When I think back to the managers I used to have, one sticks out as being the best. His opening speech to our team was the thing I remember most. He had been appointed the operations director of a software development company, managing about 30 people. The last manager had been appalling; hiring and firing people for no apparent reason. So when we shuffled into a room to hear our new leader talk, we were hoping for something better
Thinking back on it now, his speech was brilliant, and after months of stress of being managed poorly, just what we all needed. He told us how he knew that not everyone was happy at the moment. How we felt unsure about the security of our jobs. How some people always seemed to get the best work, how there had been no training. He then said he was going to make every effort to change things. He assured us all, that at least for the next year, our jobs were safe. We were all valued members of the team. He wanted to re-organises the workloads, put in place a skills development programme. He wanted to hold workshops to get our ideas on how to improve things.
After the talk we returned to our desks with a bemused expression. Of course we wondered whether he would really do what he said, but we were prepared to give him a chance. At least he had lots of positive ideas and seemed to understand what we were going through. We suddenly felt completely different to how we had felt an hour ago – more inspired and more motivated.
He turned out that he did follow through on his promises and a year later, the working environment had been transformed. But what always struck me most about that manager was his ability to articulate his vision, and the effect this had on people around him. If you watch all great speakers, from Barack Obama, to Churchill to Martin Luther King (their speeches are all on Youtube) they all have this same ability to set out an inspiring vision. There are four fundamental things that a good vision speech must have:
- Relevance to the audience
- Memorable
- Future focused
- Inspirational
This manager’s speech had had them all.
What do you think? What managers have stuck out for you? What speeches inspire you? Bore you? Give us your comments below.
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David,
First can I say a thank you for your tuition on the recent Prince 2 course. I passed the practitioner exam.
Now onto the subject of leadership. My memorable boss was one who became head of a team of programmers, and his words were “I don’t intend to watch over your programming. I assume you are all capable, otherwise you wouldn’t be working here. What I will do is to monitor what work comes into this department to ensure it is viable, and you are not being expected to clean up someone else’s mess”. True to his word, several weeks later a salesman passed a requirement to our department which was so loosely scoped that the requirements could be interpreted as many almost anything. He refused to accept the work. The salesman said the work had to be accepted as we needed teh business. When things became heated between them he said to the salesman to come outside to settle it. The salesman backed down. It was unprofessional I know, but he certainly earned our respect with that. I bit of the old Churchill spirit.
Regards
Chris Collins
Thanks Chris. Yes I think a manager who sticks up for his team is a definite leadership skill. I think the reverse is true as well – I’ve seen managers who haven’t done so – & their teams rapidly become demoralized.
David