The Manager - Edition 92 - Goldfish and Trees
THE MANAGER - BY ROB LAMBERT
Hi,
I hope you are doing well and staying safe.
This week I've been taking the time to really focus on what I'm good at, and what I'm terrible at.
I've started removing from my life as many things as I can, that aren't in line with where my business needs to go and what I'm good at. That may be outsourcing various pieces of work, dropping entire projects and tightening up my business offerings.
In doing so I was reminded of a famous Einstein quote:
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
I see this in the workplace too often; managers and leaders never really taking the time to get to know their people, and instead simply diverting "resource" to whatever work comes up. It's a fools game.
By not studying the work and knowing their people, they are unlikely to get the problem solved smoothly and quickly, but they are potentially putting people in to work situations that simply aren't in line with their strengths. Even worse, they can take people many miles from developing experience that they want for their careers and what the business actually needs from them.
That doesn't mean people can't learn, far from it, but it may not be something they want to learn, or need to learn, or can realistically learn to do the job well.
I'll give you two concrete examples:
In a tech company I worked with, the founders (coders) believed that every problem could be solved by code. Therefore, every person in the company was "asked" to learn to code. Every person. There were people in sales, marketing, admin, finance....all trying to learn code. Some got it, some enjoyed it, most didn't. Whilst they were learning to code, they weren't learning to do the core aspects of their job properly. People were leaving, work wasn't getting done and non-tech problems were, ironically, not being solved.
In another telco company they "forced" good project managers to become scrum masters - assuming, I suppose, that they were indeed the same jobs that needed the same skills. They aren't. They don't. So there were skilled and efficient project managers forced into work situations that they neither wanted to do, needed to do (as they still needed project managers) nor, for most of them, had the aptitude to do. Projects slipped, agile teams weren't agile (surprise) and people were miserable.
This is a major problem for most organisations and one I would encourage you to avoid doing. Instead, take the time to understand your people - what they are good at and what they enjoy, and more importantly, what they want from their careers - and align them as best you can around the work and problems you have.
When I see managers do this they see great gains. Problems are solved with enthusiasm, by people who have the right strengths to solve them - customers and business wins. But most importantly, the people themselves win. They are aligning what they are good at, with what they want to achieve in their careers - around work that needs to be done.
And I suppose the most important questions to leave you with, are these:
Are you doing the wrong work?
Are you trying to climb a tree when you should be swimming in water?
Are you using your strengths and developing the right behaviours for what YOU want from your career?
Are you working on work that inspires you, in a job that develops you, on work that adds value to people?
If yes, keep going.
If not, how are you planning to change it?
And if you need some help then check out the Trinity of Career Development blog and video. It's how I shifted from climbing a tree to swimming where I belonged.
Until next time.
Rob..
FOOD FOR YOUR MANAGEMENT BRAIN
1. Last week I did a video about balancing cash with other benefits when hiring. This week's video goes live tomorrow and it's all about note-taking like a pro!
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2. In our post COVID world of work - the manager is the weakest link. Let's face it, managers are always the weakest link. https://paulitaylor.com/2020/05/27/in-a-post-covid-world-the-manager-is-the-weak-link/
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3. Has our current challenge of Corona Virus changed you? The authors of this article reckon it has - and not all for the worst. https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/6/9/21279258/coronavirus-pandemic-new-quarantine-habits
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4. Long but important read about how the Tech Giants are grabbing at solutions to our current world - and it's not alway just for altruist reasons.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/07/big-tech-pandemic-power-grab/612238/
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5. Nice way of putting it - the experience your customers have is in the hands of the person you pay the least. Management economics. https://seths.blog/2020/06/krulaks-law/
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6. More information can often lead to more uncertainty. For managers, your job is to filter the information and make it relevant for your team. https://hbr.org/2020/06/when-more-information-leads-to-more-uncertainty
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7. Four leadership skills we need the most right now. I think this is too simple, there are way more than 4 - and of course, we should be talking about behaviours - not skills, but great starter. https://www.shanesnow.com/teamwork/leadership
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8. I journal. Well, I try to everyday, but it doesn't always work out that way. Here's an article with some thoughts on why it's important to journal during our current COVID world. https://time.com/5824341/wwii-diaries-coronavirus/
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9. Five Tips for dealing with routines to help build mental health. Important read for anyone struggling with their mental health right now. https://girlsnightinclub.com/posts/how-do-i-deal-5-tips-for-building-routines-to-proactively-help-your-mental-health/
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10. Walk. Walk. Walk. https://www.outsideonline.com/2414207/walking-popularity-comeback-coronavirus
Thanks for reading this week's edition of The Manager.
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Thanks
Rob..