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How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

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Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#181

Post by croo »

gowld wrote: post #163
marcus_holmes wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asians have massive respect for authority. This, in effect, mean that they won't ever say no to, or disagree with, their boss. I had to learn to ask open questions, because if they could say yes they would. They would still guess at what I wanted to hear and tell me that. I got told different things than other members of the management team, not because anyone was trying to deceive, but purely as a show of respect. M…

> After training myself for years to not send emails Why would you do that? That's a recipe for miscommunication and mis-coordination in any country.

In my (limited) experience email should be used for either:

* non-urgent

* not-that-important

* things you want (others) to remember

* communications you may want to point your finger later on (proof/contract details etc)

For everything else phone and in person communication are vastly superior and should be preferred.

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#183

Post by rcgs »

spyckie2 wrote: post #152
hanniabu wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious why the servant leadership style didn't work for you and why you think that is because this is the approach I prefer as well but I'm young in my career.

It doesn't work in Asia because of cultural reasons. Independent thinking and enabling others is a very American way of thinking. People don't realize how much culture is derived off of core principles within major founding documents (declaration of independence, constitution). In Asia, Confucian philosophy dominates the cultural landscape in terms of what values they have. One of the big principles of it is how to m…

This mirrors my experience in the MENA region (where a lot of staff are from asian cultures). It's hard to encourage people to work independently when they're coming from a "do what you're told" culture.

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#184

Post by catach »

ttflee wrote: post #155
bb88 wrote: post #81

A better title would be "How Management Works in 2018." Half of being a manager is managing other's behaviors to produce a great product. The other half is managing your own behaviors -- i.e. being consistent with your communications and consistent in your behaviors. Both of those topics have been left out of this piece.

It would be easier to learn from the comics at dilbert.com to avoid bad management.

I feel like it's pretty easy for proto-Pointy-Haired-Bosses to learn entirely wrong lessons from Dilbert strips, even if they get the joke.

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#185

Post by catach »

Hannan wrote: post #117
drblast wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be the impression in the business world, which has what I can only describe as a fetish for stories about the military, but Marines in particular have a very tough time adapting to life and careers outside the military. It's fun to think of our businesses as just like a Seal team and try to glean lessons from stories of heroism, but the reality is if the military were in the business of making a profit,…

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with you here (nor have I ever been military in any remote respect), but there are some overlapping truths in that page, e.g. "Employ your command in accordance with its capabilities", under "Develop", points 1, 3, & 4. I've resigned over unrealistic expectations from leadership about deadlines, and what was to be asked of my team to complete said deadlines. I would do it again. I'm su…

Do you know what the outcome was for a team you resigned from?

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#186

Post by CSMastermind »

drblast wrote: post #100
w_t_payne wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Following the links, I stumbled upon this amazing seeming resource: http://leadership.au.af.mil/sls-skil.htm The military are really very very good at man-management ...

This seems to be the impression in the business world, which has what I can only describe as a fetish for stories about the military, but Marines in particular have a very tough time adapting to life and careers outside the military. It's fun to think of our businesses as just like a Seal team and try to glean lessons from stories of heroism, but the reality is if the military were in the business of making a profit,…

> but Marines, in particular, have a very tough time adapting to life and careers outside the military.

I'm curious why you have that impression. I spent 6 years in the Marine Corps Infantry and I've found it super helpful now 6 years into my career as a software developer. Specifically, because of the leadership style you learn.

The only thing I'd say it made it more difficult to adapt to was college where I had to interact with a bunch of kids with no life experience and lots of strong opinions about how the world does and should work.

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#187

Post by CSMastermind »

thebooglebooski wrote: post #21

Fan of the Marine Corps model: http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/usmc/leadership.htm Some of them are painfully obvious, but these are sometimes absent when they shouldn't be. (I also suspect this is what Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr either draw from, or coincide with.)

You should really check out Simon Senik's new book [Leaders Eat Last](https://www.amazon.com/Leaders-Eat-Last-Together-Others/dp/1...).

It's essentially Marine Corp leadership philosophy distilled fitted to business scenarios.

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#188

Post by adamdrake »

thebooglebooski wrote: post #21

Fan of the Marine Corps model: http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/usmc/leadership.htm Some of them are painfully obvious, but these are sometimes absent when they shouldn't be. (I also suspect this is what Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr either draw from, or coincide with.)

Military organizations have been studying how to lead people under a variety of conditions since effectively the dawn of time.

Many people make the mistake of fetishizing military leadership, but I absolutely thing there is a lot to be learned by studying the techniques of the organizations that have been building leadership skills the longest.

I talked a bit about this https://adamdrake.com/command-and-control.html and some of the misunderstandings that companies have when it comes to leading people.

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#189

Post by adamdrake »

klenwell wrote: post #89

I also recommend this Ask HN thread: Ask HN: I just got my first team lead. What should I do? 89 points by endymi0n on Dec 30, 2011 | 50 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3407643 Hmmm. Older than I remembered. But a few of the recommendations in it have stuck with me and it's been as helpful as anything I've read on the topic.

Teammate to Team Lead is a topic that I run into a lot with the companies I advise. I have a small post on the topic, which I'm planning to expand:

https://adamdrake.com/teammate-to-team-lead.html

There are quite a few things, some of them subtle, that really change once you're in a leadership role. The frequent example I see is that people don't realize that if they are in a leadership role, then there will be decisions they make which people on their team do not like. That's ok. It's not the job of the leader to win a popularity contest, but rather to try to do the best thing for the individual team members, the team, and the company itself. A lot of people have a tough time with the fact that others won't like their decisions, but that's a critical thing to digest for those who are going to be effective leaders.

Re: How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team

#190

Post by adamdrake »

funwie wrote: post #82

Good leadership ideas. I think defining relationships and respecting the boundaries is also important. Make sure all employees understand relationship types and know which there have with one another. Are we colleagues, friends, etc? This will lead to smooth interactions.

Absolutely. People often don't appreciate or feel comfortable with the fact that when in a leadership role, the relationship changes. New leaders often focus too much on being liked, or having their decisions liked, over doing what is best for the team and its members. Being a popular and well-respected leader is the outcome of good decisions, support, and relationships, not a consequence of trying to do the popular thing.

It's especially tough for people who are transitioning from being part of a team to leading that same team. I elaborate a bit here:

https://adamdrake.com/teammate-to-team-lead.html

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