We met on a short plane ride. Turned out he lived and worked near my town. And what do you do, he asked?
Whenever that’s pretty much the opening gambit I’m tempted to answer, My best . . , but that would’ve been unfriendly; he was merely making conversation and I was glad to go along.
I spoke of my work helping organisations and teams improve productivity by focusing more than the usual 5-10% of their efforts on methodically developing individual and collective capacity for effectiveness . . . of how this can avoid an extraordinary waste of human energy . . . and of how it’s often like suggesting people stop to sharpen the blunt tools they’re using and being told, Can’t stop . . . too busy.
As his eyes began glazing over, I invited him to talk about his work. (Men are so predictable.)
He spoke of recent developments in his professional field and the challenges he faced in bringing about focus, motivation and cohesion among his staff . . . developing them while under a constantly increasing workload . . . reducing tension, friction, cynicism and resentment . . . delegating work to people who are already overwhelmed . . . doing anything really well when everything is urgent and important.
As we landed, I offered him my business card. He said Ah . . . OK . . . I’m a Team Leader . . . I’ll give this to our HR Manager.
There’s the problem. Too many leaders believe that their responsibility for developing staff ends with a focus on their organisation’s primary purpose (hard stuff); that developing individuals’ capacity for that purpose and for working cohesively with others on it (the so-called soft stuff), is something that HR should take care of. They’ve got it entirely wrong.
They don’t realise that their own improvisational approaches to managing priorities, plans, decisions, problems, delegation, team development, workplace relationships, coaching practices and their own stress levels, cause many of their everyday challenges.
They don’t see the potential for efficiency and effectiveness in developing them in others – especially by modelling better practices themselves.
If my fellow traveller checks out my Thriving-Workplace.com resources website, he’ll find that 80% of the resources for leadership and self-management practices are now available at no cost. He can freely download them. You too. No subscription is necessary.
A new Thriving-Workplace service is available, at modest fees, for interpersonal communication and relationship management skills development; it starts with a comprehensive self-assessment process.
New Thriving-Workplace material is added continually, arising from our own and others’ workplace research. To keep up to date, stay subscribed to this blog: I’ll let you know when there are new postings. Pass them on.
These, for instance, are recent additions:
Delegation
Developing the PA Role and Leader-PA Relationship
What’s Wrong With Our Meetings?
You can access them here: http://www.thriving-workplace.com/start.html
