Introducing the Leader/Manager: No. 6 - Leaders vs Managers
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Friday 29 August 2008 |
Having received a rather angry comment from Ben Simonton (see 27 Aug), I thought it worth a further reply. I fully agree with everything Ben wrote (and wrote very well) and thank him. He just chose the wrong target! So let's move on - together. Let me share my own experience:
In running Debriefing workshops using 360 Facilitated® (the Leader/Manager Model™ questionnaires), I often found an interesting response when I asked middle managers what they were expected to contribute in the area of leadership (the top half of the model). "We're not supposed to do that" was a comment I heard more than once. What a shocker! Managers not supposed to lead! We tie one arm behind your back and now you work for us - do your very best.
The Leader/Manager Model strongly promotes distributed leadership, shows what it means and lets you measure whether or not it's happening. Any organization that doesn't go that route is half crippled and will never achieve its full potential.
At the same time, promoting 'leadership' as if it were a new species, superior to 'management' and leaving 'managers' behind, is equally foolish. We must balance leadership and management to get the synergy of real contribution - both keeping the lines running and rethinking tomorrow. The genius of Peter Farey's model is that it makes this approach quite specific and definable.
It has been estimated (source?) that the average managers spends 97% of their time on the present, and 3% on the future. Doesn't that explain a few things?
So thanks again, Ben, for raising the issue, it is certainly worth a reminder.
(More about the Leader/Manager Model in the near future).
[more]Labels: 360 Facilitated, 360 feedback, Leadership |
posted by Dr Ron @ 08:45
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Introducing the Leader/Manager: No. 5 - Leading, Managing - People and Task
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Wednesday 27 August 2008 |
Going back to the Peter Farey's Leader/Manager Framework, we see that in general: 
Activities 'above the line' (leadership) suggest an enthusiasm for the new, the radical, the revolutionary. They indicate a desire to be first, unique, to look outside and beyond current constraints; to challenge what exists already, what is 'reasonable', what 'cannot be done'.
Those 'below the line' (management) on the other hand represent a wish to achieve what is wanted and improve what exists already. They are about maintaining stability while making things better, faster, cheaper, smoother. They seek to be more efficient, cost/effective, systematic; to get more from what is currently available and possible.
Activities on the left (task) side of the line indicate a prime concern for production and output. They show particular interest in objectives, goals, priorities, results. They seek to meet targets, timescales and standards.
On the right (people) side, they display more of a concern for others; an interest in people, relationships with them, and a concern for what they think, believe and - perhaps most of all - about how they feel.
It can be seen that by combining these preferences, four main types of behaviour can be described, one for each of the four quadrants. 
Task leadership - providing a purpose and single-mindedly pursuing it
People leadership - inspiring people to follow enthusiastically
Task management - organizing what has to be done to achieve it
People management - making full and satisfactory use of people's abilities.
Of course in each case, it is possible to have either too little or too much of a good thing! The power of the model to discriminate is suggested by the figure... wait for it...!
(Excerpted from The Leader/Manager Guide © Peter R. Farey. To be continued).
[more]Labels: 360 Facilitated, 360 feedback, Leadership |
| posted by Dr Ron @ 10:43
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Don't do 360!!!
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Tuesday 12 August 2008 |
Yes, one of our clients insisted we couldn't call it 360. In their organization - and many others - 360 has fouled its nest. We've spent a lot of time talking about "the Pitfalls of 360". It's been this way for a long time. When we started out in 1995, we called it "Upward Feedback®" because we didn't want to be associated with some of the things that we had heard about 360.
However, as the momentum built up, clients were telling us "We want 360, it's got to be called 360!". So we changed, we created 360 Facilitated®.
And now, as the years go by, the we find clients who were hurt by '360' and we have to call it something else - for them. "How about Upward Feedback ®?" "Yes, that'll  do!" Good job we kept the logo!
What really counts is what we do. Our job is to bring managers and their teams together - sometimes for the first time, sometimes just to be better than they were. I continue to be astonished at the number of organisations where there is still distance between the leader and the led, still managers who believe that they have all the wisdom - or that they ought to have all the wisdom! Even organisations that believe managers should know it all, "That's what we pay them for, that's why we chose them." Wow. There's a way to go. And a great way is 360 Facilitated® - sorry, Upward Feedback® if you don't like 360! Labels: 360 Facilitated, 360 feedback |
| posted by Dr Ron @ 21:49
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We love your material!
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Wednesday 6 August 2008 |
Every now and again I write down the kind words I hear from one of our clients and it rouses my enthusiasm all over again for our way of getting managers and teams to work together, drop the barriers and improve all round.
It really is so much more powerful than measuring managers and hanging numbers on them. Not satisfied with saying "We love your material", this MBA Course Instructor, who has some ten years of experience with 360 Facilitated®, continued with "What you do is phenomenal".
Well it's a fact, the managers get so much practical information from their profile (based on Peter Farey's holistic Leader/Manager Model) without feeling they're under attack or being judged unfairly. They come out of the bunker and the dialogue begins (or in many cases, rises to new heights).
One of the things we have learned over the 15 years of running this process (originally "Upward Feedback®") is that one positive is worth two negatives - at least! And this has been something that heartens hard-pushed managers and raises team morale. And when morale rises, problems fall away, leaving clearly identified issues that must be problem solved together.
A prospective customer asked me recently "But does this lead to improved work procedures?" You can bet it does! It taps into a wealth of information and brain power that is just raring to go. "Please listen to us" is what teams often say (when asked!) and "Give us a chance". Well, in the team process that we use, managers listen and teams work with them in any way that's necessary to get the best outcomes.
[more]Labels: 360 Facilitated, 360 feedback, Morale, team facilitation |
| posted by Dr Ron @ 07:45
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