Delegate? It is easier to do to do it myself.

Delegate? It is easier to do to do it myself.

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”Theodore Roosevelt 

One of the major reason’s managers fail to meet expectations is that they attempt to do everything themselves. There is never enough time. There is no such thing as a team of “me.”  And someday you will want to take a much-deserved vacation untethered from the office.   

Yes, you need to delegate.  

It may seem easier or more reliable to do it yourself than to take the time to delegate to the team members you manage. That stance puts you in a position of always having to be available. More importantly, you are not being fair to yourself, your team, or your employer.    

Delegation develops. Delegation motivates. Effective delegation can move mountains! 

I believe that the reason managers fail to delegate effectively is that they have not yet developed the skills, or the necessary confidence. 

How do you effectively delegate? 

Start and end with communication to increase your chance of an effective delegation. 

Communicate: 

  • What you need 
  • Why you need it 
  • How you need it 
  • When you need it
  • Where you need to be involved 

Be clear on expectations and then get out of the way! Or in the words of Teddy Roosevelt – don’t meddle! 

Let’s talk about a potential real-life example. 

The CEO is concerned with the ever growing IT spend. He and the CFO ask you, the IT department head, to clarify your department expense spend to date and provide end of fiscal year projections. Also, you have been asked to compare your departments spend against industry benchmarks. Your response to this request is to “delegate” the research and report to the head of your IT Finance function. 

To effectively delegate this important task, you would first clarify the outcome expected by the CEO and CFO. It is assumed that you understand their preference for receiving information based on your prior working relationship and the company culture. At the same time, you need to be specific as to what you will be delivering. The best approach I have found is to outline your understanding, the approach, and the description of the output. Upon concurrence, use the same outline to delegate to a trusted team member. Use it to describe WHAT you need, WHY it is needed, HOW you expect it to be delivered, WHEN it is due, and WHERE you want  checkpoints along the way.   

Let’s step through the conversation. 

  1. WHAT Delegate as much as you can along with authority to achieve the outcome. Don’t pretend to delegate if you must retain all decision authority!   Be real with yourself as to why you are retaining decision authority. Is it risk management? Do you have confidence in your team member or are afraid
    to let go?
  2. WHY – Explain the reasons for the report and the objectives and outcomes needed from the effort. Be clear as to the confidentiality of the exercise (i.e. discuss messaging in communicating with others).
  3. HOW Attempt to leave room for creativity related to how the report needs to look. Be open to suggestions if you were given a pre-defined report format. There is nothing more demotivating than to have all creativity removed from a task.
  4. WHEN When is the report due, when do you want the first draft, final draft, and pre-reads to be delivered? Seek honest feedback to the viability of meeting the timelines and be prepared to work out alternatives.
  5. WHERE – Negotiate with your delegate regarding where you should reconvene to discuss progress. Delegation does not mean you can abdicate your obligation. Only you can determine the situation and level of confidence in both the delegates’ ability to deliver on your expectation and to manage accordingly. 

Wrap up the conversation by asking the delegate to recap while reiterating your confidence in him or her. Assure them that no question is a bad question and that your door is open if anything that risks the deliverable comes up. Be available. Be accountable. Give credit to the team member by having them deliver the report, if, you stand behind its outcome.   

There is never any guarantee when you rely on someone other than yourself but, through clarity and communication, you will improve the chance of a great outcome! Even more rewarding is a team member who feels good about their performance and that will have the experience the next time effective delegation is needed 

What are your challenges with delegation?  

Until next time, have an effective week!   To further this week’s conversation, schedule time with me and let’s talk! 

Update!  Architecting the Technical People Leader – a six-month based virtual learning opportunity for a small group of IT managers scheduled to kick off in February is at capacity.  Let’s talk if you are interested in custom program. Learn more 

Check it out:  It is not enough for corporations to have IT systems and expect them to deliver strategic value to them. See our complimentary IT Governance Framework to help you to help you regulate, monitor and govern the value of your 2019 IT decisions. Check it out here…

 

 

Let’s Talk sponsored by www.ITeffectivity.com – an IT management and advisory practice targeting CIO’s challenge of leading and delivering business solutions with a focus on effective people and process capabilities.
Discover the possibilities by scheduling a complimentary strategy
session with Mary Patry.

What does it take to be an IT Leader?

What does it take to be an IT Leader?

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader” John Quincy Adams 

 What is leadership?  If you go to the dictionary, the explanation is quite simple:  

lead·er·ship 

/ˈlēdərˌSHip/ 

noun 

noun: leadership 

  1. the action of leading a group of people or an organization. 

“different styles of leadership”

synonyms:  guidance, direction, control, management, superintendence, supervision; More organization, government “firm leadership” 

  • the state or position of being a leader.
  • “the leadership of the party”

synonyms: directorship, governorship, governance, administration, captaincy, control, ascendancy, supremacy, rule, command, power, dominion, influence

  • “the leadership of the Coalition”

 The single most important capability of any leader is just that – Leadership.   The overall capability of leadership is made up of many characteristics, each as important as the next.  

The characteristics of an effective leader according to Success Factors include: 

  1.  Communication  
  2. Organization  
  3. Confidence 
  4. Fair 
  5. Integrity 
  6. Influential 
  7. Delegation 
  8. Facilitator 
  9. Negotiation 
  10. Empathy 

 How are these characteristics displayed in effective IT leaders?  Over the next few weeks I will share my perspective and encourage your feedback in the conversation as well. 

 Let’s start today with Communication. 

 Effective IT Lleaders communicate clearly, recognizing where the audience is coming from.  

 Effective communication is active listening as well as talking.  For example, communicating with the business leadership community would be quite different from communicating to a technical team member or even your up-line management.  

 Tips for Communicating with Business Leaders: 

  • Avoid a condescending tone and jargon when talking with the business leader.  It is best to start with a high-level statement and then flesh in as to how it affects their business and why they need to care. If it doesn’t affect them and they don’t need to care – then why have the conversation at all? 
  • Listen for their feedback both in words and body language.  If they glaze over or start fiddling with their smart phone – you have lost them.  Finish the conversation with next steps to assure that expectations are clear.  
  • Always follow through with commitments made!  Sometimes things happen that prevent delivery.  The sooner you can inform the customer of the situation, the actions to be taken to mitigate, the greater the trust you will build with them.  

 Tips for Communicating with Technical Team Members: 

  • You can assume they will know the jargon as well as their role in the conversation. 
  • Don’t assume they understand your expectations. Describe the outcome you are expecting in the form of WHAT, WHY, WHEN, and WHO statements.   
  • Always try to allow as much creativity in the HOW as possible.  If the HOW is important, don’t leave it to chance -state the expectation and ask for the feedback.   
  • Ask them to reiterate their understanding.  Listen for their understanding by their engagement in the conversation and comfort level through their body language.
  •  Finish discussions by jointly reviewing agreements and follow up action steps.
  •  Call on you heart as well as your brains and guts.  There is NOTHING more powerful than the ability to understand and share the feelings of your team members. 
  •  Utilize the CONTINUE, STOP, START model.  You may have heard of this model as Start, Stop and Continue.  This model is often used as a change management technique as well in performance reviews. When giving instructions or feedback to team members, I like to start with continue and end with start.  It opens and closes the conversation on a positive note.  Once you become comfortable with the technique, both you and the employee will appreciate its simplicity and consistency.   

Here is a quick tutorial example if you have never seen it in action: 

  1. CONTINUE: “John, I really appreciated the Red Team approach you took in addressing the problem with the Windows image.  Collaborating with your team mates to find the root cause went a long way in developing a solid solution.  I would like to see this approach continued, especially for the big bodacious customer impacting issues.” 
  2. STOP: “With that, we may need to put a stop on our current practices for patching Windows.  What we are doing today is consistently causing issues.”  
  3. START: “We certainly can’t just stop patching but perhaps you can use the Red Team approach to get the team’s input into a new patching process.  What do you think?” 

 At this point, you allow John to present his thoughts and even brainstorm somewhat. At the end of the conversation reiterate actions and commitment before scheduling your follow up.  

 What are your thoughts on communications? 

Until next time, have an effective week!   To further this week’s conversation, schedule time with me and let’s talk! 

Check it out:   Architecting the Technical People Leader – a six-month based virtual learning opportunity for a small group of IT managers kicking off Feb 14, 2019. Limited seating is still available.  Learn more

Let’s Talk sponsored by www.ITeffectivity.com – an IT management and advisory practice targeting CIO’s challenge of leading and delivering business solutions with a focus on effective people and process capabilities.
Discover the possibilities by scheduling a complimentary strategy
session with Mary Patry. 

The Power of Recognition

The Power of Recognition

“The power of recognition is one of the strongest forces for simulating human and social action.” – Lowell Milken  

Who doesn’t enjoy being recognized?   

 People and organizations have grown to expect the recognition of big accomplishments – the projects executed, the big hairy issue resolved.  Recognition is not just a one-time event.  Here is another reality – recognizing the bodacious events without consistent appreciation throughout the year diminishes the value of the recognition.   

 How about the little day to day accomplishments, the delivery of a needed report without having asked,  stepping up and out of your comfort zone when a peer is out of the office?  We may only have the opportunity to be the hero once or twice a year, whereas every day efforts go unrecognized regularly.   

 Recognition is best served when it is built into your culture and reinforced across the organization all year long organically.   

 Why is recognition important?    

 Easy – increased employee job satisfaction by showing that you care.  

 Studies have shown that employees recognized once a month will drive a 75% job satisfaction rate.  Whereas, job satisfaction will soar to 85% when employees and team members are recognized weekly.  Every employee appreciates being recognized for their hard work and extra effort. 

As the leader, you can’t be the only noticing, and recognition is not just a one-time event.  To be effective, it should be built into your culture and reinforced naturally across the organization.  Think about what success looks like for your organization.  Do you want to tie it to engagement, customer satisfaction, or business results? Perhaps any of the three?  

 Where do I start?    

 Start by leveraging the one-time events to begin recognizing employee efforts and accelerating recognition. The one-time events will become more meaningful because they reinforce the desired behaviors and commitments.  At the same time, increase consistent recognition.  It is what everyone craves, and it will drive increased job satisfaction.   

 You can approach consistent recognition in two ways: 

  • Commit to start and then do it. Everyday! 
  • Ask you employees for feedback to help guide the type and timing of recognition they’d like to receive.  If you ask, be prepared to act! 

 Whichever approach you chose to take, consistency is critical. Leaders who regularly recognize their employees set an example for the rest of the organization. Their actions will set behavior changes in motion.  Positive behavior begets positive behavior. (Yes, negative behavior begets negative behaviors as well.) 

 How do I go about adopting the giving of recognition as a habit? 

 Like any habit it will take effort to adopt a new habit – 66 days to be exact.  That means it will take some practice before it becomes natural.  One way to make something a habit is to set a reminder each morning – “Look for someone doing something extraordinary today” and then at the end of day “Who did I recognize today”.  

It seems so trivial, but you will find it works.  

 What will sustain the habit and build the culture 

 There are two parts of that will work together to make recognition self-sustaining.   

  • The first and strongest is the creation of a culture of recognition, consistently reinforced by everyone’s behavior and habits towards recognizing contributions from others.  Recognition must start at the top if it to have a chance at growing roots.  Many employee recognition programs give managers the exclusive responsibility and ability to recognize employees. With an average manager to employee ration of 1:10, giving recognition every day to every employee would be a daunting task.   

 To sustain, recognition must move to peers recognizing peers.  Peer recognition is the genuine expression of appreciation exchanged between co-workers. Peer recognition gives employees an outlet to share feedback, praise, and thanks with each other.   

  • The second part is the adoption of a simple tool to enable communication between peers. Make it fun and make it alive.  One program that I saw work very effectively was called “IT Star”.  An employee would honor another employee by simply writing out a note of appreciation on a star shape form.  They would hand it in to the admin, she would track and post the star on a glass wall.  At the end of the month, there was a drawing for $25-dollar Amazon card along with bagels. It was fun, low cost, and returned rewards many times over the effort and budget.   

 Simple tools can be utilized to enable the recognition communications.  As you can imagine, this increased communication leads to an amazing cultural boost and an environment where your team loves to work.  

 What ideas / techniques have you seen work to drive a culture of recognition?  

 Until next time, have an effective week!   To further this week’s conversation, schedule time with me and let’s talk! 

 Check it out:   Architecting the Technical People Leader – a six-month based virtual learning opportunity for a small group of IT managers kicking off Feb 14, 2019. Limited seating is still available.  Learn more…. 

 

Let’s Talk sponsored by www.ITeffectivity.com – an IT management and advisory practice targeting CIO’s challenge of leading and delivering business solutions with a focus on effective people and process capabilities.
Discover the possibilities by scheduling a complimentary strategy
session with Mary Patry. 

Coaching Versus Advising

Coaching Versus Advising

“A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, who had you see what you don’t want to see, so that you can be who you have always know you could be.”  – Tom Landry 

“Mary, your LinkedIn header says you are an IT coach and an advisor to IT leaders. What exactly do you do?”   

As there is a distinction between a coach and an advisor, it is a very reasonable question to ask.  I am hired by IT leaders to help them and their team navigate the challenges of their ever-changing world.  Sometimes, I am wearing a coach’s hat and sometimes, I wear an advisor hat.  Often, I need to move from one hat to the other fluidly.   

For all intents and purposes, an advisor is a consultant.  Advising is the primary role of a consultant.  When asking a consultant for advice, you are asking for answers or solutions and action steps you should take to reach your desired outcomes. In my advisor role, I pull from my years of experience and acquired wisdom to provide you with a perspective to consider.  Many times, this perspective will be in the form of a report, white paper, process flows, and always the ubiquitous PowerPoint deck. It is always your option to apply the advice or leave it. As you can see, it is my advice, my perspective – yours to adopt or ignore.    

My coaching clients are typically IT leaders who have enjoyed a successful career, but may need a little help figuring out how to move forward.  In coach-speak, there is a “gap” between where they are now and where they want to be.   

Many times, your gap or barrier is resulting from a significant change such as a new role, an expanded role, a new leader, or it could be a business event such as a merger or business downturn. Coaches also assist career professionals who have forgotten how to “have a life” and no longer have work/life balance. In any event, you need help moving forward.  

Coaching is a co-creative process. It is a partnership between you and me, with 100% of the coaching focused on your well-being.  As a coach, we will work together over several months on an agreed upon time basis.  In our coaching conversation I will offer feedback and together we will explore the strengths and weakness of your plans and goals while looking for opportunities to improve.  At times, I may offer suggestions to spark your creative process, but the choices and decisions are always yours to make.  I will use powerful questioning to help you uncover your answers and solutions.  In the end, what you will have accomplished will be in line with your desires and goals and not what somebody else’s ideas may be about what is right for you.  

You can expect me to always be non-judgmental and to maintain the ultimate level of confidentiality.  I will help you to find your OWN answers to your barriers. In doing so, you will learn more about what is important to you in your career and maybe even your life. You will become more aware and responsible for your life going forward on many levels.  Most importantly, you will be more likely to adopt the answers you discover because they will be YOUR answers.  As your coach, I will stay with you as you implement your action plan and remind you of the other important aspects of your plan that you may otherwise forget and ignore, such as: 

  • Life/work balance 
  • Staying on track 
  • Other choices you can make 
  • Helping you through obstacles
  •  Keeping you focused and accountable   

As an IT Executive and Leadership Coach and Advisor, I find the ability to move between the two roles with intent and purpose valuable to the relationship.  I do this through asking permission when your needs call for me to don the other hat.   For example, in a coaching conversation, my coaching clients will often ask me to give them advice.  I do so by verbally acknowledging the advice.  However, in a consulting engagement you may hear me say something like, “Let me put my coaching hat on so that we can unpack what might be going on here…”  

With the increase in company downsizing and added pressures applied to many IT executives, their heads of IT functions, and the delivery teams under their leadership, the need for coaching has expanded beyond the executive office.  The most scalable answer to the broader positive influence coaching can bring, is a team and group coaching engagement.  Team and group coaching delivers the power of a coaching relationship to all levels of staff at an affordable price point.  

In some respects, coaching is a form of consulting, in that coaches assist you to solve problems, reach goals, design action plans, and create the desired results. Unlike consultants, coaches also help you move away from the things that don’t work for you, toward things that are more in line with what you want and envision.  

So, in a nutshell, advising entails telling you what to do and you doing it. Coaching supports and facilitates YOU choosing what is right for you in a way that assists you to achieve your goals. With advice, you do it somebody else’s way; with coaching, you do it your way.  Neither are right or wrong.  It is all about what works best for you at any one time of your life or circumstance.  

I am here if you want to explore how your barriers might be lifted by coaching.  

Until next time, have an effective week!   To further this week’s conversation, schedule time with me and let’s talk! 

Check it out:   Architecting the Technical People Leader – a six-month based virtual learning opportunity for a small group of IT managers kicking off Feb 14, 2019. Limited seating is still availableLearn more

 

Let’s Talk sponsored by www.ITeffectivity.com – an IT management and advisory practice targeting CIO’s challenge of leading and delivering business solutions with a focus on effective people and process capabilities.
Discover the possibilities by scheduling a complimentary strategy
session with Mary Patry. 

Happy New Year – What do you hope to achieve in 2019?

Happy New Year – What do you hope to achieve in 2019?

The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals.  – Melody Beattie 

Happy New Year!   

I love starting each new year.  It is a time to start fresh, leave the last year behind, and focus forward.  

As we welcome in 2019, it is the perfect time to create your goals, whether it is by updating your performance plan or a personal life plan.  Some tend to find goal setting daunting.  It will be less so if you think of it as your plan, your road to an awesome year.   

Let me help by providing you with 18 questions to setting EXTRAORDINARY goals.  

EXTRAORDINARY Goals are: 

  • Outcome focused:  Once you understand your WHY (and it’s an enthusiastic WHY) you’re 90% there! 
  • In line with your values:  The more a goal aligns with your inner or core values, the EASIER it will be to achieve.  NOTE:  We can achieve goals that dont align with our values, but its harder to do and less satisfying. 
  • Stated in the positive:  i.e., “I want healthy fingernails” rather than “I want to stop biting my nails.” 
  • and SMART: 

Specific (you know exactly what you’re trying to achieve) 

Measurable (you know when you’ve reached it!) 

Action-oriented (you can DO something about it!) 

Realistic (it IS achievable)  

Time-Bound (has a deadline) 

Focusing on the Outcome: 

  • What is it that you really, REALLY want? Dig deep  
  • What is the SPECIFIC outcome you’re looking for?  
  • What is the PAIN for you of NOT achieving your goal?  

Aligning with your Values: 

  • Is this goal in line with your life vision/overall life-plan?  (Dont know – what does your gut tell you?) 
  • Is this goal in line with your values? (Unsure? Ask yourself what’s important to you in life – will this goal help you achieve more of that?) 
  • Are the goals something YOU truly want, or are they something you think you SHOULD have or SHOULD be doing?  (Tip:  If it is a SHOULD, it may be someone elses dream…) 
  • When you think about your goal, does it give you a sense of deep contentment or ‘rightness,’ happiness. and excitement? (If so, these are good signs that it’s a healthy goal.) 
  • If you could have the goal RIGHT NOW – would you take it? (If not, why not? What issues are there?)  
  • How does this goal fit into your life/lifestyle?  (Time/effort/commitments/who else might be impacted?) 

Identifying Obstacles: 

  • Can YOU start & maintain this goal/outcome?  (i.e., Do you have complete control over achieving it?) 
  • How will making this change affect other aspects of your life?  (i.e., What else might you need to deal with?) 
  • What’s good about your CURRENT SITUATION? (i.e., Whats the benefit of staying right where you are?) Then ask, how can I keep those good aspects while STILL making this change? 
  • WHAT might you have to give up/stop doing to achieve this goal?  (Essentially, what’s the price of making this change – and are you willing to pay it?) 
  • If there was something important around achieving this goal (to help you succeed, or that could get in the way) that you haven’t mentioned yet, what would it be? 
  • WHO will you have to BE to achieve this goal? 
  • Goal Sizing – Give your goal a range so that you can’t fail to achieve it!  
  • Is your goal the right size to be working on?
    Too big? Break it down into smaller goals. Too small? Fit it into a larger goal. 
  • What would be the MINIMUM/Super-Easy level of the goal to achieve? 
  • What would be your TARGET level of the goal to achieve? 
  • What would be your EXTRAORDINARY level of the goal to achieve? 

Resources GET MOVING 

  • What RESOURCES do you already have to help you achieve your goal? Make a list! (e.g., things, support from people, contacts, personal qualities, knowledge, skills, money, time, etc.)  
  • What RESOURCES do you NEED to help you achieve your goal? Make a list! 

IMPORTANT:  REMEMBER – GOALS are there to INSPIRE YOU, not to beat yourself up with. Call me if you need help!  

Wishing you all a wonderful and awesome New Year!   

Until next time, have an effective week!   To further this week’s conversation, schedule time with me and LET’S TALK! 

Check it out:   Architecting the Technical People Leader – a six-month based virtual learning opportunity for a small group of IT managers kicking off Feb 14, 2019. Limited seating is still available.  Learn more

Let’s Talk sponsored by www.ITeffectivity.com – an IT management and advisory practice targeting CIO’s challenge of leading and delivering business solutions with a focus on effective people and process capabilities.
Discover the possibilities by scheduling a complimentary strategy
session with Mary Patry.