How can I move Individual Contributors into management faster?

 Beware! Every executive (2,000+) I’ve worked with has seen a good technical Expert ruined by promotion into management. Beware and Be Aware of the four basic commonly occurring Career Concepts, Linears, Experts, Spirals, and Transitories. (Driver and Brousseau at USC identified these 4+ decades ago, yet amazingly so many manager/executives are clueless about them.

Each Career Concept has associated with it some core VABEs and a definition of ‘success.’ They are for

1. Linears: “I can get more done by organizing others” and “moving up.”
2. Experts: “If you want it done right, do it yourself” and “craftsmanship/artisanship.”
3. Spirals: “I’d rather give up power and status in order to keep learning” and “constant learning.”
4. Transitories: “I work to support my true passion in life” and “having enough to follow my true passion.”

Many firms are full of Experts: consulting, engineering, universities, construction, music, entertainment and more. It’s not that easy to search among all those Experts and find a few who are budding Linears. Don’t be too eager to promote Individual Contributors (from Dalton and Thompson’s work Four Stages of Professional Careers) into management before you assess their ability and desire to do so.

Society/the Media emphasize the Linear model. This is what appears in the WSJ and Fortune as the success we all want. Not true. Linears make the mistake of believing (VABE) that everyone is or should be like them. I had a client once to whom I’d introduced these concepts and the COO slammed his fist down on the table and said, “NO! If the janitor in this company doesn’t aspire to be the CEO we should fire his ass out of here! That’s the American Dream! You pick yourself up by your bootstraps and climb as high as you can!” That’s a mistaken, ego-centric view of management.

Organizations with high proportions of Linears are cut-throat, dog-eat-dog places where collaboration and cooperation suffer. Wise executives will consider the proper strategic MIX of career concepts for their industry and strategies. For example, if one is in a cyclical expand/contract industry, one could appropriately hire X% of Transitories (where X is the industry historical % of contraction and expansion) so that when the next contraction arrived they would know that the X% of Transitories would be happy to leave to pursue their passions (sailing around the world, climbing the Himalayas, whatever) for a while and then come back. I know of a nurse whose passion was seeing the world. She’d work for six months, save up, then hike/hitchhike for months till she ran out of money, then take another nursing (always in demand) job wherever she was.

Each Career Concept adds value to the organization. Linears give ambition, drive, organization while Experts give craftsmanship, quality, productivity, Spirals give fresh ideas, innovation, creativity, and Transitories give flexibility.

No one is all one or the other, rather we all have a mix of Career Concepts. I’ve developed a rough self-assessment tool and posted it on my website in the Managing Careers section:

Managing Careers by Finding Fit

What’s the best way to make your next career decision? Many people make these decisions on a “try-and-see” mindset based on salary and gut feel.  The trial-and-error method can be very costly in terms of finances, time and career growth. These are big decisions, and there is a better way.  The core concept is that career success is a function of goodness-of-fit between who you are and the demands of the jobs you take.  Do you know who you are? How accurate is your gut feel? I learned to teach Self-Assessment and Career Development (SACD) from the award-winning developers of the course at the Harvard Business School. After writing the 2nd and 3rd editions of that book, I have assembled here the theory and the assessments that can guide you to making a data-based rational decision that is a better FIT for who you are.  This is a time-tested, proven process for making much better career decisions. Most students have told me that their Life Themes Lists haven’t changed in 30 years.  Think of your hand as your Life Themes List and a glove as the demands that a job will make on you.  If you fit the glove better, you will perform better. People vary widely in how much they are willing to invest in their career decisions.  So, there are three different levels of investment you can make in your future career decisions: Quick and easy (one day but less accurate and less comprehensive), Moderate (two weekends creates more data and more accuracy), and Thorough (a month of focused effort that produces a solid, data-based description of who you are) You decide how much data you want to generate and analyze. This system is fully available in my book FindingFit at Darden Business Publishing for $6.95.  The book is a 90 page PDF file with active links for about 20 self-assessment tools, a guided description of how to summarize that data into a list of Life Themes that you can use as a template for interviews, for screening employment options, and defining what you want in your career. OR you can purchase the PDF file here for $5.00. Choose the FindingFIT PayPal Button at the bottom, then click FindingFIT Download to download the file. You may have noticed several membership options on the Subscription page If you join the Career Managment Module you will have access to the FindingFIT book, online guidance through the FindingFIT process (see the modules below) plus the text of the 3rd edition of Self-Assessment and Career Development (SACD). Alternatively, you can also download the Career Option Workbook (COW) for free and navigate it on your own without the guidance of the FindingFit Workbook or the FindingFIT modules below. The Career Option Workbook is an Excel workbook with active links and 15+ self-assessment tools.  The COW is a single repository for your career management data and decision-making– and you may need some guidance to work through it. Our Program Philosophy explains the underlying assumptions about this process. Four Modules in the Career Manag

https://nadobimakoba.com/managing-careers/

Open the Career Option Workbook and find the Career Concepts (on-line, Qualtrics, free) instrument.

SO, beware of trying to move independent contributor’s as fast as you can to the next level. Find ways first of assessing every individual’s main career concept and utilizing their talents accordingly. Way too often, wonderful contributors have been ruined by promotion into management. That’s bad for the individual AND the company.

In one client workshop an engineer came up to me after class and asked “Why don’t Linears listen?” Tell me more. “I’ve only been here six months. I worked for our major competitor. Because I did a good job they kept putting me in high-potential leadership development programs. I kept saying I don’t want to be a manager, I just want to do a good job and go home. They didn’t listen, so I came here—and it’s only been six months and here I am again pushed into your leadership development program!!!”

Beware.

How do I know I'd be good at management? People tell me that.

 IMO IME

1. There are at least four major Career Concepts of which only one, Linears, are suited for leadership/management positions.
2. Over 2,000 executives in my seminars have seen Experts ruined by promotion into management. The transition from Expert or Spiral to Linear positions requires a fundamental VABE change from “if you want it done right do it yourself” to “you can get more done through others.”
3. There’s a Career Concept self-assessment tool on my website, Level Three Leadership
4. Career success is a function of goodness of fit between who you are (the hand) and the demands of the job/career (the glove). The odds are that an Expert or Spiral who takes a Linear job won’t do well.
5. The definitions of success and the core VABEs of each of the four major Career Concepts differ.  VABEs for Linears:  'I can get more done by organizing others.'  For Experts, 'If you want it done right do it yourself.'  For Spirals, 'I'm getting bored.  I need to find something new that will stimulate and challenge me.'  For Transitories, 'It's getting to be time to get away and follow my true passion for a while.'  
6. Definitions of success: Linears: Moving Up.  Experts: Craftsmanship.  Spirals: Learning.  Transitories: My trade allows me to enjoy my true passion in life.
7. Testing as a Linear is no guarantee of managerial success. Then one needs a robust, clear and inspiring CHARTER to motivate people beyond simple rewards and punishments. And a host of other skills.
8. If you truly enjoy creating inspiring purpose/mission, visions of what you want to create and convincing others of the power of your charter, then you might make a really good manager.

Is there any career in which practice leads to perfection?

 IMO

1. ‘Perfection’ is an ideal—defined by someone. Who? Who says what ‘perfection’ is in any endeavor? In business ‘success’ is often defined as ‘in specification, ahead of schedule and under budget.’
2. Japanese artists would intentionally include an imperfection in their work out of respect for Mother Nature and the desire to avoid arrogance of having achieved anything ‘perfect.’
3. Christians are encouraged to ‘be ye perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.’ And they debate what that means endlessly. Especially in the paradoxical concepts of sin/guilt and grace and the number (600+) of commandments in the Bible. The attempt to be ‘perfect’ can lead/has led to significant mental disorders. I’m including brain chemistry issues here (ie OCD and more).
4. Religions tout the importance of becoming ‘better’ if not ‘perfect.’ Some do tout a kind of perfection in ‘enlightenment,’ ‘salvation,’ etc. IME the collected regional answers to misunderstood problems led to the creation of the world’s scriptures, which contain mountains of mythological misinformation that billions continue to foist upon defenseless children. After laboring under that ‘system’ for 48 years, I determined to rethink. 20 years of data collection led to A Song of Humanity: a science-based alternative to the world’s scriptures, an attempt to provide a more accurate, data-based, global not regional lyrical description of where we came from that one could read to children.
5. Some gymnasts have achieved ‘perfect’ 10’s in competition. There is no ‘perfect’ score in golf or baseball or football although some teams have been undefeated.
6. What’s a ‘perfect’ spouse/partner? Parent? Child? Politician? Soldier? Athlete? Lawyer? Teacher?
7. Demings once noted that every organization is perfectly designed to produce the results it’s producing. A kind of reverse-engineering, Darwinian perspective. The ‘fittest’ survive in evolution, not necessarily the strongest, rather those who adapt the ‘best’ to their environments.
8. SO, I say ‘not likely.’ In fact, bad practice can actually ingrain bad habits and make improvement more elusive, much less some idealist image of perfection. (eg golf, piano, violin, etc.)

How does one keep people on track in meetings?

 IME

1. Agendas should be structured around QUESTIONS that need to be answered, NOT topics—which tend to reappear in meeting after meeting.
2. Circulate the agenda in advance along with any supporting information/data.
3. Record decisions made in the meeting (use a person assigned the role of keeping notes)
4. Ask “how does this help us answer this question?”
   
   
5. Use the MIT/Peter Senge 'dialogue' technique, asking people one at a time in order their thoughts on the question of the moment, no reactions allowed, then go around a second time to allow people to modify their views based on what others have said.  

Is there any career in which practice leads to perfection?

 IMO

1. ‘Perfection’ is an ideal—defined by someone. Who? Who says what ‘perfection’ is in any endeavor? In business ‘success’ is often defined as ‘in specification, ahead of schedule and under budget.’
2. Japanese artists would intentionally include an imperfection in their work out of respect for Mother Nature and the desire to avoid arrogance of having achieved anything ‘perfect.’
3. Christians are encouraged to ‘be ye perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.’ And they debate what that means endlessly. Especially in the paradoxical concepts of sin/guilt and grace and the number (600+) of commandments in the Bible. The attempt to be ‘perfect’ can lead/has led to significant mental disorders. I’m including brain chemistry issues here (ie OCD and more).
4. Religions tout the importance of becoming ‘better’ if not ‘perfect.’ Some do tout a kind of perfection in ‘enlightenment,’ ‘salvation,’ etc. IME the collected regional answers to misunderstood problems led to the creation of the world’s scriptures, which contain mountains of mythological misinformation that billions continue to foist upon defenseless children. After laboring under that ‘system’ for 48 years, I determined to rethink. 20 years of data collection led to A Song of Humanity: a science-based alternative to the world’s scriptures, an attempt to provide a more accurate, data-based, global not regional lyrical description of where we came from that one could read to children.
5. Some gymnasts have achieved ‘perfect’ 10’s in competition. There is no ‘perfect’ score in golf or baseball or football although some teams have been undefeated.
6. What’s a ‘perfect’ spouse/partner? Parent? Child? Politician? Soldier? Athlete? Lawyer? Teacher?
7. Demings once noted that every organization is perfectly designed to produce the results it’s producing. A kind of reverse-engineering, Darwinian perspective. The ‘fittest’ survive in evolution, not necessarily the strongest, rather those who adapt the ‘best’ to their environments.
8. SO, I say ‘not likely.’ In fact, bad practice can actually ingrain bad habits and make improvement more elusive, much less some idealist image of perfection. (eg golf, piano, violin, etc.)
9. And Judith, you ask a LOT of questions. Are you a real person? Is your purpose in life to stimulate thought, or just to be …. ???

What is a CHARTER?

To me a robust, clear and inspiring CHARTER is a document that contains 6 elements:

1. A one sentence inspiring statement of purpose or mission. (MISSION)
2. A detailed description of what one is trying to create at some more distant point in the future. (VISIONs)
3. A short, half-page of core VABEs that define our intended culture. (Culture is a set of shared VABES, Values, Assumptions, Beliefs, and Expectations about the way the world is or should be.)
4. A strategy for each of the visions described in #2. (STRATEGIES)
5. A set of measures for each strategy that demonstrate any progress toward our Visions. (Short-term Operating Goals or STOGs)
6. Leadership:  WHO is going to create this document?  

One can create a charter at the individual, family, team, division, company, industry and national levels.  In my opinion, any organizational "leader" or intentional individual who has not created a clear, robust and inspiring charter is negligent.  Charters are a "Level Three Technique" and are far more powerful than Level One Techniques (rewards and punishments) or Level Two Techniques (logic, evidence, data, science). Witness not-for-profit organizations and the lingering conflicts in Northern Ireland, Ruanda/Burundi, the Balkans, India/Pakistan, Israel/Palestine, China/Tibet etc to understand the power of Level Three VABEs. 

Mission Statements.  One sentence.  NOT the "committee version" (We deliver world-class goods and services that delight our customers beyond their expectations and give our investors and above industry average return on their investments.  Vanilla and undifferentiating.)  RATHER "We protect those who protect us."  "We make education available to everyone." "Keep Virginia Moving."  "We protect communities from water-born disease."   And in my case, having had three last names, "To help people find themselves."  Everything I've done in my life and career revolves around that core mission.  What's the purpose of YOUR life?

Vision Statements.  A detailed description of what "you" want to look like on multiple dimensions some 20-50 years in the future. Individual dimensions include the "--AL" aspects of life: physical, intellectual, mental, social, marital, financial, professional, etc.  Corporate dimensions include financial, marketing, share of market, efficient operations, global reach and many more.  Probably 3-10 pages. 

Core VABEs.  Half a page, maybe 7 or less.  "We are transparent with our data and truths." "We protect not abuse the Commons."  "We strive to improve continuously."  "We share our success with everyone."  etc.

Strategies.  Usually the longest section, might be 30 pages.  One for each of the visions in #2 above.  HOW will we work to get to that vision?  

STOGS.  Be careful what you measure lest you unintendedly undermine your own strategies. Could be weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually reassessed.  

Leadership.  Sometimes one person's clarity trumps a team effort.  WHO is involved in creating the charter?  Carlisle noted that he did not believe in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.  Yet one must guard against dictatorships. IF Others respond voluntarily, the "leader-to-be" can assess the degree of Buy-In they have achieved. 

For more, see my Level Three Leadership website at www.level3leadership.com or my books. 

 

Is there a connection between narcissism and fringe cult leaders?

 I liked the other two answers (so far). It’s an interesting question. I agree that fringe (and non-fringe) cult leaders are very likely narcissists in that they

1. Care more about themselves than others
2. Have little to no empathy for the condition of others
3. Demand that others agree with their views
4. Demand utter loyalty
5. Demand financial contribution
6. Often demand sexual submission
7. Espouse theories and stories that don’t match with evidence and “reality”
8. Make it difficult to leave the flock
9. Design strong “progression” systems with themselves at the center/top.
10. Declare the world is wrong rather than acknowledging the prevailing and common view and behavior
11. Resort to violence when/if necessary in their view
12. Talk about their world versus the outside world
13. Make the rules unilaterally

Once one is a member of a cult, it’s difficult both internally and externally to leave. One’s own belief systems (VABEs What are VABEs? ) will make it hard to leave—am I doing the wrong thing? Will I be damned forever? How can I throw away 30 years of my life? Externally, the cult makes it difficult as well. Representatives come around cajoling and encouraging even threatening to keep the members “in.”