One Key to “Uncrankiness”
Guest article from Wayne Turmel, Cranky Middle Manager, and president of Great Web Meetings
I’ve been doing a lot of interviews and speaking on the subject of middle management lately and there’s one thing that emerges time and time again- the key to becoming uncranky is usually in the manager’s control.
I know it seems like a paradox - I mean let’s face it, most of what makes us cranky involves other people. The folks upstairs want you to hit certain metrics but won’t approve the budget for reasonable requests to help get there. An unmotivated workforce (often de-motivated by the inconsistent or thoughtless actions of those above you) isn’t executing. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have to deal with confusing, often contradictory edicts from above, and it doesn’t mean that if you do your job perfectly all your direct reports will fall in line… as nice as that would be.
No, the key (and it’s, as a friend of mine likes to say, simple but not easy) is to take control of the things you can control.
Your team is spread out around the country- maybe even the world. You want them to get together- let’s face it, teams that know each other can be much more effective. (Of course, LIKING each other helps too and that’s often easier to do over a bottle of something chilled).
Let’s say your people need training on a certain process. You can request budget to include your team at the next annual meeting- finance people are soooooo understanding about stuff like that. Or you can ask the nice lady from HR to schedule a training session… between scheduling, travel, vendor selection and budget you should have that in time for the Olympics - in London in 2012.
What you have to do is take control of the things you can control with as little budget impact as possible. Fortunately there are several tools that allow you to communicate easily and quickly and- maybe best of all- at very little injury to the operational budget.
Maybe you can’t get everyone together for a meeting, but web meetings are a reasonable alternative, if they’re well planned and executed. Platforms like Dimdim and others are free or nearly so, and don’t put the strain on the IT processes that a lot of the bigger platforms do. There are also telephony services like Skype (free audio and video conferencing between people with accounts), instant messaging, and many others.
Can’t get budget approval for training? You probably have subject matter experts on your team, let them take charge of one of these meetings for a short session. Your people will be up and doing whatever it is before the charming folks in Finance even get that spread sheet built.
Rather than wait for the organization to get its act together… do what you can within your own sphere of influence and then share the results! It sounds like more work than a good Slacker Manager should have to do, but then it’s a whole lot less stressful and crankiness-inducing than trying to get someone above you to approve it or even understand what you’re trying to accomplish. Take little objectives, meet them and move on to the next one before your boss even knows what’s happening.
Details on Webinar:
- Thursday, June 26th, 11 AM Eastern Time
- “The Freedom to Manage: Guerilla managing your remote team your way”
- Go to www.dimdim.com and click on Featured Meetings to register.
Are you tired of waiting for approval from the folks upstairs for budget to manage your remote team the way you want to manage it? The nice lady from HR won’t approve your training request? We’re going to look at 4 ways managers of remote teams can take control of things and help their team work better at little or not cost.
Anyone managing teams across time zones or leading virtual projects (all the responsibility and none of the financial authority) will find something of use and you’ll learn from managers around the world as well.
Just go to www.dimdim.com and give them your email address. You’ll receive your invitation via email. I look forward to seeing you there!
This is a guest article from Wayne Turmel, host of the Cranky Middle Manager podcast, and president of Great Web Meetings
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