What Helps You be More Effective as A Manager?

I received this question not long ago and after reflecting on my personal experience, I came up with two things in particular that makes me a more effective manager:

The first is the learned ability to recognize people.  People are always surprised when their managers take notice of what they are good at, what they enjoy and what they do well.  They are even more surprised when their managers find ways to celebrate these talents.

I mention that this is a learned ability, and will emphasize that it is a significant skill to learn.  Marcus Buckingham in his book Now, Discover Your Strengths explains this in its greater work and life context.

The second is the willingness to remove obstacles from the paths of those who report to you. Exercising your privilege as a manager to engage in streamlining processes with other managers, as well as exerting the muscle that comes with your rank, to make your employees' work easier, is your job.  It's not your job to be manipulative or to pull rank; I am referring to the judicious use of your station, in a way your employees can't, to get things done.

These single two actions, executed with sincerity, have earned me the loyalty of not only my employees, but my union stewards and my co-managers, too.

I would be interested to hear what helps you be more effective as a manager.

Grand-maman Rose

Grand-maman Rose was born in rural Northern Ontario in 1908 and lived to the age of 91.  She lived long enough to see 100 direct descendants: 14 children pictured here, 35 grandchildren and 50 great-grandchildren.

Robert, Raymond, Gisèle, Gérard, Yvon, Yolande, Claire, Adrien, Grand-maman Rose, Grand-papa Ivanhoe, Albert, Micheline, Pierre, Michel, Muriel, Pierrette.

It was a rare moment when all her children were together.  Adrien, the oldest and an ordained priest, and Albert, attending the seminary, happened to both be home from their religious communities one weekend in 1948.  Grand-maman Rose took the opportunity to gather up her family, dress them to the nines, and have this portrait taken.

Not one of the girls had curly hair, and rags were used to create the look Claire, Pierrette, Micheline and Muriel all share.  My mother clearly remembers how efficient her mother was at twisting and tying the rags so the girls would be at their best on Sunday.  She remembers her father admiring all his girls in their finery, calling them his princesses.

In those days, there were no jerseys or rayons, no nylons or polyesters, no wrinkle-free synthetic fibres.  Your Sunday best had to be ironed. And if you wanted your look to last, you had to sit carefully on the skirt of your dress, hitch your pant legs just so, to avoid having a crushed or rumpled look.

This portrait is a testament to the rigour and discipline Grand-maman Rose held herself to -- and the discipline she meted out to her children often enough.  I have no doubt that all my aunts and uncles knew there would be heck to pay if a hair or a pleat or a collar or a sock were out of place, until the picture was taken.

As an army brat, I didn't live in Montréal with my slew of aunts and uncles and cousins.  Every visit was a treat: the noise, the laughter, the ready-made cousin-companions, the games, the food, the parties.  I think I ended up having a copy of this portrait because I wasn't always there -- that and the fact that Grand-Maman Rose was my god-mother.  I like to think she favoured me, but I have a sneaking suspicion that she found a way to make us all feel that way.

Job Seeking Advice From a Friend

Ron was in transition for 33 months - partly because he had too narrow a focus on jobs, but also because he had a few diversions along the way.


He summarizes here some lessons he learned:

Maintain a positive attitude. You can't keep yourself motivated when you are always feeling negative. You might think you should avoid being around negative people, but these are people you can play a role in helping.

Continue to be Active. Volunteer with a NFP to reinforce that, whatever your employment position, you still have something of value to offer others.

Expand your Job Search Scope. Be open to contract work or consulting. They're a great way to maintain skills or develop new skills and it helps fill a void on your resume. Along with volunteering, it also gives you something concrete to talk about when an employer asks you what you've been doing since you left your last position.

Technology is Not Just for IT Folks. Social media such as LinkedIn and Facebook are now important parts of your job search toolbox. I undertook to learn more about CRM and Six Sigma and now feel better prepared for this new role.

Develop your Personal Brand. It's tough, but in a competitive job market, you have to be able to articulate what makes you a better candidate than the others. And you need to leave people with some kind of simple metaphor or slogan that helps keep you top of mind. If they can't remember who you are, they probably won't ask you back for the next round of interviews.

Continue to be Active. I hear people who say they're on LinkedIn and it isn't doing anything for them. They're probably not contributing to group discussions or answering questions that allow them to interact and connect with other LinkedIn members. Take a good look at an active LinkedIn member's profile and activity as a model.

Interact with Other Professions. The A-Team I belonged to had senior people from Finance, HR, Corporate Law, Operations, IT and Sales/Marketing. I learned a lot from my fellow members and the discussions about business issues helped give me insights into the challenges facing other professions and were just plain intellectually stimulating. I found this broadened my outlook, allowed me to ask some more challenging questions during interviews and enabled me to present myself as being well-rounded, not just a sales and marketing guy.

Have Something in Reserve. Broaden your interests to develop some activity you can carry with you into retirement. For me, it's my band. We've had an opportunity to develop our skills and become more accomplished as an ensemble, so that's yielded some satisfaction. It's also something we all see as our retirement program. And it's fun.


Thanks so much, Ron, for articulating some of the key solutions to keeping interested and open while job seeking as well as sharing a few tips for keeping sane, too.