Submitted by Andrew J Baer on
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So, I love Manager/Career Tools, read Drucker and Covey and...I still feel stuck. I'm on Good, trying to get to great and no amount of effort seems to make any difference. I would greatly appreciate any recommendations for management or executive coaches who can work with me remotely. Thank you, very much for any thoughts or recommendations.
It depends on what you're
It depends on what you're trying to accomplish and what you mean by that. Is there something specific that is making you stuck? If you have a personal license, the manager tools team will try to answer your specific questions. Have you already listened to the Manager Tools Basics casts? Have you considered purchasing the Effective Manager Video Course (under tools).
Is the issue that you have so much advice you don't know what to do or that you can't identify what to do or that you're having a specific problem or can't get to the next level after a long time in your current level?
Also, while I don't always agree with HBR, be aware: https://hbr.org/2002/06/the-very-real-dangers-of-executive-coaching
Ariahley, thanks for the
Ariahley, thanks for the response. I have listened to all the MT Basics casts, but I feel a bit overwhelmed with informationa and I don't see appreciable results when I make focused efforts to apply concepts over 4-6 weeks.
For example, my attempts to introducethe MT feedback/weekly counseling/coahing triad met with a lot of suspicion and pushback. Following the advice on time tracking and creating a job description (I had none, previously) with my boss backfired when I was later told that I hadn't picked the correct number one priority. There's a few more examples and they all ended in the same vein - with the effort not being worth the result.
Sorry for the slow reply
I got promoted in the last couple of months and have to sit for a bunch of exams to do all of the role's job responsibilities. It's resulted in me working entirely too much and not having as much time as I usually do.
I'm not sure 4-6 weeks is really enough to see appreciable results. Also, starting and then stopping things or trying a lot of diffierent things inconsistently would likely lead to that response - the response where people pushback or are suspicious of your behavior.
If I had that conversation with my boss, I wouldn't take it as "backfiring" to find out I had not correctly identified the number one priority. Instead, I would say "Oh wow, thanks. I would have been working on the wrong thing! So glad to find out now instead of later." However, that's also not in my job description (my number one priority). My job description is about 2-3 pages long and I carry it around in my notebook. Most of it is a list of general behaviors and conduct that my VP expects of her Directors (my role).
I have conversations regularly with my boss about priorities. We're 25% short-staffed due primarily to promotions, but also to a few departures and regularly choosing which things we're going to have to delay. We have to communicate to others our choices. Nearly every week, I present her with our choices and tell her which things I think we should delay and why. If she disagrees, we discuss it. I'm not always correct about her priorities and her priorities are, by definition, my priorities (maybe not all of them, but most of them). I can influence, but if we ultimately decide on something different then what I thought, that's what I implement. And if my team asks why X and not Y, I have a reason (and my reason is never "because my boss said so").
Realistically, it takes time to develop trusting relationships. I'm not clear on when you started in your role. Have you been managing for a long time and only recently found manager tools or have you only recently been promoted (i.e., is this your first manager role)? Based on the tone of your response, the thing I'm most concerned about is that you state that everything is "backfiring" and I question how much of that is your interpretation of the situation versus how much is good communication that you're interpreting incorrectly. However, as I'm not able to see the body language of these people or hear their words, etc, I can't say.
Are you aware that with your paid subscription, you can email the staff of manager tools and get help on a reasonably targeted topic?
Also, you can't implement everything at once and you're not meant to. No one can do everything at once. And the risk of trying to do everything at once is that you basically risk not really accomplishing anything. Maybe focus on developing relationships with your people (1:1s/O3s) and doing that number one priority for now.