M2 Ep 001 - Managing Managers, an Introduction

There's a science to managing managers. In fact, without that science, you will struggle needlessly to fully support your subordinate managers in becoming excellent leaders. Jim Prinzing and Thomas Cox share their breakthrough understanding of what followers need in order to follow at their best, which paints a clear target for exactly what each leader needs to do, and learn, in order to lead with excellence. We further develop the idea that true lean and learning organizations need this model as their prerequisite. Learning organizations are hard to set up and harder to maintain. At the first whiff of blame, shame, or negative personal judgment, people hunker down and stop learning. To get to the pinnacle of the learning or lean organization, the leader needs to model Self Mastery (so they show up calm, curious, and empathic), learn to Build Trust (so the team feels connected and supported), and get practiced at Driving Excellence (so everyone has clear expectations and feels held lovingly accountable). Takeaways Managing managers is vastly more complex than managing individual contributors. Effective leaders understand the unique needs of each team member. To unlock team potential, leaders need calmness and self-awareness. Leaders need to get good at building trust and psychological safety. Develop employees through clear expectations and growth-focused feedback. Transformative leadership can turn a team into something greater than the sum of its parts. Engagement at work is driven by trust and fulfillment in one's role. Leaders must take responsibility for everything that happens in their unit. A culture of continuous improvement requires psychological safety. 00:00 Introduction to Managing Managers03:02 The Challenges of Managing Managers05:53 What Followers Crave in a Leader08:55 Building Trust and Understanding Individual Needs12:05 The Importance of Knowing Your Team14:58 Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace17:46 Defining Excellence in Leadership20:57 The Role of Training and Feedback23:43 Accountability and Responsibility in Management26:27 Transformative Leadership Mindset27:49 Building Trust for Effective Leadership29:16 The Importance of Psychological Safety31:18 Transformational Leadership and Personal Growth33:24 Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement40:09 Real-World Examples of Leadership Impact45:20 Engagement and Fulfillment in the Workplace