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Engineer to Leader
"Imagine engineers, technical managers, and executives
as effective with people as with technology"
STCerri International e-Zine
"Do you manage and lead for a sprint or a marathon?"
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http://www.stevencerri.com September 10, 2009 - E-zine #34
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Greetings!
Imagine being able to inspire, manage, and lead people effectively. What would that be like?
The reality is rather different. I am amazed at how many people do not understand how to manage or lead or inspire. I know that good managers and leaders are not born and I have to conclude that whatever training and experience people receive in an effort to become managers and leaders is of poor quality.
Most manages and leaders seem to have one speed, one way of moving through the world. They either manage and lead for a sprint or for a marathon. Unfortunately, most tasks, projects, and undertakings are a combination of both but most managers and leaders do not know how to "shift gears".
That is exactly why we find so few repeat entrepreneurs and so few successful managers and leaders who can change industry or environment or context and repeat their successes.
In fact, I know of a CEO who was very successful as the leader of a very large technology company and failed miserably as the leader of a small start-up. He famously said that he could manage any technical company because he understood technology.
Actually he failed to understand that the tools for success in a marathon are not the same as the tools for success in a sprint.
Read on to find out what I mean.
Be well, Steven Cerri P.S. Feel free to pass this e-Zine on to a friend. P.S.S. A reminder: I have two workshops scheduled in Colorado. For more information click: Steven's Colorado Workshops(Yes, I did have three workshops. I have canceled one because a company has asked me to conduct an on-site training on the day I had scheduled my third public workshop.)
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Manage and Lead for a Sprint or a Marathon or Both
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Do you manage for the sprint?...or ....
Do you manage for the marathon?... or ...
Do you manage for the race?
What is a sprint?
Imagine a Summer Olympics bicycle sprint race around a track. The racers are poised on their bikes. Their leg muscles are tense. Their hearts are pounding. Their muscles are ready to consume incredible amounts of energy and oxygen. Their heads are up and their eyes are looking forward. They are full of concentration, of tension. They are thinking about leading at the beginning, leading in the middle, and leading at the end.
The gun goes off and away they go.
They are full out until they cross the finish line. They have either won or lost and that's the race.
Now consider the Tour de France.
The racers are poised at the starting line. Their legs are relaxed. Their heads are up and their eyes are looking forward. All their support personnel and vehicles are standing by. The racers are thinking about pacing themselves. They are thinking about the early part of the race as well as the middle and the end portions of the race.
The gun goes off. They begin the race. The support cars and motorcycles follow along. The support people communicate important information to the racers. The racers grab nourishing liquids along the route. They stop at various locations for rest and food.
This then is the "marathon" race. It goes on for days, even weeks.
How do most managers and leaders do their jobs?
Most managers and leaders do not know how to manage or lead for a race that is a combination of sprint and marathon. Who runs a race that is a combination of sprint and marathon, anyway?
Most managers and leaders I have met, worked with, or coached, tend to manage or lead... for the sprint. More rarely, I have found managers and leaders who manage and lead for the marathon. But seldom have I met managers and leaders who manage and lead "for the actual race".
Most manage and lead as if their job is to put their direct report(s) on their bike(s), fire the starting gun, and sit back and watch the employee(s) race, full out, around the track until they cross the finish line; until the task is done. They expect their job to be done after the starting gun goes off. If the direct report(s) fail it is "their fault" (i.e., the employee's fault).
When you hear leaders talking about their job being to "inspire" you know they think their job is just to fire the starting gun. They think their job is to make the employee "excited" and "fired-up" to do the job and then they are supposed to get out of the way. Their goal is to let the race run it's course. They sit back in order to let the employee feel "empowered".
You should at least manage and lead for the marathon
The better managers and leaders manage and lead for the marathon. They not only inspire and excite their employees, they also work with, monitor, and help their employees succeed during the entire project. Like the pace cars in the Tour de France, like the people who provide nourishing drink to the racers, the marathon managers and leaders are there to help and advise their direct reports along the way.
Why is it that we assume that Lance Armstrong, who won the Tour de France seven times still needs and deserves pace cars, nourishment, and advice along the route, while on the other hand, we think we should "empower" and "cut loose" our employees to do their work alone and on their own?
Ideally you should manage and lead for the sprint AND the marathon
The best way to manage and lead is to manage and lead for the "race being run". That is, it is important to understand that every task has both a sprint portion and a marathon portion and maybe several portions of each. The sprint portion can vary from an hour to a month and the marathon portion can vary from a month to several years.
Some tasks are so short and so intense that the whole task "feels" like a sprint.
For example, imagine it is the last month of the quarter. You are a sales person or a sales manager and you are attempting to bring in the last portion of the sales quota for the quarter and two weeks remain until the end of the quarter.
It feels like a sprint as you attempt to make your numbers. It is the last portion of the marathon and you are attempting to cross the finish line with your sales target achieved. The last two weeks are a sprint to the finish line. So what started off as a marathon at the beginning of the quarter, with three months ahead, becomes a sprint to the finish as you attempt to achieve your sales quota during the last two weeks of the quarter.
If you are the sales person your behavior should change as the quarter progresses. If you are the manager your behavior should likewise change as the quarter progresses.
On the other hand, think about building a satellite over a three year period. It's a marathon. The requirements definition, the design, the manufacturing, the testing, the launch, the operational portion, all require a steady pace. There may be sprints along the way, in order to complete certain portions on time. But these sprints ultimately give way to a return to the paced marathon.
The best managers and leaders adjust their management and leadership style and processes so that they start the task with the appropriate level of "sprint intensity" and then adjust their management and leadership for the duration with the appropriate "marathon intensity". And they add in portions that are more like sprints when they are needed. The best managers understand how to adjust their management and leadership styles so as to vary between sprint and marathon styles in order to best motivate and support the individual or team in order to get the job done.
Real-World Example
For example, I once had a program manager who wanted to reorganize his team. He presented to me a new organization chart that he wanted to implement for his team.
I didn't think his new organization was the best use of people nor did I think that certain people on his team would be comfortable working for the new managers he was proposing. I told him I did not think his reorganization would work.
After presenting him with my alternative organizational structures, he insisted that he liked his proposed organizational structure best and wanted my permission to reorganize his way. I decided to give him the opportunity to prove that his reorganization would work. The learning experience would be valuable for him.
So I initially managed him as if he were a sprinter. I told him that he could do what he wanted to do. He was excited and committed to his approach. He thought it was best. He wanted to make it happen immediately. I said OK. "Make your change when you are ready." Sprint management.
But I did not want him to fail. I did not want him to fall off his bicycle during his race. I was concerned about the long-term. He was the program manager on a contract that originally spanned three years. I knew he could make the organizational change. I knew he could start the race. But would his approach get him to the finish line, which for his team, was a project completion date two years into the future? Would the new organization be viable and successful one month from now, six months from now, a year from now? So I decided to add some marathon management to the process. I decided to act as his "pace car".
I proposed and he agreed that we would meet every week for a half-hour meeting to assess his team's success with the new management approach. I would be following his progress to monitor his success and the success of his team.
And the sprint is on
I fired the starting gun. He made the organizational change.
We met every week for our assessment meeting. And every week he indicated that the team was working well.
Everything was fine up to the seventh week.... or was it the seventh mile?
At the seventh week, we had our weekly status meeting and he indicated that the team was unraveling. Certain people no longer wanted to work for their new managers.
We had agreed during our initial transition meeting that if the reorganization was not successful, if trouble developed, we would immediately move to my suggested alternate organizational structure. It could be considered an alternate race plan, if you will.
He made the transition to our agreed-to alternate organizational structure and we continued our assessment meetings for a while until it became clear that the new structure was working well and was a good strategy for the long term.
The Conclusion
So if you want to manage and lead well, don't assume that your job is done when the starting gun is fired. And don't assume that every direct report requires the same level of marathon support.
Adjust your management style according to the project, the duration, and the people on the team. These are just three of the parameters to look at to fine tune your management and leadership style. I use six parameters and it is what I call "Contextual Management and Leadership". But that is for a different time.
One more point, you have probably noticed that all of the situations I defined above depend primarily on the ability of the manager and leader to communicate effectively. It's not about dictating your position, it is about communicating your position. It is about your ability to communicate in such a way that you can inspire your racer all along the race, whether sprint or marathon.
In fact, whether you are manager or an engineer (i.e., direct report) it is all about communication. In fact, if you are an individual contributor, you have a great deal of power and influence over the way you are treated--if you know how to use communication... effectively.
Effective communication is the key and if you are interested in communication for mangers and leaders, join me in Colorado on September 22 for the following workshop.
"Communication and Interpersonal Skills for Technical Professionals".
Whether you are an engineer or a technical manager, this course will give you the tools you need to communicate effectively with anyone in any situation.
Be well,
Steven
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For More Information
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For more information about Steven's Colorado courses click below:
Colorado workshops
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"Imagine engineers and technical managers who are as effective with people as they are with technology?"
Steven
trains, coaches, and facilitates engineers and technical managers to BE
the answer to this question. Steven is unique because he has made this
transition himself. Get Steven's latest thoughts at:
http://www.stevencerri.com
I'm
sure you'll find the information in this Ezine/Newsletter and other
products useful to the advancement of your engineering and/or
management career. Send questions, comments, and suggestions to: steven@stevencerri.com
Copyright©2009
STCerri International and Steven Cerri. You are free to pass this
information on to others and to reproduce it. If you reproduce
sections in whole or part please give attribution to Steven Cerri.
Thank you.
Be well,
Steven Cerri
STCerri International |
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Steven Cerri
STCerri International
925-735-9500
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Visit our website: http://www.stevencerri.com
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