Why bricolage is management - The Manager - Cultivated Management newsletter
Cultivated Management Newsletter - Edition 22
Howdy.
One way to look at your role as a manager, or to look at management in your organisation, is like you're orchestrating or building a massive creative project - or a bricolage.
"Bricolage" is a French word to mean something along the lines of "constructing something from a diverse range of things".
It's a term often associated with the creative world, but I like to think of management in the same way.
A good manager builds teams from a diverse range of people to create a whole far more effective than the individual people could achieve.
So management is about bringing together people and their uniques skills and strengths in a way that adds value: for customers, the business, themselves. You get it.
Management is a creative role. It's about seeing the whole when others only see the parts. It's about looking at the future and taking the next steps to cater for this potential future.
It's about looking at what you have and creating the best team, product, culture or company you can - and not complaining that you don't have the right elements.
With all creative projects there must be feedback, mistakes, self expression, self development, learning, growth, failure and constraints.
If you look at management as a creative project, bringing together a diverse range of people to achieve success, you can start to appreciate the enormity of it, the challenges and the need to have competent people to bring together - and, then sharing the vision and constraints with them, and leaving them alone to achieve greatness.
The best managers can make success in any environment. A bit like the A-Team :)
So next time you find yourself wondering what you need to do, what management actually should do or why you're bothering - consider taking a step back and looking at the whole - and working out whether what you're creating is worth the effort, and if it is - what pieces do you need to create next?
Then going forth and bring these pieces (people, projects, tools, resources, finances) together to achieve one more step on the journey.
I've been working with a group of manager recently who were asking for a roadmap - a proven path to follow - but there isn't one. Their creative projects are all different. They require different next moves. But when they stopped to think about their work as a creative project they realised they don't need that super detailed roadmap. They just needed to deeply understand what they currently have, where they are heading - and work out how to bring it all together for the journey.
Enjoy your creativity. Enjoy your management.
Rob..
Interesting Internet Finds
Here's some interesting reading for your week ahead:
Body language lessons from a poker player. If you know me you'll know I value communication skills above everything else. Good ideas in here on how to read the whole body, not just the "poker face".
More rituals - less routines. A good article on why routines are important, but rituals are better.
How Warby Parker does Employee Engagement - “One thing I’ve always found surprising and unfortunate is that as companies get bigger and have more money and more ability to invest in the employee experience, they actually become worse places to work,” says Gilboa. “That terrifies us.” - totally agree - I know why - because Engagement is FREE with good management.
This article is doing the rounds again in the business community - the brand of you - classic article on why you need to nurture your own brand
Advice on how to give feedback as a manager. Some interesting points.
An open letter to Google from Seth Godin - asking them not to kill the blogs.
Meet the perennials - "We are ever-blooming, curious people of ALL ages who know what’s happening in the world, stay current with technology, and have friends of all ages." Love it.
The history of the world in 46 lectures - awesome
Thanks
Rob..