Power of the Pause

Today we will pick back up the power series of posts.  If you are new to the blog or the power series, I would encourage you to take a trip into the archive to start at the beginning.  Even though most posts could stand-alone, I still encourage you to read some of the other posts in this series of posts.

Now is an exciting time for Millenials.  Every single day more and more Millenials are ascending to the ranks of management and most will face a very similar challenge.   The challenge is Millenials like to do things fast and that is not always a manager or leaders best friend.  With social media and an always-connected lifestyle, every decision is made fast, and for a manager that can mean deciding on the first solution that comes to mind.  For programmed decisions or decisions that have been made in the past or have a set path to follow, fast is fine and actually beneficial.  Many programmed decisions are delegated to subordinates and do not require a managers attention.  For that reason, many decisions that managers face are non-programmed decisions, which should require some thought before making a decision. 

The first thing to do when faced with a non-programmed decision is to take a pause and think about your options.  Many Millenials have a fear of looking silly or stupid when taking too long to answer a question.  I can say from experience that it can be uncomfortable to not have an immediate answer for a subordinate, but it is more uncomfortable to give a coworker a less than ideal answer because that decision could have long-term repercussions more than being uncomfortable for a few seconds by pausing.  It is better to take a moment and be uncomfortable then to make a poor decision.  Another thing about taking a pause is it gets easier the more you do it.  By pausing every time you make a decision, it becomes easier to make ideal decisions.  Taking a pause is an idea that is derived from Major League Baseball where umpires are instructed to pause before making every call on the bases.  This is so if they think about a call it looks the same as when they know what the call is.  This keeps the look the same whether the call was close or not.  The same can work for a manager when faced with a decision.

Take a second, take a breath and start making better decisions today with the power of the pause.

Recent Rewind

Recently, I have been a little busy and have been unable to regularly update my blog, so today I will simply give a rewind and update of some recent activity on the site.   

One of the best posts from this past month was a post revisiting one of my first posts, the Power of Encouragement.   This post, like many of my posts, includes a story from my personal life, and in this post, the story is from a different perspective than the first one.  I would encourage you to read both of these posts with the original post being linked here, and the revisited post being linked here. 

In total, I have written three posts that belong in my power series in the last month.  All three of these articles are fairly strong, but perhaps the best post was the Power of “Why”.  The Power of Paying Attention feeds off of this post as well, but the Power of “Why “sets the stage for the next part of my power series.  I would encourage you to follow this link here, and if you like, what you see, please consider reading the next two posts in the series.

While I have not been writing blog posts recently I did publish an e-book.  Compiling many of my posts and articles and synthesizing them into a set of coherent thoughts took some time, but the resulting text was very rewarding.  It is a quick read and I believe it contains some great information for a young leader just getting started in their leadership journey.  If you would like to get a copy of this book, please feel free to contact me via my contact page which is linked here. 

I have a few more posts in the works so stay tuned for more content in the next few days. 

Power of Paying Attention

The Hall of Fame basketball coach John Wooden once said, "It's the little details that are vital, little things make big things happen."  This is especially true for leaders and anyone in any organization looking to make the jump into leadership.  People reveal the most important facts in the smallest of details and the better you become at understanding and using these details the better you will be as a leader.

The power discussed here is personal power, and if you are new to the discussion on power please browse through the archives and perhaps the best place to start is here, where I explain the various powers at play in an organization.  Paying attention to the details of a conversation gives you insight into the person you are conversing with.  These details can help you evolve a working relationship with that person and connect on a more meaningful level, which is an important step for any leader.  By getting to know the people you work with and how they do things and what things they are especially good at you can benefit the whole team by leveraging each individual's best qualities. Developing meaningful relationships is an important step in gaining personal power and it comes from paying attention and listening intently.

Another way that paying attention adds to your personal power is in sales, whether it be retail, fast food, or any other kind of selling.  Knowing what your customer truly wants is easy to garner through simply paying attention to them during interactions.  From having their order ready to knowing how to greet them makes the customer feel special and adds to customer loyalty.  This also adds to your personal power by being able to connect with customers, which is something anyone around can see.  By paying attention, you can increase your power while really connecting with the people you are around the most.  Do not just go through life, be an active participant and as Coach Wooden might say pay attention to the little things in life.

Power of "Why"

As I was on break at work the other day, I was scrolling through my Twitter feed when a quote from John Maxwell caught my eye.  The quote goes like this, "The person who knows how will always have a job, but the person who knows why will always be the boss."  This got me thinking about how this has worked in my life and in my experience.  The more I thought about it the more the message made sense and I want to share that with you here now.

The truth about this quote is that rarely will a manger freely tell someone why something is being done.  This keeps the power with the manager, both manager and subordinate know how, but the manager holds the power in the why.  There are a few ways to figure out the why, with the first being wait long enough at the job and listen and eventually you might hear or figure out the why.  That option might not be enticing to most people, so here is a better plan, simply ask, "Why."  Questions like, "Why do we do this in this particular way" or "Why do we do that and not this," do many different things for you both as a subordinate looking to advance and even as a manager.

The first things asking why will do for you is show you care about what you are doing.  If you only take orders and produce, like the quote states, you will always have a job, but if you want to be more than a worker, asking questions to find out the why is a good place to start.  Another thing figuring out the why can do is allow you to think of better or more efficient ways to do something.   This is always important for people looking to climb the ladder, because people who bring key ideas to the table are the most valuable.  One more thing the why does for you is it begins to shift some of the power to you by means of increasing your personal power.

Another truth, more in general is that millennials more than any other generation want to know the why.  Many people in previous generations were fine with doing what they were told, but in an increasing phenomenon millennials want to know why they are doing things.  This is something I learned from coaches I have worked and talked with who have coached for many years.  Increasingly as a coach, you must be prepared to tell them why they are doing something to get the intended results.

The next time you find yourself in one of these situations, no matter which side of the conversation you are on, remember the power of "Why"

John Maxwell Blog Analysis

The John Maxwell Company's blog is different from most blogs in the leadership field in the fact that his blog content is integrated into his company's website.  This and his weekly updates, with easy to implement leadership tips makes his blog tops in this niche.

One of the things to examine is how relevant the content is to my niche area of young leaders, and Mr. Maxwell encourages people of all ages to practice leadership now, no matter the age.  A great article he posted about leadership styles, which contains a great sports analogy, is something I recently examined.  My post can be found here and includes a link to Mr. Maxwell's original article.  His experience and knowledge gained over 40 plus years gives him a wealth of information to pull from.

In terms of monetization, the integration with his website makes this easy.  His shop is a simple click away where his books can be easily purchased.  No outside content is advertised or linked to as his own shop is a near one-stop shop for leadership materials.

The blog has many loyal followers who comment regularly on Mr. Maxwell’s content.  The blog posts that get the most comments are his posts on leadership and how to improve on this skill.  Most people are looking to increase their ability in this field and they are willing to share their opinion in this space. 

By being a part of his site, the blog enjoys a high volume of traffic, and sits near the top of search results or just below the fold.  The mix of site and blog coupled with the name recognition leads to high traffic and positions his blog well in terms of search engine optimization.  

About Me

Hi everyone, my name is Kevin Foley and I will be writing this page under the screen name Coach/Manager.  I am a senior, graduating in the spring of 2016, at a state university majoring in business administration.  Preparing for a job in the business world has taught me how important being more than a manager is to the success of an organization.  Growing up my teachers and classmates always called me a leader, but what exactly does that mean.  I was not usually first in line for things, why were they calling me a leader, but as I grew older, it made more sense what they were talking about.  Being a leader is partly innate, but also takes practice and learning just like any other skill, talent, or ability.  Harnessing the leadership potential and learning from my experiences have led me to be a manager of a team of employees at a young age.  I spent time learning leadership techniques and ideas to differentiate myself from other job seekers.  This, along with the curriculum for my degree, encompasses my educational background.

          Leadership is just part of the title of my page, another part is coaching.  My father is a high school coach and has been for over 20 years so I grew up around the profession.  I started coaching when I was a junior in high school working with 5^th and 6^th graders as a basketball coach.  Over the last six years, I have coached athletes from 5^th to 12^th grade in football, basketball, and baseball, coaching at least one season of each sport for the last 3 years.  The more I studied leadership and the more I involved myself with coaching the more evident it became that the two were very closely related.  In most environments, a good coach is a good leader and a good leader is a good coach.  My quest became to get better at both as it seemed the two would be synergistic and not just summative. 

          I became a manager at a grocery store recently mostly based on hard work, which is how most people get promoted.  I wanted to be more than just a manager though; I wanted to be a coach and a leader for my team.  This dynamic is an interesting one, as half of my coworkers are older than me while the other half is obviously younger.  Managing people across different age groups can be hard enough, but I wanted to be their leader. 

          This is my background in education and experience, a little more to this discussion can be found on the About Page.  If you wish to get in touch with me you can visit the Contact Page