The Manager as a Sculptor

Quiz time:

-     Have ever been in charge of a team or a project?

-     Do you have kids?

-     Do you have a boss? Or a spouse? ??

If you answered yes to any or all the above questions, I have news for you! Like it or not, and regardless of whether you are managing up or down… the undoubtable, unquestionable, undeniable truth is that…you are all managers!

But the purpose of this article is not to reveal to you the undoubtable, unquestionable and undeniable truth that you are all managers, but instead to wash away  the coal dust and mud that covers it, revealing the gold that sits underneath so that we can all touch it, taste it (if you feel like it!) and make the best out of it. In less cryptic words: my intention is to propose a mindset shift on the very noble profession of Management and inspire you to approach it with a different attitude, energy and purpose, so that you can unleash a world of possibilities.

Current situation

It’s my belief that the management profession nowadays is being perceived as quite mundane, and the term “management” is abused. Everyone’s a manager and everything can be management. As soon as you have one person reporting to you, (directly or indirectly) you become a manager, regardless of whether you asked for it, you want it, or you are prepared/trained for it.

And the result? An ocean of managers, plenty of whom are mediocre or plain…bad.

Do you remember Bill Lumbergh from the classic movie Office Space, or David Brent from the epic BBC Series: The Office?

You see… these caricatures were not conceived in vacuum; they exist… and live amongst us... and for some unlucky of us: they managed us at some point in time. Maybe not in that dramatised Hollywood way, but for sure in some sort of way.

And they depict a sad truth: that the very powerful profession of Management, a profession that has the power of shaping human lives, is perceived as so mundane, so limited, so mortal that I have the feeling fewer and fewer people want to associate themselves with it, hence running to the next best alternative: the LEADER! Yes, I am a LEADER (aka I am NOT a manager! God Forbid!)

But how did this happen?

Let’s see what we do not realise we are signing up for, when we are signing up to become Managers:

1. Enormous admin work: processes, filing, 360 reports, performance reviews, weekly summary reports, monthly summary reports, you-name-it-out-of-this-world reports, peer group updates, performance improvement plans (if things do not go well) etc…PAPER PUSHING (electronic or physical) at its worst
2. The “1-2-1”s meetings... important though they might be (they are the cornerstone of successful management)…they require a significant investment (of time, energy, attention, creativity, patience, compassion and much more). This is all fine, but rest assured: the time and effort is usually not accounted for in your job description; managing is not simply waving the orchestra conductor wand and music fills the chamber; it requires you sitting with every single instrument player making sure you enable them and motivate them so that they perform at their best, before you take your stand at the podium and bow in front of the audience
3. The constant problems that your direct reports will be naturally feeling like dropping on your plate; and your endless efforts to place the “monkeys” back on their shoulders, arming their hand with the right tools to resolve their challenges themselves (or else you simply throw them in the ocean hoping they will learn to swim on their own, and/ or…withsome online training)
4. The endless “management” meetings you have to attend, part of your responsibilities as a manager. You are “made”; now you have to be spending endless time with like-minded people to “strategise” (another widely abused word)). (Somebody told me once about the company they used to work that “everyone is coordinating in this company all the time; I wonder who is doing the actual job?” ??)
5. The “winging it” attitude; just because you are a manager, do you really have all the answers? Sometimes people expect you to make quick, tough decisions with no or almost no information; this is where you will feel the need to coming up with an answer, ANY answer, because not having one won’t do – pure survival instinct or how not to fail dramatically in front of your own bosses and at the same time keep your staff’s faith in you unshaken. Not how things should be done; not the right modern way of managing. But still…a reality in several organisations
6. The clairvoyance required; as a manager you are expected to see through things. I mean…really use your superhero skills. If (for instance) you ask one of your direct reports “are you ok?” and you get “fine” as a response, BUT the respondent’s body language, voice tone and/or your gut feeling convey something different, you'd rather trust your instincts and dig deeper, or else you will regret it dearly. As an exceptional manager, you should not only listen "to the B.S. that is produced, but also to the sound, to the music, to the hesitations".
7. The sensitivity around well-being challenges (which become more and more prominent nowadays): a minefield requiring you as a manager to be extra sensitive and tuned to different attitudes, behaviours, schedules and reactions. This can get really ugly if underestimated.

With all of the above points, as managers we might get more and more distant from, or even spiteful of the very reason we really exist: Human Beings!

So what do we do?

Huddle around in a “kumbaya” style commiserating about the downfall of the Management Profession?

Definitely not! what I recommend is nothing short of a MINDSET SHIFT: What I’m proposing is to consider the concept of the Manager as … an Artist; and more specifically… a Sculptor.

Michelangelo once said:

“Every block of stone has a statue inside it, and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it”

Like Michelangelo, I believe with every single cell in my body that every person carries inside him/her a magnificent statue, and it’s your job as a manager to get through this…with your chisel. Chiselling away excess material until the wonderful statue emerges.

What is the chisel?

In my opinion, your real chisel is your sincere interest in people; and this comes best through empathy. It’s a mindset where you do not see the other person as “Evan with his usual drama” or “Oh again Tania with her complexities”.

Your chisel is EMPATHY. And Empathy is not Sympathy and definitely it is not Apathy. Empathy is not a technique. It's a way of being with people.

How do you become a sculptor?

There are five requirements to becoming a sculptor; five conditions that need to be fulfilled and respected:

1. Have a VISION OF what the hidden statue underneath the marble might be. You don’t just start chiselling away. And in order to get this vision, you need to pay attention to that piece of marble…very tenderly and patiently… listen, understand, attend to… Your job is to help your people visualise the best version of themselves so that they become what they were ALWAYS MEANT to become; and through this process you will form the vision of the statue that craves to be liberated.

2. Be IN LOVE with the art, the act and most importantly “the material”, which in this case it’s people…human beings: how successful do you think you could be as a sculptor if every time you chisel away, you turn your head away in disgust, can’t waiting to be done with this necessary evil, but still make it to Sculptor of the Year? You cannot fake love. People are smart and they can sense when you are really interested in them, when you really get into their shoes and position… or simply pretend to.

3. DEDICATION: I do not doubt one’s multitasking capabilities, but how successful do you think you can be if every time you would chisel away material, you stop to sign a document, write a letter, review an NDA and so on, taking your eyes off the task? In my experience if you take care of your people, they will take care of business. And taking care of your people requires dedication and continuity. You cannot put afford to have people on autopilot.

4. Understand your RESPONSIBILITY: Every time you chisel something away, you cannot take it back. You have to be attentive; you HAVE to be PRESENT. You have to get it right, or else you will end up spending even more time to fix the damage you have caused. Commiserating and ranting, breaking one’s trust or dismissing one’s feelings, are actions that you will most definitely regret later.

5. Be HUMAN, be HUMBLE – show your human side, that you also make mistakes, you are not perfect. It’s perfectly fine to be vulnerable. Maybe you cut a piece here or a piece there too much. Maybe you had a different vision to begin with that didn’t materialise and you need to admit defeat and start over again. Maybe it was always meant to be a learning curve for you and a lesson each step of the way. People will be inspired more if you approach them from this angle.

 Ok, now we know what the requirements are, but how can we PRACTICALLY do it?

Or in other words, how do we change the mindset to one where “managing” is an opportunity to mould people to the best version of themselves, so that they get stronger, the team gets stronger, and happiness and satisfaction increase?

Well, I am afraid that this… you have to discover this on your own!

Don’t get me wrong; If you want tips, I can give you some: you can try putting it in your morning meditation, have a picture of a statue next to your screen or a post-it note in you bathroom mirror,

Like all mindset changes, it may come painfully and laboriously, or delicately and effortlessly. It’s not about establishing a new habit; it’s instead about changing your viewpoint and realising that the profession you are honouring is a powerful and noble one.

Clayton Christensen said in his landmark book “How will you measure your life”:

“If done well, management is among the most noble professions since you are in a position where you have 8-10 hours every day from every person who works for you. You have the opportunity to frame each person’s work so that, at the end of every day, your employees will go home feeling they lived a life filled with motivators”.

And this mindset shift can happen in a matter of minutes…as many as it takes to read the right article online ??.

I can tell you how it worked for me. As soon as the penny dropped, I took time to think in silence; I went back and looked at my track in Management and Leadership. I reflected on the mistakes I did, on the times that it was all about me, on the first efforts of getting hold of a chisel, and eventually on the first statues I managed to unveil, some consciously some unconsciously. When you feel that the penny drops, take the time to think (without distractions) and reflect. This is what will drive change.

And as the penny drops, hopefully a big smile will be carved on your face, realising that you are not an administrator but instead a sculptor, creating masterpieces everywhere, enriching the world with some of the most beautiful creations. And as this new realisation sinks in, you might even find out that while you are busy liberating all these wonderful masterpieces out of the massive chunks of marble, there is also one more statue that you help liberate: your own, personal and unique masterpiece; YOUR statue. And this is how you will become what you were always meant to become when you signed up (intentionally or unintentionally) for Management: a Sculptor of Souls.

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