Patrick J. McKenna is a widely recognized expert on managing professional service firms and a partner in Edge International in Edmonton, Canada, a consulting firm serving professional service firms throughout the world. Mr. McKenna is the coauthor of two Canadian Top 10 management bestsellers, Beyond Knowing and Herding Cats.
David H. Maister, one of the world's leading authorities on the management of professional service firms, is the author of several successful books, including Managing the Professional Service Firm, True Professionalism, and Practice What You Preach, and coauthor of The Trusted Advisor.
First Among Equals: How to Manage a Group of Professionals
eBook
-
ISBN-13:
9781439104804
- Publisher: Free Press
- Publication date: 05/11/2010
- Sold by: SIMON & SCHUSTER
- Format: eBook
- Pages: 320
- File size: 2 MB
Available on NOOK devices and apps
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Professional service gurus David Maister and Patrick McKenna have created a practical handbook on how to lead professional colleagues or peers when you lack formal authority. Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge calls it “a timely, easy to read work leavened with action plans and examples.”
Whether you have recently been appointed as a group leader or are a battle-scarred veteran, you know that managing professional people is difficult! In this unique handbook, Patrick J. McKenna and David H. Maister argue that leaders will best enable their people to achieve peak performance not by managing them, not by leading them, but by inspiring them.
The authors show you how to actually add value as a group leader or induce people to accept your guidance, even with intelligent professionals who are often free-agents accustomed to having automony to work on grueling assignments with little supervision. They also give advice on how to handle those oh-so-talented but oh-so-annoying professionals who exhibit attitude problems or are just exceedingly difficult to work with, when you need them but they tend to needle you.
The lessons and learning presented here will give you insights and action tips to help you provoke and inspire your people to their full potential.
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A group leader must help his or her people, and team, win. A group leader must also be a catalyst between people with different skills and work styles, diverse experiences and (sometimes) conflicting priorities. The authors write that, to be successful, group leaders must have a willingness to focus on other people and their success, and the ability to influence others without being domineering.
Pushing for Greater Commitment
The authors suggest a number of actions group leaders should take to raise the levels of enthusiasm, excitement and performance in a group. First, they need to spend time informally coaching and developing both senior- and junior-level group members. The authors write that they must conduct formal performance reviews, as well as post-review coaching and counseling, when required. The authors also write that leaders must celebrate individual and group achievements, both small and large.
According to the authors, group leaders should also be in touch with other group members' clients, in order to help them better satisfy those clients and grow those relationships. They must also help the group explore new and innovative uses of technology to better deliver service and reduce costs.
Before a group leader can effectively manage a group, he or she must ensure that agreement has been reached (with superiors and fellow group members) on the "terms of engagement," or a mandate. The authors say this is important because everyone might not already share the same view of a mandate.
Terms of Engagement
While technical competence and knowledge will determine a portion of the effectiveness of a group leader, the leader's real success will turn on whether he or she is received by the team as a trusted advisor - that is, as a group leader to whom colleagues would turn eagerly and regularly for advice, guidance and counsel.
The authors write that a group will best achieve peak performance by unleashing the power of its people. This is done not by managing or leading them, but by inspiring them. There are individuals in every profession who strive to create big dreams, steeped in a strong set of personal values, in setting high standards and in striving to lift the spirits of human potential. Inspiration is all about the details, and the authors remind leaders that every conversation a person has with someone else advances, diminishes, or leaves neutral the relationship with that person.
Once a mandate is confirmed, relationships are built within the group, and the leader has learned what it takes to inspire and not simply lead, the group leader is ready to tackle in greater detail the leadership, management and coaching activities that are vital to being a group leader. He or she must be able to get his or her people to accept guidance, build rapport with them by listening to them, and deal with the exigencies that arise when working with different individuals.
Win Permission to Coach
The authors write that coaching is an activity, not a title or a position. It is the process by which a leader helps another person fulfill his or her potential, and it requires that the leader judge well when to intervene, and when to stay away. Indeed, before a group leader can even begin to develop and stretch people's talent, the leader must assess whether he or she has earned the "right" to do so.
The authors write that a manager must learn to deal with each individual according to the things that energize that individual. They suggest one place to start is to try to understand different people and how they like to be treated.
Once a group leader understands how to manage the members of a group as individuals, he or she must turn his or her attention to managing the group as a group. Not only must the group leader be able to understand and influence individual people; he or she must understand and influence a significant number of them simultaneously. The authors write that three things a group leader must do are build team trust, throw down a challenge, and give recognition.
Maintaining a high level of efficiency and success in a group is an ongoing process. The authors write that a group leader must always keep the future of the group in mind, tuning in to the things needed to build on successes. These things include nurturing juniors, integrating new people, and controlling the group's size.
Why Soundview Likes This Book
Crammed with concrete advice and practical applications and examples, First Among Equals, helps group leaders develop the skills it takes to inspire, cajole and provoke people to reaching their full capabilities and promise. Its extensive lists and useful strategies offer straightforward advice and create an invaluable guide full of practical tips that provide leaders of professional workers with the skills to become more effective. Copyright (c) 2002 Soundview Executive Book Summaries