Patti Cotton

Executive Coach & Career Strategist

business coaching

Taking Your Manifesto to Work

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Taking Your Manifesto to Work

Part III of Making Your Leadership Work

Is your leadership only in your head? You should be taking your manifesto to work.

Here’s a pet peeve of mine: anything that sounds great in theory, but doesn’t teach you how to use it.

This is especially true of leadership. There’s a lot of “feel good” stuff out there and heady theory about what leadership is, who you ought to be, and how it should work.

But what do you do with this?

Unless you can apply your knowledge practically, on the job, knowledge is not power, contrary to the old adage. You just walk around thinking about it and living off the warm and fuzzy feelings that thinking about leading can generate.

You and your leadership will just sit in your head.

How do you fix this?

You learn how to make the powerful connections that put your knowledge to work.

The power in possessing knowledge is always the same, whether it’s learning how to lead or perfecting your backstroke in the swimming pool.

You have to practice. You actually have to take your knowledge and apply it to learn how to master it.

So when it comes to your leadership manifesto – your beliefs as to who you are as leader, what is important, and how you intend to act on these beliefs, there’s a big hole.

And it’s taking your manifesto to work – seeing how it can make significant change.

How do you do that?

Well, first you must have developed your leadership manifesto. If you haven’t crafted your manifesto, click here.

And then, you need to put your manifesto to work by defining the impact it can make on the enterprise. This powerful visioning will serve as your inspiration for all you do.

To do this, you’ll need a piece of paper and pen or pencil. And then…

  • Position the paper so that it is in “landscape” mode.
  • Draw lines to make three columns on the paper.
  • Across the top, your column headers will be (left to right): “Manifesto Statement,” “The Enterprise,” and “The Transformation”
  • In the left-hand column, under the heading “Manifesto Statement,” list out the key statements from your manifesto.
  • Across from each statement in the “Manifesto Statement” column, and under the heading “The Enterprise,” write how the enterprise can be positively affected because of the statement.
  • Example: If your manifesto statement reads, “Leadership is not so much about technique and methods as it is about opening the heart,” then across from that, your statement about how it can affect the enterprise might be, “We have created a culture that cares and is involved.”
  • Across from each statement in the middle column, “The Enterprise,” list the resulting transformation in “The Transformation” column. “My employees are more creative and engagement, resulting in a superior product.”

Here it is so that you can see the relationship between your leadership manifesto and how you can impact the enterprise.

 

Manifesto Statement The Enterprise Transformation
Leadership is not so much about technique and methods as it is about opening the heart. We have created a culture that cares and is involved. Our employees are more creative and engaged, resulting in a superior product.

 

Continue with each statement from your manifesto until you have exhausted the list. As you review your paper, congratulate yourself. You have just outlined the impact that your unique leadership can have on the enterprise – and the world.

Once you have defined the unique impact you can make with your leadership, you will identify those strategies that will best support this intended impact, and then, the actions necessary to effectuate them.

How will you put your leadership manifesto to work?

How to Create Your Leadership Manifesto

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 How to Create Your Leadership Manifesto

Part II of Making Your Leadership Work

Does your leadership count, or are you just the next “suit in a seat” in a succession of many?

If you want to make a significant impact on the world around you, you need to take a stand.

It’s time to revisit your leadership manifesto.

Don’t have one? It’s time to craft yours.

A manifesto is a declaration of principles that include your:

  • Intentions – what actions you intend to take
  • Key beliefs – your stance on things
  • Vision – the world as you wish to see it

There are a few reasons formulating your leadership manifesto is important.

It’s a formidable exercise in authenticity.

Authoring your manifesto forces you to identify your most important beliefs – a “stop and think” exercise for most of us. Then, it requires that you create a powerful vision in response to these beliefs, and to outline your intentions about how to create the change. If you think about it, this is a formidable exercise in stating who you are and what is important to you above all.

It brings focus to your work.

Your manifesto brings tremendous focus, helping you to reflect on what aligns – and what does not – in your work and life.

It helps you to stay the course in turbulent times.

Your manifesto serves as a GPS, supporting your ability to move toward your vision, even in the midst of significant challenges.

Ready to craft your leadership manifesto? Sit in a quiet place and reflect on the questions below. Many executives with whom I work go through these questions twice. During the first round, they answer the questions in the context of life; during the second round, they relate it to the workplace.

  1. I believe in ____
  2. I want to live in a world where ____
  3. Here is what I know for sure: _____
  4. The one problem I want to solve during my life _____
  5. The changes the world will see as a result ______
  6. What is at stake here is ______
  7. I will show the world ____

As you review your answers, what becomes clear for you? And what, in your life and work, needs to change?

Lead or Manage? Why You Need to Do Both

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To Lead or Manage is the Wrong Question: You Need to Do Both

Part I. Making Your Leadership Work

To lead or manage? This is the wrong question – you need to do both.

The differences between managing and leading are crucial, and you will find a lot of material on the subject.

But the comparisons imply that leadership is preferable to management, and that in order to be a leader, you must leave the managing to others.

This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

When you manage, you should also be leading in order to be at your most effective. And when you are leading, you absolutely have to manage, as well.

What are the key differences, and how do you make them work together?

Leading focuses on taking the enterprise into the future, creating followership through influence in order to meet the vision, mission, and objectives of the enterprise. Managing focuses on the work at hand, ensuring that the necessary pieces work well together to meet the vision, mission, and objectives of the enterprise.
Attributes of leading include:               Attributes of managing include:
  • Create and share vision
  • Inspire change
  • Imagine possibilities
  • Lead forward, setting direction
  • Anticipate trends
  • Coach and mentor talent for culture and succession planning
  • Ability to think abstractly
  • Ability to articulate and influence
  • Ensure goals and objectives are being met
  • Understand how the work gets done in an organization
  • Accountable to team
  • Ability to teach and mentor
  • Ability to monitor and interpret data, outcomes
  • Self-discipline
  • Direct others
  • Provide input

As you review these two lists and make your own comparisons, where are you? Can you see that, if you are to be most effective, you will actually need to be able to do both?

How to Botch a Critical Conversation: A Brief Checklist

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How to Botch a Critical Conversation: A Brief Checklist
Image Credit: Shutterstock

All of us have walked away at least once in our lives from a conversation, saying, “Boy, I really blew that one!”

But a lot of times, we do it without realizing it.

What should you watch for, so that you can head off disaster?

If you find yourself in a conversation with any of the following thoughts or behaviors…think again!

  1. They can’t tell you anything you don’t already know.

    You have crowned yourself the Knowledge Expert on this topic. You are comfortable allowing the other person to speak, although you may find you want to interrupt frequently. After all, once they receive the wealth of information you hold, they will see the light. Right?

  2. Assume you know best.

    This is somewhat different than #1 – you may not have all the information, but you consider yourself a wise individual who will gather the information from your conversation partner, and then decide what should be done with it, tell the other person what to do. Hmmm…

  3. This is a chance to get your personal agenda passed.

    You get excited, realizing you can work this particular conversation around to something you need personally. It may be a decision, a favor, or something else – but you are ready to be a willing listener and supporter so that you can work this around to your own goal. It’s okay if the conversation goes a bit off topic if it leads to yours.

  4. Don’t ask questions.

    Assume you have enough information from your conversation partner, during the first round in the discussion, to make an informed decision. Further, you can guess what they are going to say, and you are busy formulating your answer while they are still speaking. Ugh.

  5. Ask too many questions.

    Here, you’ve determined you know what the topic is, and you zero in on the details “rapid-fire” style while the other person is still attempting to share. You figure you appear interested, so you continue your interrogation. Do you wonder why people abandon their conversations with you before finishing? Hmmm…

Do you or someone you know identify with any of these? If so, it’s time to do some “deep listening.” Conversation is much more enjoyable when you realize that you not only don’t know all there is to know about a subject, but that your conversation partner can bring valuable, new things to the table that can widen your perspective and open up new vistas for you.

Want to know more about deep listening?

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Coaching Your New Manager

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Coaching Your New Manager

5 Paradigm Shifts to Help Them Win

Onboarding and training a first-time manager requires time, money, and energy. Some of you have sent your new hire to “first-time manager training” or boot camps, and others have thrown this budding talent into the deep end, figuring they are smart enough to swim.

But what happens when the initial onboarding and training have taken place? Now it is up to you. You as leader must help them to step into management-level thinking and execution so that they can begin to excel in the job to which you have promoted them.

Why should you do this? You hired this person because of their talent, and you simply need them to apply it in this new job. But the skills that helped them excel in their former role are not what will make them successful now.

Managing people and an area of responsibility is much different than simply performing one’s own work.

So stakes are high. And if you ignore this, it will cost you 6-9 months of the new first-time manager’s salary to replace him or her.

How do you help your first-time manager succeed quickly?

How do you show the company that you have a reputation for selecting great talent and that you are not simply adding to the budget burden?

Some leaders ignore the period after the “hire honeymoon,” moving on to other priorities. They are happy they have this new talent to help out in the department – to lift and shift some responsibilities so that the team operates at greater levels. A leader that does this has hopefully clarified the new role with their new hire, and they have even given the first-time manager a set of goals to meet.

Such a leader figures that if there is a problem in the future, the new manager should either figure it out, or seek advice.

This is short-sighted.

Not only do 60% of new managers fail in the first 12-18 months, most of the time it is not their fault. It is due, most times, to a lack of clarity, direction, resources, and coaching to help them develop management skills. And that’s something over which you have control.

Yes, after the “honeymoon period” of onboarding and initial training is over, it’s time for you to start coaching the first-time manager.

Where do you start?

You can actually help this new hire to speed-dial their management-level thinking to help them make the shift from a narrow, task-oriented world to a broader one of overseeing an area of responsibility and managing people.

You see, thinking governs the way we make decisions and take actions. It dictates the way we see our external world and how we will then approach it. And moving from being responsible for a set of assigned tasks and projects to supporting a team and holding these team members accountable for doing the same is very different!

So how do you help them begin to develop management-level thinking? You can begin by helping them shift some common, self-limiting language patterns to supportive new ones.

Here are the top 5 negative language patterns heard just this week, and how you can gently correct them.

1. From “We can’t because…” to “How can we…?”

A first-time manager cannot necessarily see a larger picture because they have operated within their own former role’s confines and have not been exposed to more. Encourage them to think about possibilities. Ask them the following: “If we could do that thing you are talking about, what are 2-3 ways we might handle it?” Encourage your new hire to be curious by asking how something might be possible, instead of prematurely pronouncing quick judgment.

2. From “I have a problem – what should I do?” to “I’ve identified a problem and have a couple of suggestions as to what we might do…”

A first-time hire wants to look competent by avoiding making mistakes, so they may run to you for answers when they should be thinking about possible solutions, first. Tell your new hire that as a human, they are sure to make mistakes – that everyone does. Tell them it’s more important to you that they begin to bring possible solutions to you so that the two of you can think through best strategy. This relieves you of having to think for two people, and develops their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

3. From “They’re just that way…” to “This is what I’d like to see…”

Teach your first-time manager to fight bias where other employees are concerned. Instead of allowing them to vilify the employee under discussion, ask your new hire to describe the desired behavior or action they would like to see, instead. Then talk about how they might hold the employee accountable for that. By doing this, you are coaching your first-time manager to take a coaching approach, as well.

4. From “I know I don’t know much, but…” to “One way to approach this is if we…”

In an effort to remain humble or not to appear arrogant or smug, your first-time manager may self-deprecate when offering an opinion. Self-deprecating language is undermining and can actually appear as false modesty. Encourage your new hire to drop all apologetic language and to offer opinions as possibilities. “One way to approach this is if we explore XYZ – what do you think?” is a safe means of offering an opinion while your first-time hire is developing confidence.

5. From “I” to “We.”

This is perhaps one of the most important shifts your first-time manager will need to make. Instead of seeking affirmation for their individual efforts, they need to begin seeing success as a collective effort and acknowledging the team. This point is so important that you may want to have a dedicated conversation around it. Share your own experience. Did you once fall on your face when in that same new position, by trying to “show your stuff with “I” language?” Tell them. Let them know that we all have to learn this at one point – it’s part of growth.

When you coach your first-time manager into management-level thinking, eliminating self-limiting language patterns will help them to replace self-imposed limitations and to model a forward-thinking approach for the entire team.

By the way, if you take these tips and put them to work, not only are you coaching management-level thinking, but you are also helping your first-time manager to reshape their entire approach to work and life. Coaching someone to widen their perspectives and to develop the ability to vision beyond the present is a great gift.

Have you ever had a first-time manager that exhibited defeating language? What would you have liked to hear, instead?

What impact are you having in life and business?
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Patti Cotton helps executives optimize their effectiveness in leading self, others, and the enterprise. Her areas of focus include confidence, leadership style, executive presence, effective communication, succession planning, and masterful execution. With over 25 years of leadership experience, both stateside and abroad, Patti works with individuals, teams, and organizations across industries, providing executive coaching, leadership development, succession planning, change, and conflict management. She is also a Fortune 500 speaker. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.