The Power of Possibility in Greatness

In the organizational and leadership space there are a lot of things that get me excited.  Yet there is nothing as juicy for me as the power of possibility in the hands of a manager.  Managers, more than anyone have the power to impact the lives of every person in an organization. 

Managers are often the un-sung hero’s of organizations.  Often an “extra-curricular” job that you are not thanked for, given credit for or rewarded for.  You invest in management because you enjoy it or perhaps you are on to the big secret.  Great management leads to great results.  If you are lucky you work for a leader that gets it – they perhaps are also a great manager and value and respect the role manager’s play in creating a thriving workplace. 

As employees, we consider it an exception when we have a manager we’d consider outstanding.  A chance to be on a steeper trajectory, to really be rewarded, to be seen or even to work on some things that have been holding us back without fear of impact to our career.  Great management also means that you have an ally in your development process.  Someone that believes in you sometimes more than you believe in yourself.

So why do we tolerate less than exceptional?

We know that employees do not leave companies, they leave bad managers (OK I don’t have the data or reference to prove this – it is just something we former HR folks know) so why don’t we place more of an emphasis on keeping the talent we have and working on improving the managers? 

That is what this blog will (mostly) be about.  The courage to be great and what that looks like.  There are lots of things in our workplaces that are outside of our control.  What we do control, is how we treat our people.  How we celebrate their potential, their capabilities, their strengths. 

I once worked with someone that said about her manager, “I’d follow her to Safeway to bag her groceries.”  Her manager was that good.  The content of her job was less important to her than how she was growing and evolving as a person within an organization.  We all want that, as managers we are all capable of creating that, and as employees, if you ask me, we are all entitled to it.

So that is my challenge:  In this new decade, to work towards greatness in the management space.