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Leadership topic - manage

with resources efficiently and effectively. Clearly and comfortably delegates both routine and important tasks and decisions with responsibility and accountability; Good at figuring out the processes necessary to get things done; Excellent at delegation, goal formation, managing employees, and meeting management. 

Roadblock  – Has low detail orientation; lets things fall through the cracks;

Different partners

Different partners

Mar 17, 2021 | , ,

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  An interesting day like most modern holidays that has a Different story behind it than you may know.  The day is supposedly the day he died and was buried in his adopted Ireland, and to celebrate that, the Lenten season’s ban on drinking is lifted for this day – and probably why there is so much of it 😉  After 20 days without, and anticipating 20 more days until Easter, it is a day to let it all hang out.  And while the Irish were hated by most Americans when they arrived in the 1840s, we were more than happy to embrace any holiday that allowed a party… 

engaging Differences

engaging Differences

Mar 15, 2021 | , ,

Turning to engage this week, we lost an hour… but that means we gain more evening on Wednesday … to celebrate the gift that Irish have been to the world, particularly to America.  As a mutt myself, I have a special affinity for “… your tired, your poor.  Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.  The wretched refuse of your teeming shore”.  And it gives me the excuse I need to write about one of the true giants of music, and hopefully tell some stories that are Different – which is what the musical soundtrack and this week’s theme start with.  Differences – which has received a lot of attention but…

Differences in management

Differences in management

Mar 15, 2021 | , ,

Leadership and management are about making a Difference. Ask anyone who attempts it, and the motivation is to make things better, faster, more efficient, easier. Some definition of Different is embedded in both the role and the calling. Those who are not that role will often look up at them and wonder first why would anyone want that job, and then second, exactly what the heck are they talking about? Clearly, it is some other language, as what they are saying makes little or no sense to them… 

management Values

management Values

Mar 9, 2021 | , ,

I guess I actually DO have a nickel for every time I stood up in front of a new team, as the “New Guy” and said, “Hi, I am Mark House, and here is what I am about.”  Actually compounded over the years, it’s what allows me the freedom to do this crazy new career, helping others have THEIR speech ready for that opportunity when it comes.  And I actually stole most of mine from other great leaders along the way, who I suspect stole theirs from others.  Because managing with Values actually works… because people can normally tell what your Values are (or aren’t)… before you can.

managing Celebrating

managing Celebrating

Mar 2, 2021 | , ,

Realizing that no one was actually listening made me question why I was giving my nights and weekends to being a college radio DJ.  So after a few weeks, I stepped down, but what to do with my time?  A few guys on the floor were starting to play guitar in the evenings, and I managed to bring mine back after a weekend at home.  Politely, one of them that I was tutoring through Physics pulled me aside and suggested that I might want to switch over to Bass …. as I was actually never going to be good on guitar… honest feedback that many years later I still Celebrate… 

What manages Performance?

What manages Performance?

Feb 23, 2021 | , ,

There is an entire industry now built up around what is called “Vulnerability”.  Brought to the forefront by researcher Brene Brown, now a legend, the concept is that deep inside all of us are fears that need to be managed.  Left unchecked, they can get in the way of our best Performance, and often are topics that I work with leaders to understand and reframe – the coaching word for turning Lemons into Lemonade.  The paradox often is that by not showing vulnerability in your early career, you appear to have it all figured out… which, to those of us later in our career, we can remember those days… and how Performance changes….

Is your management Harmonic?

Is your management Harmonic?

Feb 16, 2021 | , ,

Harmony is distinguished from Unison singing – everyone singing the exact same note together. When men and women sing together, even though they are singing the same note, they are often separated by an octave or more.  But choosing a Harmony requires intensely listening to each other, and you will often see the singers lean in, cover an ear, and then either read a note or more likely, trust their well-trained ear to pick up a note that blends together with the others.  As more singers are involved, you have to be careful to not only hit your note, but stay out of the way of the others… constantly juggling your own musical path with those around you…

renewing Rhythm… You and Your Calendar

renewing Rhythm… You and Your Calendar

Feb 14, 2021 | , ,

The one remaining element of Rhythm critical to Management Hygiene is summarized with a single word: When?  All of the work on priorities, partners, directs, strategic planning, even email fail… unless they make it onto your calendar.  As I tell each leader: your calendar does not lie – it shows who, what, and why you do what you do, and the paradox is that managing the calendar is the easiest and hardest exercise we do.  In one engagement a leader wanted to move from 12 hours a day to 8.  As we examined each day, by Thursday, after eliminating no meetings, I moaned, “…so you don’t really want to work less..:” 

Rhythm that executes… Email and Writing

Rhythm that executes… Email and Writing

Feb 13, 2021 | , ,

I grew up with email.  My class was the last class to learn slide-rule in high school, and the first to move from punched cards to a terminal. And it was just as inside IBM and outside networks were starting to connect remote people together in ways that are still taking over our lives.  I took typing in high school, not to be an admin (like my first bosses thought), but because being able to do it well was the connection to the rest of the world. Interestingly, studies have shown that people hate email – it takes up way too much of their daily Rhythm and produces very little ROI – and yet, they can’t let go.  So who is executing whom? 

wonderful Rhythm… Strategic Planning

wonderful Rhythm… Strategic Planning

Feb 12, 2021 | , ,

In the early weeks of the year, the Rhythm of many organizations is “Strategic Planning Meetings” – otherwise known as “…wonder what the heck do we do now?”  It is the place where the realities of last year, the current market assessments, and the dreams of the future come together to set out goals for this year.  Similar to “Feeding the Bear”, well-run organizations have what they projected for “this” year from last year’s “5-year plan”, and can simply reorient that to what is now happening.  But particularly last year has probably thrown that up in the air… or has it? Who sees over the horizon that you need to find?

Rhythmic observation…Status Reports!

Rhythmic observation…Status Reports!

Feb 11, 2021 | , ,

A basic element of any effective management system is “No Surprises”.  “Simple but not easy” does not even start to describe this critical part of your Hygiene.  In fact, I have used a fairly graphic way of describing it to leaders, probably driven by where I now live.  Our street in Virginia has a Rhythm of what are politely called “Bear Interactions”, the largest in our area… and our area has the most in the whole state.  So we fairly regularly have a bear walk past our house. In fact recently, we observed not 1… or 2… we had 3… on our deck.  They were small, but like surprised leaders, they can pack a wallop…. 

partners with Rhythm

partners with Rhythm

Feb 10, 2021 | , ,

In the same spirit as 1-1 meetings, nothing is more important than Rhythmic conversations with peers and partners. It is complicated, as for most of your career you are “competing” with them, imagining that only one of you will get the step up.  There is truth in that, but also that without good relationships, you will become more and more insulated.  To stay with the musical metaphor, without the band, the lead guitarist is flashy… but rarely would be recognized.  So who are your “bandmates”, and how do you sort out how to partner with them?

manage Rhythm.. 1-1 Meetings…

manage Rhythm.. 1-1 Meetings…

Feb 9, 2021 | , ,

One of the first questions I used to ask leaders in our initial Coaching conversation was “How often do you meet with your direct reports?” More often than not, it was met with a few moments of puzzled silence, and then typically “Oh we talk every day!” The HARDEST thing about coaching is not letting your judgment enter into the conversation. But to be honest, I normally sigh, and, as I’m a terrible poker player, that usually takes the conversation into a different place.  I have at least learned to back up and ask a better question: “What is your approach to management?”… which helps me deduce the same thing… do they use the Rhythm method? 

engaging Rhythm…by Listening

engaging Rhythm…by Listening

Feb 8, 2021 | , , ,

Balance is hard to achieve in any endeavor… until you notice you are getting slightly off-center.  When I conceived of this blog, it would be a little music, a little leadership, and a story to make it memorable. These last few weeks, the leadership insights were like many management books, “Be Like Me,” which I find… not helpful.  I needed to re-engage to establish a new Rhythm. The backbeat: it is Black History Month, so an African American artist focusing on Rhythm – what I call “Management Hygiene.” … there is only one person…