OLA Superconference

2012

The Accidental Manager

Rebecca JonesDysart & Jones Associatesrebecca@dysartjones.com905.731.5836

Focus for todayOffer tools, approaches & ideas to new leaders, managers & supervisorsTransitioningTendenciesCreating a Motivating

Environment

What you will be tomorrow, you are becoming today.

Jim Clemmer

Your New ToolKit

Managing &

Leading

Commun-ication

Role

Delegating

Learning

Planning

•Priorities

Politics

Roles Skills Form follows function Roles dictate the skills

required Skills can only be learned

through practice We will discuss skills You will learn these on

the job

New managers need to know: How to assert themselves as leaders today when they

were colleagues yesterday. How to determine the priorities. How to manage “up”. That people come first…if staff isn’t on board, you will

never succeed. Communicating – getting the point across – now. That the world will not end if they delegate. That politics are all about relationship building. That balancing of needs and expectations with realistic

budgets is one that can only be learned on the job. That doing too much will ultimately become too much.

From CEO’s & managers in a

variety of settings.

Some favourite sources:

Harvard Business Review blog www.hbr.org Hill, Linda. Becoming a Manager. Harvard, 2003 Sheldon, Brooke. Interpersonal Skills, Theory & Practice

Mintzberg & Gosling, “Five Minds of a Manager” HBR Nov 2003 Managers Toolkit: The 13 Skills Managers Need to

Succeed.   Harvard, 2004.  Watkins, Michael. The First 90 Days: Critical Success

Strategies for New Leaders. Harvard, 2003 Ury, William. Power of a Positive No: How to say NO and

Still get to YES

Mintzberg on Managers’ Role

managing self managing relationships managing organizations managing contexts managing change

Setting the context for our

conversations

The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins

Personal disciplines: Plan to plan Defer commitment Schedule time for priority goals Go to the balcony to review

situation Use transparent processes Reflect on how you’re doing Take breaks Build & maintain relationships

3 Months

Furious activity is no substitute for understanding.

H.H Williams

Critical Skills

Establish, impart & implement a vision & strategies that make your organization indispensable

Create & maintain a productive & motivating work environment

Embrace ambiguity

There - simple enough?

As a member of management Your current role incorporates

leadership, management & supervision

You do things with people, not to people

You work up, down, across & beyond the organization

You are responsible for strategies, initiatives & implementation

Lead People

Manage Projects

& Process

Supervise

Details & Tasks

• We lead people• We manage project &

processes• We supervise details

“Leaders do not sit in the stands and watch. Neither are leaders in the game substituting for the players. Leaders coach. They demonstrate what is important by how they spend their time, by the priorities on their agenda, by the questions they ask, by the people they see, the places they go, and the behaviors and results that they recognize & reward.”

The Leadership ChallengeKouzes & Posner

Self

Transitioning

RoleTendencies

Transitioning requires a plan To plan anything effectively you must know:

What you want What you’ve got Barriers and acceleration points that may impact

your journey between the two states

Formally & consciously let go of what you were doing and the professional or functional expertise you relied on

“Promote yourself” Mentally move yourself from colleague or

‘young staff’ to team leader Develop or re-develop relationships with

boss(es), colleagues and staff

Start with a plan for

you

Your boss It’s more important for you to

develop a relationship with your boss than vice versa

When new leaders falter it’s usually because they “concentrate on doing

more of what they have done to succeed…they typically spend too

little time cultivating important relationships, especially with their

bosses.”Almost Ready: How Leaders Move Up, Harvard

Business Review, January 2005, p.49

Your goals must support your managers’ goals

Keep drafting your expectations while you learn No blaming of predecessors

or the past No surprises for superiors Potential solutions for

problems you’re identifying Areas where you need their

support Negotiate – expectations,

timelines, approaches, resources

• Manage the management relationship

• Regular, effective interactions to understand:▫ Their perception of the

situation▫ Their style▫ Their preferred

communication mode

Start by clarifying your role1. Identify the differences between your old and new positions:

2. Identify the similarities between your old and new positions:

And how you will fulfill & succeed in that role3. What strengths and skills have made you successful in the past?

4. Which of these strengths and skills can you continue to draw on?

5. What skills do you need to develop?

Your individual planWhat do you need

to stop doing?What do you need to

continue?What do you need to

start doing?

Highlights the need for:

Clear expectations You must know what your

manager or Board expects of you What do they expect you to

“deliver” in 3 months? 6 months? 12 months? How will they define success

for you? What will success look like from their view point?

Tendencies Understand your own, how you see the

world, and how the world tends to see you Myers-Briggs Keirsey DISC Birkman Strengths-Finder

Your accelerators & Your inhibitors

 Know your preferences, behavioral style, motivational needs, stressors.

Keep The Red Sheet and The Green Sheet

Organization

Transitioning

Planning

Smart plans rely on smart goals

SMART goals: Specific Measurable Acceptable Realistic Timed

Must be written

Establishing Goals: be smart

“By July 20th, identify the 4 critical issues impacting the group that need to be addressed before year end.”

“By August, develop a plan for implementing e-book & tablet loans by January.”

“By November, 100% of staff will have received training in: using the e-books & tablets assisting patrons in using the devices

Focus on the goal

Most common error of new leaders is failure to focus

Focus on 2 or 3 critical areas Identify wins that:

Enable you to learn about the function or group

Build credibility for both you and the group

Matter to management Are doable in the culture

Goals are decisions

Discipline means choices. Every time you say yes to a goal or objective, you say no to many more.

Sybil Stanton

Establishing goals What are your goals for the next 6 – 12 months?

Refer back to worksheet #1; if there are skills you need to develop, include them in your goal-setting

GoalWhat will be in place then, that

isn’t in place today?

MeasuresWhat will success

look like?

Target Date

Steps

Relationships

Context

Transitioning

Motivating Environme

ntTendencie

s

People

Today is really about people

It’s all about people

One more time with feeling...

I CANNOT motivate peoplerepeat

I CANNOT motivate people

I CAN create a motivating environment

……………………..and that is my primary job

Context

To “lead” means to take a library, a unit, a program, a service or a project from where it is today to where it needs to be in the future to be or continue to be successful

The library or unit’s context is what is doing today, what is happening around it in its community & beyond, and what it wants to do tomorrow

• Be clear on where you are

• Be clear on where you are headed

• Be clear on the ‘influencing factors’ for the library & the unit

• Keep the context in front of everyone

Establish the context

To “lead” means you want to go forward: decide where draft the framework determine the “givens” describe it in simple terms Involve the team - their input,

ideas & details make it real

Create a positive pull within the context

Your context setting should address 4 things for your team:1. Why they should want to be in

your organization2. Why customers should want to do

business with you3. Why this is the most exciting

organization to be connected with4. What it “looks” like - the details,

as you see them

Establish goals with team Within your organizational structure, work with staff to

establish expectations and their goals Ensure their goals “support” achievement of your goals Ensure your goals “support” achievement of the

organization’s goals (your manager’s goals)

Start at the beginning

Most problems within organizations are the result of people: not understanding where they are

going how their job fits what’s expected of them

Forget the 3 R’s; concentrate on the 3 C’s:Context Communication Clarity

85/15 Rule

Context, Communication, Clarity

To link people & what they do to the {library} (business) strategy & vision requires connecting the dots for people. It means making sure that people understand how they can contribute, that they are able to contribute, that they have the right information when they need it so they can contribute& that they’ll benefit from the results they produce.

The Leadership Solution, Jim Shaffer

But “where do I fit?”

Always link organizational, team & individual goals, roles & expectations

Articulate with each team member:“This is how your job impacts our ability to engage

the community/campus/organization..……..

……….to achieve our vision…

………..to serve our clients...etc..”

Motivating environments rely on communication

Visions become real for people when they see where they fit, where they contribute & the benefits they’ll realize when they do contribute

You cannot hear while you are speaking

If your team doesn’t understand you, they can’t hear you

You can’t not communicateWhat you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear a word you are saying.Samuel Johnson

Confusion causes conflict.Clarity diffuses conflict.Insights develop clarity.

Feedback produces insights.

Clarity keeps the windshield clean

Creating motivating environments

Keep the windshield clean

Clarity is in an individual’s eyes Put on their lenses, their perspective Listen: For why they are saying what they

are saying for ideas for words that make it real for others for gaps for misunderstandings for resistance these will give you the details

needed to achieve clarity for all involved

Creating motivating environments

Identify: An individuals’ strengths Ways their job can capitalize on their strengths &

talents Rewards that are meaningful for the individual – time

with you? Time with a mentor? Time to work alone? The best ways to coach them or provide them with

feedback: Do they need information? Need to “do” things? Need to observe?

What gets in the way? History Human nature

Tendency is to try to understand the motives, values & interpretations of those people we like

What happens if we don’t like the person? Ask yourself this strategic question: What must it be like for “x”, with their

character & perspectives, to work with or report to someone like me, with my character, drives & stimuli?

“How to Motivate Your Problem People,” by Nigel Nicholson in HBR January 2003, pp 57+

Motivating environmentsStart with you:

What are your strengths or energizers?

How does your job capitalize on these strengths?

What rewards are meaningful for you?

What’s the best way to coach you or provide you with feedback?

Motivating environmentsNow talk with those you for whom you are responsible:

What are their strengths, talents & energizers?

How does – or how can their job capitalize on these?

What rewards are meaningful for them?

What’s the best way to coach them or provide them with feedback?

Trust

Determined by every moment of truth

Difficult to earn, & once gone, difficult to recover

We trust others when they are told something will happen & it does

Relies on communication When do you lose trust?

Keep the focus

“Leaders ..........demonstrate what is important by how they spend their time, by the priorities on their agenda, by the questions they ask, by the people they see, the places they go, and the behaviors and results that they recognize & reward.”

The Leadership ChallengeKouzes & Posner

Your New ToolKit

Managing &

Leading

Commun-ication

Role

Delegating

Learning

Planning

•Priorities

Politics

Managing yourself

When a you make a decision or take a key action, write down what you expect will happen (what success will look like), and keep going back to it – in 3, 6, 9 months – to measure where you are

Adapted from Peter Drucker, “Managing Oneself” in

Harvard Business Review, January 2005, p 102

Moving forward1. What will success look like for me in 12 months?

2. What personal disciplines or skills do I need to develop to ensure I do what I can to work towards that success?

You are all leaders

The leader of the past was a person who knew how to tell. The leader of the future will be a person who knows how to ask.

Peter Drucker, 1993

You are people who know how to ask, and how to learn.

You are the leaders of the future.Rebecca Jones

Let me know how you are doing!

Rebecca JonesDysart & Jones Associates

32 Apple Orchard PathThornhill, Ontario, CA L3T 3B6905/731-5836 Fax: 905/731-5411

rebecca@dysartjones.com