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Working from your Strength - Leveraging the positives in your management style - Part 1

Over the past few Journals we have looked into many different types of CAD Managers.  We looked at three styles of management in June, three more in July and concluded with three in August.

Most of the traits we looked at were from the negative perspective.  We now turn our gaze toward the positives.  Working from your positive strengths is a sure way to make advancements.  We will look at a few characteristics, practices or perspectives that you might bring to the table.  You may not have them all, but by using these characteristics as a starting point we will look at how you can leverage them to make progress in another area.  I approach each one as if you have this strength and what you could do to use more effectively.

1.  You are Dependable

Maybe one of the simplest and yet easily overlooked strengths is that of dependability. If you have this strength, you can be depended on.  I think everyone understands this. The meaning is clear enough. It starts with the power to perform the duties associated with your position. You are on time.  You complete your tasks.  You do what you say you are going to do.  People will notice that you are a dependable person.  They are watching, even when you don't think they are.  They notice it because when you consistently deliver, on time, it makes an impact.  Got deadlines - you meet them (better yet, you beat them).  Got meetings - you are there early.  Got Action Items from those meetings - you get them done.

Leveraging this Strength:   Offer to take on some tasks that are outside your area of responsibility.  Your firm will want to give you more because they have seen your successful deliveries in the past.  This means that you may be stretched, but your boss will appreciate your willingness to take on additional duties.  The first step in moving up the ladder is to start doing some of the tasks on the next rung. 

So offer to prep for the meetings. Offer to lead a meeting or two.  Offer to follow up on a meeting item that others are avoiding.  By offering your services and being dependable on the delivery, you elevate yourself in everyone's mind and they will seek you out for promotion.

 

2.  You are Organized

Being organized is an extremely valuable talent.  Some of us are born with it.  Some of us work at it.  Others obsess over it, avoid it, wish they were better at it or have given up trying.  Any way you look at it, if you have this strength, you are making a valuable impact on your firm.  You are scheduling tasks, working out timelines, sorting priorities and making things happen.  Organizing lets you and your firm have less stress, more time, earn extra money, have pride in your work and increase productivity.

Leveraging this Strength:   Reach out to others who are not as organized and suggest improvements.  Pass on your organizational tips and tricks to your staff.  Pump your organizational efforts into the CAD Standard.  Expand your influence by moving into other areas of technology that touch CAD, but are not directly under your direction.  This may include organizing your FTP site, the server data stores, the use of third party document repositories (like Buzzsaw).  Don't limit yourself to just your job description.

 

3. You are Investigational

One of the indispensable strengths of a CAD Manager is that of investigative talents.  You know how to break down a large problem into smaller ones, searching for the small bits of information that when taken together show you the answer to the larger problems.  You look for repeatable patterns that signal some larger distress signal for coming troubles.  You keep track of who has had similar problems and trace what appear to be disconnected issues into a common thread.

Leveraging this Strength:   Because you are good at seeing the bigger picture and connecting smaller events to larger issues, you can see other areas of production and workflow that have troubles.  You can see the disjointed efforts of others and the disconnections that cause slowdowns.  Tactfully bring these up to others.  Point out ripples in the fabric of your processes outside of CAD.  Keep looking at areas outside of your own for problems that might be fixable.  Don't step on toes, but bring these areas up to management as possible focused review.

September 2007