When I've arrived

Ever tell yourself things will be different "when you are making $xxx a year", "when you have more time", "when....". Its the king of all lies to yourself. The truth is, when you do arrive wherever it is you are trying to scrape your way toward, most of us end up getting lazy and start letting things slip.

Ever seen this happen before...your favorite TV show starts becoming really successful and suddenly its just not as good as the early episodes? An author makes it big on one book to only write something completely unoriginal the next release? I've got several real-life examples we can learn from, this being the first in a series, of "When I've arrived":

George Lucas
He made Star Wars, he developed Pixar, he created THX technologies, and he's given us yet another Indiana Jones movie. When George was creating the original 3 Star Wars movies, he was relentlessly pushing to show that creative and ground-breaking movies could be produced by a non-corporate, smaller studio. He pushed hard through the first 2 movies, and as he saw what he thought was the finish line coming with the completion of Return of the Jedi, his wife divorced him. He later found himself becoming the very thing he set out to avoid - the large corporate studio. Although there have been some really ground-breaking technologies Lucas has been behind in recent years (namely THX & Pixar), we haven't seen a really unique movie come out of Lucasfilms in a while. The last decade of Lucas productions has only given us old stories brought back to life in the new Star Wars movies and the latest Indy.

There's a lot here we can learn from as middle managers (MM). Two points especially grabbed my attention:

1.) If you are blinded by your success and your ambition for it, you're not going to have much else when you get there (friends, family, balance).

2.) Big successes breed laziness. Its really hard to make it big and achieve a big goal, become really popular/in the media, or become really wealthy and not prop your feet up and call it a day. If I do something well in my role as a MM or my company has a big moment of success, although I am tempted, I can't let that be what I ride. Yeah, its fine to stop for a breather and appreciate the momentary success, but soak that in and then move on. You better go ahead and start thinking about how to make what you do even better, have even more rave customer reviews, make better profits, etc. before the success starts to wane. If you ride the success wave for too long, you'll soon find yourself (and possibly even your company) so out of shape that you're pretty far away from being able hit another home run.

Learn from Lucas - don't let the force of the success you have today drive you away from both a personal life as well as continued successes.

Reputation is worth more than Revenue

Money is always a motivator. But letting it drive how you make your decisions will cost you in the long-run.

No matter if someone is a "big" client (i.e. big revenue generator) or a "small" client (i.e. you don't get to send them as large a bill for your services) treat them the same. Everyone spreads the news about services they love and especially those they hate.

You'll be surprised to find that a "smaller" client can end up referring you a good amount of business. And if you treated them like they were small and didn't matter, good luck convincing them that you matter enough to refer business your way.

A "smaller" client may even end up being the connector for your next job.

Its simple, but it makes a huge difference. The Golden Rule actually does matter.

Nothing is ever finished

So much about being a middle manager - one that your boss, co-workers, and customers assign a lot of value to - is more about mindset than your level of college degree, what big company you've worked for, etc. Mindsets help shape actions. Training yourself to think in new ways will help govern future problems you tackle.

That said, here is one such mindset I've found enormously helpful in my roles as a middle manager: keeping my focus on developing relationships, not just completing projects or tasks.

True, you do need to finish tasks and make sure deliverables are actually getting wrapped-up and in people's hands, but that's not the point here. Get those deliverables done, but don't look for the big finish line. This means that you're not looking for that point in a project, task, etc when you can finally wash your hands and move on to the next thing for the next person. Be thinking about how you're going to help your clients with the next project while you're still in the midst of the current task at hand. This will transform short-term projects into ongoing, long-term relationships.

People will notice the difference.

Over Communicate

This is a big one – hard to do, but invaluable. I'm always working on improving my ability to do this well.

My goal: communicate regarding a project or task before someone has to ask me about it. I make it a game with myself and consider it a failure (no matter what) if I'm asked about the status of a project or task without me initiating the progress report. Don't make excuses for yourself when you fail to do this (even if the excuses are just internal).

Part of over communicating effectively is to make timelines and project road maps to keep everyone on the same page. A bigger part is making sure to continuously update along the way, not just when a deliverable is being sent. You want to make sure your boss, co-workers, and clients always know exactly where a project or task is, so that they never have to ask first.

Every time I do this successfully, expectations are managed, momentum is maintained, and trust begins to form. When I fail to do this, the people around me as well as clients begin to worry about where something is in process, begin to forget what exactly the result of the project or task was supposed to be, etc - basically things start to fall apart in their eyes and they begin to doubt if I am really managing. If they're having to ask first, then I'm really just reacting.

Be a middle manager, not a reactor - over communicate.

Problem Solver

Most of the time people are in the habit of only taking care of perceived needs. A client knows they need something done, they ask you for your services, and you take care of it. This is baseline customer service and management 101. Easy.

The problem with this is that everyone can do it. Its no less than your client expects, but it also doesn't blow their socks off. The real value you can offer your customers is when you are able to unearth an unrealized need. Here's an example of how you unearth that need...

Let's say a customer sends you an RFP - how much more valuable is it if you first give them a call and really try to determine what their goals are. Anyone can put together a quote. It takes someone truly dedicated to discover the bigger picture before figuring out services/deliverables that will accomplish those goals.

Think about what you're looking for when you elicit outside services. You need someone who will help solve your problems. So do your customers. Approach your clients with that mindset. When someone starts telling you what they need from you, listen first, but then tell them you want to back-track just a bit. Ask them, "what are you trying to accomplish by doing this?" (aka - "what is your goal"). Get them to talk big picture, then help them discover if what they've proposed is truly the best solution.

Protect your clients from themselves. They may not know better, but you do.

Be the problem solver.

First Look at The Squeeze

The Squeeze is in the process of becoming a book, and my fellow teammates over at matchstic just completed the first look at the book cover designs. I may be a little biased - but I've got to say - they do incredible work!

I'd love to hear your feedback. As you look at these two possible cover designs, think about which would speak more to you as a Middle Manager (MM). What would you be more likely to pick up from a bookshelf? Simply comment on this post with your thoughts. The 2 cover design options we're considering are below:



Look forward to hearing from you!

Everything should be repeatable

As I mentioned in my post last week - Nothing short of sustainable - we're on the hunt for a new member of my team at work. Its always exciting to reach a point where your business is growing - so much so that you need help to be an effective Middle Manager (MM). As this growth occurs, the big challenge is determining the how and when of continuing to expand your role.

The key - it starts with figuring out how to do your role exceptionally well, but don't stop there. Refine it, systemize it, and continue to add responsibilities to your plate. As growth occurs around you, delegate these systematic processes you have created for others to duplicate these same exceptional results. Continue to do this over time, and you will find your position has grown into a high level MM overseeing employees, departments, etc. Don’t succumb to the fear that reducing your skills to mere repeatable processes will corner you out of a job. Remember, continuously add to your responsibilities and improve on those processes even after you have delegated them.

Drucker says it best

Peter Drucker is the father of our modern business theories and culture. If you haven't read one of his books, you should. When I read a book I find that I usually glean a few take-aways, but not so with Drucker. You'll love all of what he has to say.

I read this last night from one of Drucker's books and it really provoked me to think about being relentlessly excellent, even as business grows.

The theory of the business must be known and understood throughout the organisation. This is easy in an organisation’s early days. But as it becomes successful, an organisation tends increasingly to take its theory for granted, becoming less and less conscious of it. Then the organisation becomes sloppy. It begins to cut corners. It begins to pursue what is expedient rather than what is right. It stops thinking. It stops questioning. It remembers the answers but has forgotten the questions. The theory of the business becomes “culture”. But culture is no substitute for discipline, and the theory of the business is a discipline.
- Peter Drucker, On the Profession of Management

Don't stop when things seem to be going well. Keep asking the tough questions of yourself and what you're doing as a business. Bottom line - don't get comfortable.

Inspire Ownership

I was talking to a client today about being in the squeeze. His major issue - he had been hired to do a job but was being constantly undermined every time he tried to make a decision. He felt his boss was preventing him from being effective at his job by keeping him from having any true decision-making authority.

There are two ends to this spectrum - the micro-manager and the aloof manager. Neither is good and I'm not sure which is worse. But I can say that the micro-manager does one thing that really cuts the legs out from under you as a manager - they allow you to go down a path so far, even leading others down that path, only to later question you and force you to go backward and change course. This tells you and everyone around you that your boss believes only they have the ability to truly make good decisions. This is a cancerous message if left unchallenged.

Don't leave this bully unquestioned. True, they are your boss, so don't be disrespectful, but also don't be afraid to be confrontational. Take this from someone who has been there before and has witnessed others in the same position - its not going to get better. You're just going to be more frustrated.

Its also up to you to remember this when you're dealing with people you're responsible for. Don't undermine their decisions. Let them have ownership of what they do. And when you do, make sure they feel the swell of their success as well as the gravity of their failure. Having ownership over a role is the only way anyone can truly grow and become the kind of person that impacts a business. You need this type of ownership and so do others around you. Don't settle for anything less.

Be More Than a Yes Man

Everyone has a love/hate relationship with yes men. You love the fact that they agree with you and make you feel smart / you hate the fact that the result of their immediate "yes" usually results in the disastrous.

On the flip side, there's the cautious advisor - the person who initially pulls back the reigns, tells you all the problems with your ideas, and makes you feel like maybe your idea was not so smart.

Its obvious which we say we want, but I'm afraid most of us naturally gravitate toward the yes man. It just feels better to be around them.

I find this especially true in new relationships with clients. Its tempting to do exactly what they say they want - "sure we can build your house with the bathroom in the kitchen, that's a great idea". Wrong. Pitch/Sell/Offer your best product and ideas and don't just settle for what the customer wants in the immediate. Doing exactly what they want is not always what will have the greatest impact.

James Carville applied this masterfully in the 1992 Clinton campaign. He was serving as campaign manager at the time and Clinton (then Bill) was all over the place with his message - he had no real focus. During a meeting, James wrote a phrase on a white board meant to reign Bill's message in - "It's the economy, stupid." Looking back, Clinton is most remembered for the economic success the U.S. had during his presidency. So Carville not only gave President Clinton focus, he gave him the council that would provide Clinton with the best long-term results. He was no yes man.

I take as a two-fold charge:

1. look for the people who will challenge me and make sure I'm letting them audit my decisions
2. offer my best advice to people with more in mind than just making them feel good.
   

Be the expert.