On Management
On Management
Part Four of Five
of the “What is Fusion?” series
“Let’s see if your walk is as good as your talk.”
– From “Zatoichi kenda-daiko” (1968)
We’ve already spoken about Communication, Sales and Culture Building. This article focuses on Management Development and applies to anyone who leads – not just those at the top. Around here, we do it in two flavors: Management Practices for Teams and Executive Counsel for Individuals.
Let’s begin with a specific First Principle, then discuss how First Principles are employed in teaching and fostering Management Development.
First Principle:
Life is a combination of the conceptual and the concrete. Actions and words. What leaders say and what they do.
The alignment, or lack thereof… between words and actions is what convinces us that this is a leader who’s serious – who means what they say – who’s worth following – emulating. Or not.
In the vernacular, it’s called “Walking Your Talk.”
Study Example:
At a national meeting, the leader delivers a rousing speech: Unique, Stylish, Passionate! Though she and her direct reports had enjoyed and mastered “Ready, Set, Go!”; this executive was so taken with the feelings of the moment that she abandoned her hard won discipline and simply held forth! Unfortunately, the message to the troops was: Yes we spent millions teaching you to deliver as a team, working from a shared discipline, and a shared set of stories, but the Boss just went off the reservation and did it her own way. Of course everyone loved the feeling of the speech; but they couldn’t really recall key areas, or point to a next step… And they wasted no time in pointing out the Actions vs. Words dissonance in the senior’s conduct. She asked us to learn and apply this discipline. But she didn’t “walk her talk.”
*Was there a mistake?
*How will the executive’s actions be perceived around the firm?
*Can she salvage the investment in “Ready, Set, Go!” or should she move on and not look back?
*Can she re-integrate the conceptual and the concrete and get her communication strategy back on track?
*Is it important for Management to Lead by Example in demonstrating mastery of the skills taught to the ranks?
Discuss.
The Art of Management may be best expressed as the mastery of the Lofty and the Low: Understanding of First Principles AND their unique daily expression in the work / on the job.
One doesn’t so much “teach” management, as much as facilitate or counsel individuals and teams in the process of becoming familiar with first principles, then introducing them into their daily flow. First, get the idea. Then, make it concrete! Finally, don’t change a winning game… Stay on the reservation!
How This Gets Taught:
Management Practices
First, we build a quarterly forum for the discussion of first principles and the steady accumulation of a shared team perspective about what Management is, and how it is most effectively practiced. Over time, individuals become more practiced, nuanced and effective at managing, and contribute to the larger goal of creating an experienced and cohesive management team – all working from the same set of shared principles.
This may be in a group retreat or by conference call. But there is no Management Team unless there is a shared set of principles and a common approach to applying them. This is how it begins.
Executive Counsel
For individuals: What’s required is the time and the place to get down to it! What’s working? What isn’t? Which principles apply, and how do we work them into our daily practice?
Most importantly, what scares you? What have you backed away from confronting? Ahh, now we have something to work on! Let’s get to it.
You can’t do this in a group. For individuals, the work is conducted any where a private moment is available – at home, the office, or the neighborhood hotel.
Life is a magical combination of the conceptual (words) and the concrete (actions).
“Walk your talk” and your people will follow you anywhere!
Applications:
1. Personally:
There are many First Principles in our lexicon, but Alignment (Walk Your Talk) is where the list begins. The power of simply lining up what you say, with what you actually do is difficult to overstate. Add a third component — Belief — to the mix and you have an individual with thought, word and deed aligned. That’s getting close to Sainthood. Of course, there aren’t many of those — probably because this is so darned difficult. But still — shouldn’t we be trying?
2. At Home:
Our flaws as people are never so clearly delineated as by our loving families — particularly the teenagers. Challenging familial authority and the internal power structure comes with entering the “Age of All Knowing.” But what if you let the young ones know you appreciate their perception and that you’re working on yourself as a human being? Can you make room for them on the “Family Board of Directors” — and parent more effectively as a result?
3. At Work:
This decade bears witness to the fact that everyone seems to be in it exclusively for their own benefit — at the expense of colleagues, clients, customers and the reputation of the parent company — or country. Is it time for the few who still get it, to start speaking up and demonstrating the power of Belief, Word and Action in alignment?
“Let’s see if your Walk is as good as your Talk!” The First Principle of Management: Integrity!
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In Architecture, the phrase “structural integrity” refers to a piece of construction in which the upper components pass their weight and stress onto the lower members cleanly and directly so that the base can support the whole without risk of collapse. Spiritual, corporate, philosophical or personal integrity have similar reference to the fact that words, beliefs and behavior have to align with and support each other in order for a life or a career to hold together.