

Rands in Repose: Three Superpowers - filament
http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2011/03/07/three_superpowers.html

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msg
The nudge, the debate, and the mandate: three discussion speeds to address
problems in your team.

Rather than picking one style per person receiving the message, you need to
pick one per situation. Mentoring and long term conversion experiences can use
the nudge. Deadlines and trouble may require the mandate.

I had a manager that swung between the nudge and the mandate. He never had
time to debate with me so I wasn't able to trust him or feel heard. Needless
to say, I jumped at the chance to leave his team.

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cjbprime
I don't think I've read anything by this author before -- does anyone else
find the post pretty incomprehensible, or is it just me?

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raganwald
Try reading some of his other articles on development management. You may find
yourself acclimatizing to his style, which will make it much easier to extract
value from his writing.

He has a lot of practical experience, and his writing has been fairly well
received in the past, so I suggest it's worth taking an open mind to his stuff
if you are interested in managing or leading development teams.

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stcredzero
I was trying to use "the nudge" with an older relative who runs a branding
company in "the far east." When I was working with her recently, I noticed
there was a pattern of the use of puns in the company names of her clients. I
grew up in the States, so I knew that the particular puns used were "kiddy
grade." (Not a reference in this case.) That is, many of the puns in the
company names are ones American kids have thought of by the 2nd grade. By the
time one reaches adulthood, such puns seem silly, a bit dim, or are used in
deliberately excruciating puns. I'm not so sure that such puns are always
appropriate in corporate branding, unless a certain effect is desired. Her own
company name contains two such puns melded together, even though her firm
targets large companies as customers.

I tried bringing this up in an email with her, stemming from a conversation
about something else. I offered my feedback as a native English speaker in
such situations. As a means of demonstrating my perceptiveness in such
matters, I talked in general terms about the "kiddy grade" pun. This nudge
didn't seem to work.

(If you know of the companies I am referring to, please do not post their
names here! This would be indiscreet.)

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khafra
That sounds entirely appropriate if she does branding for hair salons.

However, if your nudge is directed at her core competency, and your authority
consists of being a younger relative in the States, that's going to have to be
one hell of a nudge.

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stcredzero
_That sounds entirely appropriate if she does branding for hair salons._

She does branding for large chain stores, financial companies, internet-
related companies. If what native English speakers thought mattered
tremendously, these would have been major gaffes. As it is, I don't think
that's even of secondary importance, most of the time for most of her clients.
It might be of great importance if she ever lands a gig with a multinational,
though. Her portfolio might chase such firms away.

 _However, if your nudge is directed at her core competency, and your
authority consists of being a younger relative in the States, that's going to
have to be one hell of a nudge._

The fact that I brought up an aspect she'd never thought of before should be
one hell of a nudge. The common reaction would be to rationalize my point
away. The smart reaction would be different.

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aboyeji
Pretty good. I haven't read anything that deep in years. I do think though
that a lot of management issues are simply avoided by having a good team. But
given situation where that is not possible, this might work well.

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ChuckMcM
"I do think though that a lot of management issues are simply avoided by
having a good team."

The circle is complete :-). Its been my experience over the last couple of
decades that the correlation between "good team" and "good manager" is 100%,
and more importantly they converge reasonably rapidly to that point. (which is
to say if you find yourself on a 'bad' team and it isn't getting any better,
then there is a strong probability that the manager isn't operating
efficiently.)

