The Cranky Middle Manager Show #312 The Future of the MBA Ken Starkey
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #229 Meetings that Align With Strategy Calloway and Young
Posted on 26. Feb, 2010 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Today Wayne Turmel talks to Joe Calloway and Kris Young about their book “Never by Chance- Aligning People and Strategy Through Intentional Leadership” and especially how meetings can align or detract from the task at hand. We also discuss a Roman Emperor with a tough facilitation gig and the usual silliness.
Joe Calloway
Kris Young
Don’t forget our “How to Create and Manage Remote Teams” webinar workshops.
For the March 22nd workshop click here to learn more and register
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we are talking aligning people and strategy. That happens -or doesn’t- most often in meetings. We’re talking today about meetings: what works, what doesn’t. So we dedicate this show to Emperor Constantine who had to facilitate one of the toughest meetings in history, the Council of Nicaea. Trying to launch a religion without a scope of work from the project sponsor makes any problems you or I have seem pretty minor.
3:46 The quote of the week is from TE Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia. Do you dream at night or in the daytime? One of those is infinitely more dangerous.
4:30 Welcome to Joe and Kris. The book is Never by Chance…but that’s how many managers got their jobs. If you’re going to do the job, though, do it on purpose and do it like you mean it.
6:30 Do people really understand what the strategy they’re supposed to implement even is? Ask yourself a simple question: Is what we are doing at this moment acting on our strategy? Can you even begin to answer that one? If the manager doesn’t build strategy, do we have to do that so deliberately?
11:30 Oops, apparently we have no excuses because even on the team and project level you can do this.Oh, and asking “is everyone okay with this?” isn’t going to get the job done. These are tough conversations to have, but you have to have them. Leadership has a high discomfort level.
14:27 We talk about culture a lot…but do you and your team understand what that means? Do you have a culture of truly saying what you mean?
16:00 The biggest complaint people have about their work is meetings. Kris gets a word in edgewise to talk about common mistakes. No big surprise it’s holding a meeting when you don’t know what you’re meeting for. Seems a no-brainer so why does it happen so darned often? I take Joe to task for something that sounds too good to be true. I could be wrong…..it’s been known to happen.
21:00 The format and setup of a meeting is important. Play with different formats like panel discussions rather than speech after speech.
30:55 The most important skill for leading a meeting is not talking or presenting- it’s listening. You have to hear what’s said and especially what’s not said. Trust me, it makes sense.
Resources
Check out Bizbash.com
Ted Talks are worth checking out for sure
Corporateevent.com
Steve Farber (check out his latest Cranky Interview here)
Mark Sanborn
Don’t let the weasels get you down!
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #228 Mojo with Marshall Goldsmith
Posted on 18. Feb, 2010 by Wayne in Podcast
Today Wayne Turmel talks to Marshall Goldsmith about his book “MOJO: How to Get It, How to Keep It,How to Get It Back If You Lose It” We also look at Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans and Henry David Thoreau. This is Marshall’s fourth visit with us, and the man keeps coming back for more.
Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is with us again to talk about his book MOJO and to help ours a little…..
How’s the mojo of your virtual team? Get a FREE copy of our white paper: 3 Reasons Virtual Teams Fail and How to See it Coming
Join us March 22nd for our “How to Create and Manage Remote Teams” webinar workshop.
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show once again. Today we talk about MOJO, and so we dedicate this to the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans- Marie Laveau who got her power less from dark powers than from actually listening and paying attention- lessons to the wise.
4:30 The quote of the week is from Henry David Thoreau. Whether you call it enthusiasm, mojo, flow or anything else without it you’re a dried husk of yourself.
5:20 Welcome back for the fourth time Dr. Marshall Goldsmith. He’s here to talk about Mojo, the subject of much discussion and blues songs. It’s the positive spirit towards what we’re doing now that starts inside and radiates outward. If any group needs to keep their mojo working it’s us.
7:20 We start out with good intentions, why do we lose our mojo? It’s because our default reaction is not to experience happiness or meaning…. it’s to stay in a state of inertia. We also find out that the world’s most famous executive coach has a coach- what’s your excuse?
11:15 Keeping your mojo in line is a discipline. Marshall talks about the Mojo Meter but it’s really two questions: 1) How happy was I (with what was going on) and 2) How meaningful was that (event, interaction)? You can measure both your professional mojo and personal mojo. Very rarely is one in line separate from the other.
13:30 Employee engagement is way down. Instead of having the company try to do it, what can each of us do for ourselves? We have responsibility for the suckage (my word, not Marshall’s).
15:10 Marshall takes a bit of a detour to the Checklist Manifesto and how a little humility would serve us well. He also tells a great story about the US Top Guns…. If it really WAS life and death, how humble would you be?
17:15 The four areas of mojo are Achievement, Identity, Reputation and Acceptance. Is your identity what you think it is and how does it impact your mojo? Your identity might be created, reflected or programmed? Bono is a great example.
20:00 A big part of all this is acceptance. If you can’t accept how things are, you have two choices: Change “it” or change you. Hard to get your mojo working if you fight battles you know you can’t win. Marshall challenges me on my whole mission in life. One of us has a better grip on things than the other. Guess which one is whom.
23:15 One last piece of advice if you feel your mojo slipping: focus on now. Not next week or next year. What can you do to increase happiness at this moment?
Marshall’s Resources
MOJO The Book (includes an app for Blackberry and iPhone)
Other Marshall Goldsmith Cranky Middle Manager Interviews:
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There (Cranky #79)
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #227 Unconscious Management- Ken Eisold
Posted on 09. Feb, 2010 by Wayne in General
Today Wayne Turmel talks to Ken Eisold about his book, “What You Don’t Know You Know-Our Hidden Motives in Life, Business and Everything Else”. We also look at the Roman poet Horace and complain about pretty much everything. Another typical Cranky Middle Manager Show.
Dr. Ken Eisold takes us on another brain-geek adventure into why people don’t do what we tell them to.
Don’t forget our FREE White Paper: 3 Reasons Virtual Teams Fail and How to See It Coming
Then help avoid trouble by signing up for “How to Create and Manage Remote Teams” February 22nd or March 22nd
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show everyone. Ever wonder why problems don’t magically solve themselves? Well we dedicate this show to Horace and the whole concept of the Deus Ex Machina … “God in the Machine” which is a lousy plot device (see the last 2o minutes of The Abyss if you don’t believe me) and makes no sense. The answer usually lies in the mind of the people we’re dealing with- hence our talk with a shrink today.
3:21 The quote of the week is also from Horace- adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would otherwise lay dormant. Cool thing to think about when adversity makes you want to freak out.
4:45 Welcome Dr Ken Eisold. What is the uncosncious and why should managers care about it? The answer to the question “what were you thinking” is more complicated than you think.
9:30 Remember that you (and they) are paying for the sins of whoever managed them before you got there. Don’t assume they work under the same assumptions you do. The way people think is not governed by rationality but by habit and past experience.
11:51 When we get data we often don’t process it, we just see how well it fits our mental picture of the world.
15:25 You have to check your assumptions. Married people know better than to take “fine” as an acceptable answer.
19:22 Three important concepts: Persona, Role and Identity. Everyone plays all 3…. it helps explain why we torture ourselves. I also get some free therapy, which is one of the perks of this show.
24:10 Guess what, not only do we have our own drama going on, but so does each person we work with. Do you understand their persona, role, etc? You have to work at questioning and understanding what they really think about what you’ve just told them.
27:30 Here’s a take-away: don’t take it personally. Resistance frequently has nothing to do with us personally…although EVERYTHING is about me personally, but that’s my drama to work with.
Ken’s Resources
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #226 Managing with Clean Language- Tomkins and Lawley
Posted on 02. Feb, 2010 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Today Wayne Turmel talks to Penny Tomkins and James Lawley about using “Clean Language”. Do people understand what you’re talking about? Can you really understand them when they tell you something? The psychology of metaphors is today’s topic. Also we look at a Russian general and I get to show off that I’ve read War and Peace. Just another day in the salt mines here at the Cranky Middle Manager Show.
James Lawley and Penny Tomkins are all about using “clean language”. They were recommended by friend of the show Bob Selden (hear his Cranky interview here).
For a FREE copy of “3 Reasons Virtual Teams Fail- and How to See It Coming” click here
Don’t forget our “How to Create and Manage Remote Teams” webinar workshops
For more information and to register click on February 22nd or March 22nd
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show all you Middle Managers and Steeler’s Wheel fans. Today we are talking about the psychology of management communication and so we dedicate this episode to Prince Pyotr Ivanovitch Bagration, one of the heros of Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Are you inspiring your team in the midst of chaos?
3:53 It seems only right that we quote Leo Tolstoy today, who knew a thing or two about human psychology even though he was mad as a hatter himself. Is your truth like gold?
4:32 Welcome to the first of a couple of shows focusing on the psychology of communication. Yes, more brain geekiness but that’s part of our charm here. Welcome Penny and James, authors of Metaphors in Mind: Transformation Through Symbolic Modelling . There’s actual real world value here, don’t let the title fool you.
7:32 Why is Clean Language such an important concept for managers? If people don’t understand you and vice versa all kinds of havoc erupts. Clean Language is a way of asking questions to avoid misunderstanding and making assumptions.
9:45 What part do metaphors play in the way we speak to each other. Research shows we use about 6 a minute… which works great if we all work from the same metaphor playbook- there’s another metaphor. Metaphors can be overt or more subtle.
13:22 Language is the constraint we have to work with, so what’s the problem? We don’t all interpret metaphors the same way. Rather than make assumptions- challenge them and ask questions.
17:55 The Psychological background of this is the work of David Grove and was used as a therapeutic technique. What kind of language and metaphors do you use? Military? Sports? Political? It’s not easy to get used to changing your language as I stupidly demonstrate during this conversation. Also I dare you to find another business podcast that uses the word “etymology”.
21:40 As we work in languages other than English, what madness does metaphor cause? It’s important that we think about metaphors people use… we discuss skinned teeth and hairy ears. Trust me, it’s relevant.
23:47 Bob Selden will be leading a workshop on Clean Language February 16th. Click here for more details.
25:30 check out their website at www.cleanlanguage.co.uk. There is lots of great information there including questions to ask. Among the best questions is:
- “and is there anything else?”
- “and what kind of _____ are you talking about”
- “and then what happened?”
This is not just active listening or paraphrasing. The purpose is not to demonstrate understanding but to help people understand themselves. Oh, and Star Trek is a teaching point on this. How’s THAT for geeky?
Resources and books
Look up Cognitive Linguistics for more…