Whether we manage staff directly or work in a peer environment, our effectiveness is enhanced-or hindered-by our management skills o a greater extent than our safety expertise. Our professional development and growth as managers comes from many influences-mentoring, coaching, offsite training, business bestselling books, formal academic work, and on-the-job observation of successful and failed leaders. I've learned from all these modes of development at one time or another, and have been fortunate to be involved in developing new managers for about 35 years. Based on that experience, I've developed some thoughts about what seems to work best for most people. Of course, no single method, process, or mantra works equally well for everyone. But common themes seem apparent, and I'll like to suggest them to others.
This paper is about self-development as managers, not external influence. Most of us have become adept at changing organizational structure, regulations, etc. I'm interested in internal values, habitual means of interacting with others, "core values" as they are sometimes called.
And I will not even approach the never-ending debates over what constitutes a leader versus a manager. It's an arbitrary definition and not terribly germane to the points I hope to make.
What methods or approaches seem to result in real, lasting change and growth? The basis is a conscious commitment to the effort to change one's habits or practices. Seems simplistic to say, doesn't it? But personal ownership of the hard work to change one's self is key. And it is hard work. We humans have an amazing ability to lock into habits and an equally strong resistance to changing core values and those habits. Application of the will to change, over time, makes the difference. Given will, best successes result from focus and attention to basic, successful, proven management practices. But do you carry a notebook of management theory around? Of course not. What I've found works best is to capture the essence of sound practices in simple-sounding, easy to remember "truisms." At first glance, they sound trite, and are often they are the things we learned growing up. But for some reason they are applied unevenly, at best, in the work environment. We'll explore the ones that have been most useful to me through the course of this paper.
What might be less effective in producing lasting change? Anything that:
allows us to escape ownership of the change process, or
presents a conceptual structural framework for management too complicated to remember-let alone use-during a typical high, fast-paced workday with too much to do.
It's awfully easy to transfer ownership of change to a speaker, a video, a seminar facilitator, or the author of a book. Sort of an, "If I just read the book and agree with the points, it'll happen naturally, right?" mentality. It's a seductive line of thinking, not arrived at consciously, easy to do, and altogether too common. Changing ourselves as managers is deliberate, ongoing, and not effortless.
