33 Chewbacca Management Techniques
Simon Howson-Baggott
Customer Success @ LinkedIn | Learning Specialist | People Leader
Ok, so I lied about Chewy dispensing management advice.. I hope you'll forgive me! Read on and you'll see why.
Managing like an actual person seems like a good idea? right? rather than Chewy who probably wants to shout at you and rip your arms off. Or, shall we base all of our management techniques on lessons learnt from recently expired famous people, teams that have won something or fictional characters from sci-fi movies!
It's fairly often I see (and cringe over) a story titled 'Five things we can learn from XXX' or 'What we learnt from the capitulation of XX in the league final' and it's time we stopped that and had proper, grown-up conversations about management and leaderships skills.
In truth a headline featuring Robin Williams (appeared in more than one story when he passed away) is a cover and doesn't need his moniker attached. What does it add apart from pulling in a few misled punters to read your blog? and let's be fair, how happy and engaged will they be when they read it?
To be fair... some are funny and it would be a shame to lose them, but they are faintly insulting at best and a waste of time at worst. Why do we feel the need to dress up a blog with a stupid title to draw people in? Why do we lie to trick people into sharing some of their time to listen to our ramblings? Why am I doing the same thing to you even though I'm panning it?
Isn't it time we started having proper discussions without hiding behind somebody else? Isn't it time that when we want to talk about new management theories or support an argument that X is better than Y that we approach it without wrapping it up in gaudy paper and terrible click-bait headlines? (great story about anti click-bait headlines here)
for example, let's talk about management..
The most important skill?
Is it time we stopped managing like robots or overly-educated and thoroughly saturated individuals, seeping managerial wisdom from every pore as you seek to better only yourself with no noticeable affect on your colleagues or direct reports.
I see a considerable amount of blogs attributed to management styles, management tips, how-to's and how-not's and although I wouldn't consider myself an expert (are any of us?) I would like to start a decent conversation around the subject.
So, what's the most important skill a manager or leader should have? In my opinion the best managers I've worked for (and currently do) follow one mantra - Treat others as you'd expect to be treated yourself. It's called the Golden Rule and I implore you to read the wiki page I've linked to so you can see what I mean.
Get the Golden Rule right and you are half way there. Sure you need the rest of the stuff being peddled out but trust me, we'd all be in a much better place right now if people just treated others how they expect to be treated themselves!
So what do you think? What's the most important management technique? The most key of all the key skills? The thing a manager cannot do without?
..And please don't say it's Han Solo as a boss and huge, hairy forearms.
Technical Recruitment Manager at Major Recruitment. Transforming Careers and Companies by connecting Talented People with Great Employers
10 年Absolutely agree with Ben you need to understand that each team member has differing circumstances and motivations and then be able to understand how a particular situation is affecting them so you can apply the management technique that will get the best outcome for them and the business. It isn't an easy quality for everyone to develop but vital that we do so we can help our teams realise their potential.
Coaching Leaders and Senior teams for sustainable high performance.
10 年It's an interesting point you make Simon about treating others as You would wish to be treated. I think in order for us to do this consistently and with authenticity we need to have a clear perspective on who we are. It's not enough to HAVE skills without knowing ourselves first. Leading ourselves influentially is critical. When we know our purpose and are self aware we can execute our "skills" consistently and are likely to be more influential and we lead through who we are and not just through our title.
Permanent and Contract Recruitment - Civil, Structural and Architecture
10 年Some good points Simon. A managers job is to bring out the best in their team and to ensure that they have the motivation and drive to succeed in their role. Understanding their true motivators and supporting them to achieve their goals is key. "Tell them what they need to hear" is high on my list.
Lots of different skills and techniques could be listed but for me "Empathy" would be pretty high up on that list - if we can't put ourselves in the shoes of the people we're leading and understand what makes that individual tick then it's hard to make one particular technique work.
Customer Success @ LinkedIn | Learning Specialist | People Leader
10 年That's a good point Peter, I'd agree a certain amount of flexibility is important. What are your thoughts on dressing up a story around a faintly misleading title to lure people in?