Am I now a starfish?

In his book, Management 3.0, Jurgen Appelo makes a startling comparison between starfish and managers.

"For example, the ancestors of brainless starfish had a brain. But starfish don’t, and nobody knows why…. (Some believe the same applies to managers.)"

While he was probably just trying to make a joke, my experience suggests that the best jokes are generally ones based in reality.  When I look at my personal career, I am fortunate enough to boast that I have had mostly good managers.  I have been able to relate to my managers.  Most of them have put some effort into my personal and professional development.  They have always been able to provide timely advice and guide me in the right direction (or maybe in their self-image?). 

During all this time, however, my view of management has always been along a singular theme, the theme of the starfish.  How do these people get into these positions?  Why don't they use their brains?  Why does everything seem so dis-jointed? Why are they not addressing the problems that really matter?

Reading this book has caused me to spend a fair bit of time self-reflecting.  When I look back at years past, I always wanted things to be orderly.  I wanted to be able to explain what was going on in simple terms.  After all, if you can't break down a problem into simple components, then you don't really understand it… right?  The book would classify what I was attempting to do as reductionism.

"The approach of deconstructing systems into their parts and analyzing how these parts interact to make up the whole is called reductionism".

What I learned is that while these concepts are good to understand how an airplane works, it does little to help explain how complex systems such as corporates work.  Things are really not that simple, and can't always be explained in simple terms.

In a lot of ways, I am really, REALLY glad that the author took the time to write this book.  He approaches the concepts of management like I would (or at least, would hope to).  He spends a lot of time talking about systems theory, explaining just enough of the core concepts to get his point across.  He relates management of people to that of complex systems.  And luckily, work has been done over the years into how to describe, manage, and interact with complex systems.  So why not try and apply those concepts to management?

The application of those concepts, combined with years of experience I'm sure, has led to what is termed the "Management 3.0 model".  There 6 views to this model.

1. Align Constraints
2. Develop Competence
3. Empower Teams
4. Grow Structure
5. Energize People
6. Improve Everything

The last chapter is really the icing on the cake for this book, and probably puts it among the top of ones that I have read.  The author goes out of his way to claim that his model is probably incorrect.  The point, ultimately, is that there is no one way to view/manage complex systems.  The system functions as a will, all you can do, as management, is hope to contribute a little to its direction.  If you adopt agile approaches, focus on using appropriate (for your environment) tools and processes, and have a little bit of luck, you might just be successful at it!

As always, I highly recommend you check out this book.  You can start at the authors website.

Recently, I have been promoted to Manager of the Application Infrastructure group at Hitachi Solutions Canada.  I look forward to the new challenge.

Book Review: The Talent Code

In the talent code, author Daniel Coyle tells us that "Greatness isn't born. It's Grown.  Here's How" and I must say, the book really does deliver.

The premise of the book is simple.  Traditionally, there has been a misconception that certain people are born to do certain things.  When we look at a leader in any given field, we think that they were born to do this, it was in their genes.  The book aims to prove this notion false, providing instead an alternate explanation, and that is that we are all myelin beings.

Myelin is a insulating material grown on axons in the brain, essentially ensuring that electrical signal travels fast and without loss of amplification. The explanation follows that the more we practice something, the more Myelin forms around the neurons that make up that action.  The more myelin that forms, the better and more accurate the brain can transmit that signal.  This is essentially the difference between the tops in a given field and the average.

There are three elements needed to grow myelin: deep practice, ignition, and master coaching.  Combine these three, and you are destine to greatness in any field that you chose.

Deep practice is the concept that one must practice to be good at something, but it can't just be "any" type of practice.  The practice that helps grow myelin is "deep".  There are basically two components to deep practice.

1)  Practice at the edge of your ability
Essentially, practice is only effective if it pushes you. You have to practice something that makes you use your brain, makes you concentrate on what you are doing.

2)  Break down complex tasks into their core components, and practice those over and over

When practicing at the edge, you have to work to break the complex task that you are doing into it's core components.  By doing that, you can then create exercises to practice each of those core components.  The more you practices it, the more myelin will coat the electrical path in your brain.

Ignition is basically the passion behind what you are doing.  The author has many stories about leaders in their field and the various events that "triggered" their ignition.  Essentially, ignition is a switch, it is either on or off.  Further, you can trigger ignition using primal queues.  Most of these queues are tied to the words that we use. 

The last ingredient in talent is master coaching.  The best description of master coaching is from a quote in the book.  "Great teachers focus on what the student is saying or doing ... and are able, by being so focused and by their deep knowledge of the subject matter, to see and recognize the inarticulate stumbling, fumbling effort of the student who's reaching toward mastery, and then connect to them with a targeted message." 

There are four virtues to a master coach.

1)  The matrix
2)  Perceptiveness
3)  The GPS Reflex
4)  Theatrical Honesty

Summary

This was a great book and a great read.  What I liked about it is how it confirmed a lot of what I already though was true about talent.  Master coaches are required because they have already broken down a complex problem into it's parts, and are experts at teaching those parts and further .... the synthesis of those parts into the whole.  Because they have already practiced doing this with the art they are teaching, they have also applied this ability to the act of teaching itself.  They know to watch for queues, can adapt teaching patterns to the student, and are genuine people.  Ignition is the passion that keeps the student going forward.  For me, it was my uncle showing me how to make the background color on my C64 switch using basic.  After that, I was hooked!  Lastly, it is the deep practice.  If you are passionate about something, you are always going to strive to improve at what you are doing.  You can only do that by practicing at the edge.

I think my only criticism of the book is how "easy" the author makes this sound.  I guess after the years of research he has put into it, he sees it clearly and can articulate it well.  I, however, still feel that finding the combination of master coaching, ignition, and deep practice to be a rare thing. 

Book Review: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Notes

• Dysfunction 1: Absence of Trust
• "is the confidence among team members that their peers' intentions are good, and that there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group"
• Basically, team members should feel comfortable being vulnerable with one another
• Tools To Address
• "Get to know each other games"
• Builds a personal connection that relationships can build on
• Evaluate shared models
• Express what each person feels they contribute / could contribute better to the team
• Discuss
• My Thoughts
• Running evaluations such as Strength finder might provide valuable insight
• Leader
• Take the first step!
• Dysfunction 2: Fear of Conflict
• "All great relationships require productive conflict in order to grow"
• Should be productive ideological conflict
• Maintain respect... somehow!
• Focus on ideas, not on people
• Healthy conflict is actually more efficient then no conflict
• Tools To Address
• Make it part of the culture
• Moderate as much as possible, but don't protect
• Dysfunction 3: Lack of Commitment
• "Commitment is a function of two things: clarity and buy-in"
• This does not mean consensus!
• Better to make a bold move and change then waffle
• Tools To Address
• End the meetings with a review of key points
• Establish clear deadlines and responsibilities
• Leader Role
• Take a chance and be prepared to be wrong
• Dysfunction 4: Avoidance of accountability
• "the willingness of team members to call their peers on performance or behaviors that might hurt the team"
• Peer pressure works!
• Tools To Address
• Publish goals and standards
• Team rewards
• Leader
• You can't do this alone, create the right culture!
• Dysfunction 5: Inattention to results
• "the tendency of members to care about something other than he collective goals of the group"
• Team status and individual status vs company goals
• Tools To Address
• Rewards that address good behavior

Summary

This is actually the second time I've read this book.  The first was during a previous job.  I was involved in leadership training, and my wife recommended that I read this book in conjunction with that training.  At that time, I noted that the company I worked for actually possessed several of these dysfunctions, but didn't even know it.  One particularly vivid memory comes to mind.

I was talking with a manager, and they commented about how the 360 review (that they had self selected to do) was a stunning success.  That person commented that nobody had anything negative to share during the process, and that was a good mark to their record as a manager.  If you get a chance to read this book, you'll note that this is probably as a result of dysfunction than as a result of stellar management techniques. There is no way to please everybody, and there is no way that everyone "just agrees" with the approach you are taking.

This book is actually quite well written, and I highly suggest picking it up.  The "fable" approach is quite nice, and allows for a lot of color to be added to help describe the finer points of the dysfunctions noted above. Further, the dysfunctions are actually broken out and discussed in a chapter near the end, which makes for a great reference at any time!