Two ways to look at management - The Manager - Cultivated Management Newsletter
Cultivated Management
Newsletter
Edition 10 - Two ways to look at management
Hi everyone, it's coming up to our Festive break here in the UK and for many of us it's a time to spend with loved ones and tune out of work.
It's also a great opportunity to reflect on what we're trying to achieve and what we'd like to do in the following year.
I know I personally have a container-load of ideas and initiatives for next year. I've got some really fun collaborations coming up, more books and more training courses. It's super exciting to be able to help you, my readers, and grow personally through this too.
Saying that, my experiment last week with video had mixed reviews. I'll hold off again for now and return to text only :)
I've done a slight redesign too as the last template looked good, but it was taking me ages to fill it in (the formatting was a nightmare).
This is your newsletter so don't hesitate to hit "reply" to the email and let me know what you want answered. Next year I'm including a section called "Ask me anything" and it will be dedicated to answering any questions you have around management, career development, communication, the tech industry - anything (within reason!).
This week I'm talking about the two main styles of management I see in technology companies and how one sucks (in my honest opinion) and one doesn't!
There will be a newsletter next week and then I'm taking a break until the New Year.
Rob..
Two ways to look at management
Over the last few weeks I've been speaking to a lot of people struggling with management, either their own approach to it, or their company's approach.
For a while now I've liked to draw a distinction between two very different type of management and usually people fall in to one or the other. In some companies they have a mixture of the two and this is where real friction occurs.
(image of the two ways to manage - you may not see this if you haven't enabled images)
On the one side you have management that is lead by the belief that people are costs to be managed and that you need to get more from them. More from less. More. More. More return. In this world view people are merely costs that are either adding a return on that cost, or not. In this model the accountants run the world of management where people are easy to quantify and if someone else can do their job for less - then they should. It's for managers who have no idea about human potential and merely look at individual contribution based on easy to measure metrics. After all - how do you measure the effectiveness of people when they work in teams? You don't - which is why work becomes separated, segmented and broken down. Ugh. Horrible model - but probably the one most of us work in, or have done.
The second way of looking at management is to view the very people in your team and the fuel and engine for success. Without them you have nothing. They are not costs (yes, they cost money) but they have great potential and when combined with other people, they create more value collectively than you could ever attribute to a single person. Going along with this is a belief that you don't try to get more from less - you do things differently. And these great people you have will be the ones to discover great ways of working. And these new ways of working will be more productive, effective and potentially efficient.
Modern productivity is not about working more hours, grinding away at the same tactics day after day - that only makes sense when those tactics work - and if they do, they don't require epic hours and burnout - computers should do those tasks instead. Productivity is about doing the least amount of work for the maximum gain.
Management is about creating space for improvement and thinking, and then deliberate action.
So what style are you?
What's your manager's style?
Do you feel like a cost being squeezed?
Or fuel for a team doing things differently?
I prefer the second way to manage. The first doesn't seem to make sense anymore - not now work is so cross functional and requires co-operation. Yet it's prevalent in the industry (and every other industry). Slowly though people are starting to realise it doesn't make sense, it's in-humane and it's just not necessary.
I would like to encourage you to challenge the nonsense of command and control management at all times. If possible, watch for yourself slipping in to the mindset of more from less - it's easy to do.
Go forth and be a manager who does things differently and lights the fuel in their team! It's a tough but rewarding way to be a manager.
Rob..
Communication Workshop
As you may know by now I'm running my award winning Communication Workshop in Winchester, UK next year. It's a blast to run and attendees leave with knowledge about the science of communication, how to write effectively, how to do an awesome presentation and many other scenario based communication Super Powers.
Book of the Week
This week's book of the week is Positivity (Barbara Fredrickson). It's a book about....being positive.
If you're struggling with being negative too often (and we are all guilty of being negative!) then this book may be helpful for you. It's heavyweight and I didn't plough through it with my usual gusto but I took plenty of lessons from it.
The term positivity often comes with lots of baggage. Is it the same as being happy? Does it mean never confronting that which is not going right? Not really.
"The term is purposely broad. It includes the positive meanings and optimistic attitudes that trigger positive emotions as well as the open minds, tender hearts, relaxed limbs, and soft faces they usher in."
I must admit than when I take the time to document what I'm grateful for and thank those around me I do feel better. The more I do it, the more I notice the positivity in others and the world around me. It's like my advice about being a manager and giving feedback - you see what you want to see. If I'm looking around for stuff that's going wrong - I'll see plenty of it. The same confirmation bias applies to positive stuff too.
"With positivity, you see new possibilities, bounce back from setbacks, connect with others, and become the best version of yourself. You even sleep better."
One of the more telling aspects of the book is the lessons around happiness and where we seek it. Barbara talks a how many of us seek happiness in the wrong places and how being materialistic often leads to the opposite of happiness. Something I see in myself and others too. Since I've starting focussing on the things that bring me joy (my family, writing, photography, training and coaching) I've seen my positivity and happiness rise.
"It’s fair to say that we who live in the West are conflicted about positivity. We see “the pursuit of happiness” as a fundamental human right. Yet when we work hard simply to acquire the material goods and services with our hard-earned wealth that we think will make us happy, we may be missing the point. We think all people yearn to be happy, but many of us have been coaxed into looking for our happiness in all the wrong places. We look for happiness in higher salaries, more possessions, or high achievements. Or we fixate on the future, holding out that “one day” our dreams will come true and make us happy. We’re so wrongheaded about the sources of our positivity that we value that extra hour at work to (we hope) please our boss more than we value connecting with our kids."
And here - sage advice about positivity being part of the journey not the end goal.
"The shift that I needed to make—and that you may need to make—is to view positivity as a wise and healthy investment in ourselves and in the world around us. Positivity is a means toward better ends, not simply an end in itself."
Overall - very good book with plenty of lessons about positivity. I learned a lot and am trying to put in place some of the suggestions from the book.
Positivity (Barbara Fredrickson) is available on Amazon. *
Articles of the week
This week's articles are:
Better Instincts by Seth Godin - although we trust our Gut Instincts - they may be wrong if our gut is telling us to run away and be fearful
Processing my struggle with depression - Wayne Sutton talks openly about how his struggle with depression held him back and how he's learning to deal with it.
How to ensure a great induction to your first job - Good article on what a good induction process should look like from a new starter perspective.
Winning the talent war - Article on how to grab talent in a competitive landscape
This week on Cultivated Management
This week on the blog:
5 Reasons why improving your communication skills is good for career development
9 Steps for self publishing on Amazon Kindle - for those who want to publish an eBook.
Thank you for reading The Manager.
If you have any questions you want answered hit reply to the email - I respond to all emails.
Until Next Time
Rob..
* I use affiliate links in my newsletters. This means that if you click on a link to a book (and it's usually books) you pay no more for the book, but I earn a little commission from what you buy. It helps to keep the lights on.
You can find out more about this on my legal page.