Closing Out May & Looking Forward To June
As the month of May comes to a close I’m in a reflective state. Although most of us were celebrating the unofficial launch of summer and remembering those who have fought and died for our freedoms this Memorial Day Weekend with friends and family, who would have thought we would be holding our children, nieces and nephews tightly having just experienced the second worst slaughter of elementary school school children and their teachers in US history. Ten years since Sandy Hook, the little known town of Uvalde, TX is on everyone’s mind. You are probably wondering what if anything this has to do with the world of work and in particular Managing the first of the 4 Elements I introduced in my last blog? I’ll tell you what….
Managing, and management two common terms have lost favor over the past few decades. I am discussing them here today because I believe we have to up the ante of our work experience in two essential ways. The first to look at management as a specific role in companies and secondly how each of us individually can manage ourselves as a citizen of this great country.
As we build more complex companies the work of getting the product or service directly to the customer (be it the public or an internal customer) becomes more challenging. Management is the role that oversees these processes. Managers are the ones who must account for the outputs of those inhabiting the roles subordinate to that of the manager, and comprising their team or unit. Often I’ve heard managers say to me “I delegate the work to them, it's in their hands now” an expression of their own impotence or “I don’t want to be bothered'' approach. Not knowing the scope of their authority and for what they were being held accountable. Clarifying these elements is essential to getting products and services delivered with excellence.
Exceeded expectations, a level of excellence engendering pride and ownership in everyone at every stage of the product or services development brings me to briefly discuss self-management. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 the country stepped up. Americans were full of spirit. After the bombing of the WTC Towers in 2001 an invisible gas seeped over the country creating a pallor of fear. The fight in us diminished and has continued to do so. Granted I am simplifying a very complex set of problems and not politicizing. The US worker (and it's not only here in the US), has lost his/her mojo. The result is a workforce unwilling to go the extra mile. A workforce that has seen executives’ pay rise 300% while their compensation has stagnated. They’ve seen people fired and been asked to take over more responsibilities. Fearful and lacking trust. Have you put on blinders like the horses leading the buggies in NYC’s central Park? Are you happy with the person you have become? Are you waking up dreading going to work each day or are you excited about the ideas of innovation and fun that you’ve dreamt about. What are you doing to self regulate yourself? I ask you to take notice of your own thoughts and behavior over the next couple of weeks. What are you doing to bring the best of yourself to your place of work? Notice how your behavior has been altered perhaps while you have been unaware. Write it down. Begin making a simple plan of one thing you can do over the next few weeks to be more purposeful and bring positivity into your life. Change starts with us and with our awareness of what’s not right.
Granted we are living through one of the most challenging times in history. Covid has killed over one million Americans. There is much that is wrong with our institutions. Inequities. Injustice. Fear if we let it, is paralyzing. I think more of us. Won’t you? We can do better than this. Let’s begin the dialogue.