Where are the Natural Born Managers?
World's Best Boss, Michael Scott
Everybody wants to be the boss, but nobody wants to be bossy. We’ve all dealt with the dictatorial committee chair, the micromanaging department head, or the clueless director, and walked away thinking, “when I’M in charge, I’ll never act that way!” And while its great to have both good and bad examples to guide a growing leadership style in the right direction, you can’t have it both ways–being in charge means just that. So take charge!
Recently I’ve seen a spate of people refusing to take control of their own teams, or to make decisions on even simple issues like meeting times. In every instance, it was fear of conflict that lead to the hesitation. Leadership that involves managing projects and people doesn’t have to equal confrontation, but if you aren’t confident in your leadership skills and management style, it’s a real possibility.
It’s a major simplification, but at its heart Leadership=Delegation+Follow Up. Unfortunately I’m guilty of both failing to delegate because I don’t trust other people to execute, and being too polite to follow-up as needed because I don’t want to offend. What I’ve learned however that none of these successful attitudes, for me or the other people involved. Rather than focusing on attitudes and feelings, focus on actions. Set deadlines. Arrange meetings and follow ups with those who can’t attend (or arrive late) as needed. Then stick to them.
This goes against the grain for a lot of us. It’s a shame that many in management positions have never received any formal training. Many people are actually proud of that fact, oblivious to the fact while there are lots of natural-born leaders, natural-born managers are much more rare. There’s no excuse for not learning some effective management techniques–employers offer them, bookstores are full of great resources, and the web has tons of tools. One of my favorites is Manager-Tools.com, (@managertools on Twitter) including their detailed podcasts. Listen to it on the way to work and apply the techniques. Your team and peers will thank you.
