owners, managers and corporate leaders. He has hundreds of hints, tips and ideas at his website, www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com.
Effective Ways to Stay Motivated
May 8, 2008
By Tony Jacowski
Some people don't give these situations a second thought and just wallow in misery. But what is important to think about is - was the situation so terrible that you just had to leave your job? Was this the only last chance you would ever have to prove your talent?
If the answer is no, then it is high time you get your life back on track and motivate yourself to achieve more.
Brace Yourself for the Hard Times
It is very natural to have times when everything is perfect and is working well, especially in your job. But then, not every day is the same - and there can (and will) be days when something will get you down and you will feel that achieving success is very difficult. It is in these situations that you will need motivation the most.
Motivation is something that should come from within. You might get inspiration from the achievements of others, but if you want to gain something, then you will have to be determined and go for it.
Achieving goals that you desire cannot be accomplished easily. You will have to work for it, to make it happen.
Confidence a Must
Confidence is very important for motivating yourself. If you do not have confidence in yourself and your talent, then no one can help you. You must have faith in your abilities and the capacity to drive away the fear of failure. Being straightforward and clear in your actions helps; conversely, if you have goals that are undefined and fuzzy, then you will not be able to focus. The best advice is to know what you want to achieve. If you feel as if you are stagnating at work, then you should ask your supervisor to set measurable and defined tasks for you. If he or she is not forthcoming, you shouldn't hesitate in taking the initiative and help yourself. It's a proven fact that self-motivated people perform better.
Be proactive - try to be on top of everything at work according to your skills and abilities. It is essential to identify your weak points and work towards improving them. To do this, you can take classes that will help you improve your performance level and increase your market value. If you are able to get few certifications, it will help you gain confidence.
Negative criticism should be turned into positive, so that you become a source of inspiration for others. Success depends a lot on your thinking, positive or negative. If you brood over past mistakes and failures, you will definitely not be able to convert frustration into a positive driving force. You should be ready to take on new challenges and even if your current job is not motivating you, you can try out new options.
Who knows - you might get a better position, one that fulfills your desire.
Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solutions - Six Sigma Online ( http://www.sixsigmaonline.org ) offers online six sigma training and certification classes for six sigma professionals including, lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tony_Jacowski
How to Help a Boss Who Holds Bad Meetings
May 1, 2008
By Steve Kaye
Suppose your boss consistently holds bad meetings, but doesn’t seem to recognize that this is a problem.
What can you do?
Here are some possibilities.
First, be careful. Some bosses consider any type of coaching to be an attack on their performance. Then they become defensive. If this is the case, you may have to endure bad meetings held by your boss. Attempting to help such a boss could damage your career.
However, if your boss is friendly and open to suggestions, any of the following ideas may work.
1) Offer to help with some small part of a meeting that would make the process more effective. For example, you could prepare the agenda for a meeting. As part of this task, ask your boss questions such as, “What is your goal for the meeting?” “What result do you want to have at the end?” “What do you think is the best way to accomplish that result?” etc.
2) You can also (conversationally) ask guiding questions such as those listed in #1 above when your boss schedules a meeting. Even if you boss refuses to answer them, these questions will make him think about his goal for the meeting. And that can help him work more effectively.
3) Give your boss a book on effective meetings as a gift. Tell him that you bought it after hearing another manager brag about how much it has helped (e.g., earn a raise, get promoted, be complimented by senior management).
4) Conversationally (such as during lunch) mention that you read an article about meetings that told about a “really great” technique for . . . . (something such as preparing an agenda, or making decisions, or etc.). Offer to give your boss a copy.
5) Confront your boss directly with an idea, such as “I think our meetings would take less time if we had an agenda.”
6) Ask your boss to use a facilitator for a meeting. A skilled facilitator will show your boss what an effective meeting is like.
7) Ask your boss to buy a workshop on holding effective meetings (because everyone else needs it).
Ask the people who are responsible for training to schedule a workshop on effective meetings. This works best if all of the managers are invited to the workshop. Then your boss must attend.
9) Wait until your boss complains about bad meetings. Then ask gentle questions such as, “What makes you upset with that?” or “What caused that?” or “What should they have done?” Perhaps, such questions can lead your boss to discovering what needs to be done. Note: most people believe what they say (and doubt what they hear).
10) Complain about someone else’s meeting. For example, you might say, “Wow, what a waste to time. There was no agenda and no one knew what to do. We just sat around and talked about everything except anything that mattered.”
If your boss refuses to accept any encouragement to change, then wait. People who refuse to improve their work skills seldom last. In fact, your boss’s boss may already be upset with the time being wasted in bad meetings.
Steve Kaye helps leaders hold effective meetings. He is an IAF Certified Professional Facilitator, author, and speaker. His meeting facilitation and leadership workshops create success for everyone. Call
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Kaye
