p a r t i : s u c c e e d i n g i n yo u r t r a n s i t i o n 29 Based on your self-assessment, you now have an initial glimpse into your strengths and weaknesses, concerns, and worries in these areas. Use those insights as you read the pages that follow. Yes, you will want to read carefully in the areas in which you are weaker,and resist the urge to skim the other areas, for the nugget we share (or you extrapolate) may be the single insight or idea that takes you to even higher levels of skill and achievement.
Thoughts About This Transition (and Transitions in
things. It is your victory in this transition that will give you great satisfaction and joy when you ‘‘get to the other side of it.’’ (Do we ever really ‘‘get to the other side of it’’? We don’t think we have yet.
We continue to learn and grow right along with you.) The real art of conducting consists in transitions.
—Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer
Guy’s daughter, Lydia, really enjoys studying and playing music.
One day she explained to him how an individual conductor’s interpretation of a piece of music can affect the sound and feel of it. The composer uses standard musical terminology and rules for writing the music. The conductor then manages the interpretation of what the composer wrote. He adds his interpretation as he leads the beat, suggests how to move between different parts of the piece, and signals when each part of the orchestra should start or stop.
Through the conductor’s interpretation, he creates the overall feel of the performance.
The conductor understands the rules, the terminology, and the principles of music composition that the composer used to convey musical ideas. The art of conducting lies in how the conductor applies those rules, terminology, and principles with the orchestra that he leads.
Many conductors are also performers. They usually learn their craft as they perform in an orchestra, and each eventually gets the chance to lead it as the conductor. They know their instruments, their parts, very well. As they become conductors, leaders, they have to learn how all of the parts come together to create beautiful music.
Like a composer writing music for the conductor, we can share rules, terminology, and principles of effective leadership with you.
You have that all in your hands as you read. As you make the transition from individual contributor to leader and experiment with how to apply these principles to your situation and with your team, your interpretation of what we have written comes to life. The art of leadership lies in how you make the transition and how you apply the principles with your team.
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C O M M O N C O N C E R N S A B O U T T H E T R A N S I T I O N
T O L E A D E R S H I P
As we lead workshops and consult with our clients, we often get the opportunity to ask new leaders about their concerns, struggles, and frustrations. Through these conversations, we have learned that many people making the transition from Bud to Boss have similar concerns.
By expressing those concerns as questions, we get a list that looks like this:
❍How do I make discipline stick with my ‘‘friends’’?
❍How do I get ‘‘lazy’’ people to work?
❍What is the best way for me to communicate with my peer leaders?
❍How do I get a better understanding of my new role/responsibility?
❍Who communicates my new role to others?
❍How do I communicate with new peers that have been at this longer than me?
❍How do I work with groups led by people with leadership styles different from mine?
❍How do I work with distant or virtual teams?
❍What can I do to deal with the grapevine?
❍How do I deal with multiple bosses?
❍What can I do to deal with problem employees?
❍How can I best delegate to my former peers?
❍How can I change the culture on my team?
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❍ What am I supposed to say to an employee who says: ‘‘Your job should have been mine’’?
❍ How do I gain respect, trust, and credibility in my new role?
❍ What is the best way to communicate about difficult issues?
❍ How do I manage professionals?
❍ How do I gain influence with my boss?
❍ What do I do to build a high-performing work team?
❍ How do I separate my personal relationship with my team from my professional relationship with them?
❍ What if people perceive that I am showing favoritism toward my friends?
❍ How can I resolve conflicts between employees?
❍ How can I communicate with and motivate people who are different from me?
❍ What should I be doing to conduct better performance evaluations?
❍ How do I get employees to buy in to my new role?
❍ What do I do to help people deal with change, and how do I communicate about changes to minimize resistance?
❍ How can I better understand other people’s needs?
While this isn’t a complete list, you get the idea!
Although we think that all of the answers to these questions are addressed in either the book itself or in other Bonus Bytes, you might want to get a quick glance at the answers we have for these questions. We don’t think this Bonus Byte substitutes for reading the book, but it might make quick reference easier for you. To get our answers to these questions, go to the Bonus Bytes page at BudToBossCommunity.com and click on the Starting Concerns button.
In the transition from friend and coworker (Bud) to leader (Boss), you probably share many of the concerns on this list. You might not have all of them, but we are guessing that you can identify with many of them. You might even see some concerns that you had not considered before you began to read this book, but they look very real to you now that you have seen the list.
c o n c e r n s a b o u t t h e t r a n s i t i o n t o l e a d e r s h i p 33 As you read this book and look for answers to your specific questions, remember that leadership is a complex skill set. It includes communication skills, persuasion skills, change management skills, team skills, conflict resolution skills, coaching skills, and many others.
Since it is a complex skill set, there are very few simple answers to leadership challenges.
There are, though, a few foundational principles that will help you in nearly every situation. When you get a good handle on those core principles, the techniques, approaches, and specific skills needed for a given situation will become clear to you.
Complex problems such as the ones you will face as a leader often have multiple ‘‘right’’ answers. As a result, we cannot tell you the absolute ‘‘right way’’ to address every situation you will encounter.
We can equip you with the concepts and principles you can apply to figure out the ‘‘most right’’ answer foryoursituation.
Complex problems like the ones you will face as a leader often have multiple ‘‘right’’ answers.
Leadership problems are like the problems that a craftsman—a cabinet maker for example—might face as she practices her craft.
A cabinet maker usually has multiple chisels, saws, planes, and hammers. Each tool works well in a particular situation. Cabinet makers do not have one chisel, one saw, one plane, and one hammer.
They have multiples of each so that they can chose the best chisel, saw, plane, or hammer for a given situation. To be effective in their craft, cabinet makers create a large cabinet maker toolbox.
We encourage you to do the same thing as a leader. Developing your ability to solve complex leadership problems such as those that you will face as a leader demands that you have a large ‘‘leadership toolbox.’’ We suggest that you learn multiple change management, communication, persuasion, coaching, team-building, conflict reso- lution, and goal-setting skills and techniques and that you practice applying them in different situations so that you can learn to identify the best approach to use in your environment. (Good news, you will learn about all of these areas in the pages that follow.)
InThe Psychology of Science,Abraham Maslow, a sociologist and organizational behavior researcher, said: ‘‘I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.’’ In this statement, Maslow points to a common challenge we face when we approach complex problems: we tend to limit our view
of the problems to make them fit neatly within the limits of the tools we have. So that you do not exemplify the thought behind this quote, keep building your leadership toolbox. Make it big and full.
Remarkable leaders learn to use a wide range of communication, conflict resolution, and team-building approaches and techniques so that they know the best tool to use for a given situation.
As we answer the common questions we listed above, we offer tips, techniques, and insights that you can put to use right away to make your life as a leader easier. If you see a technique that does not fit your specific situation, look beyond the surface explanation for the principle behind the technique so that you can find a way to modify or adjust the technique to make it work for you.
Through the course of this book, we address the main concerns and frustrations that we listed above and some others. By the time you reach the end of the book, you should be able to find at least one answer to each of the main concerns that new leaders face.
Your Now Step
1. If you have not already done so, get your learning journal and write the three to five biggest concerns you have related to your transition to leadership.
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I M P R O V I N G Y O U R R E S U LT S B Y U N D E R S TA N D I N G S O M E C R I T I C A L C O M P O N E N T S O F
Y O U R L E A D E R S H I P R O L E
In your transition from Bud to Boss, you will have to confront many new issues that were not part of your responsibilities before you became a leader. Suddenly you are the leader and all of these issues land squarely in your lap. To be successful, you have to find a way to deal with them—you cannot just ignore the problems that come your way. And the sooner you learn to deal with them the better. We know you can handle the challenges, and we have some perspective to share with you that we think makes the list a little less daunting.
In the last chapter, we discussed many of the common concerns of new leaders. As we said, the list of common concerns comes from what we have heard new leaders say to us in our workshops and consulting work. In another exercise, we ask people to list what they see as the critical components of the leadership role. Since everyone doesn’t see leadership the same way, everyone doesn’t see the components of leadership the same way. From these conversations, we have collected a list of frequently mentioned components and combined them into what we call the critical components of your leadership role.