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“Creating Successful Leaders”

Category Archives: Communication

May 8, 2013 Are Middle Managers Still Relevant?

Researcher Behnam Tabrizi recently conducted a study to examine whether middle managers are still relevant in a world where executives have direct access to the front lines of their businesses. The results of the study showed that not only are middle managers still important, but the successful ones had a direct hand in the success of their company.

Based on the results, Tabrizi crafted three “rules” for being a successful middle manager:

Alignment

Successful middle managers were able to see how their own personal aspirations lined up with the greater aim of the company. This notion of alignment is similar to ideas I shared in a previous post. Accommodating someone’s personal goals does more than simply make them feel good about their job; research continues to show that it has a direct, positive impact on the company.

Authorship

Successful businesses gave middle managers the power to initiate projects. According to Tabrizi, “organizations create cross-functional teams of MLMs, who author change and innovation plans that turn executives’ visions into concrete steps.” Putting the power of the initiative into the hands of middle managers provides them a sense of ownership and commitment to success.

Action

Because middle managers in Tabrizi’s study were authoring initiatives, he stresses that they must be responsible for the enactment of their plans. They are the foot soldiers who must work through obstacles on a daily basis. It’s not always a glamorous job, but they’ll be motivated by the fact that they authored the initiative, not some out-of-touch executive.

This study puts the scientific stamp of approval on the things we already knew: that managers who didn’t share the common aspirations of their company don’t make good managers; that the company must place trust in their managers to come up with initiatives of their own; and that managers who work through enacting their own initiatives do much better than when they are handed an initiative from above.

Here’s a link to Tabrizi’s article.

Eager to learn more?  Read my post about authentic leadership HERE.

Happy managing!

Tabrizi, Behnam. “New Research: What Sets Effective Middle Managers Apart.” Harvard Business Review, May 8, 2013.

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/05/reinventing_middle_management.html

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May 1, 2013 Telling A Story With Your Presentation

Exciting new technologies are now available which turn a droll presentation into something truly captivating. Let’s face it: Power Point has been with us since Pagers. It’s probably fair to say that sitting through meetings full of pie charts, bar graphs and poorly-cropped clip art is getting kind of old.

Great Presentations Tell A Story

Data is vitally important to business. We all know it, but it’s tough to get interested in plain old numbers. To understand data, we need to apply it, put it in terms that make sense. A good presentation therefore rests upon your ability to explain the hows and whys of the data you’re sharing.

New interactive applications allow for you to do this in a manner that tells the story behind the data, gives it context, and clearly shows how it relates to each and every member of the team.

Prezi is a website which provides interactive templates that lead the viewer through a story. Here’s an example:

Their basic templates and services are free, and you can upgrade to even more extravagant applications with a fee. Here’s their website: http://prezi.com/

But remember, tools like Prezi are only as good as you make them. There’s quite a bit of potential in interactive presentations, but with said potential is also the risk of going overboard. Here are three tips to keep in mind when drafting your presentation.

Use Less Than You Think

Less motion, fewer pictures, fewer flashy effects. You want to keep your viewers tuned in the entire time, and overstimulating them will turn them off to your message. The effect of any attention-grabbing techniques should always be intentional, which leads me to point two…

Highlight The Data With Attention-grabbers

Bring attention to the data you’re presenting with motion, images and other dynamic visual techniques. Do this intentionally and sparingly to highten the overall impact of the data. Finally…

Keep The Story In The Viewer’s Mind Throughout

Weave the data into a larger narrative. Lead the viewer from one point of data to the next in logical, incremental steps. Wrap the presentation up with a larger application of said data and your own conclusions. Perhaps open it up for discussion so others have a chance to verbalize their thoughts. I make these suggestions–keeping the data within a narrative, applying it, and relinquishing the floor–for one simple reason: doing these things will help the audience remember your presentation long after you’ve finished. This is the goal of any presentation. You want to make an impact on your audience past the 20 minutes or so of the time they give you. 

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April 17, 2013 Is It The Job, Or Your Attitude?

We spend at least 40 hours a week at our job. That’s almost one third of our waking lives. So we better darn well get satisfaction from all that time and effort.

To recap on last week, Cal Newport’s book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You highlights three components that result in job satisfaction:

Autonomy – feeling like you have some control of your job, and that your actions make a difference

Competence – knowing that you are good at what you do

Relatedness – being able to connect with your coworkers

Newport contrasts these “ingredients,” as he calls them, with the pervasive belief that passions lead to success. Instead of following your passions, Newport argues that becoming very good at what you do, and knowing that it makes a difference, transforms a droll job into a rewarding career.

But let’s narrow the focus today to you and your job. Do you feel you have control of your own work? Does it make a difference? Are you valued? And can you relate with your coworkers?

Answering these honestly will give you a clue as to why you may feel dissatisfied with your work.

From here, the first thing to do is to take ownership of your skills. You can blame your job and your circumstances all you like, and you may have good reasons to do so. But this won’t change a thing. Become determined, if only for your own satisfaction, to master the skills needed to excel in your field.

There is no excuse not to work toward mastery, because no one has ever mastered anything completely. Take Jiro Ono, for instance. Widely considered the best sushi chef in the world, 85 year old Ono tirelessly pursues perfection in his craft, as depicted in the award-winning documentary, “Jiro Dreams Of Sushi.” His age and position in the culinary world don’t deter him from chasing after perfection.

So, you can always get better. While at work, take a personal inventory of areas in which you need to improve, and occupy your day with trying to master the skills your job requires. You feel better when you know that your work is valued and desired. Aim to be sought after.

Second, look at your past to boost your confidence about your present situation. Leadership coaches Amy Jen Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins write: “To strengthen your confidence, first face the facts. When you look to your past, you’ll realize that successes often outweigh failures. And more importantly, that you survived through the failures and gleaned priceless lessons along the way.”

Looking back puts things in perspective. You may just realize that although your present job may not be ideal (and no job is), you have it now because of your accomplishments, qualifications and perseverance leading up to where you are now. This should give you some confidence and reassurance of your decisions.

References

Newport, Cal. So Good They Can’t Ignore You. New York: Hachette Book Group, 2012.

Su, Amy Jen, and Muriel Maignan Wilkins. “To Strengthen Your Confidence, Look to Your Past.” Harvard Business Review, April 11, 2013. Accessed April 17, 2013. http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/04/to_strengthen_your_confidence.html

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