Squandering Human Potential
And why managers need to listen and build solid work relationships
Hey,
I hope you are doing safe and well and having a great week. It's Wednesday today, and as you read this I will be getting ready to drive to Cornwall for my first presentation in a while. I'm excited about it. I may even record a new YouTube video whilst I'm at it.
In this newsletter:
Solo creative waffle
Article - Managers are squandering human potential
Interesting Links
I have finished all of the posters for Take A Day Off and am busy creating a "magazine" as the physical vehicle for this work.
I have created two posters: a general poster for each chapter; and something I am calling an "urban poster" - in other words, a photo of mine with the chapter title somewhere in the image - kind of like digital graffiti. I've had a lot of joy making these posters.
The "magazine" will only have the first poster and text, but my social feeds will include both posters. I plan on sharing them in June, daily over on Instagram - and then a weekly LinkedIn post with them as a carousel image post.
I'm avoiding LI as much as possible as I come away mightily depressed after using it, a combination of the humble brag and the lack of anything useful to read, at least in my feed.
I have a giant list of things to produce and create, my body of work so to speak, and I realised the other day that each of them needs to also support my goals of creating (and learning how to create) in different mediums. At first, they were all pretty much listed as books, but I now know that each piece of work, needs/fits a different medium: posters; videos; audio; newspaper; photobook; zine; cassette tapes (yep - that one is experimental).
I am still recording the next season of the podcast and also working on a new project called "Meeting notes". I'm very excited about both. Meeting notes especially! More in future newsletters.
Don't forget - I plan on doing a seminar at some point later this year - let me know what you'd like me to speak about by hitting reply to this email!
The following article was one I dropped from Take A Day Off. I dropped it because it was quite critical and scathing of management. TADO was originally for managers but I figured many of the chapters had a wider appeal.
The lack of effective management squanders human potential but it also blocks agility from being released - and as such, I find it relatively easy to fix in an organisation....if.....there are managers willing to change. And that's not always the case.
I always say that agility and culture belong to management - and I believe that. Therefore, good managers can enrich the lives of everyone in their teams, or they can make it a nightmare for many at work - and every shade in between.
Managers are squandering human potential
As a consultant, my day to day activity is naturally spent with leaders and managers - and throughout the last 8 years of consulting, it's clear that many managers squander what they have right in front of them - human potential.
The good thing about becoming a manager is that there is plenty of room at the top of this career choice. That sounds awful, but many people become managers for the ranks and perks (office, role power, salary). Or, because of the inevitable "narrow" career ladder that exists in most businesses - i.e. to move to a higher pay grade the only available option is to become a manager.
I'm an advocate of creating technical or specialist career ladders to allow people to stick to their specialisms and keep earning higher salaries with more responsibility. This also stops people becoming managers if it's not their forte. The "Peter Principle" is real - as in, people rise to their respective incompetence.
The business world is awash with managers who don’t see (or want to see, or have simply not been trained to see) the very real and special talent right under their noses - the people.
Many managers don't get trained on becoming a manager - and they often manage in a way their manager managed - which may be hit and miss.
And many managers believe that they need to "manage" people. Managers manage work, budgets, systems and resources - but they work with people. There is a big difference.
And so, some managers simply squander the human potential in front of them. They treat those under their supervision as "resources" to be squeezed and deployed, like a line item on a spreadsheet (and I have worked with someone who did just that), rather than people to be nurtured.
In every business, it's the employees and people in teams who get work done.
If it was possible to scale and grow a business without employing people, then we would. People are the engine of the success of a business - and employees (and of course, that includes managers and leaders!) have talents to offer, interests in things outside of work, good will to offer up and a desire to do good work.
Tapping into this latent talent requires managers to listen, to build strong working relationships and to give people a platform to explore their interests and talents related to the work.
We are all multi-dimensional and have a lot more to bring to a company than what may be defined in a job role. Idea 9 from Thrive in your career is all about stepping outside of our job role. To do this though, we often need the support and help of managers who appreciate everyone has more to them than what is defined in a job role.
Many managers squander people's potential and treat like them like a “resource”. Many managers and leaders waste human capital. They destroy initiative and creativity. They stop listening, or maybe they didn’t even listen in the first place.
Right within a team is the creativity and initiative to solve pretty much every problem you have in a business. Under the noses of managers are people with far more to offer than any job description or role profile could ever capture. Talented people are everywhere; but many of them have given up trying to change the business for the better.
One aspect of my work as a consultant (and my time as a leader and manager) is finding people who are already solving the problems in the business (there are always people trying to make the business better) and simply supporting them, giving them a platform, connecting them with others, opening doors, breaking down silos.
Management is a human activity. Business is a human activity too. Management is not about trying to change people to fit a standard. It’s about getting to know who they are and appreciating everything about them, even their flaws. Sure, some flaws need addressing, some need nudging, some need improvement, but try not to lose the diversity, brain power and good will within your team in a futile journey to make everyone fit a “high performer” job profile. And my word, what a terrible place it would be if everyone was exploding with overconfidence, sticking within their defined job role and leaving their passions, interests, skills and creativity at the door to the workplace.
Good managers unleash the potential within their people. Bad managers squander it, then blame others for not delivering on their commitments.
Every person in the business has more to bring to their work (not in time and hard work) but in skills, experiences and interests.
Some people may want to bring that in, others may not, but unless we take time to listen and build relationships, we'll never really know. Go forth and see people as the engine of success - and support them if they have skills, abilities and interests that they can bring to their work. They'll grow, they'll thrive and the business will get better at dealing with the variety of challenges all businesses face. And of course, they’ll remember you as the manager who saw them as more than a job role…and that’s a nice warm fuzzy feeling to have as a manager.
Interesting Links
I do find it interesting how leaders can do 360 degree change in their views on things (for a variety of reasons….and money, pride, enlightenment may be part of it), or maybe they held lose views in the first place, strongly communicated. In this piece, Linda Yaccarino, the new CEO of Twitter, who was once a vocal rejector of social media for advertisers, is now going to be wooing advertisers to Twitter - a 360 switch and one that intrigues me.
“I’d say it’s worth thinking as much about your company culture as you do about your work.” - Aries Moross - yes indeed.
With AI taking over most news feeds, it’s important to gain a perspective on the rhetoric - and Cal Newport delivers.
Until next time
Rob..