Laura Wolfe Coaching LLC

Supporting the Evolution of Careers, Leaders,

& Climate Consciousness

Your Legacy

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Behavioral modeling is the most elementary way that humans learn. This means that people observe what others do and then do the same thing. If you’re not sure about that, just let a bad word slip in front of a four year-old and see what happens. It is why mentoring programs are so popular and so effective.

As a manager, this puts a pretty heavy burden on what you do all the time. Because your people watch your actions and do what they see. Then they become managers and manage as they observed. Your example and influence continues. If you have ever wondered why a crappy manager is the way they are, just ask them about managers in their past.

In today’s organizations, managers are asked to do more than is humanly possible. So being harried and impatient and taking short-cuts may seem like the only way. But the view from 10,000 feet shows that what a manager does every day is part of a very powerful legacy that stretches years into the future.

Ask yourself, “Is this the way I want my (manager) descendents to do it?”.

Some lessons:

  • Everything you do as a manager matters.
  • Work for great managers and just soak it up.
  • If that’s not possible, make a conscious effort to not pick up the bad habits of bad managers.

For those with a history of working for bad managers, consider coaching.

 

What do you think?

Clean Energy

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I recently attended the awesome Revenue Rocks coaching conference and want to give a big shout out to Michele Woodward, Nona Jordan, Jeanette Maw and Fabeku Fatunmise for generously sharing what they know and do.

We talked about the idea that the kind of energy you bring forth affects the outcomes that you get.

This means you need to process the stuff from your past that may not have turned out like you wanted or may even have been painful until there is no negative charge associated with whatever happened. The goal is to neutralize that negative energy. Past stuff can include many things – relationships, career, jobs, your money legacy, your family, etc.

I work with people on career growth and management – leadership issues. It is not unusual for someone to be hung up by the way their last job unraveled or by the after effects of a cruel, crazy former boss who did a number on them. I can definitely empathize having had a range of work experiences myself. But, to be a great employee or manager or put your best self forward in a job search you’ve got to clean up those bad feelings.

Here are a few ways to neutralize negative energy:

  • talk it out with a trusted friend or family member
  • write it up, in detail
  • write a letter to the person you feel wronged by (not necessary or even advisable to mail it)
  • read what you’ve written aloud until the charge is gone or burn it or bury it
  • ask God to help you be free of it
  • meditate on it with the intention of letting go
  • really examine your thoughts and work to change them

If you’re not having luck getting past your past, a good coach can help. Sometimes an experience is so traumatic that working with a mental health professional is a better option.

How do you know when you’ve succeeded?  You are probably done with the past if you can tell the story aloud in a generic, no-intensity way. And once you are there, Congratulations! Moving forward will be much easier.

 

What do you think?

Tale of Three Managers

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An organization made the decision NOT to renew the contracts of their contract employees (about 10% of the workforce) for the next year.

Managers in one division handled this information in different ways.

Manager 1 let his contract employees know what was going on soon after he found out so they could plan accordingly.

Months later, Manager 2 sent a hasty e-mail to his contract employees telling them because a local news organization got hold of the story and was breaking it at 5 o’clock.

Manager 3 never said a word to his contract employees; they learned their fate on the 5 o’clock news.

Really?

Which of these guys would you want as a boss? Which would you want working for you?

This story started me thinking about leadership and some interesting research I came across recently about authentic leadership. Authentic leaders are defined as those who are self-aware, moral, open, and objective. They create environments where employees can express what they feel and where employees are connected with and use their psychological capital (research-speak for inner strength and resources).

This research found that those who reported to authentic leaders perceived greater support but here is the kicker – these leaders facilitated greater performance outcomes in extreme and stressful working conditions.

In today’s dynamic business environment, I think most workplaces go through some extreme and stressful conditions every year or so. It may be short-lived but it happens. Leaders who can successfully handle these situations should be cultivated.

This is not to suggest that authentic leaders can change a circumstance like the one in the story above, they just support their employees through such craziness more effectively.

What do you think?

Mantra: Better Managers

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young businessman meditating in the gardenMy business now has a mantra. According to Wikipedia, a mantra is a ‘sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of “creating transformation”.’ This mantra came to me a few weeks back while presenting to Acadiana SHRM, which was great fun as they are an awesome group. I was talking about employee engagement and whether it’s the intrinsic or the extrinsic stuff in the workplace that really engages people. I think it is both.

But here is the kicker: Research has found that the immediate supervisor is the factor that most impacts employee satisfaction, commitment and engagement. When I was talking to ASHRM about this, Cultivate’s mantra became clear: Better Managers. I want my work to contribute to personal and organizational transformation through better supervisors and managers.

I have believed for a very long time that managers’ influence is profound. Yes, supervisors affect the bottom line and in the course of their work, juggle many tasks. But, in my opinion, what is most important is how supervisors affect the lives of their direct reports. You have worked for good managers; you have worked for bad managers. You know what a difference it makes.

Rotten people managers create a pretty dim quality of life for employees which in turn impacts their personal lives including spouses, kids, and communities. Great people managers make their people feel better, even in tough industries, situations and economies.

I am not suggesting the focus be on the employee experience at the expense of company outcomes. What I’m saying, and the research supports it, is better managers create better employee experiences and desired results follow.

Bad management manifests in many ways and a recent post in HBR Blog Network points out that it takes many forms. Often the action taken or the inaction is because the manager just doesn’t know what to do. Fortunately, training and development can enhance management quality.

So what does the mantra Better Managers mean?

  • You need to be a better manager. Great managers have a continuous improvement mindset and are always working to improve.
  • You need to be developing your people to be better managers.
  • You need to be working for a good manager. If you aren’t, you are probably looking for a better opportunity.

Better Managers. Better Managers. Better Managers. Repeat the mantra with me and let’s create transformation.

Better Managers: I can help you with that.

What do you think?