Transitioning to leadership & management roles

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SLA Conference 2012

Transitioning to Leadership & Management

Rebecca Jones Dysart & Jones Associates [email protected] 905.731.5836

SLA Annual Conference 2012

Focus for today

Transi'oning Role

Tendencies Planning Mo'va'ng Environment

What you will be tomorrow, you are becoming today.

Jim Clemmer

ì  Form follows func'on

ì  Roles dictate the skills required

ì  Skills can only be learned through prac'ce

ì  We will discuss skills

ì  You will learn these on the job

New managers need to know:

ì  How to assert themselves as leaders today when they were colleagues yesterday.

ì  How to determine priori'es.

ì  How to manage “up”.

ì  That people come first…if staff isn’t on board, you will never succeed.

ì  How to get the point across – now.

ì  That the world will not end if they delegate.

ì  That poli'cs are all about rela'onship building.

ì  That balancing needs and expecta'ons with realis'c budgets can only be learned on the job.

ì  That doing too much will ul'mately become too much.

From CEO’s & managers in a variety of settings.

Transition ToolKit

Managing & Leading

Role

Commun- ication

Motivating Environment

Learning

Planning

Politics

Some favourite sources:

u  Harvard Business Review blog www.hbr.org

u  Hill, Linda. Becoming a Manager. Harvard, 2003

u  Sheldon, Brooke. Interpersonal Skills, Theory & PracQce

u  Mintzberg & Gosling, “Five Minds of a Manager” HBR Nov 2003

u  Managers Toolkit: The 13 Skills Managers Need to Succeed.

Harvard, 2004.

u  Watkins, Michael. The First 90 Days: CriQcal Success Strategies for

New Leaders. Harvard, 2003

u  Ury, William. Power of a PosiQve No: How to say NO and SQll get to

YES

ì Role

Mintzberg on Managers’ Role

Self

Relationships

Organization Contexts

Change

ì

Role

Contexts

Rela'onships Tendencies

The First 90 Days

ì  Personal disciplines: ì  Plan to plan ì  Defer commitment ì  Schedule 'me for priority goals ì  Go to the balcony to review

situa'on ì  Use transparent processes ì  Reflect on how you’re doing ì  Take breaks ì  Build & maintain rela'onships

Research by Michael Watkins

Furious ac*vity is no subs*tute

for understanding.

H.H Williams

Establish, impart & implement a vision & strategies that make your organiza'on indispensable

Create & maintain a produc've &

mo'va'ng work environment

Embrace ambiguity

Critical Skills

There -‐ simple enough?

As management

ì  Your current role incorporates leadership, management & supervision

ì  You do things with people, not to people

ì  You work up, down, across & beyond the organiza'on

ì  You are responsible for strategies, ini'a'ves & implementa'on

“Leaders do not sit in the stands and watch…….or subs*tute for the players. Leaders coach. They demonstrate what is important by how they spend their *me, by the priori*es on their agenda, by the ques*ons they ask, by the people they see, the places they go, and the behaviors and results that they recognize & reward.”

The Leadership Challenge

Kouzes & Posner

When new leaders falter it’s usually because they “concentrate on doing more of what they have done to succeed…they typically spend too little time cultivating

important relationships, especially with their bosses.”

Almost Ready: How Leaders Move Up, Harvard Business Review, January 2005

Your boss role?

Manage the management relationship

Don’t blame predecessors or the past No surprises for superiors Nego'ate – expecta'ons, 'me l i n e s , a p p r o a c h e s , resources

Regular, effec've interac'ons to understand their: ▫  Percep'on of the situa'on ▫  Style & strengths ▫  Preferred communica'on mode

Draa a situa'on analysis within first 3 weeks as discussion framework for goals & sebng expecta'ons

Tendencies

ì  Understand how you see the world, and how the world tends to see you

ì  Myers-‐Briggs ì  Keirsey ì  DISC ì  Birkman ì  Strengths-‐Finder

Context

To “lead” means to take a library, a unit, a program, a service or a project from where it is today to where it needs to be in the future to be or con'nue to be successful

The library or unit’s context is what is doing today, what is happening around it in its community & beyond, and what it wants to do tomorrow

• Be clear on where you are • Be clear on where you are headed • Be clear on the ‘influencing factors’ for the library & the unit • Keep the context in front of everyone

Establish the context

To “lead” means you want to go forward: ì  decide where ì  draa the framework ì  determine the “givens” ì  describe it in simple terms ì  Involve the team -‐ their input, ideas & details ì  make it real

Clarify:

ì  What does your manager expect? ì  What do they expect you to

“deliver” in 3 months? ì  6 months? 12 months?

ì  How will they define success for you? What will success look like from their view point?

ì Planning

ì  To plan anything effec'vely you must know: ì  What you want ì  What you’ve got ì  Barriers and accelera'on points that may impact your journey

between the two states

ì  Formally & consciously let go of what you were doing and the professional or func'onal exper'se you relied on

ì  “Promote yourself”

ì  Mentally move yourself from colleague or individual contributor to agenda seger

ì  Develop or re-‐develop rela'onships with boss(es), colleagues and staff

Successful moves are

planned

Start by clarifying your role

1. Iden'fy the differences between your old and new posi'ons:

2. Iden'fy the similari'es between your old and new posi'ons:

And how you will fulfill & succeed in that role

3. What strengths and skills have made you successful in the past?

4. Which of these strengths and skills can you con'nue to draw on?

5. What skills do you need to develop?

Your individual plan

What do you need to

stop doing? What do you need to

continue?

What do you need to start doing?

Smart plans rely on smart goals

SMART goals: ì  Specific ì  Measurable ì  Acceptable ì  Realis'c ì  Timed

Must be written

Establishing Goals: be smart

“By July 20th, iden*fy the 4 cri*cal issues impac*ng the group that need to be addressed before year end.”

“By August, develop a plan for implemen*ng group collabora*on tools in business development”

“By November, 100% of staff will have received training in the collabora*on tools”

Focus on the goal

ì  Most common error of new leaders is failure to focus

ì  Focus on 2 or 3 cri'cal areas

ì  Iden'fy wins that: ì  Enable you to learn about the

func'on or group ì  Build credibility for both you and

the group ì  Mager to management ì  Are doable in the culture

Goals are decisions

Discipline means choices. Every *me you say yes to a goal or objec*ve, you say no to many more.

Sybil Stanton

Establishing goals

ì  What are your goals for the next 6 – 12 months? ì  Refer back to worksheet #1; if there are skills you need to develop,

include them in your goal-‐sebng

Goal

What will be in place then, that isn’t in place

today?

Measures What will success look

like?

Target Date Steps

ì Politics

"The art of bringing people together to get the right things done.”

Donna Scheeder, Deputy CIO Congressional Research Service, former Director of Congressional Law Library, former Director of Congressional Research and Past-President of SLA

Successful politicking

ì  Understand the process by which decisions are made and strategize appropriately.

Successful politics

ì  Consider that political alliances are really coalitions

ì  What coalitions does your boss have?

ì  Identify the “sources of power” for and in the library: ì  Expertise? ì  Status? ì  Control of resources? ($?

Rewards?)

Politicking

1.  How well do you understand the politics of your parent organization (how decisions are made, how things “get done”)?

Politicking

2. Use the chart below to identify the key stakeholders for you and your organization (the organization for which you are responsible), and your current relationship with them

Name Don’t know them Know, but have never conversed

Know well and can approach at

any time

Politicking

4. What are the first 2 steps you can take to better understand and manage within your organization’s politics?

ì Motivating Environments

Start at the beginning

ì  Most problems within organiza'ons are the result of people:

ì  not understanding where they are going ì  how their job fits ì  what’s expected of them

ì  Forget the 3 R’s; concentrate on the 3 C’s:

ì  Context ì  Communica'on ì  Clarity

85/15 Rule

Context, Communication, Clarity

To link people & what they do to the {library} business strategy & vision requires connec*ng the dots for people. It means making sure that people understand how they can contribute, that they are able to contribute, that they have the right informa*on when they need it so they can contribute& that they’ll benefit from the results they produce.

The Leadership SoluQon, Jim Shaffer

Keep the windshield clean

Create a positive pull within the context

Your context sebng should address 4 things for your team: 1. Why they should want to be in your

organiza*on 2. Why customers should want to do

business with you 3. Why this is the most exci*ng

organiza*on to be connected with 4. What it “looks” like -‐ the details, as you

see them

Establish goals with team

ì  Within your organiza'onal structure, work with staff to establish expecta'ons and their goals

ì  Ensure their goals “support” achievement of your goals

ì  Ensure your goals “support” achievement of the organiza'on’s goals (your manager’s goals)

Motivating environments rely on communication

What you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear a word you are saying. Samuel Johnson

What gets in the way?

ì  History

ì  Human nature ì  Tendency is to try to understand the mo'ves, values & interpreta'ons

of those people we like

ì  What happens if we don’t like the person?

ì  Ask yourself: What must it be like for “x”, with their character & perspec*ves, to work

with or report to someone like me, with my character, drives & s*muli? “How to Mo*vate Your Problem People,”

by Nigel Nicholson in HBR January 2003, pp 57+

Motivating environments

Start with you

What are your strengths or energizers?

How does your job capitalize on these strengths?

What rewards are meaningful for you?

What’s the best way to coach you or provide you with feedback?

Motivating environments

Now talk with those you for whom you are responsible:

What are their strengths, talents & energizers?

How does – or how can their job capitalize on these?

What rewards are meaningful for them?

What’s the best way to coach them or provide them with feedback?

ì Delegating

Why aren’t we delegating?

Power

Training

Growth

Why delegate?

Reviewing your tasks & 'me allotment for the past 5 days:

1.  Are there areas where you need to delegate more?

2.  Are there areas where you need to involve others more?

Delegation: the process 1. What are you going to delegate?

ì  What’s the “deliverable”? ì  What’s it include/not include? ì  What’s the authority level? ì  What are the expecta'ons? Your expecta'ons? ì  What skills & knowledge are required?

3. Based on skills & knowledge required, who will you delegate this to? Why?

Delegation: the process

3. How will you discuss the assignment with the individual, and why you are assigning it to them?

4. Develop an outline of the assignment together (use the framework ques'ons 1 – 2); use your ac've listening and paraphrasing skills – checking for understanding of the end result, parameters, authority.

5. Agree to check-‐in points at which you will coach the employee. Emphasize that the employee can come to you or others for help. Express confidence.

6. Inform others that the individual will be learning the assignment & responsible from here on in.

Transition ToolKit

Managing & Leading

Role

Commun- ication

Motivating Environment

Learning

Planning

Politics

Managing yourself

When a you make a decision or take a key ac'on, write down what you expect will happen (what success will look like), and keep going back to it – in 3, 6, 9 months – to measure where you are

ì  Adapted from Peter Drucker, “Managing Oneself” Harvard Business Review, January 2005, p 102

ì

Keep a Red Sheet and a Green Sheet

Know your preferences, motivational needs, stressors & values

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NOT URGENT URGENT

IMP

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IMP

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T Priori'es

Moving forward

1.  What will success look like for me in 12 months?

2. What personal disciplines or skills do I need to develop to ensure I do what I can to work towards that success?

You are all leaders

The leader of the past was a person who knew how to tell. The leader of the future will be a person who knows how to ask.

Peter Drucker, 1993

You are people who know how to ask, and how to learn.

You are the leaders of the future.

Rebecca Jones

Let me know how you are doing!

Rebecca Jones Dysart & Jones Associates 32 Apple Orchard Path

Thornhill, Ontario, CA L3T 3B6 905/731-‐5836 Fax: 905/731-‐5411

[email protected]

Transitioning to leadership & management roles

Business

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