1/15/2013–Relationship power dwarfs role power.
Two days left in the store I’m currently visiting. They want me to stay. This is more–almost superfluous–evidence validating the idea that relationship power vastly exceeds role and, effectively, expertise power. If I were an external consultant advising the unit partner and his team I would try to avoid putting too much value on “1 thing you must do now!” and still I would say his fatal flaw–not a weakness, which could be negated by someone else’s strength–is his reliance on role power before relationship power. If line-ups are the 1st behavior to start doing; then yelling, telling, and showing stress are the 1st things to stop doing. “The best way to stop being a jerk is to stop doing the behaviors associated with jerks!” as Manager Tools says. The assistant manager is kind of floating around 1/2 invested and I bet the staff is starting to pick up on that, too. This is not a high-functioning team. Come to think of it, this region is not a high-functioning team.
I’m never ever one to believe the grass is always greener. Still, I’m starting to believe the HBR articles, books I read, and manager Tools when they tell me great management is out there. Not all director-level managers can simply neglect to meet new talent. Not all companies can refuse to just simply tell us what they’re doing to improve a broken payroll system. And there must be some region of units–be it restaurant or a different industry–in which they require managers to be part of a network for regular communication. Each store is on an island and the company doesn’t (or our leaders neglect to) demand better development of us front-line managers. They’re conceptual–sending out 30-day project plans that we’re supposed to fill out with our partner. Great idea to have one, except the partners should be trained to require this type of development anyway. If the IDP is a requirement, it’s going undone so the 30-day plans are ill-timed. On the flip side of the saying “don’t prohibit what you can’t prevent” might be “don’t require what you can’t (or won’t) measure”.
I’ve begun looking at MBA programs. I feel I wouldn’t need the degree to do what I want to do for a career; the reason I’m considering it is because I have the ability to learn the concepts taught in an MBA program. Should I not go for it, what am I doing to make myself better/smarter, each day? I would feel as though I took for granted my thirst for knowledge if I didn’t push my brain to learn more and think faster while I still can. And because my purpose is to push myself, I’m looking first at the Kellogg MBA at Northwestern, then probably Booth @ Chicago, IU, and maybe Krannert at Purdue. Having not researched fully any school but Kellogg I don’t know if any of them cater to consulting. Kellogg is said to be one of the best producers of consultants in the world. This, combined with their demanding academic requirements is why they’re my #1 so far. In the next few weeks I’ll be looking to prepare for the GMAT. This doesn’t look to be something I can just up and do, so I’m not going to put it ahead of my current employer. But I do need to start now if I’m going to have a shot at Kellogg.
QOTW: “Would you persuade, speak of interest not of reason.” -Ben
?FNW: Is the next store in better shape than is this store? Way better!
11/11/2017 review–This entry covered three topics, each of which I have a specific reaction to. The first, regarding relationship power vs role power, has been strongly reinforced in the five years since this experience. Such little staff commitment springs from leveraging role power–probably in this environment more than corporations.
The second experience described here conveyed a feeling of dissatisfaction. I remember feeling this way. I was frustrated because I felt they weren’t being transparent with a process that negatively affected me. I felt they were, as I said, requiring things but not measuring them to hold people accountable. What I’ve found now is that I first should’ve sought to understand their perspective before allowing my frustrations to take hold. I could’ve asked for explanations in a professional way. Certainly, these things are not totally unique to my employer at the time. Conversely, I’d learn there are much more ineffective practices than what I described here. I lacked the amount of experience at this point that would’ve enabled me to see these as minor inefficiencies compared to more significant issues plaguing the average organization.
Finally, I reflected on some early feelings surrounding my decision to pursue an MBA. At that point, I thought I knew what I wanted to do for a career (restaurant consulting). I had yet to go through the exercise of identifying a purpose and aligning priorities to meet that goal. Not only have my career goals changed since then, but I realized finding the “right school” would apply more of a “Minimal Effective Dose” philosophy than just seeking the biggest challenge.