The Manager - Edition 84 - by Rob Lambert
THE MANAGER - BY ROB LAMBERT
Thoughts, links and food for your management brain
Hi,
I hope you're all staying safe and well. It's a weird time for sure.
It's been pretty weird in the Lambert household, no doubt like it is for you all. Thankfully the weather's been ok and the boys have been able to get outside and burn some energy. We're trying to remain strong and positive for them.
It's been a while since I posted a newsletter - and for that I am deeply sorry. It's been an odd start to the year. So much energy and enthusiasm to keep to my schedule but the more I try to stick to a routine, the harder I seem to push back against it.
I've also been putting in a lot of effort to my new YouTube channel and my online management course, which has taken more effort and energy than I first thought.
Anyway, here's some things I thought worth sharing this week.
Hope you are well, take care and stay safe.
Rob
FOOD FOR YOUR MANAGEMENT BRAIN
1. I've launched a new YouTube channel!
I always wanted to be a film director, I love being in front of the camera (shameful I know) and I also have a deep fascination with filming and audio design. The world of social is now moving more towards video - so it made sense to start creating video content.
Don't worry, there is still always going to be a blog post to support it, so you can still read my ideas as well.
As LinkedIn is SO bad at helping creators catalogue and playlist their content, I opted for YouTube, but I am still also uploading them to LinkedIn. I've found a way to create a catalogue by using a company page. LinkedIn also only allows 10 minutes of video, and some of mine have been longer, so I've had to split them in to two.
Anyhow - there are a few videos up there now, and I'll be bringing you a video each week.
YouTube Channel is here - consider subscribing to never miss a post - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpmsS4WP6MdLRrwisHnWDTw/
LinkedIn catalogue is here - again, you can "Follow" the page to get updates and see the content - https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/42938705/admin/
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2. I've been doing some work for a client who is using the SFIA framework quite heavily. The SFIA framework is pretty good and I've used it in the past (light implementation). It's a framework for distilling levels of growth and expected behaviours as people go through their careers. It's pretty useful but the challenge with all of these frameworks is how deep you go, and how much you "standardise" things.
My advice if you're using something like this; don't codify Job Descriptions against the framework too heavily. It can help you to define what you expect from people, but it will also slow you down. It will encourage you to NOT change roles or Job Descriptions even though you may have to - because it's so painful to remap new roles to SFIA. You will find yourself "hacking" new JDs to make them fit existing JDs - just to avoid remapping (which is painful).
You may also find that a quick and easy mapping has taken place to avoid a lot of time being spent on doing the job properly (because it's tedious and painful), hence, at that point, you really have to question the value of it.
Use it lightly, use it for career development in combination with:
- What problems YOUR organisation have - standard frameworks are just that - standard - and most organisations are not the same
- The kind of culture (behaviours) you want. With a rigid framework comes rigid behaviours - your company may be different to that
- Managers insights in to what they want, who they want and how their team want to move their career forward. Don't let SFIA replace managers getting to know their people.
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3. Want to communicate with your team in an effective way? Lots of great lessons in how to be open and honest, but also task focused in this great little article on a Founders Guide To Discipline.
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4. Personal productivity is a big interest to me - hence this old (2009) article was stumbled upon - and the devoured. Very interesting. (well, if you're interested in productivity).
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5. Working from home? Some tips on how to make the most of it, and not lose track of your routine.
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6. How to begin meditating. My mind races at a gazillion miles an hour. I replay things that happened - and often not in a good way. I also focus on the future too much. I need to live in the moment. It's hard. And meditation seems to be the way to do it, but I'm still finding it hard. This article helped me to get a little clarity on how to start...again.
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7. Want a newsletter that's second only to this one :) - James Clear's 3-2-1 is a wonderful weekly dose of inspiration and thoughtful challenges. Very good indeed.
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8. I'm reading Dale Carnegie's classic again - How to stop worrying and start living. It's a classic for a reason. Lots of sage advice. The challenge with all of these books though is putting the ideas in to action. In a time like this, it's good to go back to classic books, with classic advice.
Thanks for reading this week's edition of The Manager.
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Thanks
Rob..