Management Brands

Whats your brand?  And how do you define one?  HBR has a great post on this exact subject matter.

The Important Jobs

Who defines for you which jobs are important and which jobs aren't?  Honestly - is there a rating system that defines what is mor important to be done?  Maybe, but I doubt it.  Especially not for managers. 

One key task of a manager is to figure what is important in their role.  There are few set ratings or 'star-system' for measurement (unless you have these as KPI's).  However I think we can create categories that define broad aspects of our work.  Those catagories look a little something like this -

1. People - internal.  I value internal people higher than externals.  Many would disagree but as a manager I believe we should be coaching/working with/empowering our people first so then they can go and serve the external people.
2. People - external.  External persons are not just customers but any person who is not in your department, office or area of influence.  People are the most crucial aspect of a managers role.  get the people part of things right and you are well on your way to success.
3. Compliance - internal.  Sticking to the rules and ensuring that the requirements of the organisation are met.  Creating budgets that balance, updating project management reports, customer interaction reports.  They are all important.
4. Compliance - external.
5. Any tasks not already covered above.

No single area is not as important as another area but there is a hierarchy.  When the internal people know what to do and when that frees you up to deal with customers external and the compliance issues and requirements of your role.




There are very few unimportant jobs in an organisation.  What defines a task as being important or not is the emphasis you place on it.

Word of the Week - Catalyst

cat·a·lyst (ktl-st)

1. Chemistry - A substance, usually used in small amounts relative to the reactants, that modifies and increases the rate of a reaction without being consumed in the process.

2. One that precipitates a process or event, especially without being involved in or changed by the consequences.
 
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If being a catalyst were a requirement in your job description would you meet the grade required?

Remember - catalysts make chemical reactions move faster. Catalysts aren't the reaction.  Based on that understanding here are a few thoughts on how you can become a catalyst in your place of work -

1. Stay fresh.  Catalysts are used over and over again.  Make sure you are fit (physically) and look after your health.
2. Question everything.  Create new methods and practices for doing things better!
3. Be open to new ideas.
4. Search out new ideas, options and practices for current procedures that will create new levels of performance (mental fitness).

The secret to being a catalyst is to speed up reactions in others and to help processes move along faster than what they normally would!

(Image courtesy of : http://www.flickr.com/photos/chemheritage/3010563525/)

Quaterly Performance Review

The first three months of 2010 have passed already. So now is a good time time to go back and review the goals and objectives that I set for for the year and assess - where am I up to in my progress?

My original resolutions and focus areas can be summarised as follows -

1. Compliance.
2. Excellence.
3. Teamwork.

So how do I rate my progression so far this year?

Compliance -A; Excellence - B+; Teamwork - B+.

(Note - I usually rate myself a bit harder than I should so I am happy with the results to date.)

• Compliance is the single biggest area that needed working on. And I feel that I am succeeding in that. Compliance is defined as - following instructions, adhering to regulations and making sure others are aware and also comply with the guidelines set out for the organisation.
• Excellence is coming along nicely and it's always easier to a task properly or the best of our ability when it is something we care about and get some fulfillment out of.
• Teamwork is going well. This year has been odd because the 'team' I manage has changed. I now have seperate two areas to focus on. In order to look after both I have had to let go of who I thought was most important (staff) for others who are just as important but take up far more of my time (students).

As far as my personal goals go - I am well on my way to getting to where I want to be. By July I will have completed half my goals for the year which will line me up nicely for finishing the year that I thought I would at the beginning of the year.

"We have no control of the locations of our dreams, we do however control the steps and paths we take on our way to get there." (Me).

How are your goals going so far this year? Are you achieving? What area's do you think you need to spend a bit more time on before you make your next appraisal?

Steve Gurney on Attitude

Steve Gurney is a multi-sport legend who has fought through thick and thin and is undoubtedly a true legend. In his book 'Lucky Legs' Steve talks about his life and gives some pointers on what it means to win and how to go about doing it.

One part of his book is all about - how to. I have especially enjoyed chapter 24 where Gurney talks about the mental approach.

I will paraphrase a few of his key points here -

• You create your future through your beliefs, attitudes and resources. You can set yourself up to win.


• Create a future you want by meditating on it through a positive way c.f. a negative one.


• The law of attraction works!


• State your goals and desires in a positive way and by focusing on what you can do.


• "Energy flows where attention goes"


• Figure out if your goals are 'towards' goals (positively focused goals) or 'away' goals (driven by fear or similar).

I totally recommend this book to anyone who wonders - What does it feel like to win? or - How do I get better and achieve better results?

This book is written with the beauty of hindsight and wisdom gained from some hard lessons learned. This is not a flash in the pan story but rather a story well crafted and very, very funny!

List - Audits

Creating the list

...is not the same as obeying the list.

Do you make the list you check off, follow and work on every day? When does it get made? Who approves it? Do you identify tasks or perform them?

If you had a better list, would you do better work? If you made the list instead of just obeying it, would you be a more valuable member of the team?

Yes, asking questions is often more valued than answering them. (If they're the right questions.)

(Source: This series of audit questions comes to you from: Seth Godin)

These questions are very similar to the questions I posed yesterday. However Seth's view is more micro where as mine was macro.

It is important to remember to view the world from other's perspectives and not just your own.

"I've got a new invention. It's a revolving bowl for tired Goldfish." Lefty Gomez.

Time Management That Works

Not enough hours in the day to get everything done?

Try these tips -

• Do all the little jobs first and get them out of the way.
• After you have finished all the little jobs you will find you will have made progress on the medium sized jobs already.
• Put your telephone onto voicemail and wait until you have at least 5 messages before actioning any of them.
• Don't ignore the little box that pops up with new emails - get to any new emails straight away and deal to them!
• Cancel or don't attend meetings that will waste your time.
• Keep your email inbox down to a maximum of 20 emails at any one time.
• Work hard on filing emails that are information only or completely not urgent.

Time management is all about reducing and eliminating the time wasters and focusing on and putting your efforts into the valuable stuff.