I don’t like New Years- but as a symbol it’s hard to beat as a reason for reflection. This has been a great year for the show:

• We’ve tripled listenership since January of 06
• We got our first real sponsor ( a thousand blessings on the house and camels of Mindtools.com)
• We are getting amazing guests and your feedback on them has been terrific
• I have learned an incredible amount and I think I’m a better manager as a result

I’m even less of a fan of Mission, Vision and Value statements, but I think it’s a good time to repost something I wrote this time last year. What is the Cranky Middle Manager Show about? What are our guiding principles? Why do I put myself through this every week AND try to do the best job I can for my employers at Communispond?

Here then, is my yearly affirmation of why we do what we do here….

“… the firmest and most general ideas I have are those which have been born with me. They are naturally and wholly mine…since then I have established and fortified them by the authority of others and the sound arguments of the ancients with whom I found my judgment in agreement. These men have given me a firmer grip on my ideas and a fuller enjoyment and possession of them” Michel de Montaigne

Three Core Beliefs of the Cranky Middle Manager Show:

1) Like any walk of life, management can be a satisfying endeavour. You just can’t let the weasels get you down. Sometimes you need reminding of how to do it…and that there are others who feel the same way you do. Thousands of you, in fact. And bless you for listening and telling others.
2) You can’t manage to get out of bed in the morning, let alone a team of people, without a sense of mission and purpose. One guest after the other has talked about it… do you know your mission? I’m beginning to feel that this is mine…
3) There is nothing new under the sun, and the universal truths are as true now as they ever were. Sometimes we just need to be reminded of them. That’s what I learned while doing my book, and it’s why I love to revisit tales of ancient history- the tenets of leadership and management aren’t much different than they were for the Greeks or Egyptians. Imhotep would still kick tail whether he was the Pharaoh’s Grand Vizier or a high-potential at GE. Skills are skills.

Four Disciplines of Management:

Whether you’re an individual contributor facing that first management job, or an old-timer, there are 4 disciplines to master if you want to be a complete asset to your company and your team:

1) Business Acumen- do you know how a business operates and how every department in the company contributes to it? What’s happening in your industry? Nothing senior management does makes a darned bit of sense without this view. Sadly, much of it still won’t, but at least you’ll know why.
2) Leadership- Can you influence people constructively? Can you embody your mission and values in how you work with your customers, your team and those above you on the food chain? Are you an ethical leader while still doing the right things for your career and mental health?
3) Project and Process Management- understanding how to get things done, seeing the connections and finding ways to improve them are critical to your progress as an employee and sanity. Step one is learning the basics. Step 2 is knowing you don’t have to know the rest of the steps by yourself- just help your people identify them. We always reserve the right to get smarter.
4) Communication Skills. Nothing is more critical to your career than your ability to communicate. We only do it 4 ways, we read, we write, we speak and we listen. That’s it, no short cuts, no other way around it. How well do we do these things dictates how we’re viewed by everyone from our employees to our bosses to our spouses. You’ll usually get immediate feedback from only one of those, and it’s usually the person who we spend the least amount of time and conscious thought communicating with.

In 16 episodes and 18 months of doing this show, I’ve had a chance to hear a lot of people from around the world way smarter than myself. It’s allowed me to distill the core beliefs about what it means to be a modern middle manager.

What about you? Please post your thoughts..this is a work in progress. I look forward to more conversation about what we do and how we do it.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue to try and support the 3 key beliefs, and help myself-and you along with me- develop in the 4 disciplines of management.

Best wishes for a joyous new year.

Wayne

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 27th, 2006 at 12:59 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.