Strength Potential’s Post

What’s the difference between responsibility and accountability? In the land of manager-dom. How are you accountable for the work but not responsible for it?  It takes a shift in mindset, communication and tracking – in order to hold your team members responsible for their work. One of the biggest challenges I hear from managers is around accountability.  How do you get the person to do the thing, when they say they are going to do it. A question I often ask is: how are you holding them responsible?  - Are you following up?  - Are you asking about their process?  - Are you holding them to their due date? - Holding regular 1:1's to discuss pitfalls, and brainstorm together? Or are you sweeping in and cleaning up the mess? Many a client gets a little squirmy when it comes to THEIR part of holding their directs responsible.  They just want them to DO IT. Which is absolutely appropriate. But if they aren’t, then YOUR behavior has to change.  Maybe not forever, but just until you can create a new pattern.  This isn’t micro-managing, it’s allowing freedom in the how, while holding them to the when. When you hold them to the when.  You follow up.  You don’t let them out of their responsibility.  And you definitely DON’T do their work for them and sometimes you let them fail, so they learn how to do it better next time. Think about it from a ships perspective: Accountability:   Is the captain’s commitment to reaching the destination safely, ensuring the crew and the ship’s overall success. For you it might mean, acknowledging the results, good or bad, and learning from every wave encountered and encouraging your team to tackle the next one. Responsibility:  The crew members on the ship - managing the navigation, sails or engine, communication, making food and providing clean water.  It's about each crew member understanding their role and executing to the best of their ability.  And if someone forgets their duty, and a mistake happens, chances are they won’t do the same mistake a second time.  It’s the collective effort that propels the ship forward, with everyone knowing their duties and actively contributing to the shared goal.  A well-led ship doesn’t just sail smoothly; it weathers storms and lands on new shores that it might not have knowledge of, but then shares a pint of rum and celebrates that you got there together. #leadershipdevelopment #managementskills #accountability

What values are important to you?

A hard lesson I had to learn: Because I was a “natural leader”, I would also be a great manager. WRONG. In fact, a few years of being a manager and I was having heavy doubts about whether or not I was cut out for it. The truth is that management is an acquired skill. It is something you have to LEARN. Different people will learn at different rates, and struggle with different things. For me? I was a people pleaser. I wanted to be liked, not only by my team, but my peers, and especially my leaders. I learned the hard way that this was a trap. I also happen to be a Type 3 Achiever, someone that is stubborn enough to keep pushing even when the struggle is hard to bear. Thanks to some great mentors such as Steve Brain, John Thimsen, Julie Larson-Green, and Jared Smith, I was given an opportunity to have the right experiences, learn the right lessons, and develop a LOVE for management, as well as a LOVE to teach management. I was able to overcome my natural tendencies to please people, and develop the right skills to feel confident that I was able to help people succeed, but that was different from telling people what they want to hear. I could spend hours on this topic, and for all the people that have worked for me, they know that I do :) Curious to hear what others have learned as they made the switch from being an individual contributor, to managing people.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 - 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. It's not about being 'in charge' - it's about training and developing your 'charges'/ your team, so that they can be in charge of themselves and take ownership for their role. As a manager it's your responsibility to help everyone in your team to fulfil their potential, and that means that first of all, you have to recognise that they all have potential, everybody does. Your mindset - how you think and feel about the people in your team - is so important to your success as a people manager. Get this right, and you're off to a great start! (Master your Mindset is step 1 on our 9 step Mission: To Manage Roadmap that helps new and inexperienced managers to become the leader their team wants to follow, without being fake or disliked by former team mates.) Book a chat with me for a bit of free coaching: https://lnkd.in/edKEKBty

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 - 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. It's not about being 'in charge' - it's about training and developing your 'charges'/ your team, so that they can be in charge of themselves and take ownership for their role. As a manager it's your responsibility to help everyone in your team to fulfil their potential, and that means that first of all, you have to recognise that they all have potential, everybody does. Your mindset - how you think and feel about the people in your team - is so important to your success as a people manager. Get this right, and you're off to a great start! (Master your Mindset is step 1 on our 9 step Mission: To Manage Roadmap that helps new and inexperienced managers to become the leader their team wants to follow, without being fake or disliked by former team mates.) Book a chat with me for a bit of free coaching: https://lnkd.in/edKEKBty

This powerful insight encapsulates the essence of personal development and authentic leadership. Self-awareness is a cornerstone of professional growth, offering numerous benefits: 1. Enhanced Confidence: Understanding your strengths and values bolsters your professional presence. 2. Authentic Communication: Self-knowledge enables clearer, more genuine interactions with colleagues and clients. 3. Improved Decision-Making: A deep understanding of your motivations leads to choices aligned with your true self. 4. Resilience in Challenges: Knowing yourself helps maintain composure and direction in difficult situations. As we navigate our careers, let's remember that embracing our authentic selves is not just personally fulfilling—it's a professional asset. What steps do you take to cultivate self-awareness in your professional life? 

Struggling to delegate? 1. Change your mindset. First, accept that you can’t (and shouldn’t) do everything yourself. 2. Determine what to delegate. 3. Communicate clearly 4. Review and reflect

Just finished the course “Teamwork Essentials: Stand Out as a Valuable Team Member by Shadé Zahrai MBA LLB”! Here's my takeaways on this course: Teamwork essentials include clear communication, active listening, collaboration, adaptability, and accountability. Effective communication ensures all team members are on the same page, while active listening promotes understanding and respect. Collaboration involves working together towards common goals, leveraging each member's strengths. Adaptability is crucial for navigating changes and challenges, and accountability ensures that everyone takes responsibility for their tasks. To stand out as a valuable team member: 1.Proactive Contribution: Take the initiative to propose ideas and solutions. 2.Reliability: Consistently meet deadlines and deliver high-quality work. 3.Positive Attitude: Maintain a positive and supportive demeanor, especially during challenges. 4.Continuous Learning: Seek opportunities to learn and improve skills relevant to the team. 5.Supportive: Offer help to teammates when needed and celebrate their successes. Embodying these qualities can significantly enhance your value in any team. Check it out: https://lnkd.in/eSFdSp6P

having seen this in different places and from different perspectives I can confidently say that companies and directors.often blames the changes a bad manager create on change and people not liking change. motivating a staff team and leading a staff team and keeping a staff teams motivation is difficult in any workplace as often the tasks before the staff are like a fast river...hard and ever flowing with no end in sight. a bad manager will expect the staff to continue to swim against the current without considering how it can be made easier and more comfortable whilst still achieving goals and outcomes and a good manager will look for ways to make the swim easier and provide checkpoints to reflect and praise on how far they have already travelled. take time to take stock of how well all staff do including managers and take time to reflect on previous managers successes and achievements. be mindful not to destroy a good thing in search of tokenistic recognition

Letting this sink in… While still adjusting to being back in the workforce after 6 years at home with my kiddos, I’m continuously relearning myself and who I am as a leader, coworker, subordinate, and professional. The workplace changed a lot during my time away and I know I did too! Learning to “pick my battles” has been the most challenging. But what I do know is my core values and ethical mindset will always at the core of who I am. https://lnkd.in/gJV5dch4