September 20, 2012 – My blog- K. Hariharan

Nine Ways to Make Top Performers Effective Managers

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by Derek Finkelman and Jonathan Corke

It’s a common scenario: A managerial position becomes available and is filled by a top performer with minimal or no previous management experience. Yet it makes sense. Shouldn’t a top performer be able to easily make the transition to manager? Shouldn’t that person be able to guide others to his or her same level of productivity? The answer is a 100 percent, absolute maybe.

While top performers likely have solid domain skills, coupled with a strong motivation to succeed, there’s a good chance they have not been afforded sufficient opportunity to develop effective management techniques. For some, these skills can be learned on the job. For others, the consequences of a poor managerial fit can be significant in terms of lost productivity and morale for the new manager and his or her direct reports.

Therefore, prior to promoting a top performer with minimal or no managerial experience, assess the candidate’s strengths and forward-looking potential in nine core areas of effective management.

This analysis can ensure consistently smooth management transitions and keep a company operating at peak performance as it identifies whether a top performer is ready to lead now, is better-suited for some limited managerial experiences and additional training, or perhaps has a skill set and disposition that will only thrive in an individual contributor role. Consider: Can the new manager execute these nine core skills?

1. Move from tactical to strategic.

Is the employee ready to let go of his or her day-to-day responsibilities and play a more conceptual or strategic role? Some managers believe they need to understand every last detail of what their employees are working on.

Commonly referred to as “micro-managing,” this type of behavior can make otherwise content employees burn out and leave a company. For a top performer who excels at the tactical level, managing others to achieve the same level of success may not seem as fulfilling.

Is the employee prepared for this potential shock? Many top performers are capable of the transition from tactical to strategic thinking, provided they have access to the right resources, such as a mentor or applicable management training courses.

2. Defend the team.

Is the employee ready to defend his or her new direct reports and support them in public? Is the employee ready to be a leader? Leaders absorb rather than deflect criticism. Leaders push praise downward to their employees and proactively look for ways to portray their direct reports in a positive light.

In short, leaders have a deep understanding of the phrase, “praise in public, condemn in private.” Lots of top performers have healthy, competitive egos. Don’t assume that deflecting praise and supporting direct reports is a natural instinct for new managers.

3. Build trusting relationships.

Can the employee develop a strong, trusting relationship that engenders compassion and prudent responses to change? As a cautionary tale, “Jerry” really enjoyed working for a manager until the reasons behind some recent absences came into question.

Jerry’s son was in and out of the hospital, and thus, he needed to unexpectedly miss some work during a two-week period. Rather than show compassion and understanding, Jerry’s manager accused him of interviewing. The manager’s paranoia quickly became a self-fulfilling prophecy, as Jerry decided it wasn’t worth working for someone who so quickly questioned his integrity. Jerry’s example illustrates the risk associated with promoting a top performer before understanding his or her ability to trust and respect others.

4. Delegate.

Does the employee know how to assign work and shepherd that work through to completion? Consider the following scenario:

Manager: “[Employee], I need you to do X. I need this done because of Y. I’d really like to have this work completed by Z. Do you have any questions? Was this clear?”

Employee: “Got it.”

Manager: “Great. Please let me know if you need any additional help.”

This seems simple. Employees like to understand what work is expected of them, why the work is important, and when the work should be completed. Once the assignment is given, managers can use a variety of actions to stay on top of progress, including daily check-ins, one-on-one meetings and regular staff meetings. This example is deceptively easy; yet, in the frantic pace of business, this type of clear, concise, two-way communication often is lost.

5. Teach and mentor.

In the event that assignments require additional help or instruction, does the top performer embrace the idea of teaching and mentoring? Does he or she have the patience to answer employees’ questions respectfully, in detail, more than once? Managers who return employee questions with an impatient or arrogant tone will eventually find they have fewer questions to answer, as employees will be more reluctant to expose their weaknesses or challenge ideas.

Managers who answer employee questions in an unassuming, non-condescending manner will be able to foster and sustain open communication channels that are vital for employee development and team productivity.

6. Admit mistakes.

Does the employee know how to apologize or acknowledge a mistake? For example, a new manager arrogantly corrects an employee in a cross-functional meeting and subsequently learns the employee’s assertion was accurate. Does the manager have the self-awareness and willingness to admit the mistake not only to the employee but also to the other meeting participants? This is necessary to help restore cross-functional trust in the employee who the manager publicly and erroneously contradicted. These corrective steps will be appreciated by most employees. On the other hand, if the manager doesn’t take these steps, he or she will quickly lose the team’s respect.

7. Leverage others’ strengths.

Is the employee threatened by colleagues who have greater subject matter expertise? For a newly promoted manager, there is an increased likelihood that certain employees will know more about a specific domain. For example, a new vice president of brand marketing may be asked to manage the product marketing group, as well. Is this vice president willing to roll up his or her sleeves and learn about that group on a tactical level?

Rather than hide from knowledge they don’t have, the best managers ask the right questions to understand their employees’ day-to-day responsibilities. By doing so, effective managers can engage subject matter experts to provide a well-articulated recommendation and then implement, adjust or reject that proposal based upon their sense of how it fits into the broader company strategy.

8. Manage each employee.

Can the new manager alter his or her managerial approach by direct report? Does the prospective manager have a one-size-fits-all management style, or does he or she recognize that individuals may need to be managed differently? Employees with young children are likely to request time to attend school events or unexpectedly miss work due to a child’s illness.

Younger, single employees may be hungry to prove themselves by offering to own too much work. Can the potential manager recognize the employees’ motivational differences and alter his or her managerial style accordingly? The best managers hold everyone on the team accountable for expected behaviors and results, while also understanding and capitalizing on the individual motivations of each team member.

9. Take time to manage.

Has the company given the new manager the time needed to actually manage? If a top performer has moved from individual contributor to managing a group of five or seven people, for example, there is undoubtedly a need to scale back on tactical, role-based activities to find the pulse of his or her new team.

A managerial role requires building a rapport, delegating responsibilities and architecting a team’s broader long-term strategy. When promoted, many top performers will initially carve out more work time per day to ambitiously try to handle their legacy tasks and their newly acquired role. This early push is not sustainable. The new manager, and the company, will need to understand and be receptive to the fact that his or her individual responsibilities should now account for no more than 50 percent of work time, and likely much less.

Each of these nine components of effective management requires organization commitment and an adjustment period in order to achieve a smooth transition, best fit and continued productivity for new managers and their employees. However, there often is more accountability for the organization regarding this ninth and final point.

Are top performers expected to manage effectively and maintain their previous workloads? Or are they given the time they need to manage their new direct reports? Providing employees with a manager’s title without supplying enough time for them to actually manage is a fruitless exercise.

The Case for Careful Selection

There are potential consequences of not incorporating these nine dimensions into the managerial selection process. Ineffective managers can alienate other departments, or worse, their employees, which can lead to significantly reduced group productivity and increased attrition. As merit budgets tighten and companies try to do more with less, the cascading effects of a toxic manager pose an even greater threat to organizational success.

Top-performing individuals don’t necessarily become top-performing managers. To succeed, new managers require time, training and guidance. Management consultants may never reach full agreement on the components of effective management, but these nine core skills comprise a practical evaluation of a top performer’s readiness to manage and a company’s readiness to prepare employees for this next step.
—

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16 Habits of Highly creative people

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If they work for them, they can work for you too!

“There is no use trying,” said Alice. “One can’t believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – Lewis Carroll

16-habits-300x228 16 habits of highly creative people

Many people believe that creativity is inborn and only a chosen few are creative. While it is true that creativity is inborn, it is not true that only a chosen few are creative.

Everyone is born creative. In the process of growing up, educating yourself and adapting yourself to your environment, you slowly add blocks to your creativity and forget that you had it in the first place.

The difference between a creative person and a person who is not so creative is not in the creativity that they were born with but in the creativity that they have lost.

How can you enhance your creative ability? One possible way is to observe the habits of creative people, identify the ones that you feel will work for you and then make a plan to cultivate them.

Here are 16 habits of creative people. If you cultivate some of them, you will feel an increase in your level of creativity. In the process, you will also feel tickled by life!

1. Creative people are full of curiosity.

Creative people are wonderstruck. They are tickled by the newness of every moment. They have lots of questions. They keep asking what, why, when, where and how.

A questioning mind is an open mind. It is not a knowing mind. Only an open mind can be creative. A knowing mind can never be creative.

A questioning stance sensitizes the mind in a very special way and it is able to sense what would have been missed otherwise.

2. Creative people are problem-friendly.

When there is a problem, some people can be seen wringing up their hands. Their first reaction is to look for someone to blame. Being faced with a problem becomes a problem. Such people can be called problem-averse.

Creative people, on the other hand, are problem-friendly. They just roll up their sleeves when faced with a problem. They see problems as opportunities to improve the quality of life. Being faced with a problem is never a problem.

You get dirty and take a bath every day. You get tired and relax every day. Similarly, you have problems that need to be solved every day. Life is a fascinating rhythm of problems and solutions.

To be problem-averse is to be life-averse. To be problem-friendly is to be life-friendly. Problems come into your life to convey some message. If you run away from them, you miss the message.

3. Creative people value their ideas.

Creative people realize the value of an idea. They do not take any chance with something so important. They carry a small notepad to note down ideas whenever they occur. (I usually type it in my mobile/laptop whichever available.)

Many times, just because they have a notepad and are looking for ideas to jot down, they can spot ideas which they would have otherwise missed.

4. Creative people embrace challenges.

Creative people thrive on challenges. They have a gleam in their eyes as soon as they sniff one. Challenges bring the best out of them – reason enough to welcome them.

5. Creative people are full of enthusiasm.

Creative people are enthusiastic about their goals. This enthusiasm works as fuel for their journey, propelling them to their goals.

6. Creative people are persistent.

Creative people know it well that people may initially respond to their new ideas like the immune system responds to a virus. They’ll try to reject the idea in a number of ways.

Creative people are not surprised or frustrated because of this. Nor do they take it personally. They understand it takes time for a new idea to be accepted. In fact, the more creative the idea, the longer it takes for it to be appreciated.

7. Creative people are perennially dissatisfied.

Creative people are acutely aware of their dissatisfactions and unfulfilled desires. However, this awareness does not frustrate them. As a matter of fact, they use this awareness as a stimulus to realize their dreams.

8. Creative people are optimists.

Creative people generally have a deeply held belief that most, if not all, problems can be solved. No challenge is too big to be overcome.

This doesn’t mean they are always happy and never depressed. They do have their bad moments but they don’t generally get stumped by a challenge.

9. Creative people make positive Judgment.

A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn. It can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a right man’s brow – a businessman Charles Brower

The ability to hold off on judging or critiquing an idea is important in the process of creativity. Often great ideas start as crazy ones – if critique is applied too early the idea will be killed and never developed into something useful and useable.

This doesn’t mean there is no room for critique or judgment in the creative process but there is a time and place for it and creative people recognize that.

10. Creative people go for the big kill.

Creative people realize that the first idea is just the starting point. It is in the process of fleshing it out that some magical cross-connections happen and the original ‘normal’ idea turns into a killer idea.

11. Creative people are prepared to stick it out.

Creative people who actually see their ideas come to fruition have the ability to stick with their ideas and see them through – even when the going gets tough. This is what sets them apart from others. Stick-ability is the key.

12. Creative people do not fall in love with an idea.

Creative people recognize how dangerous it is to fall in love with an idea. Falling in love with an idea means stopping more ideas from coming to their mind. They love the process of coming up with ideas, not necessarily the idea.

13. Creative people recognize the environment in which they are most creative.

Creative people do most of their thinking in an environment which is most conducive to their creativity. If they are unable to influence their physical environment, they recreate their ‘favourite’ creative environment in their minds.

14. Creative people are good at reframing any situation.

Reframes are a different way of looking at things. Being able to reframe experiences and situations is a very powerful skill.

Reframing allows you to look at a situation from a different angle. It is like another camera angle in a football match. And a different view has the power to change your entire perception of the situation.

Reframing can breathe new life into dead situations. It can motivate demoralized teams. It helps you to spot opportunities that you would have otherwise missed.

15. Creative people are friends with the unexpected.

Creative people have the knack of expecting the unexpected and finding connections between unrelated things. It is this special quality of mind that evokes serendipitous events in their lives.

Having honed the art of making happy discoveries, they are able to evoke serendipity more often than others.

16. Creative people are not afraid of failures.

Creative people realize that the energy that creates great ideas also creates errors. They know that failure is not really the opposite of success.

In fact, both failure and success are on the same side of the spectrum because both are the result of an attempt made. Creative people look at failure as a stopover on way to success, just a step away from it.

Shalu Wasu is a Singapore based trainer and consultant. Among other things, he conducts open programs on Creativity and Innovation and Blogging for Business at NUS extension. Visit http://www.lifeahoy.sg to find out more about the programs and the next available dates.

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Nine Ways to Make Top Performers Effective Managers

Therefore, prior to promoting a top performer with minimal or no managerial experience, assess the candidate’s strengths and forward-looking potential in nine core areas of effective management.

1. Move from tactical to strategic.

2. Defend the team.

3. Build trusting relationships.

4. Delegate.

Does the employee know how to assign work and shepherd that work through to completion? Consider the following scenario:

Manager: “[Employee], I need you to do X. I need this done because of Y. I’d really like to have this work completed by Z. Do you have any questions? Was this clear?”

Employee: “Got it.”

Manager: “Great. Please let me know if you need any additional help.”

5. Teach and mentor.

6. Admit mistakes.

7. Leverage others’ strengths.

8. Manage each employee.

9. Take time to manage.

The Case for Careful Selection

Family relations- understanding

if a man does not understand how a woman is different, he can make things worse when he is trying to help. Men need to remember that women talk about problems to get close and not necessarily to get solutions.

So many times a woman just wants to share her feelings about her day, and her husband, thinking he is helping, interrupts her by offering a steady flow of solutions to her problems. He has no idea why she isn’t pleased.

DAY-1

For example, Mary comes home from an exhausting day. She wants and needs to share her feelings about the day.

She says, “There is so much to do; I don’t have any time for myself.”

Tom says, “You should quit that job. You don’t have to work so hard. Find something you like to do.”

Mary says, “But I like my job. They just expect me to change everything at a moment’s notice.”

Tom says, “Don’t listen to them. just do what you can do.”

Mary says, “I am! I can’t believe I completely forgot to call my aunt today.”

Tom says, “Don’t worry about it, she’ll understand.”

Mary says, “Do you know what she is going through? She needs me.”

Tom says, “You worry too much, that’s why you’re so unhappy.”

Mary angrily says, “I am not always unhappy. Can’t you just listen to me?”

Tom says, “I am listening.”

Mary says, “Why do I even bother?”

After this conversation, Mary was more frustrated than when she arrived home seeking intimacy and companionship. Tom was also frustrated and had no idea what went wrong. He wanted to help, but his problem solving tactics didn’t work.

Without knowing about life on Venus, Tom didn’t understand how important it was just to listen without offering solutions. His solutions only made things worse. You see, Venusian never offer solutions when someone is talking. A way of honoring another Venusian is to listen patiently with empathy, seeking truly to understand the other’s feelings.

Tom had no idea that just listening with empathy to Mary express her feelings would bring her tremendous relief and fulfillment. When Tom heard about the Venusian and how much they needed to talk, he gradually learned how to listen.

DAY-2

When Mary now comes home tired and exhausted their conversations are quite different. They sound like this:

Mary says, “There is so much to do. I have no time for me.”

Tom takes a deep breath, relaxes on the exhale, and says, “Humph, sounds like you had a hard day.”

Mary says, “They expect me to change everything at a moment’s notice. I don’t know what to do.”

Tom pauses and then says, ” “Hmmm.”

Mary says, “I even forgot to call my aunt.”

Tom says with a slightly wrinkled brow, “Oh, no.”

Mary says, “She needs me so much right now. I feel so bad.”

Tom says, “You are such a loving person. Come here, let me give you a hug.”

Tom gives Mary a hug and she relaxes in his arms with a big sigh of relief. She then says, “I love talking with you. You make me really happy. Thanks for listening. I feel much better.”

Not only Mary but also Tom felt better. He was amazed at how much happier his wife was when he finally learned to listen. With this new awareness of their differences, Tom learned the wisdom of listening without offering solutions while Mary learned the wisdom of letting go and accepting without offering unsolicited advice or criticism.