{"id":64,"date":"2010-03-14T22:19:02","date_gmt":"2010-03-15T02:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rds-net.com\/seblog\/?p=64"},"modified":"2010-06-14T12:34:04","modified_gmt":"2010-06-14T16:34:04","slug":"5-thoughts-for-mid-level-managers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/resourcedevelopmentsystems.com\/seblog\/2010\/03\/5-thoughts-for-mid-level-managers\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Thoughts for Mid-Level Managers"},"content":{"rendered":"

What seems like a life time ago I was flying back from working with some mid- to upper-level managers and I was making some notes about things that I thought they could do to impact the systems in their organizations.\u00a0 These managers were not the top executives, so they didn\u2019t have direct control over strategy or the systems inside and outside of their organization, yet, it was important for them to be able to impact those systems in other ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As I was continuing to unpack boxes from our move a little over a year ago, and rearrange things in my office, I uncovered my notes from that plane ride.\u00a0 As I reviewed them I thought that these thoughts might also be useful for others that didn\u2019t get to attend my session, despite the fact that they were sort of specific to the material we covered in that session.\u00a0 So here they are:<\/p>\n

Things to Do to Impact Your Systems:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Catch people doing things right.\u00a0 If you focus on what is going right instead of what is going wrong you might find that there is a lot going right in your organization.\u00a0 Too often we get discouraged, and discourage others, because we are continually only seeing what is wrong. \u00a0If you have managers reporting to you then also encourage them to catch people doing things right; then have them tell you about it so you can also thank them for their \u201cright stuff.\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. Stop telling people what to do.\u00a0 Instead, tell them the goal, objective, or problem, and ask them how they would handle it.\u00a0 You just might be surprised at the innovative and creative ways that they might have\u00a0for getting things accomplished.\u00a0 Remember, you do not have to have all the answers; you just have to ask the right questions.<\/li>\n
  3. Ask \u201cwhy\u201d a lot.\u00a0 Don\u2019t take the way things have “always been done” for granted.\u00a0 At one time the way things were being done might have been a good way of doing them; but time and circumstances change, and they may not be the best way any longer.\u00a0 If you do consider making changes then always keep in mind the impact those changes will have on others.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/li>\n
  4. Insure you know what your organization\u2019s top goals are and how you and your team impact those goals.\u00a0 Share your thoughts with your staff and encourage them to share theirs with you and the team.\u00a0 Constantly talk about the importance of these goals.\u00a0 Find a way to measure and track progress on these goals.\u00a0 But when talking about your goals make sure that you also talk about the values that place boundaries on your behaviors in reaching those goals.\u00a0<\/li>\n
  5. Be Purposful!!!\u00a0 Remember, the best managers and best teams don\u2019t get that way by accident, but rather through intent and purpose.\u00a0 Think about the things you want to talk about to your people, such as the Purpose, Values and Goals of the organization and team.\u00a0 Remember that you need to constantly be looking for opportunities to provide recognition for the good things that your people are doing.\u00a0 Always look for ways that you can help your people do their jobs better, including yourself.\u00a0 Keep in mind what you want to achieve, and how your people can help your team achieve it and remember that in interactions that it isn\u2019t about you always being \u201cproven right,\u201d but rather it is about being effective in achieving your goals that matters.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    As I reviewed these, maybe these are some good thoughts for managers at all levels, not just the mid-level managers that I was working with.<\/p>\n

    Make a Great Day!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What seems like a life time ago I was flying back from working with some mid- to upper-level managers and I was making some notes about things that I thought they could do to impact the systems in their organizations. These managers were not the top executives, so they didn\u2019t have direct control over strategy or the systems inside and outside of their organization, yet, it was important for them to be able to impact those systems in other ways. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership","category-thoughts-and-musings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/resourcedevelopmentsystems.com\/seblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/resourcedevelopmentsystems.com\/seblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/resourcedevelopmentsystems.com\/seblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/resourcedevelopmentsystems.com\/seblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/resourcedevelopmentsystems.com\/seblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/resourcedevelopmentsystems.com\/seblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108,"href":"http:\/\/resourcedevelopmentsystems.com\/seblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions\/108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/resourcedevelopmentsystems.com\/seblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/resourcedevelopmentsystems.com\/seblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/resourcedevelopmentsystems.com\/seblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}