Creating At Will Newsletter - February 2006 - Mentorship, strategic execution, eagles

Under The Radar

THE WRONG WAY INTO MENTORSHIP

“’ As you get farther up the organization, you can’t ask your colleagues, or even others in your business, about many of the issues you wrestle with,’ says Sheila Wellington, professor of management at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Wellington, who is in her sixties, suggests seeking advisers who are at your level, but in a different and noncompetitive industry.”

“What if we ask someone for help and she says no?” The author cites a businesswoman who contacted a keynote speaker for mentorship and the speaker responded indignantly. “’She said she didn’t have time for that kind of thing. It was like getting a bucket of cold water dumped on my head. In retrospect, I realize I should have started with a conversation to see if we’d click.’”

“It’s easy to assume that, as our experience grows, successful men and women will be there to mentor us. But I know that as my career accelerated, my availability diminished. There wasn’t even an hour to have lunch with a friend, let alone a stranger who just wanted more from me. How many of us have been on the receiving end of, ‘I just wanted to pick your brain’ (possibly my most-often heard and least favorite come-on line)?”

“One of the barriers to forming relationships with mentors is that the word itself indicates a big commitment. Several of the women I spoke with don’t even call their advisers mentors—at least not to their faces—perhaps because they don’t like the junior/superior implication at this stage of their lives. The relationships are more informal.”

Do you come on too strong or approach others to do business with you because you want something from them, but you haven’t calculated what you’re bringing to the table? Partnerships and mentoring is valuable, but require a prepared approach.

“At our stage of the game, we need to think of ourselves as givers, not takers.”

Excerpts from Mentors for Grown-Ups, More, Mary Lou Quinlan, founder and CEO of the Marketing Consultancy, November 2005.

Recent Career Trends

STRATEGIC EXECUTION THAT WORKS

Making Strategy Work is the name of Wharton school professor, Lawrence Hrebiniak’s recent book. He says, “…many of today’s top executives are far better at developing strategy than executing it and overcoming the political and organizational obstacles that stand in their way.” What he says companies need:

1.   To execute better, “translate strategic objectives into short-term objectives.”
2.   “…someone with a perspective, someone who understands various functions and parts of the company. The ability to integrate is essential to execution.”
3.    “…someone well-versed in information-knowledge transfer. Information sharing becomes a critical part of that execution plan or strategy.”
4.    “…ownership at all levels of management. From C-level managers on down, people must commit to and own the processes and actions central to effective execution.”
5.    “…a simultaneous view of planning and doing.”
6.    Caution about the “speed of change.” “As companies grow, it’s important that they answer questions like: ‘how fast should we grow, how do we ensure responsibility and clear accountability as [we’re] growing, how do we ensure that we have the right capabilities, including skills, IT, information, and people? What kinds of people do we need? What training do they need?”
7.    “You have to focus on communication and focus on ways of integrating throughout the hierarchy.”
8.    “Different ways of organizing affect outcomes. Process specialization or functional structures, for example, positively affect efficiency via standardization, repetition, high volume, and economies that follow.” “…coordination is also needed.”
9.    “Incentives motivate behavior toward ends consistent with desired strategy-execution outcomes.”
10. “Controls provide feedback about performance, reinforce execution methods, provide corrective mechanisms, and facilitate change.”
11.   “…manage change sequentially, focusing on each element only when the previous one is completed.”
12.   “…in order to change culture…focus on changing people, incentives, organizational structures and responsibilities, and controls, such as performance appraisals and feedback.”

Excerpted from A Strategic Look At Strategy Execution, optimizemag.com, March 2005.

EAGLES UP CLOSE

On a welcome diversion from our respective offices, my husband and I recently went bald eagle watching with relatives on one of central California’s beautiful lakes. Seeing them was awe inspiring. Later, observing the pictures we’d taken (this one by my sister-in-law, Marikay), the eagle reminded me of certain management characteristics.

Adult eagles have a distinctive white head. Many corporate managers, though not all seniors, are partially bald or white haired.

Eagle nests can be 20 feet thick and almost 10 feet across. Managers most often get the largest, cushiest offices.

Eagles thrive in quiet isolation. At times managers may be too comfortable to come out of their nests to consult, inform or brainstorm with others.

Bald eagles are large and beautiful birds of the wilderness. Though they may look the part in their finest suits, managers often perch in tall trees, executing authority from above or micromanaging. (Employees, by modeling this style, may also be known to lord their expertise over their team mates or “subordinates”).

Bald eagles are known to be fierce. Though some managers’ styles may not be exactly fierce, they can lead to lack of feedback as an unspoken expectation.

Eagles have keen eyes four to eight times better and further than humans. At times management has severely sharp eyes and, at other times, they cast a blind eye to actions that shouldn’t be permitted or those needing to be addressed.

Eagles mate for life, yet if one dies, the survivor will find another partner. With the constant mergers and acquisitions, it could be easily viewed that there is no loyalty and stability recognizable in American organizations. Even so, one has to credit the resilience that many companies demonstrate.

Our national symbol should be the Wild Turkey. Recommended by Benjamin Franklin, he thought the eagle was a “bird of bad moral character.” Fortunately, truly great companies survive and thrive because these types of managers are ever more quickly being rooted out. Other managers who may not be aggressive or show strong leadership, but are not of bad moral character, learn to extricate themselves from the less desirable behaviors of our native bird of prey and embrace more of their awesome qualities, garnering respect and allegiance. They promote the “olive branch of peace” more than the “arrows of war.”

Source: Quoted excerpts from http://www.baldeagleinfo.com and http://www.fpl.com/environment/endangered/contents/southern_bald_eagle_facts.shtml

I was working in my office, which is located in my home in a relatively quiet neighborhood in West Los Angeles, when I witnessed my backyard being used as a mating ground for this pair of local raccoons.

Here in California, mostly sunny days signal that Spring is nearly upon us. This is a sweet reminder that another winter is fading past and the seasonal change is not to be missed. Amazing nature surrounds us. Bundle up if you need to, but make time to get out, walk your neighborhood or the block of your office building and put yourself in touch with it.

How can I adjust my work schedule to allow for at least 10 minutes a day to be in nature everyday?

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