Learning How to Manage

Have been underwater the last couple of weeks due to illness in our family . . . but all is well again.

One of the reasons people like me get into education is the high of seeing people learn. Often the aha occurs after the course. Yesterday I talked to a "former" student from an executive development course I helped facilitate in January. This person could hardly hide his excitement at the success he was having as a manager (more accurately the success his department was having). Put simply his department was now delivering more effectively as measured by customer surveys and new projects were being diverted to his department because of their success.

And how was he doing it? By him doing less. Now he was empowering his subordinates to do the work by giving them focus and direction. He was using the tools he learned in the January course. Importantly, he was now feeling like he was helping develop his people rather than fearing he might get them fired.

I find this type of aha -- learning to manage -- quite fascinating. That's why I work with people interested in the challenge of managing.