Latest / Enhance.training / 6 Differentiating Behaviours For Managers To Be NOTICED By EVERYONE
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_00: The most visible managers aren't just competent.
- 0:03SPEAKER_00: They display visible, repeatable behaviours that signal leadership potential and business impact.
- 0:10SPEAKER_00: These differentiating behaviours for managers enable them to be consistently noticed by their peers, senior leaders, their teams, and also customers and suppliers.
- 0:20SPEAKER_00: The managers that are noticed by everyone have one common characteristic that drives all their differentiating behaviours.
- 0:28SPEAKER_00: It is the common thread that runs through all their actions and choices.
- 0:33SPEAKER_00: The most important differentiating behavior for managers to be noticed is the courage to take personal risks.
- 0:41SPEAKER_00: By personal risks I mean risks that reflect directly on you personally.
- 0:46SPEAKER_00: Here are some examples.
- 0:47SPEAKER_00: It is very scary to challenge your boss about their solution.
- 0:51SPEAKER_00: Most people will stay quiet or make encouraging remarks.
- 0:55SPEAKER_00: The managers who get noticed respectfully challenge when they spot problems or ask probing questions to strengthen the solution.
- 1:04SPEAKER_00: It is daunting to be the first to voice concerns.
- 1:08SPEAKER_00: Managers who stand out do this regularly and diplomatically.
- 1:11SPEAKER_00: It takes courage to voice your opinion when it is different from everyone else's in the room.
- 1:16SPEAKER_00: Yet managers that stand out speak up even when it's uncomfortable.
- 1:22SPEAKER_00: Contributing in senior meetings is nerve-wracking to start with.
- 1:26SPEAKER_00: What if I make a mistake?
- 1:28SPEAKER_00: What if I look silly or incompetent or nervous?
- 1:31SPEAKER_00: It is certainly easier to stay quiet or quietly agree with others.
- 1:36SPEAKER_00: It takes courage to speak up, discuss, question, challenge, and disagree in senior meetings.
- 1:42SPEAKER_00: The managers that really stand out find the courage to put their head above the parapet, to put themselves in situations where they may look silly, be shouted at, have their ideas shot down, and do so in service of helping the group, team and business be more successful.
- 2:01SPEAKER_00: Many managers know they should speak up, even want to speak up, yet they don't because they are too fearful of what might happen.
- 2:09SPEAKER_00: Building courage takes action and time.
- 2:13SPEAKER_00: I still remember early in my career being in a meeting with the sales team, taking the sales director through their tender response.
- 2:20SPEAKER_00: The sales director put forward a proposal that ultimately reduced the contract's margins.
- 2:26SPEAKER_00: I respectfully challenged him in front of his team.
- 2:29SPEAKER_00: He got really angry and started shouting at me.
- 2:32SPEAKER_00: It would have been easy for me to back down, I didn't.
- 2:36SPEAKER_00: Not because I was stubborn or had a career death wish, but because I didn't think it was the right thing for the business.
- 2:42SPEAKER_00: I went home pretty worried that night.
- 2:45SPEAKER_00: The next day I had my boss and my boss's boss ring me and praise my actions because I was looking after the company.
- 2:53SPEAKER_00: Half the company heard about this sales meeting.
- 2:56SPEAKER_00: The what and the why certainly made me stand out and definitely helped my reputation.
- 3:03SPEAKER_00: Build the courage to take personal risks at work.
- 3:06SPEAKER_00: Start with the small risks and build towards the bigger ones.
- 3:09SPEAKER_00: Building courage is a journey that takes time.
- 3:13SPEAKER_00: Take the first step today and keep taking steps each day.
- 3:17SPEAKER_00: Be courageous to stand out and to avoid being average as a manager.
- 3:22SPEAKER_00: Courage is needed for all the following differentiating behaviours for managers to be noticed.
- 3:27SPEAKER_00: Be brave to stand out.
- 3:30SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles.
- 3:32SPEAKER_00: If you're new to this podcast, Enhanced.training provides resources, courses, and coaching for you to build management expertise and confidence to lead any team to their best performance.
- 3:44SPEAKER_00: I have coached a lot of managers and leaders to build more courage and implement each of these behaviours to stand out as a manager or leader, which in turn enables them to be a lot more effective in their job, create significantly more value for their business, and raise their profile and visibility within their company.
- 4:02SPEAKER_00: As a next step to getting similar results, I invite you to visit us at enhance.training, select coaching, and book in a meeting with me.
- 4:12SPEAKER_00: A key differentiating behaviour for managers to be noticed is owning the bigger picture.
- 4:19SPEAKER_00: The more you own the bigger picture, you know the business unit, function, and overall business goals and work towards achieving those goals, the more you are seen as a team player and as contributing to what the bosses really care most about.
- 4:34SPEAKER_00: Average managers focus on their team's tasks, goals and metrics.
- 4:38SPEAKER_00: Average equals invisible from a senior manager's perspective.
- 4:43SPEAKER_00: For how to stand out in your company, consistently and visibly connect your work to the company's goals, financial metrics, and cross-team dependencies.
- 4:53SPEAKER_00: Constantly be on the lookout for problems that impact the work of your team and other teams.
- 4:58SPEAKER_00: Flag risks to business success early before they become real problems.
- 5:03SPEAKER_00: Focus more of your and your team's time and effort on the work that directly connects to the bigger picture goals, even if it creates short-term disappointments and conflict.
- 5:14SPEAKER_00: These behaviours will increase your personal impact on your team, colleagues, and business.
- 5:20SPEAKER_00: A great advert for leadership readiness and will certainly get you noticed by everyone.
- 5:25SPEAKER_00: The next differentiating behavior for managers to be noticed is building strong relationships across teams.
- 5:33SPEAKER_00: Strong relationships across a business make you a lot more effective, cultivates a lot more influence and multiplies your impact on the business.
- 5:42SPEAKER_00: To really stand out on a business, you need to be known beyond your own team.
- 5:47SPEAKER_00: Create situations where you can build useful relationships with other teams and colleagues.
- 5:52SPEAKER_00: Share information, help them solve problems, provide them advice or expertise that helps them succeed.
- 5:59SPEAKER_00: Get resources for them when they need them.
- 6:01SPEAKER_00: There is lots you can do to build those relationships.
- 6:05SPEAKER_00: Use your relationships and influence to help others connect the dots, to help them solve their problems faster and with less effort.
- 6:13SPEAKER_00: This alone will build even more influence.
- 6:16SPEAKER_00: People will think I want them involved in this initiative or project.
- 6:20SPEAKER_00: You quickly create a virtuous circle where your visibility, reputation and influence keep growing.
- 6:27SPEAKER_00: Work to build strong, mutually beneficial relationships across your business.
- 6:32SPEAKER_00: The next differentiating behavior for managers to be noticed is taking ownership of problems, even when they're not yours.
- 6:40SPEAKER_00: The more people problems impact, the greater the visibility of those who devise a solution and implement that solution successfully.
- 6:48SPEAKER_00: Solving problems is one of the best differentiators.
- 6:52SPEAKER_00: The ability to find and implement solutions to problems is a key skill for successful managers and leaders.
- 6:58SPEAKER_00: The hard part of implementing most solutions are the people, not the intellectual challenge.
- 7:05SPEAKER_00: To really get noticed and stand out, some of the actions to take include.
- 7:09SPEAKER_00: Firstly, stepping in when something is failing, even when it's in another team.
- 7:14SPEAKER_00: Secondly, always take responsibility rather than avoid it.
- 7:18SPEAKER_00: Third, stay with issues until they are fully resolved.
- 7:21SPEAKER_00: Fourth, unblock projects or initiatives by persuading, escalating and negotiating.
- 7:28SPEAKER_00: Fifth, constantly be on the lookout for issues, waste, outdated ways of doing things, etc.
- 7:34SPEAKER_00: And take action to remove them, directly or through others.
- 7:38SPEAKER_00: I often coach managers and leaders looking to get promoted to plan out a list of problems that they're going to tackle and take responsibility for.
- 7:48SPEAKER_00: Because visibly solving problems is a brilliant way to get noticed and really stand out at work.
- 7:54SPEAKER_00: An important tip: start with problems that you are comfortable solving in your area of responsibility.
- 8:00SPEAKER_00: Then move to areas of influence and then move to more difficult or high impact problems.
- 8:06SPEAKER_00: If you're not sure how to be successful in this process, go to enhance.training, select one of the coaching options and book in a meeting with me.
- 8:15SPEAKER_00: The next differentiating behavior for managers to be noticed is communicate with extreme clarity.
- 8:22SPEAKER_00: Great communicators are known for being really easy to understand and hard to misinterpret.
- 8:29SPEAKER_00: To get groups of very different individuals moving in the same direction or working together as a team, cut out their wiggle room.
- 8:37SPEAKER_00: Be very specific in what you ask for, in giving feedback and be specific in what you say in meetings.
- 8:44SPEAKER_00: Have a clear plan and be consistent in your messaging.
- 8:48SPEAKER_00: For example, when I'm coaching leaders to improve their team's performance, I often ask if they can tell me in a short sentence or two what are the specific goals of their team.
- 8:59SPEAKER_00: Those that really need to improve their communication only talk about financial numbers, in effect, leaving team members to work out how to get to those numbers.
- 9:08SPEAKER_00: Those communicating with extreme clarity summarise an activity plan by person to reach specific targets.
- 9:17SPEAKER_00: Financial targets in terms of managing actions and behaviour are general, unclear and uncoordinated.
- 9:24SPEAKER_00: Be very specific when you are communicating so you leave little doubt or wiggle room.
- 9:29SPEAKER_00: Clarity is not micromanagement.
- 9:32SPEAKER_00: Clarity of communication is empowering because your audience understands very clearly what you want.
- 9:38SPEAKER_00: Finally, adjust your communication style to your audience and their preferences.
- 9:44SPEAKER_00: Another differentiating behaviour for managers to be noticed is to develop your team, not just manage them.
- 9:52SPEAKER_00: Just managing a team or maintaining team performance is much easier than developing team members to improve team performance.
- 10:00SPEAKER_00: The benefits of development to the company are typically higher team performance because of better expertise, combined with a lower staff cost base because staff stay longer.
- 10:11SPEAKER_00: When managers can consistently increase team performance at lower cost, they get a lot of visibility, recognition and personal rewards.
- 10:21SPEAKER_00: Actively coach and mentor your team members.
- 10:24SPEAKER_00: Delegate meaningful work that builds expertise rather than just getting the task done.
- 10:29SPEAKER_00: Give specific feedback that creates action and change.
- 10:33SPEAKER_00: Help your team members build relationships, increase teamwork, improve their communication, and all the other areas that you're really strong in.
- 10:41SPEAKER_00: Developing team members is a brilliant behavior for how to stand out at work as a manager.
- 10:48SPEAKER_00: So, in summary, courage is built with action and time.
- 10:52SPEAKER_00: Building courage is a journey which starts with one action or step today and another tomorrow.
- 10:58SPEAKER_00: Start at the edge of your comfort zone and keep pushing your boundaries outwards.
- 11:03SPEAKER_00: The more courage and confidence you build, the easier you'll find it to take each of the five other differentiating behaviours that we have gone through today.
- 11:12SPEAKER_00: You can start all of these now, think small and start in or close to your comfort zone and build from there.
- 11:20SPEAKER_00: To speed up how quickly you or a manager in your team gains real expertise in all of these behaviours, avoids missteps and unsuccessful actions, while in parallel significantly increasing profiles and performance within the company, I invite you to visit enhance.training, select coaching, and book in a meeting with me.
- 11:40SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions on six differentiating behaviours for managers to be noticed by everyone, please email me at support at enhance.training and I'll get back to you.
- 11:52SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much for listening, and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.