The Manager - Edition 90 - Show don't tell by Rob Lambert
THE MANAGER - BY ROB LAMBERT
Hi,
I hope you are safe and well.
Things are busy here in the Lambert Towers.
I’ve been consistently putting out a video a week on the YouTube channel and thank you to all who have subscribed.
It’s great fun putting together videos. I used to make videos when I was a teenager and it’s a passion I’ve had almost all of my life. I’m starting to finally get to grips with my camera; working out better lighting, solving focus issues and understanding frame rates etc.
It’s a learning process and each week I seem to get a little bit better.
It’s a bit like life and management - the more we keep doing something the better we get. We often lose sight of the fact that we didn’t know how to do something when we first started - so go easy on your colleagues and direct reports if they are at a different point in their learning journey.
Go easy on yourself too - learning is all part of the process.
Hope you have a good week - this week I’m musing over the idea of showing not telling.
Show don't tell
As a manager our actions and behaviours tell people who we really are.
They tell people our priorities by how we spend our time, what we ask questions about and who and what we focus our attention on.
They tell people what behaviours we expect from others by what behaviours we demonstrate - so we must always demonstrate the highest standards possible - even if those behaviours don’t come naturally to us.
They tell people who we are becoming as a person - and how we are bettering ourselves - so don’t be afraid to show humility and let it be known we don’t have it all sewn up - show them we’re trying and getting better.
They tell people what’s important in our life - and what should be important in their lives. Do we commit everything we have to work - or are we a role model for balancing the pillars of our life?
They also tell people what we’re trying to do in the world, who we’re trying affect and what motivates us. Don’t be afraid to show people that we have side projects, believe in something bigger than ourselves or are trying to make the world better in our own special way.
Most of all though, they show the world who we really are, what we really want and what we expect from them - even if the words we use don’t match. So we need to ensure we’re not asking, telling, expecting, demanding something different to what our actions are conveying. Be congruent between both.
After all, our actions will always speak louder than our words.
At Cultivated Management my goal is to help managers be congruent between actions and words - because without this - we’ll never have the trust, support and effectiveness of our team.
And when we are congruent between our words and our actions, we will achieve great things as a team. And have a lot of fun doing it.
Show, don’t tell.
Until next time.
Rob..
FOOD FOR YOUR MANAGEMENT BRAIN
1. Working remote and need a digital whiteboard - I like this one - https://www.invisionapp.com/feature/freehand/
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2. Want some summer reading? Bill Gates’ reading list - https://kottke.org/20/05/bill-gates-pandemic-summer-reading-list
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3. Time boxing is an effective way to get things done in our personal lives - it’s also how I like to organise my professional life. Your calendar needs protecting - some ideas on how to do that here - https://www.nirandfar.com/your-calendar/
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4. Here’s the law explaining why you’re not getting anything done - https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20191107-the-law-that-explains-why-you-cant-get-anything-done
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5. Another cracking podcast from Manager-Tools on dealing with pushback from employees when leading change - https://www.manager-tools.com/2020/05/flavor-month-pushback-part-1#
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6. Be productive by doing less - https://hbr.org/2020/05/want-to-be-more-productive-try-doing-less
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7. How to manage your remote employees based on their personality type - interesting idea, and yes, you do need to “work with” your team differently based on their communication and behaviour preferences. https://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/remote-leadership-skills.html
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8. How will you apply effort and attention - remember, effort and attention gets things done - https://seths.blog/2020/05/applying-effort/
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9. There’s so much wrong with this it’s frightening - monitoring your employees using various techniques. Should we not be asking whether we have the right employees if we need to monitor them when they work remotely? Or have we not set a clear direction and expectations? Or have we not found a way to manage the work - not them? Or do we have a culture that doesn’t support great work? I find it hard to get my head around having to “monitor” employees.. What are your thoughts?
https://hbr.org/2020/05/how-to-monitor-your-employees-while-respecting-their-privacy
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10. Twitter hides tweet from Trump, new legal laws being pushed through…interesting times for the platform - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52846679
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Thanks
Rob..