How many balls can you juggle?

This summer I was reading a Business Week's cover story that I highly recommend: a very interesting interview of Obama on Business. I particularly liked Obama's thought on his agenda towards the end of the interview. The dilemma is whether he should focus and get more things done... or try to do more but risk to have unfinished business.

I can bet: you all have had the same dilemma right!?

Stop! Let's get real:

We are not Obama, we don't have his stellar team nor his political goodwill, we don't have all of America's resources and we do not have to deal with the worst crisis since the 30's...

Nevertheless... the dilemma is similar:

How many balls can you juggle?

When is it too much?

I asked a colleague of mine this question and his answer was:

Answer 1 - "As many as you are able to."

That was a good answer... but inspired by Business Week's article I said: "what about...:

Answer 2 - As many as you need to."

My colleague laughed at me and added:

"What if you are not able to juggle as many balls as you need to? Shouldn't you go back to juggle as many as you are able to?".

Here our ball-juggling analogy breaks... in management --like in politics-- there is an important thing called d-e-l-e-g-a-t-i-o-n. Once you acknowledge that as a manager you can have others juggle some balls you start thinking about which ones you should juggle, if any at all! So... ready for the tips?

Tips:

1) Never forget that you don't necessarily need to juggle balls, you need to get results. How common is that you ask for a status on results and people tell you what they are doing!Arghhhh! Don't focus on showing that you are juggling (i.e. working hard) but focus on getting the work done... and go golfing if you do get results without juggling.

2) Don't think of delegation as giving the leftovers that someone else can deal with (because it is a lesser risk task, or a lesser visibility task). Look at your team and see who can better run which tasks, you get the leftovers.

3) Don't forget that you are ultimately responsible for all the juggling... watch the jugglers, ensure they are well trained, and provide the needed support.

4) Hire the right jugglers...

5) Hate prioritization, don't fall in the priority trap... you need to do what you need to do. If you are a bottleneck you are not doing a good job: step back and reorganize.

6) And if you find yourself playing golf too often as a result of your good management ... feel good, you are ready to move on to your next challenge!

How having kids helped me at work

I have to admit that when my previous boss made an analogy on how his direct reports were fighting like 5 year old kids, I said to myself: "What a #@$R$@#$ @!##@!$!" (let's say that I don't remember the exact words). Despite how politically incorrect such comparisons can be, the truth is that there are striking similarities between being a father (or mother) and managing teams.

I am a father of three: my daughter is 4 and my twin boys are two years old... Well, let me confess that my interactions with people at work are easier now that I have children and I believe that having to raise little kids is the direct cause.

Why?

a) My communications are simpler and better tailored to different audiences. I believe that you exercise extreme targeted communication with kids. Not only you go to the essence of the message (good or bad, yes or no), but since the words don't mean much to a one or a two year old, you emphathize the tone, the face expression, the pace, etc. Also, you exercise audience specific tailoring of your message by switching register between the younger and older kids... and your wife!

b) I feel more comfortable directing, coaching, and most important, switching between those management modes. Technically put, you exercise situational leadership every day... I still remember practicing situational leadership in a training at GE's John F. Welch Leadership Development Center (a.k.a. Crotonville) where you had to move from one box drawn on the floor to another depending on which management style you used. That was fun... but I guess that practicing it for 10 minutes was illustrative but not as effective.

c) Back to my boss's original comment, I am convinced that you become better at recognizing emotional patterns... and yes-it's-true-even-if-it-hurts (ok, we where fighting like kids sometimes) you can diagnose those situations quickly and react accordingly.

Tips:

1) Have kids... or use any opportunity you have to babysit your best friend's!

2) Enjoy talking to them and spending time with them... consider it a management training!

Jokes aside... I'm interested in your experience:

Did having kids helped you manage? And if so...how?