Righttrack Whispers:

Are you the manager you want to be?

Righttrack's Phil Clarkson looks at ways of getting the job done whilst maintaining an excellent reputation with staff

In my lifetime I have met, trained and worked for thousands of managers from all types of organisations. Some managers I still have on my Xmas card list and would go out of my way to help them now if they needed anything from me.

I also have forgotten many of them as they left no impression on me or have not influenced who I am today. I unfortunately also have a number of managers who have left nothing but negative memories with me and conversely have had a positive effect on me as I would never want to be like them or have their reputation.

With the stress and pressure put on managers in this current economic climate it is important to remember just getting the job done and not worrying about what your staff and colleagues think of you will not get you long term results. It has been proven that managers who have excellent reputations with their staff are more successful and find achieving their objectives less challenging as they have the support of staff and colleagues alike.

Just imagine if your staff or colleagues had to write a testimonial for you for a business networking web site. Ask yourself:
What would I like them to say?
What would I not want them to say?
Are there any people you wouldn’t ask? & Why?
How would you want the outside world to see you?

You can try the above as an exercise with your team or colleagues at the same level however you must be ready to accept their feedback without challenging, just learn how to say “THANK YOU” for the feedback.

Another useful exercise I often use with managers to help them see themselves from others points of view is the impressions game.

The Impressions Game
1. Use a post it note or small card and write down 3 words that describe how you want to be seen or talked about by others, eg:
Professional
Approachable
Caring
It is important the words are right for you and your job role.

2. Keep the card to yourself; do not share the words yet.

3. Go and have some normal business conversations with people who are important to you, include the ones you don’t get on with.

4. At the end of the conversation ask “how do I appear to you?” or “How would you describe me in 3 words?” (don’t worry this is not a speed dating exercise)

5. Compare the feedback to the words you have on your card. (can be done on your own or at the time of the feedback)

6. Analyse how many of your words actually came back to you in the feedback.

If you got all 3 well done! As long as they were positive words of course!

If you did not get your words back in the feedback this suggests you have some work to do to get people to see you as you would like to be seen. I know some managers I have worked with still carry the card to remind them what they are trying to achieve in terms of their personal reputation while getting the job done.

Things you may need to work on:
Your communication style.
How you build rapport.
Do you talk more than listen?
Look at how others with a good reputation behave.

One last tip for you to try: Ask yourself 2 questions every morning.
1. How do I want people to see me today?
2. What will I do to achieve this?