Remodeling: In my early days as a business owner and leader/manager of employees I was a piece of work. I typically noticed only what was done wrong. There was little praise being delivered by me to those deserving of it. My stress level was high, so I tended to “catastrophize” just about anything that didn't go perfectly, creating unneeded anxiety in myself and consequently those working with me.
It took a lot of work on my part to become more of the person I wanted to be as opposed to staying the way I happened to be at the time. The small changes added up over time and I eventually got somewhat better at being both a leader and a manager.
7 comments:
This article is a little simplistic but it's certainly a topic worthy of more consideration. I'd like some examples of situations in which someone was a motivator versus being a dominator, and I'd really like more information on the drill sergeant's management style. I've certainly worked with people who follow both of these styles, and obviously prefer the motivational one over the dominating one. It's far more effective to be supportive and collaborative than to stress out and try to control everything. This connects pretty well to another article this week about working with jerks- this person's description of his old management style makes it pretty clear that he was a capital-J Jerk. It's just not a productive way to run a business; you'll only end up alienating your employees and being less productive in general, as well as opening yourself up to all kinds of mistakes that could have been avoided in a more collaborative environment.
I was really looking for more out of this article. I'm very interested in different leadership styles, and I really wanted to get into the meat of what makes a motivator a motivator. Short, yes. Sweet, maybe. Being a motivator vs a dominator was a big part of my summer as we were constantly faced with bumps in the road and had to roll with the punches. For me, two big points of leadership are knowing when to listen and knowing when to change your plan/ stick to your guns. Concerning the first point, I learned that nothing gets done if you talk the entire time. You team/staff/subordinates have knowledge and experience too, and can actually help you in the process. Not using them as a resource is stupid. Secondly, it might be convincing to take all the advice that comes in. Knowing when to say "this is a better idea" and "no, my idea is better" is a difficult skill to master.
Even though this article is pretty brief it brings up a really good point. The best way to manage and lead is by example and with a mix of praise and constructive criticism. That is much easier said than done. I have worked under both good and bad managers and the worst ones are the ones that acted in the way Paul describes himself as being early in his career. That he recognized this problem and worked to make himself better is the most impressive part of this article. It's not easy to change the way you manage since many of those bad habit are related to personality and those are hard to change, but as Paul has shown, it is possible.
When I was little, I asked my mother how difficult it was to drive a car. Like, was it hard to say on the road? Did it take a lot of concentration to keep the car going in the right direction? She told me that it was more like you were guiding the wheel than pushing it or forcing it. I'm going to equate this to management. You might be sitting in the driver's seat, but you're guiding the vehicle. You're not domineering it. You have to respect the machine, know that you know how it functions as a whole, but not in every specific part. The people who are experts in more specific areas are invaluable to you. Therefore, it's important to see them as such. I think the heart of motivating instead of dominating is being able to know that managing isn't always about knowing everything or being right. It's about knowing how to put together a good team that, as a whole, will get the job done efficiently.
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Recently I have been collaborating with lots of new people, in and outside Carnegie Mellon, and it sometimes become difficult with regards to leadership and power. This article was super helpful, however! Although I do not think it mentioned anything too profound, it was all very valid and reminded me of the basics of courtesy in a leadership position and being an effective and kind leader. Sometimes leadership rules can become so muddles that a simple and straightforward article like this one is exactly what you need to reassure and ground yourself once again.
Everyone needs a little outside motivation in our lives from time to time. So often we procrastinate from the things we are obligated to do because we feel unmotivated to get them started or we just don't see the purpose in doing them because we talk ourselves down. It also is a helpful collaborative communication skill. You aren't being a team player if you are constantly shooting down everyone's ideas. We need to all be motivators if we want the group as a whole to succeed because while the saying goes a strong leader can leader a group to do well a group can do even better when leaders know when to follow and listen.
I thought this article was a great start to a conversation on leadership and the best way to approach being in charge of a group of people. This actually reminded me of the status activities we did in Hawk Vs. Handsaw. We talked about what it means to be a "1" in a discussion or meeting and how that doesn't necessarily mean being mean or dominating, but can also manifest in being encouraging and making sure every voice is heard. The type of leader you are is a choice and while it is easier to be dominating, better work almost always comes from being an motivator.
I do think this article could have benefited from some example of these leadership styles and advice on how to be more of a motivational leader.
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