The Manager's Guide – #84

Jul 01, 2024

Increasing the success rate of first-time leaders: Training the three key mindsets

💡 U.S. companies spend millions on first-time manager development programs, but 60 percent of these new managers fail within the first two years.
🌟 New leader development programs should prioritize training on the three critical mindsets required for success in a new leadership role.
🌱 Critical mindsets for new leaders include the 'self vs. team' mindset, the 'problem avoidance vs. solution engagement' mindset, and the 'rigid execution vs. flexible adaptive' mindset.
🚀 Mindsets are essential drivers of behavior in leaders and can be developed through training.
💬 Mindset shifts are crucial for new leaders to inspire collaboration, innovation, and flexibility within their teams.

🔍 Focus time is a dedicated period of time (2+ hours) to eliminate distractions and focus on a specific task or project
🧠 Focus time is essential for reducing distractions, increasing productivity, creativity, and problem-solving capabilities
🚀 Establishing and respecting focus time leads to improved mood, engagement, stress, frustration, and goal achievement
📊 The science behind focus time relates to attentional control, learning, forming new connections, and releasing dopamine
⏰ Research suggests needing 2+ hours of uninterrupted time to get into flow, with individual contributors averaging 15 hours per week of focus time
💡 To create more focus time, eliminate distractions, set specific goals, schedule time daily, and make use of techniques like Pomodoro timer
📅 Use calendar blocking, set specific goals, and utilize tools like Pomodoro timer, Microsoft 365, Outlook, Teams, Google Calendar for focus time

💡 Data-driven organizational improvement has been around for years, but newer metrics like DORA aim to enhance software delivery pace with the core set of metrics including cycle time, work in progress, waiting time, and distribution of work.
🌱 Emphasizing culture change over tool usage yields better and more lasting results.
🔁 Being adaptable to change and prepared from the start is crucial for successful culture change initiatives.
📊 Selecting tools based on primary user needs and alignment with cultural change goals is important.
🚦 Focusing adoption on a small set of impactful metrics like cycle time, work in progress, waiting time, and distribution of work can overcome barriers and drive significant improvements.

💡 Using the 3 simple questions for Daily Standup can make it sound like a boring status report
🔄 Any approach that focuses on individual updates during Daily Standup is considered an anti-pattern
🎯 Scrum Masters should avoid using the 3 outdated questions and instead focus on team synchronization
🌟 A better way to conduct Daily Standup includes reviewing goals, walking the board, and encouraging team collaboration
🛑 The purpose of Daily Standup is to create a synchronized plan for the day, not for individual status reports

💡 Leadership lesson learned: Being right is not as crucial as being able to persuade others.
💡 Demonstration of synergy in a group setting using a puzzle-solving exercise.
💡 Importance of effective persuasion in organizational leadership.
💡 Personal experience of failing in advocacy despite having the correct answer.
💡 Individual success in the exercise didn't translate to successful group outcome.
💖 Embracing imperfection can lead to finding beauty in flaws
🌟 Imperfections can enhance relationships in friendships and professional settings
🌺 Valuing imperfections can add depth and authenticity to interactions

💡 Avoid overwhelm by being aware of where your time and energy are going and be intentional with how you spend them.
🌟 Clarify your goals and align them with your team and company to make informed decisions on how to spend your time.
🧐 Conduct an Energy Audit to see where your time, attention, and energy are being spent.
📈 Focus on leverage instead of just productivity to achieve better results.
📅 Design your ideal week and reflect on how closely your actual week matches it.
👀 Stay focused on the task at hand to do your best work.

I hope you liked it, and you’ve learned something — if you did, don’t forget to give a thumbs-up and share this issue with your friends and network.

See y’all next week 👋