A Manager’s Tool Kit: A 10-Part Series to Equip Yourself, Your Team & Your Organization
How We Got Here
Kim and Isla (see bios for more detail about this dynamic duo) have been friends, running partners and professional collaborators for nearly 10 years. Over many miles and hours we’ve pondered extensively and expansively about the nature of management and leadership: What is it? How do you measure it? How do you foster it? What do the managers we know need most? And thus, The Manager’s Tool Kit (or MTK) came into being.
After much testing and refinement we decided it was high time to put our thoughts to paper and invite you into our ongoing conversations.
Who We Write For
The MTK provides practical tools that can be used at three levels:
Self: Manage your time, energy, skills and development
Team: Equip your team with the means to optimize their resources
Organization: Remove obstacles and create an environment in which each of your associates can realize their full potential
In Our DNA
An underlying assumption informs our thinking and approach:
The capacity to affect significant change for good in the world around us is already within each of us, wired into our DNA.
A sketch from one of our conversations
On a daily basis we have the opportunity to strengthen and stretch this DNA. Throughout this series we will leverage - and sometimes re-frame - those everyday moments for increasing our impact as managers and leaders.
Arguably management and leadership are technically different roles. We manage complexity; we lead change.
Our focus will be in the areas where management and leadership overlap because simultaneously all Leaders have to manage and all Managers have to lead.
Sneak Preview
We’ve identified four capabilities vital to effective management: Awareness, Agility, Influence and Communication.
Over the next eight posts we will explore these four capabilities and how they play out at each level: self, team, and organization.
For each capability we’ll first look at definitions, assumptions, and what questions we should be asking our selves and others.
Following that, we’ll identify specific tools and tips that you can put into action immediately.
The Ongoing Nature of MTK
This is a dynamic undertaking and we invite you to join us in our continuous exploration and journey with a Manager’s Tool Kit. We invite you to let us know what’s working for you and what else you might like to see here. Your engagement and feedback is the very best gift you could share with us, and you’ll see us occasionally adjust course accordingly.
Bios
Isla & Kim, MDI Marathon, 2013
Kim Parrott, CEO, SeaChange Resources, LLC
Kim has 20 years of experience in leadership development, executive & team coaching and facilitation for a broad range of organizations including multinational corporations, government agencies and the non-profit sector. She also serves on the faculty for the Center of Creative Leadership and is an ICF certified coach. Kim enjoys sailing on the coast of Maine with family, friends and adventurous clients.
Isla Dickerson, VP, Organizational Development Officer, Bangor Savings Bank
Isla has 20 years of experience in marketing, management and leadership development and business consulting. She is a mother, runner, reader, writer, hiker and foodie. In addition to her role at Bangor Savings Bank, she is the founder and owner of The Retreat at Betsy’s Cove, serves on the board of The Hudson Museum and is an active supporter of Coastal Mountains Land Trust and Peace Ridge Sanctuary.