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Shorts: Doing Your Best Work	ACor-@aol.com
	Nov 18, 2003 08:41 PST

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Welcome to the November 2003 issue of Management Shorts
Written by Andrea Corney (ACor-@acorn-od.com)
Published by Acorn Consulting (www.acorn-od.com)
Back Issues available at http://www.topica.com/lists/shorts/read

***********************************

IN THIS ISSUE
I. INTRO: Doing Your Best Work
II. MANAGEMENT SHORT: Key Factors
III. GETTING STARTED: What You Can Do
IV. FINAL THOUGHTS: Caveat and Credit

**********
I. INTRO: Doing Your Best Work

What allows you to do your best work? Is it pure chance or can the
circumstances be replicated? I recently attended a Stanford Business School
Executive Program where a lively discussion among a group of senior executives
produced some surprising answers.

Use a Real Experience
This issue of Management Shorts will be most valuable to you if you take a
few moments right now to think of a time in your professional life when you were
doing really great work - stretching yourself, using all of your
capabilities, and producing results.

Don't keep reading. Stop and really picture it. Remember the details.
What was the situation? What did you do? What did others do? What did it
feel like?

Grab a colleague and tell him or her the story. Ask them to share a story
as well. Get into that place where you both feel really great - you can do
anything you set your mind to.

Have you done it?

Okay, now you can read on.

**********
II. MANAGEMENT SHORT: Key Factors

It should be obvious that I don't think doing your best work is an accident.
Stories from high performers usually include the following factors:

A. They were working on an important, crucial task - something that would
make a difference in the business
B. They had very clear objectives (although the pathway to those objectives
was ambiguous)
C. They were given autonomy to do the task
D. They felt personally accountable for the task
E. In most cases they worked with a strong team

What is most striking to me is that in most stories there is little or no
mention of the boss. Where was he or she? What role did they play in making
great performance possible?

Lets start with looking at a spectrum of boss behavior:

1. No Boss (in fact or in practice)
2. Benign Neglect (available for help if called on)
3. Hands-Off Coach (periodically offers input)
4. Peer (working along side you on the task)
5. Traditional Manager (plans, coordinates and reviews on a regular basis
and makes major decisions)
6. Control Freak

In most stories the boss fits into one of the first 2 categories. Does this
match your experience? Is it a surprise? Are you surprised that autonomy
is motivating for capable people? (You are capable, right?)

Okay, by now it should be dawning on you that this article is not about how
you can be a high performer. Its about the role you play as a boss in setting
the right conditions for your direct reports to be high performers. As a
manager your most important job is to hire good people and then support them so
they can be effective and productive. (Remember the "Theory Z" philosophy of
management?)

Lets talk about what you can do to support high performance in your group.

**********
III. GETTING STARTED: What You Can Do

What the Boss Can Do . . .
Providing more autonomy is not about complete abdication. There is much
that the boss can do that can be supportive without exerting the kind of control
that kills motivation, such as:

* Provide "air cover"
* Remove obstacles
* Give access to decision makers
* Push the employee with good questions
* Give credit outside the project
* Get resources
* Encourage
* Communicate confidence in employee's capabilities
* Give visibility in the organization
* Give autonomy to carry things out

So, there is plenty for you to do. No need to worry that you'll be seen as
irrelevant.

. . . And Why the Boss Doesn't Do It
When I did this exercise with a client his response was, "Well, I'm a
hands-off type of boss . . . except when I'm not." Hmmm.

Well, sure, this isn't about abdication and there is a role for the
traditional manager. Certainly for inexperienced employees a more active approach
makes sense. But too often that is an excuse.

As my client and I talked through the situations in which he felt the need to
exert more control, we found that the reason was rarely an inexperienced or
incompetent employee. In some cases we found that he needed to be clearer
about the high level goal as well as the parameters (success criteria, budget,
time frame, etc.) for achieving that goal.

In one case he had an employee who was clearly capable and hard working, but
was also doing things that made the boss feel somehow uneasy - uneasy enough
to step in and manage every step of the way. He realized that he needed to
have a direct conversation with the employee about the cause of his unease and
try to negotiate some reciprocal changes in behavior. For more on "The Case
of the Micro-Managing Boss" see my "Deadly Dynamics" newsletter at:
<A HREF="http://www.topica.com/lists/shorts/read/message.html?mid=1604072719&sort=d&start=0">www.topica.com/lists/shorts/read/message.html?mid=1604072719&sort=d&start=0</A>

Are you willing to have a conversation with your direct reports about the
dynamics that make it hard to give them appropriate autonomy?

**********
IV. FINAL THOUGHTS: Caveat and Credit

Caveat
I know you are just dying to forward this e-mail to your boss. Perhaps with
a wink ;-) or even a "See! I told you that you were managing me all
wrong!". Don't give in to that urge. Start at home.

Send it to your direct reports instead and suggest a conversation about what
you could do to better support them in doing great work -- as well as what you
might need from them to feel comfortable in stepping back a bit.

Credit
Thanks to Professor David Bradford for this exercise and the opportunity to
listen in on his Executive Education program on Leadership. Information on
this program is available at:
<A HREF="http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/exed/lead/">www.gsb.stanford.edu/exed/lead/ </A>


**********

While you're thinking about it, send a quick e-mail to say "thank you" to the
boss who supported you in doing your best work. Your boss showed true
leadership by creating a space for you to shine and will appreciate knowing that you
noticed.

Warm regards,
Andrea

**********
About Management Shorts
**********
Management Shorts is a free newsletter for senior managers on strategic
planning, leadership, management and teamwork - the key leverage points for getting
traction on your critical issues.
Copyright 2003, Acorn Consulting

Feel free to forward this newsletter to friends and colleagues. You may
reprint this newsletter in whole or quote with attribution to Andrea Corney and
Acorn Consulting.

Back issues are available at http://www.topica.com/lists/shorts/read

To subscribe: send a blank e-mail to shorts-s-@topica.com
Look for the confirmation e-mail from Topica and hit the "reply" button on
that e-mail.

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Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII"
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<HTML>Welcome to the November 2003 issue of Management Shorts 
Written by Andrea Corney (ACor-@acorn-od.com) 
Published by Acorn Consulting (www.acorn-od.com) 
Back Issues available at http://www.topica.com/lists/shorts/read 
 
*********************************** 
 
IN THIS ISSUE 
I. INTRO: Doing Your Best Work 
II. MANAGEMENT SHORT: Key Factors 
III. GETTING STARTED: What You Can Do 
IV. FINAL THOUGHTS: Caveat and Credit 
 
 
********** 
I. INTRO: Doing Your Best Work 
 
What allows you to do your best work? Is it pure chance or can the circumstances be replicated? I recently attended a Stanford Business School Executive Program where a lively discussion among a group of senior executives produced some surprising answers. 
 
Use a Real Experience 
This issue of Management Shorts will be most valuable to you if you take a few moments right now to think of a time in your professional life when you were doing really great work - stretching yourself, using all of your capabilities, and producing results. 
 
Don't keep reading. Stop and really picture it. Remember the details. What was the situation? What did you do? What did others do? What did it feel like? 
 
Grab a colleague and tell him or her the story. Ask them to share a story as well. Get into that place where you both feel really great - you can do anything you set your mind to. 
 
 
 
 
Have you done it? 
 
 
 
 
Okay, now you can read on. 
 
 
********** 
II. MANAGEMENT SHORT: Key Factors 
 
It should be obvious that I don't think doing your best work is an accident. Stories from high performers usually include the following factors: 
 
A. They were working on an important, crucial task - something that would make a difference in the business 
B. They had very clear objectives (although the pathway to those objectives was ambiguous) 
C. They were given autonomy to do the task 
D. They felt personally accountable for the task 
E. In most cases they worked with a strong team 
 
What is most striking to me is that in most stories there is little or no mention of the boss. Where was he or she? What role did they play in making great performance possible? 
 
Lets start with looking at a spectrum of boss behavior: 
 
1. No Boss (in fact or in practice) 
2. Benign Neglect (available for help if called on) 
3. Hands-Off Coach (periodically offers input) 
4. Peer (working along side you on the task) 
5. Traditional Manager (plans, coordinates and reviews on a regular basis and makes major decisions) 
6. Control Freak 
 
In most stories the boss fits into one of the first 2 categories. Does this match your experience? Is it a surprise? Are you surprised that autonomy is motivating for capable people? (You are capable, right?) 
 
Okay, by now it should be dawning on you that this article is not about how you can be a high performer. Its about the role you play as a boss in setting the right conditions for your direct reports to be high performers. As a manager your most important job is to hire good people and then support them so they can be effective and productive. (Remember the "Theory Z" philosophy of management?) 
 
Lets talk about what you can do to support high performance in your group. 
 
 
********** 
III. GETTING STARTED: What You Can Do 
 
What the Boss Can Do . . . 
Providing more autonomy is not about complete abdication. There is much that the boss can do that can be supportive without exerting the kind of control that kills motivation, such as: 
 
* Provide "air cover" 
* Remove obstacles 
* Give access to decision makers 
* Push the employee with good questions 
* Give credit outside the project 
* Get resources 
* Encourage 
* Communicate confidence in employee's capabilities 
* Give visibility in the organization 
* Give autonomy to carry things out 
 
So, there is plenty for you to do. No need to worry that you'll be seen as irrelevant. 
 
. . . And Why the Boss Doesn't Do It 
When I did this exercise with a client his response was, "Well, I'm a hands-off type of boss . . . except when I'm not." Hmmm. 
 
Well, sure, this isn't about abdication and there is a role for the traditional manager. Certainly for inexperienced employees a more active approach makes sense. But too often that is an excuse. 
 
As my client and I talked through the situations in which he felt the need to exert more control, we found that the reason was rarely an inexperienced or incompetent employee. In some cases we found that he needed to be clearer about the high level goal as well as the parameters (success criteria, budget, time frame, etc.) for achieving that goal. 
 
In one case he had an employee who was clearly capable and hard working, but was also doing things that made the boss feel somehow uneasy - uneasy enough to step in and manage every step of the way. He realized that he needed to have a direct conversation with the employee about the cause of his unease and try to negotiate some reciprocal changes in behavior. For more on "The Case of the Micro-Managing Boss" see my "Deadly Dynamics" newsletter at: 
<A HREF="http://www.topica.com/lists/shorts/read/message.html?mid=1604072719&sort=d&start=0">www.topica.com/lists/shorts/read/message.html?mid=1604072719&sort=d&start=0</A> 
 
Are you willing to have a conversation with your direct reports about the dynamics that make it hard to give them appropriate autonomy? 
 
 
********** 
IV. FINAL THOUGHTS: Caveat and Credit 
 
Caveat 
I know you are just dying to forward this e-mail to your boss. Perhaps with a wink ;-) or even a "See! I told you that you were managing me all wrong!". Don't give in to that urge. Start at home. 
 
Send it to your direct reports instead and suggest a conversation about what you could do to better support them in doing great work -- as well as what you might need from them to feel comfortable in stepping back a bit. 
 
Credit 
Thanks to Professor David Bradford for this exercise and the opportunity to listen in on his Executive Education program on Leadership. Information on this program is available at: 
<A HREF="http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/exed/lead/">www.gsb.stanford.edu/exed/lead/ </A> 
 
 
********** 
 
While you're thinking about it, send a quick e-mail to say "thank you" to the boss who supported you in doing your best work. Your boss showed true leadership by creating a space for you to shine and will appreciate knowing that you noticed. 
 
 
Warm regards, 
Andrea 
 
 
********** 
About Management Shorts 
********** 
Management Shorts is a free newsletter for senior managers on strategic planning, leadership, management and teamwork - the key leverage points for getting traction on your critical issues. 
Copyright 2003, Acorn Consulting 
 
Feel free to forward this newsletter to friends and colleagues. You may reprint this newsletter in whole or quote with attribution to Andrea Corney and Acorn Consulting. 
 
Back issues are available at http://www.topica.com/lists/shorts/read 
 
To subscribe: send a blank e-mail to shorts-s-@topica.com 
Look for the confirmation e-mail from Topica and hit the "reply" button on that e-mail. 
 
 
 
</HTML>
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