In my last post, I considered Middle Way Management™, creativity, and innovation. The discussion was centered on how you are able as a Middle Way Manager™ to relieve team member suffering by fostering creativity and encouraging innovation, even when the organizational environment doesn't necessarily promote expansive innovation. In the end, creativity and innovation are where you find them. In this post, I present the "Magic Mirror"--the one in which we see ourselves reflected when we form opinions about others.
I Hate When He Does That!
Have you ever found yourself being irritated by a team member's behaviors and you're not really sure why? Whenever this happens, an interesting phenomenon that I like to call the "Magic Mirror" is at play. In short, you are seeing in others that which you detest in yourself. Well, detest may be too strong a word, yet it can be accurate depending on your level of irritation. You are agitated in this way because you know at the subconscious level that your judgments about the team member's behaviors are a reflection of how you feel about yourself when you are at your most unflattering.
The Magic Mirror is a wonderful thing because it allows us to catch ourselves in the act of judging someone else. This is the key to mindful awareness. When you find that you are catching yourself more and more, it means your Middle Way Management sensibilities are becoming finely tuned and energized. This is a good thing. What may not be so good is the fact that when you catch yourself in this way, you have already spent valuable time and energy thinking about someone else's behaviors, behaviors you largely cannot control, in negative and non-productive ways.
Mirror, Mirror On the Wall...
The Magic Mirror is a valuable tool you can use any time during your Middle Way Management practice. I actively use this tool on a daily basis. I'm currently working a contract on which a person I regularly find extremely irritating also works. Yet, is he really that irritating? Other team members seem to enjoy his company. I mostly do not. I recently caught myself judging his behaviors and realized I was most annoyed with his "steamroller" behavior, which I interpreted as downright rude. He talks a lot and rarely listens. Very irritating. Aha! Perhaps this is something I recognize in myself that I diligently work to manage on a daily basis. Perhaps I feel, deep down, that I've not yet mastered this trait in myself. Hmm...
My way of interacting with this person has been to make a conscious effort at practicing patience, compassion, and empathy. One thing that he has stated repeatedly is that he is new in the role he has assumed within our team (project manager). His job is a tough one and I truly believe he is suffering on several levels. His antidote to relieve his own suffering is to do "something, anything" and to do it loudly. While this may not be the most effective approach, I must recognize that he is doing what he can (without using Middle Way Management principles) to choke down his own fear and panic on a minute-by-minute basis. I must honor the fact that he has not given up and is trying to do the best job he can under the circumstances.
It's a Constant, Evolving Process
Do I always act with compassion and empathy toward my fellow team member? I certainly do not. Middle Way Management is a practice and, hence, a process that does not present a clear terminal point where I can say with confidence, "Okay, I've achieved the status of Middle Way Manager--what's next?" I am always becoming a Middle Way Manager and it's in this becoming that I must find ways to practice the principles to the best of my limited abilities. I must remain mindfully aware that whenever irritation or agitation arise in me, I am seeing what I judge to be a bit of myself in others and my ego is somehow involved in the transaction. What is it about these behaviors that causes me so much suffering?
At the root of the Magic Mirror lies a bruised or insulted ego. As I observe the behaviors of the person I described above and become irritated, it is because my ego has been hurt by what I perceive to be his basic lack of decency (an unfair judgment about him). Really, it's not about him, it's about me in two ways: 1) I see someone behaving in ways that I've recognized in myself and tried diligently to change - how can he not do the same? and 2) When he does steamroll me, it hurts because my ego feels undervalued and "stepped on."
This gets back to my earlier post on Middle Way Management and the Self. The ego wants to remain vital and important at all costs. If I choose to let my colleague's behaviors slide with an understanding and compassionate response, the ego loses power. And that's not in the game plan of the ego. No, the ego wants me to judge and be reactive, even in negative ways. The ego doesn't care what kind of attention is drawn to me because any attention is good attention. As a Middle Way Manager, I must reject this approach to attention and conduct myself with all the humility and grace my colleague deserves.
It's Not Easy
Is all of this easy to accomplish? Like most Middle Way Management characteristics, it is not. All I can do is my best on a daily, hourly, even minute-by-minute basis to make myself a better Middle Way Manager, a better team member, and a better person. In doing this, I've helped relieve my colleague's suffering and I've relieved suffering at the organizational level because I've had a hand in creating a positive Ripple Effect that is sure to radiate out into the organization and the world at large.
Next time you catch yourself being irritated with someone, stop and question why it is happening. Then, congratulate yourself for practicing the kind of mindful awareness that is the foundation of your Middle Way Management practice. Heck, if you want, you can even say to yourself, "Today, I am a Middle Way Manager!"
In my next post, I will consider the crucial role your values play in your daily walk down the Middle Way Management path.
Until then...
Onward! Darin
MWM Practice Point, 7/22/2009:
As an addendum to this post, I thought I'd follow up on how I applied this topic in the workplace today. The person I mentioned above showed up characteristically 15 minutes late and interrupted me mid-sentence, talking loudly about something completely unrelated to what I was explaining to the group. My response was to stop talking and wait patiently for the conversation to return to my topic. It never did - and that was okay.
During the course of the meeting, I took the effort to ask clarifying questions of this person. I find that these sorts of questions - non-confrontational, seeking information only - are the best way to honor what the person is saying by showing interest and seeking clarity with the intent of precise communication. This also helps me to understand the real point and motivation behind what someone is saying. In the case today, this tactic settled things down and brought out fine points and details that might otherwise have remained hidden.
Toward the end of the meeting, he stated that "someone here has a trust issue and feels he needs to do everything himself." Well, this person was me. I work in a highly technical position and my technical co-worker on this contract has gone out to have a little monkey. Unfortunately, I am the only person who has the expertise in the group at this time to handle the extraordinary technical demands of the project. So, rather than take it personally and let ego take over the interaction, I simply asked for clarification by saying, "What are you perceiving in my behavior that you interpret as a lack of trust?" In every instance he mentioned, I was able to ask, "Who in this group has the technical expertise to help me out? I WANT help, I NEED help!" It became clear that my non-trust was actually a non-issue. Concern resolved.
In the end, I found myself being thankful for having had the opportunity to practice what I preach today. Walking the Middle Way Management talk is the only way to go!
DRM
Copyright © 2009, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Middle Way Management, Creativity and Innovation
In my last post, I considered Middle Way Management™ and active decision making. Not only is this an expectation of managers in American-style organizations, it's the starting point of the moral imperative at the heart of creating the vision so necessary for developing motivation and promoting teamwork. In this post, I will be looking at how creativity and innovation are crucial aspects of your Middle Way Management practice.
All Organizations Great and Small, the Lord God Made Them All
I've held management positions in organizations of all sizes. While my experiences working for small, entrepreneurial organizations have been, um, interesting, they were at least dynamic and innovative, which required me to be creative in my approach. It has been my observation that the larger the organization, the more conservative the approach--to everything. From fiscal policies to marketing efforts, IT strategies to sales tactics, larger organizations move slower and take vastly more time to accomplish just about everything.
I once worked for a large organization that experienced several critical database failures during one of the busiest (i.e., revenue producing) business cycles of the year. These failures were putting the entire organization at risk. My team quickly came up with three solutions that would solve the problem and move the organization forward. Until my peer managers began calling meeting after meeting after meeting after meeting to "address the issue."
While I believe collaboration and inclusion are fundamental aspects of Middle Way Management, we were holding meetings to discuss when the next meetings would be held. The result? After three days of nearly catastrophic failures, thirty-nine, that's right - thirty-nine (39) - options for solving the problem were proposed. In the end, we implemented the original three proposed by my team, thereby preventing the organization from refunding $10 million in booked revenue.
My point here is that some organizational members (typically managers) often confuse doing "something, anything" with creativity and/or innovation. Being busy does not mean you are being productive, it just means you're busy. Both creativity and innovation come with preparation, reflective thought, patience, and vision, hallmarks one and all of the true Middle Way Manager™.
Creativity is Risky, Innovation Expensive
I say that creativity is risky because it takes special effort, effort that is not always completely aligned with standard organizational processes and procedures, to develop and exercise solutions "outside the box." Most American-style organizations are risk-averse and would prefer cash to flow in the general direction of stockholders (not necessarily stakeholders), rather than into innovative programs and projects. Of course, without creativity, innovation is simply not possible.
Many organizations prefer to acquire innovation that has already been proven, thereby absorbing creativity with less risk and innovating without the enormous cost of development, test marketing, and hopeful rollout. Yet, this approach is not without its own set of risks, including product or service stagnation and eventual (inevitable?) market share decline. The decision to encourage creativity and innovation is mostly determined by the organization's culture and its collective attitude toward both. If innovation through acquisition is the preferred method, then the Middle Way Manager will find ways to foster creativity and encourage innovation at a smaller scale within, for instance, project boundaries.
Fostering Creativity, Encouraging Innovation
The Middle Way Manager knows that people are at their best when they are working creatively to innovate. This can be something as small as the refinement of a particular business process or as large as the specification of a new product or service. When people are allowed the freedom to be creative and are encouraged to innovate, they develop a sense of accomplishment that keeps them excited about the vision you have created. This develops the holy grail of team member "buy-in," which, of course, is something that can't be bought--at any price. This sort of commitment alleviates suffering among your team members because they become emotionally involved and link their personal progress with the organization's.
As a practicing Middle Way Manager, you know by now that supplying vision for your team is not only a management obligation, it's a moral imperative. And vision requires creativity, even if your organization is conservative in its approach to innovation. Exercising creativity will help you tailor your vision to the organization's goals and objectives while presenting scenarios that excite and motivate your team.
I once managed a team of programmers tasked with creating a Web-based wizard that was the front-end of a new product. I knew my team and I knew my organization, so I set the challenge before the team and let them work through the specification process without my initial involvement. In the end, they came up with some great ideas that later became the foundation of the wizard for a suite of online products that produced solid revenues for the company. They were allowed to exercise their creative muscles and they introduced an innovative product that was their "baby". It was a win-win-win all the way around.
I've just scratched the surface here regarding Middle Way Management, creativity and innovation. The most important lesson in all of this is how you are able as a Middle Way Manager to relieve team member suffering by fostering creativity and encouraging innovation, even when the organizational environment doesn't necessarily promote expansive innovation. In the end, creativity and innovation are where you find them. Fortunately, your Middle Way Management practice will help you find them just about everywhere.
In my next post, I will consider Middle Way Management and the "Magic Mirror". How we see others is often a reflection of how we see ourselves.
Until then...
Onward! Darin
Copyright © 2009, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.
All Organizations Great and Small, the Lord God Made Them All
I've held management positions in organizations of all sizes. While my experiences working for small, entrepreneurial organizations have been, um, interesting, they were at least dynamic and innovative, which required me to be creative in my approach. It has been my observation that the larger the organization, the more conservative the approach--to everything. From fiscal policies to marketing efforts, IT strategies to sales tactics, larger organizations move slower and take vastly more time to accomplish just about everything.
I once worked for a large organization that experienced several critical database failures during one of the busiest (i.e., revenue producing) business cycles of the year. These failures were putting the entire organization at risk. My team quickly came up with three solutions that would solve the problem and move the organization forward. Until my peer managers began calling meeting after meeting after meeting after meeting to "address the issue."
While I believe collaboration and inclusion are fundamental aspects of Middle Way Management, we were holding meetings to discuss when the next meetings would be held. The result? After three days of nearly catastrophic failures, thirty-nine, that's right - thirty-nine (39) - options for solving the problem were proposed. In the end, we implemented the original three proposed by my team, thereby preventing the organization from refunding $10 million in booked revenue.
My point here is that some organizational members (typically managers) often confuse doing "something, anything" with creativity and/or innovation. Being busy does not mean you are being productive, it just means you're busy. Both creativity and innovation come with preparation, reflective thought, patience, and vision, hallmarks one and all of the true Middle Way Manager™.
Creativity is Risky, Innovation Expensive
I say that creativity is risky because it takes special effort, effort that is not always completely aligned with standard organizational processes and procedures, to develop and exercise solutions "outside the box." Most American-style organizations are risk-averse and would prefer cash to flow in the general direction of stockholders (not necessarily stakeholders), rather than into innovative programs and projects. Of course, without creativity, innovation is simply not possible.
Many organizations prefer to acquire innovation that has already been proven, thereby absorbing creativity with less risk and innovating without the enormous cost of development, test marketing, and hopeful rollout. Yet, this approach is not without its own set of risks, including product or service stagnation and eventual (inevitable?) market share decline. The decision to encourage creativity and innovation is mostly determined by the organization's culture and its collective attitude toward both. If innovation through acquisition is the preferred method, then the Middle Way Manager will find ways to foster creativity and encourage innovation at a smaller scale within, for instance, project boundaries.
Fostering Creativity, Encouraging Innovation
The Middle Way Manager knows that people are at their best when they are working creatively to innovate. This can be something as small as the refinement of a particular business process or as large as the specification of a new product or service. When people are allowed the freedom to be creative and are encouraged to innovate, they develop a sense of accomplishment that keeps them excited about the vision you have created. This develops the holy grail of team member "buy-in," which, of course, is something that can't be bought--at any price. This sort of commitment alleviates suffering among your team members because they become emotionally involved and link their personal progress with the organization's.
As a practicing Middle Way Manager, you know by now that supplying vision for your team is not only a management obligation, it's a moral imperative. And vision requires creativity, even if your organization is conservative in its approach to innovation. Exercising creativity will help you tailor your vision to the organization's goals and objectives while presenting scenarios that excite and motivate your team.
I once managed a team of programmers tasked with creating a Web-based wizard that was the front-end of a new product. I knew my team and I knew my organization, so I set the challenge before the team and let them work through the specification process without my initial involvement. In the end, they came up with some great ideas that later became the foundation of the wizard for a suite of online products that produced solid revenues for the company. They were allowed to exercise their creative muscles and they introduced an innovative product that was their "baby". It was a win-win-win all the way around.
I've just scratched the surface here regarding Middle Way Management, creativity and innovation. The most important lesson in all of this is how you are able as a Middle Way Manager to relieve team member suffering by fostering creativity and encouraging innovation, even when the organizational environment doesn't necessarily promote expansive innovation. In the end, creativity and innovation are where you find them. Fortunately, your Middle Way Management practice will help you find them just about everywhere.
In my next post, I will consider Middle Way Management and the "Magic Mirror". How we see others is often a reflection of how we see ourselves.
Until then...
Onward! Darin
Copyright © 2009, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Middle Way Management and Active Decision Making
In my last post, I discussed how equanimity is one of the most valuable characteristics of a Middle Way Manager™. Maintaining your composure under every circumstance and modeling the best characteristics of a leader under pressure are great ways to promote Middle Way Management™. In this post, I consider the importance of active decision making to your daily Middle Way Management walk.
An Organizational Expectation
As a manager in an American-style organization, it's an organizational expectation that you engage in active decision-making unilaterally, with your team, or as part of a larger management structure. As you morph your management approach into a Middle Way Management practice, this expectation does not decline in importance. In fact, its import increases because you will have beefed up your decision-making toolkit with new sensibilities--compassion, empathy, sympathy, understanding, and kindness. The decisions you make in your daily practice will determine your success as a Middle Way Manager.
What does Middle Way Management decision-making look like? It looks like any other decision-making process, the differences being the practice influences under which you make decisions and the terminal effects of the expected outcomes at the individual and organizational levels. By this, I mean the Middle Way Manager characteristics of compassion, empathy, sympathy, understanding, and kindness will act to inform both the ways in which you make decisions, as well as the outcomes of those decisions. As long as your decision-making process is aligned with organizational goals and objectives, your methodology will be considered organizationally sound, especially when you produce spectacular results.
Forty Per Cent Turnover? Are You Kidding Me?!?
I once worked for a non-profit organization with a phenomenal track record as one of the premier K-12 testing and assessment organizations in the United States, maybe even the world. I learned shortly after starting there as an IT manager that the turnover rate in the department was at least 40 per cent. Of course, this is one of those little gems you never hear about from the recruiter or the 25 people who interview you before you start the job. I was stumped at the figure because my boss (VP, Information Technology) was such a caring, concerned, generous, kind man. I knew this because he had told me so--repeatedly. If you're not seeing red flags and hearing alarm bells by now, you should be.
My boss' initial interest in me was predicated upon my study of and publications about servant leadership, a leadership and management approach philosophically close to Middle Way Management. It turned out my interest was as close as the organization intended to get to servant leadership. Two weeks after I started, I began noticing that people were quitting in groups of three or more. They were, for lack of a better term, dropping like flies.
As I investigated the reasons for this by interviewing several vocal, disgruntled team members, it became clear the attitude prevalent among IT managers was the typical American-style, humans-as-a-resource approach that forced people to work long hours and weekends to accomplish development goals set by those at the very top of the hierarchy. The trickle-down effect was the highest turnover rate I've ever seen in an organization.
How would a Middle Way Management approach have made this any different? First of all, software and system development goals would have been set with team member input. This sends the message that all team members are valued for their insights and expertise. Next, development planning would have taken family and outside obligations into account. Working people to death because children need testing and assessment tools is no way to create team member buy-in. Finally, extraordinary effort would have been rewarded in a variety of ways, all of which could be decided upon by team members.
Through my interviews, I learned that people simply wanted three things: (1) Not to be worked to death, (2) More time off to spend with their families, and (3) Thanks for a job well done. That was it. They didn't want more money or even recognition before their peers. All they wanted was to be treated decently, which is a primary responsibility of the Middle Way Manager.
Anything But Mediocre
The "Middle" of Middle Way Management is about finding the middle ground between management behavioral extremes. Compassion, empathy, composure, resilience, creativity, kindness; these are the "Middle Way" of the approach. When it comes to decision-making, the actions taken by Middle Way Managers are extraordinary because they are made with the precision and intent that only come from walking the true Middle Way Management path of compassion, accountability, and excellence, of honesty, candor, and empathy. Middle Way Managers are active decision-makers because it's their duty as organizational managers and it's their moral obligation to make the decisions that provide vision for the team. Middle Way Managers, and their decisions, are anything but mediocre.
I hope this has clarified questions you might have had about the nature of Middle Way Management and how Middle Way Managers engage in active decision making. In my next post, I will address the tightly coupled roles of creativity and innovation in Middle Way Management.
Onward! Darin
Copyright © 2009, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.
An Organizational Expectation
As a manager in an American-style organization, it's an organizational expectation that you engage in active decision-making unilaterally, with your team, or as part of a larger management structure. As you morph your management approach into a Middle Way Management practice, this expectation does not decline in importance. In fact, its import increases because you will have beefed up your decision-making toolkit with new sensibilities--compassion, empathy, sympathy, understanding, and kindness. The decisions you make in your daily practice will determine your success as a Middle Way Manager.
What does Middle Way Management decision-making look like? It looks like any other decision-making process, the differences being the practice influences under which you make decisions and the terminal effects of the expected outcomes at the individual and organizational levels. By this, I mean the Middle Way Manager characteristics of compassion, empathy, sympathy, understanding, and kindness will act to inform both the ways in which you make decisions, as well as the outcomes of those decisions. As long as your decision-making process is aligned with organizational goals and objectives, your methodology will be considered organizationally sound, especially when you produce spectacular results.
Forty Per Cent Turnover? Are You Kidding Me?!?
I once worked for a non-profit organization with a phenomenal track record as one of the premier K-12 testing and assessment organizations in the United States, maybe even the world. I learned shortly after starting there as an IT manager that the turnover rate in the department was at least 40 per cent. Of course, this is one of those little gems you never hear about from the recruiter or the 25 people who interview you before you start the job. I was stumped at the figure because my boss (VP, Information Technology) was such a caring, concerned, generous, kind man. I knew this because he had told me so--repeatedly. If you're not seeing red flags and hearing alarm bells by now, you should be.
My boss' initial interest in me was predicated upon my study of and publications about servant leadership, a leadership and management approach philosophically close to Middle Way Management. It turned out my interest was as close as the organization intended to get to servant leadership. Two weeks after I started, I began noticing that people were quitting in groups of three or more. They were, for lack of a better term, dropping like flies.
As I investigated the reasons for this by interviewing several vocal, disgruntled team members, it became clear the attitude prevalent among IT managers was the typical American-style, humans-as-a-resource approach that forced people to work long hours and weekends to accomplish development goals set by those at the very top of the hierarchy. The trickle-down effect was the highest turnover rate I've ever seen in an organization.
How would a Middle Way Management approach have made this any different? First of all, software and system development goals would have been set with team member input. This sends the message that all team members are valued for their insights and expertise. Next, development planning would have taken family and outside obligations into account. Working people to death because children need testing and assessment tools is no way to create team member buy-in. Finally, extraordinary effort would have been rewarded in a variety of ways, all of which could be decided upon by team members.
Through my interviews, I learned that people simply wanted three things: (1) Not to be worked to death, (2) More time off to spend with their families, and (3) Thanks for a job well done. That was it. They didn't want more money or even recognition before their peers. All they wanted was to be treated decently, which is a primary responsibility of the Middle Way Manager.
Anything But Mediocre
The "Middle" of Middle Way Management is about finding the middle ground between management behavioral extremes. Compassion, empathy, composure, resilience, creativity, kindness; these are the "Middle Way" of the approach. When it comes to decision-making, the actions taken by Middle Way Managers are extraordinary because they are made with the precision and intent that only come from walking the true Middle Way Management path of compassion, accountability, and excellence, of honesty, candor, and empathy. Middle Way Managers are active decision-makers because it's their duty as organizational managers and it's their moral obligation to make the decisions that provide vision for the team. Middle Way Managers, and their decisions, are anything but mediocre.
I hope this has clarified questions you might have had about the nature of Middle Way Management and how Middle Way Managers engage in active decision making. In my next post, I will address the tightly coupled roles of creativity and innovation in Middle Way Management.
Onward! Darin
Copyright © 2009, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.
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