Managing Up? What is it and why is it a double-edged sword?
I have occasionally described specific people I have worked with as ‘managing up’ well.
And when I refer to this skill, I’m generally not thinking positive things.
Managing Up?
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We coach, develop and work alongside leaders and teams to shift ideas on leadership and provide the skills and tools needed to grow teams.
Leadership 101. Seek genuine feedback.
“I’d like to share with you something I discovered by chance when I was teaching Leadership to managers across a range of sectors and businesses.
One day, in a programme I taught repeatedly, I decided to ask a series of questions related to receiving Feedback and see what happened.”
Stop the blame game being played in your team
We know that for teams to maximise the potential of their diversity, they need to regularly use techniques like perspective getting, encouraging contribution, group brainstorming and collaborative problem solving. But none of those practices works particularly well without high levels of psychological safety.
Do You Experience FEEDBACK FEAR?
If you dread these words… ‘Can I give you some Feedback?’ you are perfectly normal not super sensitive. Most of us are at least somewhat fearful of getting Feedback.
Do you like to be appreciated?
OK, I’m going to start this off by saying ‘I do!’
I like positive feedback. I like to know that my work or my relationships add value to others. That doesn’t mean I only want positive feedback, but it really helps to know that (and why) I am appreciated.
And I think all people find that genuine appreciation motivating, (even if at times little embarrasing).
Too much feedback is just a bad thing
I am a leadership coach.
As part of setting up a new coaching relationship, I often have a set-up meeting with the coachee and their manager. During this ‘three-way’ meeting I ask the manager to outline what they would like their direct report to use the coaching to focus on.
How did it go? Debriefing – one of our best coaching moments.
“That went well! – I bet we’ll hear from them today!” two reps celebrate as they ride a lift down from a prospective customer’s office.
A manager challenges one of her colleagues: “I’m not sure what happened there. I think she may have taken your comments as a bit blunt. I’ll speak with her and let you know. ”
Are you a micromanager? Perhaps it’s time to find out!
Answer: It depends how often you engage, what you talk about, and how much directing you do with your people.
Precaution: I have never met a person that agreed they were a micromanager, that didn’t also rationalise what they were doing as being a good thing for several, or many reasons. Most micromanagers do what they do with the best of intentions.
Introverted? Do you get overwhelmed or talked over in team discussions?
When facilitating team workshops or meetings we typically see at least one or two team members who don’t seem to contribute much.
A big ugly elephant in your team meeting? How do we talk about the unspoken?
What do we mean by ‘a big ugly elephant in the room?’. We mean those things that teams tend to avoid speaking openly about. You know, things like…
Shifting The Team Towards Collaborative Decision Making
Teams often do two things that get in the way of good and efficient decision making:
#1 They talk for too long without being clear of the point of the discussion
#2 They rely heavily on the leader of the team to make most of the calls.
How Good Is Your Team At Solving Problems?
Teams often miss the opportunity to genuinely collaborate because they enter into discussions without clarity of what the discussion is for and how the discussion should proceed to get the most from the time together.
Getting Value From Your Recent Team Day
Like most of us, you will be really busy just coping with your daily mountain of work.Of course, when you hear an idea that can help you improve how you tackle that work, you take notice and maybe get inspired.
Leadership and Trump – what can we learn?
Like many others, and particularly US ex-pats, I’ve been watching the events unfold from the US election. A bit of background: My father was a career US diplomat
Is your Leadership team a team, a group, a gang or a mob?
We often ask leadership teams to review themselves against these four groupings.
At this point we introduce the Katzenbach & Smith definition of a team: