Describe the behaviors that make a leadership or executive level position (e.g., PM, CEO) successful. Does this influence the different approaches one should take when dealing with variousexecutives outlined in Chapter 5 of Kean? Use the reading materials from the week for source material.

5 Working with senior execs - Networking & politics 5.1 Networking in general Effective networking is one of the most important leadership skills that every IT manager must develop. Research shows that the more senior the manager, the more time they tend to spend on networking. In fact, one study conducted by Dr Robina Chatham, estimated that some managers spent up to 50% of the time on it. This high percentage was a recognition that these managers viewed many activities as peer leadership, including anything from short discussions to regular meetings. I had often noticed that some of my managers took up a lot more of my time than others. But I had never wondered what my boss thought of me from this point of view. I had heard, though, that good leaders can become difficult followers without realizing it. For me, it started with being given responsibility for a new group of project managers in Eastern Europe. They were scattered far and wide. I was stretched to the limit and kept taking up more of my boss's time in asking for advice. My boss was getting frustrated with me because I kept arguing against her suggestions. Looking back, I should have just done as I was told! Apparently, there comes a tipping point' when employees earn a bad reputation. Once past this point, it becomes a self- fulfilling prophesy where they get blamed for everything. I suspect that I was approaching this point. Luckily, I averted disaster by recruiting someone to take over the department, but still reporting to me. It taught me the importance of being easy to manage - In other words, to keep a handle of when and how often I spoke to my boss and what we discussed. Now I think about the problem in advance, present a couple of options to talk through and listen better to the advice I am asking for. Networking is very closely coupled to political influence and power. Politics, and in particular office politics has some very bad connotations. We aim to dispel some of these myths and make it easy for you to understand what needs to be done and how to achieve it. 5.2 Some facts of life before you start So before we go on, let's talk about a couple of facts of organizational life. 1. Fairness is an impossible goal. Organizations are not democracies and not everyone gets a chance to vote. Part of the job of influencing is to make things unfair in your favour. 2. Manage your boss - your boss is important to the business and important to you. You may or may not like your boss, but you need to be clear that they have enormous influence over you and your success. Your boss can help you succeed in other parts of the organisation. Keep him or her fully informed of your actions and make them aware of your achievements. Support them, even compliment them from time to time. Ask what is on their mind and take an interest in their priorities. Senior managers tend to behave differently and usually need to be handled differently. Here are some guidelines for dealing with senior executives. Don't ever tell them they can't do something - it'll just make them cross and do it anyhow. Isabella, was the head of customer care for a technology firm in Sweden. She was told by the IT department that it wouldn't be possible to implement a new customer care scripting module. It was particularly important for new customer care representatives to handle calls soon after joining. So she hired some programmers and did it herself. It was professionally done and highly effective. The IT department looked unresponsive as a result.Take your opportunities - There are some decisions that senior managers just find too difficult and often delay. Political aware managers have a sense as to when the right time is. As a technology manager, you will invariably have come across some examples, perhaps where the finance approval committee has held off on an Infrastructure Investment. So in this case, a good time to resubmit a request might be shortly after the next outage. Just try to avoid looking smug. Caroline's story - What happened there? Someone was telling me about how teachers handle problems in the playground. If children (normally bays) are creating a nuisance, experienced teachers will not tell them to stop it. Instead, they will try to join in, and take the steam out of the situation that way. When I was told this, I was reminded of a situation at work. One department did not want to pursue a particular project. They assigned someone from their own department to join the project. Whether on purpose or not, this person subtly but persistently undermined the project, by being helpful in an unhelpful way. In time, the project eventually stalled, At the time I thought nothing of it, but looking back, maybe things weren't as innocent as I had first imagined. Avoid bogus 'development opportunities' - Be wary If someone offers you a chance to work on a project that sounds too good to be true, offering great promise of career enhancement, gold bullion and the like. Development opportunities, even difficult ones, are to be welcomed. But If you being offered an opportunity where the previous incumbent has not been successful, it is vital that you ask why and gain any necessary commitments in terms of budget, resources and management support. In summary, do not accept new assignments blindly.Don't be bullied - Coercing people is forcing them to make a decision that they might not otherwise make. An example might be before an important meeting, where one manager threatens the interests of another unless they are supported. Another form, more subtle is name dropping - using the name of someone senior who supports them and suggesting this person will be unimpressed if they are not supported. 5.6 Do's and don'ts for managing senior execs Bly way of conclusion, here is a summary of some do's and don'ts Do . Cultivate players who can build your leverage . Build your 'Page rank' around the company with more links . Develop future players . Use your position as an IT manager at the heart of the business . Be smart and make things work in your favour . Act with integrity Don't . Think about the balance of power . Don't play against someone more powerful than you . Don't think you are invincible . Don't spend too much time in your own work group . Don't focus only on immediate results . And finally, don't assume small players have no influencePlot your network Key contacts Commectors Key Key contacts contacts Centre of Connectors network Key Commectors contacts Key contacts In putting your plan together, it is helpful to take a leaf out of the salesman's book. The technique called Strategic Selling describes the importance of identifying key players and putting together an action plan to build influence. Use the 5 step process below to identify key players who should be in your network of influence and build links to them: 1. Go through your address book, and choose 30 contacts you know reasonably well in different parts of your organization 2. Link them together in a network diagram format as shown above how they connect to you and other managers 3. Add 5 other influential managers that you want to get to know better 4. Identify who are the key connectors who connect them to you 5. Put a plan together to get introduced to them (make sure you have something in common to talk about for when you meet) Figure 4 - Plot your network Don't expect conversations to take long - So start with the punch line. Ask for what you want and tell them what they will get and when. Don't expect specific instructions in return. Senior executives are often too busy to work out the details, indeed they may not have the particular expertise to do it. Often explaining in outline what you plan to do is just what they want to hear. Once you have your agreement, make it happen. Avoid coming back to them with too many questions, but do get back to them when it is finished. Don't underestimate them - Just because they don't know a lot about IT, don't assume they are stupid! They are clever enough to be more senior than you in the organization - for the time being, at least! Always seek their opinion even if you aren't sure if they have one. Some managers deliberately try to appear a bit slow. It is a tactic that often uncovers additional information.Don't expect them to be warm and cuddly - Don't take abuse personally, it is one of the unfortunate facts of our hectic, email centric lives that senior managers can often be very curt which can in turn appear rude. Even so, treat all managers, with respect. Be confident - it is important that you speak regularly to senior managers and feel comfortable in their presence. Hang onto your sense of humour, but don't necessarily force it on others. What may be amusing to you may not be to them. 5.3 Building your network To repeat our earlier claim, senior executives estimate that they spend up to 50% of their time networking! Of course, this does not mean they walk the corridors aimlessly, hoping for someone important to chat to. They would see networking opportunities in their day to day work - in a project review meeting preparing a negotiation or at the start of a board meeting, for example. They would not sit on their own in the coffee shop until the meeting was about to start, or eat a sandwich at their desk for lunch. They would be out and about, meeting with their network contacts, finding out about the changing priorities of the business and sharing their views (influencing if you like) on developments in IT. To do this, you need a good network to work with. Networks do not just happen by accident. They need careful planning. Studies show that effective networks have good contacts at three levels of influence. The first circle includes your closest advisors and confidantes. It probably includes your direct reports and your boss amongst others. You trust these people implicitly and would discuss with them any problems that were troubling you. The second circle of influence includes those people with whom you work regularly and you probably know quite a lot about each of them. It is the third circle. though that is the most interesting. HIT YOUR EMPLOYEE a review with Performance Review Pro RETENTION review TARGETS Awesome! That Any let's just Fails it for me discuss these action points Spot on - I'm all We help talent and learning fired up Looking brand to ned & development teams hit quarter their employee retention Can't believe & development targets by this only took ME 5 minutes improving the quality and focus of managers' coaching conversations.The third circle of influence contains those people who you see from time to time. You meet them perhaps every 4 to 6 weeks, sometimes less. They will almost always work in different departments that you don't come into contact with that often. This group will often include the senior executives and sponsors who are the most influential in the work you are doing and will usually include your boss's boss. Unless you are on the board of directors, this group probably includes the CEO. The research consistently shows that it is this third group that holds the key for successful networkers. The Importance of networks - How IBM was transformed It started in 1994. IBM was the official technology sponsor of the Lillehammer Winter Olympics in Norway. But when David Grossman a mid-level IBM manager tried to find the website, he found a roque website run by Sun, using IBM's raw data feed. Eventually IBM succeeded in shutting down the site. The big problem was IBM's lack of awareness of what was going on in the new world of the Internet. After the Olympics, Grossman drove four hours to IBM's headquarters at Armonk. He hooked up a connection and showed IBM's the head of marketing and a member of the strategy task force, called John Patrick what the internet could do. From that point, Grossman was able to start an underground movement, mentored Patrick, Patrick used his powerful network of contacts to open a lot of doors and build supporters, which soon included CEO Lou Gerstner, It was a classic case of the power of people networks to promote innovation and energy. It was the start of the revolution that enabled the internet to become the major strategic thrust for the biggest computer company in the world. Precis of "Waking up IBM, How a gang of unlikely rebels transformed IBM" by Gary Hamel. To download the full article, to go to http://explore.hbr.org Studies show that communication around an organization often passes through a small number of people. These are the key business networkers, sometimes called connectors, the people whom everyone knows. Set yourself the target of becoming one of the networkers of your organization. There is no more certain way to ensure career success than a good network of contacts." At this point, It might be helpful to map your network to see if you are focusing too much on the first 2 circles of Influence. Of course, It is not practical to drop everything to build influence further afield. Nonetheless, it can be really valuable to meet with them when the opportunity arises. One thing we have noticed is that people with valuable networks invest time in keep in touch. Here are 7 guidelines for building effective networks: 1. Choose your friends - identify the people you need to know, gravitate towards people with energy, Ideas and humour. Avoid people who are complaining and resistant to change. Remember, you can tell a lot about people by the company they keep 2. Faire le point - in France, managers arrange to meet their peers and other senior managers on a regular basis. 'Faire le point' translates roughly as a 'regular catch up. These meetings typically take less than 30 minutes. They have no formal agenda, just the intention of catching up with what is going on. 3. Be in the right places at the right time, often known as, 'being visible' 4. Seek out opportunities for interaction, work closely with your boss and build from his or her network 5. Look for links with those you know, to meet new people 17 "The Tipping Point; Malcolm Gladwell, 20016. Get outside your comfort zone and take calculated risks 7. Seek to join the inner sanctum. This is the group of 3 or 4 people at the heart of any organization that holds the balance of power. 5.4 Be Influential 5.4.1 How decisions are made Peer leadership is about influencing decisions concerning the Interests of many different parties. So we should think carefully about how decisions are made. Generally decisions are about choosing the best option that meets a number of criteria. Each criterion will typically have a different level of importance and different options are measured against this weighting. In terms of logical Influence of decision making. Logically, there are three areas where you can help. Identify new criteria which may affect the decision, change the weighting of those criteria in the minds of the decision makers ( of which you may be one) or increase the number of options that are being considered. Having weighed up all the criteria, weightings and options, decisions are taken, not based on facts, but on judgements, perceptions, even prejudices. This isn't necessarily a problem. The point here, is that you need to understand your the priorities of your peers and colleagues. You need to understand the basis that they are using to make their decisions. When salesmen do their strategic sales analysis, they review all of the key decision makers and look at their motivations and decision criteria. IT managers need to do the same - to understand the priorities of each key decision maker. Specifically. when doing your evaluation, think of the following 1. What are the objectives of the other departments? 2. Who are the key players? 3. What are their motivations and behaviours? What are the biggest influences they currently have (in terms of people they know, projects they run and so on). Think carefully as to what the decision makers will gain personally from a decision (for example, less work, less hassle, personal glory and so on) and what their department will gain from the decision ( more revenue or profitability, a better way of working for staff or improved customer satisfaction). Then match your offering to the requirements of those decision makers.5.4.2 Use different styles for different executives Psychologists are generally in agreement that people are born differently. Everyone sees the world and make decisions in different ways. This might seem like a statement of the bleeding obvious, but it has important ramifications, When I was first introduced to the theory, I still held onto the belief that everyone basically thinks the way I do, and their outlook is only slightly different because of their past experience. I thought that if they radically disagreed with me they were either stupid or just being awkward. Of course, this is fundamentally not the case! This it is very important for technical people to understand. The personality type of 60%% of IT managers is such that they will tend to see the detail in situations. They will make their decisions based on factual information and what their head tells them. In contrast, 70% of CEO's do not see the detail in situations unless it is clearly presented. They have a summary view of the world - not because they are doing a different job (although this has some influence), but because they see the world differently. Similarly a high percentage of marketing directors will make decisions, not just based on the facts, but on intangible factors. These decisions, which are often instinctive, are a complete anathema to many IT people.So, in short, present to your audience in their preferred style Where you might find them How to attract their How to annoy them attention Logical & structured Accountants, IT professionals, Structured, accurate, to the Lots of detail that isn't sales managers point presentations relevant Clear logical basis for findings | Mistakes such as adding and support material if required Illogical statements Woolly and unstructured High level thinking CEO's, lawyers, sales High level presentation in Detailed and drawn out managers what is called an inductive presentations or 'pyramid' style. Start at the top level with logical layers of | Too much information detail below if required, Like logical business models. Start Keeping slides back, showing with the summary one bullet at a time Creative Marketing directors Creative imagery, out of the Being ungracious and box thinking, clear visions Impatient, Too many facts and data Friendly HR managers One-on-one discussions Being ungracious and talking about specific impatient situations in the here and now. Showing consideration Getting down to business for individuals in the without taking time to build company a relationship Table 12 - Choosing the right influencing style Our ability to build relationships and influence across our organization is at the heart of this. You need to adjust your approach according to the window that your audience looks through. For example, do not try to give lots of detail to a CEO, who sees the world in summary. Use pictures, Impressions and imagery to influence a typical marketing director.5 rules for presenting IT to senior executives 1. Be strategic with a clear message and presentation logic - slide presentations should be short and sharp. Ask for what you want at the beginning. Your presentation may be cut short for any number of reasons. 2. Make visuals clear and concise - During preparation, keep asking if something is relevant, and if it hn't take it out. Too much detail makes it more likely you will get side-tracked. Make sure all your numbers are accurate and add up. 3, Practice, practice and then practice some more - you should be able to give your presentation without slides. Practicing is a great way to test whether your presentation has a clear thread. Ask a colleague to play devil's advocate . Let them learn what they should know or have forgotten - If you are asking for &50OK for the upgrade from version 7 to version B of the CCBS, you need to remind the audience what the CCBS is and how the business will benefit from the upgrade. Don't leave half the audience wondering if they should pluck up the courage to ask what the CCBS is .Stay alert - Don't lecture, don't start brief and then go verbose. Aim to complete your presentation in half the allotted time and hand over for questions. Most of your audience will have read ahead anyhow, so don't keep them waiting and encourage them to express their views Table 13 - Five rules for preventing to senior executives 5.5 When Influence turns to power and politics 5.5.1 Identifying when political situations are brewing It is worth a word on political awareness at this point. Building good networks is about growing your influence both inside and outside of your organization. It is about making life unfair in your favour. But this can sometimes be misconstrued as being devious. When we ask delegates what words come to mind when they think of company politics, we often get words like manipulative, secretive and so on. But this is misleading. Politics can have a very positive aspects. Politics is defined as the process by which groups of people make collective decisions. In practical terms, this is the art of making decisions, where not everyone has the same end goals in mind. Decisions are therefore made based on influence and power. Of course, by their nature, collective decisions and actions will not suit everyone. And hence there can be a temptation for some parties to use underhand methods to get what they want. Understanding these currents is essential to good political management.In fact there are two factors when it comes to politics - first of all, being effective at politics requires presence and influence as we have already discussed. Secondly, is how this influence or power is used. The first rule of corporate politics states that whoever has the most power, always wins. Except that it is not always obvious where the power lies. It is a complex combination of different factors as shown in diagram 2, below. The balance of power - who will win? Positive power Negative power Seniority Low rank position Good links to key sponsors Few links to key sponsors A wide network of influence Limited network of influence Strong presence Weak presence Good track record Indifferent track record A plan for success A list of whinges Figure 5 - The balance of power Let us not be naive here. To be successful in managing your network and influence, you need to understand the political currents within your organization. There are many situations which generate strong internal political currents. To be effective, you need to be able to recognize them, Examples include managers under pressure and not performing company acquisitions and mergers, two departments at loggerheads, corporate programmes (projects) and budget and investment setting 5.5.2 Be streetwise In trying to chart the difficult waters of business, some managers will play games to try and gain an advantage. I do not recommend this as a long term strategy. Game players invariably get found out and end up having to move on. Nonetheless, It is a fact of business life. For this reason, it can be helpful to know some of the tactics that they use so you can avoid being caught out. Here is a list of a few examples we have come across. I am sure you have some of your own