The Eagle and the Jackdaw – Aesop on Leadership

by | Jun 18, 2012 | Exercises, Leadership Development

An Eagle, flying down from his perch on a lofty rock, seized upon a lamb and carried him aloft in his talons. A Jackdaw, who witnessed the capture of the lamb, was stirred with envy and determined to emulate the strength and flight of the Eagle. He flew around with a great whir of his wings and settled upon a large ram, with the intention of carrying him off, but his claws became entangled in the ram’s fleece and he was not able to release himself, although he fluttered with his feathers as much as he could. The shepherd, seeing what had happened, ran up and caught him. He at once clipped the Jackdaw’s wings, and taking him home at night, gave him to his children. On their saying, “Father, what kind of bird is it?’ he replied, “To my certain knowledge he is a Daw; but he would like you to think an Eagle.”

The leadership lesson here: You must know your own strengths and limitations

And that’s not easy. We all like to think ourselves capable of miracles and deserving of increased responsibility until the point where we go one step beyond our capabilities.

Try this at work:

Your exercise this week is to actually take stock of your strengths and limitations. Write down a list of your 10 greatest strengths and your 10 most glaring weaknesses. When you have done this, talk to your boss or your mentor and get these confirmed. Look as well how these help or hinder in your current job and what the impact would be if you actually had your boss’ job.

When you have a chance, write a comment to tell me about what you observed.

Say thank you

by | Jun 14, 2012 | Management, Video

In case you need to be reminded, saying thank you is one of the most powerful tools in business. Listen to Anne Avery on this subject.

http://vimeo.com/43540277

Are you a Debbie-Downer?

by | Jun 4, 2012 | Emotional Intelligence, Exercises

Your ability to control unexpected emotions like anger and frustration and not display other negative emotions are hallmarks of Emotional Intelligence. (I must admit that I wasn’t always very good at this and I like to think that with age comes maturity.) The reason that you need to cure the habit and control negative emotions is probably self apparent.

Nobody wants to work with a Debbie-Downer.

After all, who wouldn’t prefer to work with someone who exhibited happiness over sadness, joy over grief, contentment over frustration. Emotions are contagious and if you’re stuck with a negative person, you’ll find your energy drained and begin avoiding their company.

The first step in curing this nasty habit is to be aware that you’re showing your negative emotions. While it isn’t easy to see these in yourself until after the fact, it is easier to see in people you are working with.

Try this at work:

Your exercise this week is to pay attention to coworkers negative emotions. Take out your notebook and write down every time someone at work exhibits a negative emotion. That emotion could be anger, frustration, irritation, cynicism or whatever other negative emotion you detect. When you note this negativity, note how you feel as a result and how this mood affects those around you. If you keep noting this behaviour in others, you’ll come to notice it in yourself and that is the first step to stopping the habit.

When you have a chance, write a comment to tell me about what you observed and whether that made you question your own display of emotions.

Is saying “Fcuk” at work a Leadership No-No?

by | Jun 1, 2012 | Management

There is a great debate in the Globe and Mail today about whether Yahoo’s fired CEO, Carol Bartz should not have used the word “Fcuk” at work. (You’ll have to read the article on page B14 as I can’t find a link.) “Using profanity on the job can make you look unprofessional – but it can also be a good motivational tool.” Apparently it’s no good in a job interview (who knew?) but good for women to use to put men at ease. (What? It doesn’t put men at ease, it just titillates us.) It’s good in some areas of the world, not so good in others, it works in some industries but not in others. It can diffuse tense situations but make others more tense. Huh?

OMG, what is the world coming to when one must worry about a well placed “Fcuk” every now and then?  The next thing you know they’ll be putting in a “No Touching” rule, banning Filterless Fridays, and putting the kibosh on Topless Tuesdays. (Please note that I finally agreed that Topless Tuesdays was not mandatory but optional at work.)

Given the predilection to create employment standards I can envision a day when HR departments the world over have to develop policies around the use of the term “Fcuk.” In an effort to help the development of such policies, I have prepared the following rules:

Policies regarding the use of the word “Fcuk” in the workplace.

  1. In general, the word “Fcuk” shall not be used outside closed offices or meeting rooms unless one is still working after 9:00 PM.
  2. The word may be used at will by consenting adults who are engaged in a workplace affair.
  3. After several drinks at a workplace function, the word may be sprinkled into conversation at random if desired.
  4. The word “Fcuk” is encouraged in meetings where the actions of upper management are discussed by subordinates. In this case, the adjective “Fcuking” may be used as appropriate.
  5. It may only be used as a noun and never as a verb.
  6. If used in writing it should be referred to as the “F Word” because that really fools everyone.
I’m sure we can generate all sorts of other rules so here is your chance. If you have any other rules about the use of the word “Fcuk”, please send them to me via comments. (Please avoid the use of profanities in your comments though as I have tender ears.)

 

The Manager’s Job – Henry Mintzberg

by | May 31, 2012 | Literature Review, Management

Some time ago I subscribed to Harvard Business Review (for the umpteenth time), just to get a collection of articles called Leadership Insights. The first in the collection is a reprint of Henry Mintzberg’s “The Manager’s Job”. If you haven’t read it recently, it is worth a re-read. Based on a review of research into how manager’s spend their time it debunks a lot of old folklore and although it was first written in 1975, is still applicable today.

What struck me the most was at the very end of the article. In it Mintzberg states that management schools have done”an admirable job of training the organization’s specialists – management scientists, marketing researchers, accountants, and organizational development specialists. But for the most part they have not trained managers.”

And Now Time For a Rant

It’s sad to think that 40 years after Mintzberg first published a book on this subject, we are still not doing a better job training managers. This training is still not happening in MBA programs for the most part and few companies are doing it well. A friend told me that she is studying for an exam to enable her to become a Certified Meeting Professional. If there is a course for meeting professionals, just as there is for Corporate Trainers, Project Managers, Aestheticians, and a host of other disciplnes, why is there no course or certification for managers, something that 10s of millions of people do worldwide?