BusinessLawGuy's Blog

Management is about execution. More specifically, management is about executing the visions of your company’s leadership. Managers work in the present while leaders work in the future. The point is that managers of people need to focus on how to get the people they manage to execute now. Like many roles, there are any number of ways to manage people.

Some people micromanage their teams because they have the need to control what their subordinates or employees do or don’t trust their team members to execute on their own. There can be good reasons or at least what feel like good reasons to do so. For instance, many managers argue that the end product is going out under the manager’s name or the name of the company and it’s up to them to make sure it’s as good as can be. Those types of managers have a blind spot and don’t realize that having control of the end product or goal is different than micromanaging the process to reach that end product or goal.

I think a better way to manage is to guide your team while giving them the freedom and flexibility to work towards the end goal. A manager may think he or she has the best way to manufacture the widget or is a better writer than whoever is drafting something that will go out under their name. But if you train your people well and then let them control the process, amazing things can happen. George S. Patton once said “If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you’ll be amazed at the results.” This is how products or processes are improved because innovation happens when people have a starting point and an ending point, as well as the opportunity to think outside of the box. It also provides great teaching moments for managers and their team.

In my world this means letting a younger attorney on my team lead a case or write the first draft of a pleading or document. In doing so, it doesn’t mean I have no say on what the plan or end product will be, but I trust that once I provide the big picture, what we’re dealing with, and where we need to go that my team members can choose the path to get there. I regularly am intrigued and amazed at the ideas people come up with and use that I wouldn’t have thought of that result in work that reflects well on me and the entire team. Giving team members ownership in the process is a positive for everyone.

I challenge you to think about all of this the next time you want to tell someone you manage exactly how to do what you’re asking them to do. Try telling them what you need and let them choose the path. You likely will get the same end result as if you micromanaged them and probably will be surprised by how they got there. Either way you get what you need, but one path leave the door open for innovation and positive feelings for your team members who know you trust them to do their job.

We all have stress. I picture an empty room where challenges keep coming at me from straight in front of me, the top left corner, the middle right corner, or wherever. Well, you get the idea. The point is that challenges keep coming at us from all angles as if we are in a video game trying to move forward. Some challenges are exciting and invigorating while others are hard and stressful. They never stop, nor does the need to manage the daily and regular stress of dealing with these challenges.

Many times this is easier said than done. When I speak with people about their business, I usually hear how well things are going and how great everything is. Many times what I am hearing is true. Other times, further into the conversation, I learn the truth, which is, whether or not things are going well, the person is under incredible stress.

In my world it could be the closing date for a large transaction with many moving parts and participants where things aren’t pinned down to the last possible moment. Or maybe it’s preparing to go into trial for two weeks knowing all the other work for other clients really doesn’t stop during that time. I heard one person years ago refer to it as juggling cats. It certainly feels that way in the moment.

Learning methods to cope with the large amount of stress that weighs you down in such moments is a gift to yourself, as well as an ongoing process throughout life. It is impossible to be stress free all the time, but living in constant state of stress is unhealthy. By finding coping mechanisms you can manage stress better than just trying to ignore the fact it’s there. By the way, everyone around you knows when you’re in it even if you think you’re acting cool, calm, and collected. From body language to voice there are many tells when someone is in a high stress moment.

So what do you do to try and control your stress? If something doesn’t come to mind immediately, you need to find something. For me, it’s meditation and exercise including hiking. For others I know, it’s cooking, playing music, golfing, etc. It’s up to you to find what activities help you manage your stress on a regular basis. Whatever it is should one or more things you incorporate in to your regular routines. By doing so, whether your stress level is high, low, or somewhere in-between, you will be able to better manage it.

All of this will lead you to help yourself find a healthier lifestyle, in both your mental and physical health, because stress negatively affects you mentally and physically. Think about your interests outside of work. Whatever it is it should be an activity you enjoy, which should go without saying, and that helps you relax. Then take small steps such as doing it regularly for a month and then another and so on. Then look back with an honest eye as to how you have been dealing with stress and how you feel. My bet is that you will be in a better place.

During the first decade of my career I mainly had one main formal mentor and a number of informal mentors. Most of my mentors were attorneys or judges, which makes sense given my chosen profession. Others were in different professions or businesses. The string running through all of those relationships was the professional and life lessons I learned from each one, many of which I follow to this day.

In one case with someone I considered to be an informal mentor, I’m sure the other person didn’t know I considered him to be a mentor. I never said anything because it seemed clear to me he wouldn’t have been comfortable formalizing our relationship in that manner. In hindsight I’m not sure I was right or not never saying anything, but I still look to and live by things I learned from that person.

I actually ran into him in the past year for the first time in a long time and when I mentioned to him something I learned from him that I still thought about many years later he didn’t recall the thought or conversation other than thinking it was something he would have said and that he still thought it was true. This brought home that sometimes the impact of a statement or conversation affects or impacts one of the parties more or differently than the other and that’s okay. It’s like The Rolling Stones said, “sometimes you get what you need” as I did from that long ago conversation.

The point is that whether a person is a formal mentor to you or you just consider them to be someone you trust and learn from, it’s an important relationship. Most of us have a few formal or informal mentors over time. If you think about who helped you along the way it becomes a bit more clear. What you learned may have related to your professional life, general life issues, or both. Either way, the importance of a having one or more good mentors over time can’t be ignored.

The basis of any mentor mentee relationship is support and trust. It is an exercise in listening for the mentor because a mentor is more of a facilitator or guide, not simply an instructor. But that doesn’t mean the mentor isn’t benefitting from the relationship. This type of relationship helps both parties. I find it helps self-awareness and understanding of my and the other person’s strengths and weaknesses. By participating in such a relationship, you evolve in many ways even when it’s an informal mentoring relationship and the “mentor” may not realize the role they are playing in your life.

Depending on where you are professionally or in life, think about the relationships you have in which, whether formal or unsaid, you’re in the role of mentor or mentee. If you don’t have such a relationship, seek one out now. It will help you grow as a person and, whether you are the mentor or mentee, allow you to play an important role in another’s story. These are the types of relationships that make life so rich.

Success comes from constantly assessing the results from actions you take and adjusting depending on what is working or not. If something you’re doing is not successful, you’ve got to change it or try something new. The funny thing is that the flip side is the same: if something you’re doing is successful it helps to tweak or change it to see if it can be even more successful.

Trying something new is good for you. You can work on how you generate or create business, how you organize your workspace, or you can stop at the corner coffee shop in the morning and meet your neighbors, other professionals and business owners who stopped in for a drink or snack.

Going back to your actions that are not successful or if you’re on a bad streak, the problem is you. But this isn’t what you may be thinking. Odds are you are stuck in routine and probably just doing the things that used to work for you. Every day is a new world with options for you to change something. If you don’t, you will live the Groundhog’s Day scenario of the same actions getting the same results.

One idea is to connect and reconnect with people. I know some people may be rolling their eyes because they prefer to connect electronically with little or no actual human interaction. Know that life previously required you to meet and interact with others to create success and doing so still drives business because of the connections we forge with others.

Make a list and call someone from that list each morning. If you want to dip your toe in, you can do so in three to five minutes a day. Choose someone you know and haven’t spoken to in while and call them just to say “hi” and that you are thinking of them. You can keep the call short by telling them that, your time that morning is limited, and that you would like to meet them for coffee or something similar. That personal touch means something and actually means everything.

If that doesn’t sound like your gig, come up with something else to try and do it regularly to see if it works. And then, whether or not it works, tweak or change it to see if you can make it work or make it work better.

Don’t let the success or lack of success of what you’re doing be stagnant. Change things up. Interact with people. Take action. These are other ways in which to invest in yourself.