My Leadership Solutions

lead·er·ship: not only for those with a fancy title. High doses can lead to success. Side effects include courage and confidence

Don’t Just Manage; Inspire!

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Are you managing or inspiring? Hopefully, you’re doing both, but if not, it’s not too late to start.  Wouldn’t it be much better if your employees were doing their work because they wanted to, not because they felt as if they would be fired if they didn’t do it?

The definition of “inspire” according to Merriam-Webster dictions is “to make (someone) want to do something, to give (someone) an idea about what to do or create; to influence, move, or guide.”

As a manager, think about how many of your employees you’re inspiring on a daily basis.  I’m not talking about fake inspiration such as posting nice quotes on your wall and doing a motivational cheer in the morning.  These things can help, but not on their own.  In order to be an inspiring force to others, you need to feel inspired in your role.  Of course you still need to carry out your daily management responsibilities, but you’ll find that these responsibilities become easier when your employees are inspired.

If you’re feeling burnt out or overwhelmed, it’s going to be difficult for you to inspire others, because your energy is consumed by just getting through the day.  Take a vacation day if you need it.  If you’re stuck in a rut yourself, revisit what you enjoy about your job.  It may be time to set new goals for yourself.  Think of learning and development opportunities for yourself and discuss them with your manager.

Inspiration requires exuding energy and interest.  People may say, “Well what if I’m an introvert and don’t want  to seem fake.”  It has nothing to do with being an introvert or extrovert.  Trying to change your personality in order to appear inspirational will actually have the opposite effect.

After you’ve found or re-gained inspiration for your job, it’s now time to show that inspiration to your employees!

Talk to your employees about how their work is impacting the company’s goals.  Discuss where the company is headed and how your team is helping the company move in the right direction.  Have career discussions with each of your employees.  Learn what their strengths and development areas are and what they enjoy about their jobs.  Use this information when assigning new projects.

Assess your body language and tone when you speaking to your employees.  Do you sound confident?  Is your tone upbeat?  Are you truly interested in what you’re saying?

Two people could both be doing the work, but the one who is inspired stands out.  Other people notice.  The energy of inspiration rubs off on them.  You find that work becomes easier and time just flows.  Employees become more engaged.  Being inspiring may take some work at first, but the pay-off is well worth it.  Just ask any inspiring manager.

What do you do to inspire others?  What do you do to inspire yourself?

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Don’t Ignore Your Quiet Employees

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Managers come in all shapes and sizes, as you know.  There’s not one consistent personality type that makes a great leader.  The same goes for employees, but companies and managers don’t always adapt their style to be able to better manage different types of employees.

Everyone hears the loud employees.  They’re the ones who have no problem expressing their ideas and opinions.  Typically, they’re more outgoing and have been referred to as extroverts.  They’re difficult to ignore.  The quieter employees, the introverts, may tend to fall into the background because they’re not making their voices heard in the same way as the extroverts.

Many managers, especially when swamped with work and responsibilities, tend to pay more attention to those making themselves heard.  By no means, does that mean that extroverts don’t have great ideas.  It just means that you’re missing out on hearing essential ideas, potential problems and issues if you’re not listening to your quieter employees as well.

So how do you make sure that you’re getting the ideas from introverts?

1)      Send a meeting agenda before the meeting.  If there are questions or topics that you’d like people to express opinions or recommendations about, let them know before the meeting.

2)      Ask quieter employees specifically about any ideas or comments they have.

3)      Give people time to absorb and think about the information before giving you an answer.

4)      Provide alternative methods for employees to express opinions and ideas instead of just having the meeting format.

5)      Have employees submit opinions, recommendations, and ideas to you before the meeting, so you can share and discuss them during the meeting without mentioning who provided them.

6)      Don’t judge.  Just because a person isn’t talking doesn’t mean they don’t have anything to talk about.

“There is zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas,” said Susan Cain, author of QUIET:  The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking.  So make sure you’re also getting ideas from those who aren’t doing all the talking.

Additional Resources:  Check out Susan Cain’s TED talk video, The Power of Introverts.

I Don’t Want To Be A Manager Anymore. How Do I Tell My Boss?

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I received this question from a manager who doesn’t want to be a manager anymore.

 

 

 

First of all, don’t beat yourself up for it.  It’s okay to try out a role and realize that it’s not for you.  Start by making a list of the specific reasons that you want out of the role so that you can gather your thoughts and be able to have an effective conversation with you manager.  It’s not a good idea to say that you’re sick of your role because you have to do too much work or that you have to manage a bunch of morons.

Ask yourself:  Why don’t I want to be a manager?

Is there anything that could be changed in this role to make you continue being a manager?   Are you not getting the support or resources you need?  Are you not getting the training you need?  Or is it just that you don’t want to manage people and would prefer to be an individual contributor?

Then write down your goals.  Do your goals align better with staying in the role you’re in or moving into a different role?  If you would prefer to do the work yourself than manage other people, then you’re probably better cut out for the individual contributor role.  However, if you feel that the manager role does align with your goals and that you’re not getting the right resources, make a note of what you need so that you’ll be prepared to talk to your manager about it.

Talk to your manager and be candid.  Express how appreciative you are to have received the chance to be a manager.  Then give concrete reasons why you want to move into a different role.  If you found that you’re not getting enough support or training or XYZ to be in the manager role, tell your manager what you need in order to be successful in this role.

If you found that you’d prefer to be in a different role, let him or her know that you will stay in the position until they can find a new manager and that you’ll help transition the work to the new manager.  Since you were valuable enough to be promoted to a manager position, it’s likely they’ll let you want to keep you.  However, you should still be prepared for the worst-case scenario, which is that they’ve already hired someone to take your previous position and they don’t have a budget for another position.  If that happens, you’ll have to decide whether to stay in the manager position or leave the company.  If you decide to stay in the role and your manager knows you want to leave, make sure to have a list of development ideas to help you in your role.

Good luck!

Bad Day? Don’t Be A Bad Manager

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You’re the manager and you’re having one of those days.  You just don’t feel like being at work today.  After all, you’re human.  Everyone has had a bad day before and will continue to have more in the future.  But in the role that you’re in, your actions and attitude can directly affect the people who work for you.

Don’t use your bad day as an excuse to treat people badly.  The bad day is not a good time to have a performance conversation or give feedback unless you can do so objectively.

It’s not the time to deliver a tough message to someone.  If your bad day has you seeing everything in a negative light, then you’re going to view small things as being much bigger and worse than they really are.  I had a manager who would have a bad day and would find someone on her team who had a messy desk, walk to the person’s desk, and demand that he or she clean it up immediately.  The messiness of the desk was always the same, but when this manager was in a bad mood, she wanted to take her anger out on someone.

Don’t let the positive perception that your team has of you be clouded with negativity just because your day is not going well.  It doesn’t mean that you have to shut yourself in your office all day, but focus on tasks that are not going to be emotional for you.  Think twice about feedback before giving it to someone.  Write it down and write a note for yourself to give the feedback the next day when you’re feeling better.

If your bad mood causes you to turn inward, it’ll be difficult to listen to someone else’s issues.  Reschedule important conversations if you’re not feeling that you can give your best.  If it’s obvious that you’re in a sour mood, let the people you interact with know the reason.  It makes you appear vulnerable.  After all, you’re human and can have a bad day once in a while.  Just don’t let it get in the way of being a great manager.