The Cranky Middle Manager Show #085 (MP3 MB 31:23Min)

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Welcome to the 85th edition of the Cranky Middle Manager. Today we take a look at the “how-tos” of some of the high-falutin’ leadership talk we’ve been doing lately. Wally Bock, listener and all around good egg has a great blog called Three Star Leadership

If you want the tip card he talks about in the interview, click here. Almost every week there’s something cool you can get from this show- we aim to please.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. Today’s episode is dedicated to Nanautzin the Aztec god of humble bravery. If you don’t have a deity of choice, he’d be a good one for any manager to adopt.

2:40 The quote of the week (the first of 2 cool quotes this show) is from Abraham Lincoln. A manager’s gotta do what a manager’s gotta do.

5:00 Wally starts with a quote from the American writer Ring Lardner that basically says, you do the right things right and the odds are in your favor. Management ain’t easy, so why does he ( or any of us?) go through it and even actually like it?

8:50 Wally’s book, “Performance Talk: The One on One Part of Leadership” is a good one, and talks about the nuts and bolts of managing, not just the theory.

12:19 One of Wally’s big ideas is the sharing of ideas with others…just like this show. You learn from others, not from books. Leadership is an apprentice trade, you have to:

• Learn from people
• Practice, or at least try, it
• Get Feedback

You can get Wally’s tools and forms by simply emailing him at tipcards@threestarleadership.com

Interested in forming a manager’s round table for yourself? Here’s some info- go to it.

15:15 Managers have two jobs: 1) Accomplish the mission and 2) Care for your people.

You can coach your boss the same way you coach your people- feedback

17:14 We talk about controlled confrontation and the need for it. Have the kids today gotten more conflict averse? We have made confrontation a dirty word, but it’s essential to leadership and management. You confront your people, you confront your boss, you confront your peers and you’d better learn it when you’re young.

20:29 We promote people because they’re good at their job and not because they have the tools, aptitude or skills to do THAT job. You have to be willing to confront people, be willing and enjoy helping people, and be willing to make decisions.

22:00 The Prime Directive- Show Up A Lot. If you’re there all the time (even if you’re not physically there) good things happen. Another good term he coins- The Dinosaur Rule. The only way to kill a T Rex is when they’re in the egg. Wait til it grows up and you have a world of trouble on your hands…..

26:10 Here’s the practical, face-to-face stuff. There are three parts to setting up the conversation- describe the behavior or performance, tell them why it’s important (both logically and emotionally), then SHUT UP!

29:00 Good list of resources this week-

David Maister’s Blog: Passion, People and Principles by the way, you can hear David Maister’s interview on this show, Episode 41

Bob Sutton’s Blog

Peter Drucker’s The Effective Executive

More Bob Sutton, Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense

Seriously, check out the resources, check out Wally’s blog and website, and don’t let the weasels get you down.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 1st, 2007 at 11:10 pm and is filed under Podcast. 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.