The Cranky Middle Manager Show #311 Serial Innovators Claudio Feser
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #232 Resilient Managers with Adam Alexander
Posted on 29. Mar, 2010 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Today’s managers need to be more resilient than ever, just to keep the weasels at bay. Join host Wayne Turmel and his special guest Adam Alexander of Masteryworks as we look at resilience and how to develop it. Also we look at Greek drama and Chinese quotations. Another cosmopolitan show. Of course, a Cosmopolitan might make dealing with the junk at work a little easier too….
adamalexander
Today’s guest Adam Alexander.
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Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show. Hopefully you’ve had the resilience to go to work yet another day. Today we dedicate the show to the Greek poet and playwright Sophocles and his two plays Ajax and Philocthetes. Some folks make it through the day, some fall on their swords.
4:27 The quote of the week is from Confucius, or so I’m told. How often do you get back up after getting knocked down?
5:03 Welcome Adam Alexander of Masteryworks. Resiliency is a combination of adaptability, flexibility and strength of purpose. No one said this was going to be easy.
7:47 It’s really hard to look at the busy work and drudgery as strength of purpose. How does your contribution fit into the big picture?
9:08 Resiliency comes from confidence- which is great if you have confidence to start with. What’s the difference between bravado and true internal confidence.
11:21 Confidence can be impacted by how old you are and what gender you are. Women are less confident than men but more resilient…which makes sense because they have to put up with men.
15:00 How can a manager tell who is truly resilient and who is just putting on a good show? They are usually less productive and really resistant to change.
17:49 Often we try to delegate to develop people and it backfires because they don’t succeed. You build resilience through failure and the ability to navigate that as well. You have to delegate effectively and let people know where to get help.
20:04 Finding help is more than just mentor/mentee. In fact reverse mentoring might help bridge gaps between generations as well.
Adam’s Resources
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The Cranky Middle Manager Show #231 Do More Great Work – Michael Bungay Stanier
Posted on 18. Mar, 2010 by Wayne in General
Today Wayne Turmel talks to Michael Bungay Stanier about his book “Do More Great Work” which is not about doing more work so relax. We also talk about poets, writing emails with goose feathers and Aristotle drags his dusty carcass back to harass us.
Michael Bungay Stanier stops by to talk about doing More Great Work
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Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show. We dedicate this show about doing great work to someone who created a Great Work (even if I hated it) John Milton. Creating a magnum opus with a quill requires a lot more work and thought than most of us can even dream of, but there’d be a lot less horrendous email if we had to do with with a goose feather.
3:47 The quote of the week is from Aristotle. Excellence is a habit and it’s not something you have it’s something you do- and do- and do. Wish I could tell you it was easy.
4:26 Welcome Michael Bungay Stanier to the show. He’s going to tell us how to do more great work and stop the busy work. Of course, we’re both Canadians with different accents, living in different countries and still clinging to Canuckness. Work falls into 3 categories: Bad Work, Good Work and Great Work. Where do you spend your time?
6:24 We can’t avoid Bad Work entirely. Sometimes it’s just gotta be done, but how can you tell the difference and how much effort do you want to put into Bad Work? Good Work is never ending and we could spend all our working life here and never get to the end of it. Who has time for Great Work?
8:28 Sometimes it seems like we either have way too much work, or we’re unemployed. How do you find the middle ground? You need 3 things: Focus, Courage and Resilience . Focus isn’t an easy thing to achieve and most of us don’t do it very well and your brain isn’t designed for it. Oh good.
12:37 There’s a really important point to be made here: We’re not just talking about doing our work great, we’re talking about doing Great Work. We are capable of delivering drivel at a very high standard. Great Work may not be done quite as well. Irony, thy name is middle management. Oh, and most of what we do needs to be done well but not perfectly. Deal with it.
16:36 Michael spends a lot of his time helping people be creative, because that’s where Great Work comes from. He gives us a couple of tips including a great question- “and what else?”.
21:14 It takes courage to do Great Work and keep going. Too many of us are too timid in the work that we do. Being beaten about the head and ears psychically will do that to you.
23:54 One of the contributors to Michael’s book is Tim Hurson and he share some great tips.
Michael’s Resources
TED.com a collection of 18 minute talks from brilliant people
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #230 The Project Management Minimalist Mike Greer
Posted on 07. Mar, 2010 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Today Wayne Turmel visits Mike Greer, The Project Management Minimalist to uncover how much project management is just enough? Do we need big certifications? When does it help and when is it overkill? Also we look at a Chinese emperor and a Russian composer, all in the name of keeping our sanity and keeping the weasels at bay.
Mike Greer helps us understand "Just Enough Project Management" to get the job done
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Show Notes
0:00 Welcome all managers, whether project managers or just regular old managers. Today we look at Project Management and how much do you really need to know to be functional. As a result we dedicate this episode to the Chinese Emperor Qin Shih Huang a man who knew a thing or two about starting huge projects, although not a big fan of continuous learning and development.
4:51 The quote of the week is from Igor Stravinsky How do you view constraints? Are they barriers to success or opportunities to focus and excel? Just asking.
5:40 Please welcome Mike Greer to the show. The man actually listens to this show so I don’t know what kind of credibility hit he takes for that. Also, what kind of madman thinks we should learn just enough project management instead of becoming an expert? PM is not an end in itself, most of us do it to achieve what we really want to do. It can kill the fun, if you let it.
8:55 Most of us are not doing multi-million dollar projects with multiple parts. There are some basics you can learn to just get on with the job. Let the smart PMs develop the tools, and you can learn them without getting a degree.
12:45 The first thing you want to do is in fact make sure it’s a project. Define it, and find out who cares about it from upper Management. You want to get a “Project Charter” and find all the stakeholders.
15:00 How do you break the project down into the right task descriptions? You need to figure out who does what with which and to whom. You need a “high-res” project plan.
19:37 When you’re building in a timeline, don’t forget to build in time for input and people sticking their nose into your business. Be realistic, not overly optimistic. Stakeholders are like puppies in the yard- watch your roses.
22:00 How do you balance being a micromanager and just knowing what’s going on? Get the team’s participation and buyin into the communication plan to start with.
25:11 At what point does certification like PMI/PMP certification make sense? Does your career path depend mainly on doing projects, or your expertise in your area of focus? Do you want to do projects across fields, then you should look into certification.
Mike’s Resources
Check out Michaelgreer.biz for articles, podcasts and other stuff