Comments on: Stop Being a COMPETENT Manager!

By: Find Your Strengths, Know Your Life Purpose -- Practice This

Find Your Strengths, Know Your Life Purpose -- Practice This — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 05:39:43 +0000

[...] Stop Being a COMPETENT Manager! Related PostsLife Architecture For Personal AchievementOne, Two , Three – Is This Manager For Me?Do Not Kiss Corporate Life GoodbyeDefine Your Life projects – Design And ImplementationNever Set Final Price Up Front When Negotiating [...]

By: David Zinger

David Zinger — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:45:44 +0000

Stephen:
All the best with implementing the strength ideas.

Alik:
The strength assessment is from Gallup and is updated by Tom Rath with StrengthsFinder 2.0.

Jo
I like playful and serious, so you could double the serious, even throw in some ALL CAPS!!!! :)
David

By: Jo

Jo — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:31:53 +0000

To be serious for a moment, most lists of competences are . . . well . . . incompetent. The coaching we might do as a junior manager fresh out of college is not quite the same as the coaching we might do 30 years later leading an entire organization.

And what is called for in one culture/place is going to be very different from what is needed some place else. To give a concrete example, North American assessment centers typically assume you can use the phone liberally. I’ve waved off more than one naive yet otherwise highly “competent” manager who has promised a telephone call on reaching their destination. Grateful smiles all round thinking of the peaceful week ahead! For the record, in places with weak comms, the “right” answer is to delegate everything “competently” b4 you leave. Your subordinates will act in your absence using a combination of their best judgment and the information you left behind. Any thought of back seat driving is deemed . . . well . . . incompetent.

Too serious a comment, by half.

By: Alik

Alik — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:31:36 +0000

David, loved your call to action “Better yet, practice…” :). Here is my next move – go through JD’s http://thebookshare.blogspot.com/2008/02/finding-your-key-strengths.html, find my strengths and then play to it.

By: @Stephen | Productivity in Context

@Stephen | Productivity in Context — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:13:52 +0000

David, this is an excellent post, I read it in the RSS and came over to comment with my mind brimming with ideas on how to capitalize on a handful of core strengths and …
jd beat me to it. Great comment!

By: David Zinger

David Zinger — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 02:59:17 +0000

Bobby,
All the best at managing bytes and go with strengths…it is the only way to go.
David

By: Bobby Clark

Bobby Clark — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 02:09:46 +0000

Hey David, great timing. We’re getting ready to get in the throes of the annual career development discussion. So easy to get into a pattern of regurgitating all the competencies that are listed. I try to focus on a few things they are doing right and then 1 or 2 critical areas they could improve on. Thanks for the post!

By: Mike DeWitt

Mike DeWitt — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:21:30 +0000

David,

!TOM! would use WAY more !!!EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!

Nicely written! (That one was my own). Might I also add David Maister’s ‘Strategy and the Fat Smoker’ to your list of recommended reading. It’s a fantastic book that follows in a similar vein.

Mike

By: David Zinger

David Zinger — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 17:59:47 +0000

Thanks Terrence, now I just need to keep going strong and stronger into strength practice and leverage.

By: Terrence Seamon

Terrence Seamon — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 17:15:55 +0000

Way to go, David!

Terry