Tag: professional development

7 Things Your Manager Wants You To Know

Corporate maze 

I spoke with a friend yesterday about the role of her manager in her job.  He's an advocate for her and a buffer.  The buffer part was what struck me.  He's a buffer between my friend and senior management.  Sadly, senior management in this organization is living in an alternative reality, so they need someone who is deft at translating this reality into real world application.  This happens a lot in the corporate world.

This post is not a defense of the middle-manager, nor is it a rant about how bad they sometimes can be.  In the spirit of balance I want you to consider 7 things your manager wants you to know:

  1. Your manager is afraid.  In many ways this makes them like everybody else, with one huge exception.  Your manager has power and influence over the work of human beings.
  2. Your manager thought they wanted the job when it was offered.  Many managers are conflicted.  The organization dressed everything up well, put on the nicest face, but decided to let themselves go after the honeymoon.  Now your manager sees themselves as stuck.
  3. Your manager wants to do the right thing.  She realizes she can't please everyone.  She knows that making a decsion swiftly and resolutely is sometimes needed, even if you don't see it or understand it.
  4. Your manager wants ongoing learning and growth.  But it's very difficult when profit tries to push an unseen opportunity out the door.  Or worse, the organization doesn't care about learning and growth.
  5. Your manager has been a bully all their life and has no intention of stopping.  Unless, of course, someone decides to push back.  He believes the organization is weak for not putting a halt to his behavior.
  6. Your manager is intimidated by people who are smarter and wiser.  They see vulnerability (being ok with not being the crown jewel in the room) as something to be avoided.
  7. Your manager feels like their life is ebbing away.  The other parts of life are demanding much from her, just like the organization.  In many ways she wonders where is the life she dreamed of.

The Authentic Self and Why It Matters

A re-post from last year:

Any number of us have attended conferences, embarked on new programs for growth or decided to change something for the better.  On the face of things, all of those choices are good.  But your authentic self is where it all begins.  If you fail to address authenticity, you run a great risk.  No program, plan or event can help you until the authentic is addressed.

Are you still playing someone else's role?

I fully understand the trepidation involved in addressing who you really are (the authentic self).  It conjures up the idea of no secrets, vulnerability and most of all honesty.  This can be daunting and some just run from the proposition of "going there."  But never forget that who you really are is the safest place you could ever be.  I write this from experience.

Here are some things to consider as you turn to who you really are:

  • If you've been in the habit of lying to your self, make a decision to stop.  Self-honesty is essential in finding the authentic self.
  • Are your friends situational?  Sever the ties.  Situational friends need sunny days, material success and the like to stick with you.
  • Join my tribe at Epic Living (located on Facebook).
  • Read Simon Sinek's book, Start with Why.
  • Have or create a short list of what makes you come alive.

The Box

Box

You've heard it a million times; "think outside of the box."  Maybe more would do that if the people asking were not invested in the box industry.  I used to be more tolerant of the think outside the box admonition.  But I've moved to a place where I stop the train if someone tries to put me in a "box" or any other confined category.

I spent a good deal of time in the banking world before moving onto my mission at Epic Living.  I was successful in many eyes. And to this day, I still have people who think my life then was nirvana or even better, I should go back to it because I was so good at it.  When I tell them how much I loathed it, the inevitable furrowed brow appears. 

I no longer take it personally.

The biggest reason people want you in a certain box has very little to do with you.  It really is about them.  It's much easier to keep order and predictability when a friend or colleague stays the way they're perceived.  When someone makes a move outside that zone it produces anxiety, fear and even loathing.  Call it a move to protect what they perceive as safe and secure.

The Role of Power and Greed

Corporate maze

I don't desire the end of Wall Street or capitalism in general.  The protests happening in NYC got me thinking.  I heard an interview last evening with a successful wealth creator, who discussed the the difference between an entrepreneur and an opportunist (gambler in many respects).  If I may paraphrase, he said that entrepreneurs create something and thereby create wealth for many.  The opportunists primarily seek to enrich themselves or a few only.

I don't want to overstate my opinion on the impact of power and greed, but those two cousins have often been left unchecked in our world today.  I'm not talking about passing a law to stop them.  But I would like to see the culture of our businesses and the schools address power and greed for what they are.  More progress would come if we stopped ignoring it. 

Many an organization (profit and non-profit) have entered into something with good intentions, only to find themselves the slave to a hideous master.  Namely, power and greed.  Never forget that power and greed are living, breathing things.  They have a desire to rule you and the culture (work, politics, etc.).  The question is whether you will let it and what will you do to control it.

Has anyone in your organization ever sat down with you and discussed how to handle power and greed, before there was a problem?  I often wonder that about Wall Street and those who lead there.  If you're a part of most organizations the answer is no.  I think its important enough to evaluate and discuss, considering how impactful it is on other human beings.

Human Beings Being Human

To understand the human psyche is a gift.  To understand it because you've lived it is matchless.

Why do people continue a pattern that they know in the end will lead to undoing?  Fear and a warped view of the world in which they live, I would say, are at the top of the list.  To face these two demons is very daunting for most.

If you're in the world of growing something, if you have a calling, if you are moved to make change, then you need to realize that often the choices people make are based on human beings being human.

How Management Could Improve Organizational Well-Being

Da Vinci Whole 
As we at Epic Living do more work in the well-being arena, it's important to set the table around the importance of management's role in making well-being a reality.  I won't spend a ton of time explaining the need for managers to understand when to put the leadership hat on.  You can look at this post I wrote a few years ago to get my thoughts on that.  The reality is most managers have abdicated well-being to HR and the company's benefit offerings.  As well-intentioned as that may be, it leaves much to be desired in practical application.

Management is looked to for direction and pace (how fast or slow should we be moving).  That implies a great deal of influence over a number of people.  As I'm sure you're getting by now, management is more than checking off tasks on a list.  One area of huge importance is the well-being of the employees.  For example, how well do your people handle stress?  And how is that stress impacting the customer?

Let me be clear, it's not the responsibility of a manager to make sure their employees are managing stress well or that employees manage their lives well for that matter.  But they can play a part in influencing a balanced approach to well-being.  You may wonder why the manager should care?  It's pretty simple, those that manage their lives well will always outperform those that don't.  So, the manager should be a champion/cheerleader of well-being in their organization.  A true win-win proposition for the organization and the employees.

The following are some recommendations for management around encouraging an environment of well-being:

  1. Do engage with employees in a way that allows them to manage their well-being in their own way.  Management should not dictate and take a "take it or leave it" approach.
  2. Do consider the "whole" life and not just those that allow management to stay in an imaginary comfort zone.
  3. Do learn how to manage people from a perspective of diversity.
  4. Do focus on making your engagement about the employee and not about what you'll get by offering the resource(s).
  5. Do be committed to well-being as a long-term process and not a one-time event.