Great Managers Don’t Just Manage. They Help People Grow.
#Edition 185
Introduction
Welcome to The ContraMind Code.
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The Code helps you reboot and reimagine your thinking by learning from the best. It also enables you to draw a blueprint for what it takes to get extraordinary things done. You can share your valuable thoughts and comments and start a conversation here.
Take a journey to www.contraminds.com. Listen and watch some great minds talking to us about their journey of discovery of what went into making them craftsmen of their profession, to drive peak performance.
Real AI Transformation Starts With Culture, Not Code.
For all the hype surrounding AI, one thing that often gets overlooked is that it is not the technology alone, but the alignment of purpose, strategy, process, and people across departments within an organisation that can drive adoption and results. But not enough attention is paid to this critical aspect of AI transformation in companies. When the human side of new technology and innovation is overlooked, it always creates a bottleneck for rapid adoption and scaling. Also, human beings are creatures of habit. Every new technology breakthrough, while it offers clear benefits, often meets with significant resistance to change, as people must break established habits and patterns. Hence, culture becomes a massive scaffolding to build trust, confidence, and provide them with a sense of context about how it will change their lives and make it convenient.
This article, which covers key findings of the report published by Prophet, clearly highlights the importance of culture and why it needs to be put at the forefront while companies embark on their AI transformation journey.
Read the article here.
3 Stages Of Career Growth: What Engineers Need And Managers Overlook.
The Impactful Engineer Podcast is a good podcast platform, not just for engineers but for professionals seeking insights on what it takes to plan their career effectively. There are some extremely good insights and experiences shared by experts, and also, the hosts, Steve Maxey and Jake Maxey, do a great job of uncovering the experiences and lessons that some of these guests have learnt as a part of their long careers and work life.
In this episode, they are in conversation with Brian Walsh, Founder, ShiftFocus. Brian shares some truly insightful thoughts on what it takes to be a successful manager. The principles of work and the managerial and leadership habits described here are universal.
Here are some thought-provoking quotes or ideas that can make you reflect and think about what you are doing at work today, both as an individual or as a manager.
A great manager has three things:
“ One, they got to have a fulfilled career. They got to feel good about where they're going and how they're doing.”
“Number two, the job of a manager is to enable the success of their employees.”
“And then three, deliver an aligned result to the business.”
What helps you grow or rise as a manager?
The acronym Brian has explained is nice and easy to remember: RISERS - Relationships, Influence, Skills, Experience, and Systems.
Some interesting thoughts that Brian shares in his conversation:
“What I've seen is managers of employees and managers of managers, they're not clear about the results.”
“Sometimes a manager is just a really good storyteller and collector of evidence”
“For everybody, when you get into a new job or a new role, there's three stages you go through. And I call them the three P's of progression… it's practice, perform, pioneer.”
“You really have to have this philosophy of it's not how long you can keep them.
It's how far can you take them.”
You can also listen to this episode on:
The Wall’s Untold Stories | Kutti Stories with Ashwin.
It’s always a great learning experience to watch and listen to the life journeys of sportsmen. Not just life journeys, but even conversations about their early life, their heroes, their memories, and of course, stories about their wins and losses. Remember, these are great champions, and they have their share of successes and failures. Champions don’t always win! It’s how they recover from these losses and bounce back, which can be a great inspiration for many of us.
In the chat, Rahul Dravid, one of the modern-day legends of Cricket, is in conversation with another great cricketer, Ashwin Ravichandran. Cricket, as many of you may know or not, is a passion in India, much like soccer in other parts of the world. Here, Rahul Dravid talks about all of this and more in this chat.
What stood out in this conversation was:
The power and importance of having childhood heroes as a kid, and their influence on a child’s dreams and ambitions in later life.
The journey to success and stardom is a long, arduous process. Legends don’t get built overnight.
Sensing when to retire is also a key attribute that one needs to develop and is quite hard to come to a decision, especially when they are top stars and champions.
Preparing for a post-retirement job by knowing their strengths and whether they enjoy doing them is just as vital as when they are starting their sporting careers.
You can click on the above link and watch the video.
Great Managers Don’t Just Manage. They Help People Grow.
In the Impactful Engineer podcast, a common recurring theme kept coming back in the conversation. There is this one attribute that differentiates a great manager from an average one - it’s about the manager’s ability to help the people they work with discover where they ‘can go’ versus using them because they are good today.
This is quite contrary to many working methods or styles that you may have seen or experienced. It is essential to understand that a manager's role is not to just manage the ‘tasks’, which they want done, but to define, inspire and draw out the best from them.
This calls for a fundamental shift in your approach, whether you are a manager or are about to become one. You have to switch from transactional management (tracking tasks, deadlines, and KPIs) to transformational leadership (developing people, enabling them to understand their potential, and fostering long-term capability).
The question is, what does it mean when we say great managers help people grow?
It’s about throwing people at the deep end of a problem and allowing them to find solutions. Great managers are always there to guide and provide direction when and wherever necessary. It’s not ‘delegation by abandonment.’
Demanding and pushing people to do their best, and helping people continuously reset their own benchmarks. It’s about setting high benchmarks and constantly pushing people to exceed them. This means that there will be times when people feel uncomfortable and are at their edge, but only through these experiences do they grow.
Having the ability to say things as they are. Knowing how to maintain the same intensity while sharing an appreciation, and when it’s a job not well done. The ability to call it out and say it with impact, yet leaving people inspired to strive for doing better, is vital. It’s also not just sharing feedback, but sharing ‘what it means to be better’ with vivid examples and having the ability to show and do it hands-on.
Making people think about the art of the possible. A great manager defines, sets and manages ambitions. For them, it’s not about managing the available resources, but making the limited resources do unlimited things. It’s the energy they can unleash in people that will make the difference. Average managers manage resources while great managers unleash energy in people.
Ability to leave a long-term impact on people’s lives. Their influence is felt long after they have been the person’s manager. It’s the little moments, nudges, tough conversations, and demanding expectations of the past that leave an indelible impact on people’s lives and their achievements in the later years. Recognition and achievements come over time, but how a great manager prepares people for it is the big difference.
Acting like a coach. They have the ability to spot and nurture talent. They also have the skills to demand the discipline and rigour to build a pathway for people’s success. They can foresee the champion far ahead of the champions themselves.
Not losing sight of business outcomes. They can delicately balance people's growth with business growth.
Great managers accomplish their work by ‘doing’, not just by ‘managing’!
Some of the lessons we learnt from this week’s mission:
For AI transformation programs in organisations, culture is as important as the code or the technology itself.
Great managers prioritize the success of their employees above their own.
Even great champions have their share of success and failure in life. The best ones know how to recover and bounce back quickly.