Management Monday: Lessons from Mom

This month we will celebrate Mother’s Day, we first want to recognize, appreciate, and celebrate all that mothers do to make us who we are. A mother’s love does a lot to shape our world. 

While reflecting about my mom, I couldn’t help but think about all the ways that she helped shape me and the impact it has had on my business career without even trying. Although there are many stories and lessons that have had a positive impact on my career, there is one theme to mom’s parenting that seems to apply nicely to our Management Monday series.

If you are a parent, you know this well. Raising kids and managing employees leverages many of the same skillsets. The wonderful thing is the skills transfer to different areas of life very easily. While mom was never a corporate manager, she instinctively knew how to manage. 

You see, when I was in elementary school, one of the first things I remember learning is you always do your homework before you play. Really what mom was saying was prioritize. Not that I enjoyed it much when I was a kid, but it did teach me a few things that have helped me grow in life; and also grow my sales. Let’s take a look at a few of the lessons.

School work is more important than play = Prioritization: do the most important things first.

Check your assignment book for everything that needs to be completed = Organization: keep things neat and clear

Completed to mom’s satisfaction = Discipline: like it or not, it had to be done (mom’s way – or else…)

Let your desire for play motivate you = Incentives increase productive: desire to play increase speed of finishing homework

Okay, so there may be a few more “lessons” in there, but you get the point. Early on, in certainly different terms, mom taught me how to be a good employee. By learning these lessons as a child, then implementing them into my professional life, they can now be lessons that can be taught.   

As a manager, you cannot assume all employees already know how to prioritize, organize, and keep disciplined. Yes, at some levels you would expect that employees have already learned that. Unfortunately, lived experience taught me that is not the case. Like the time a Senior Vice President at a Billion-dollar firm asked for the agenda outline I consistently put together for our one-on-ones because he wanted to use that with his other direct reports. Shouldn’t he already have that??? 

You see, one of our key responsibilities as a manager is to help develop our team. Just as a mother develops her child(ren) as they grow. In the beginning you may need to prioritize with them, provide them tools to stay organized, or help them with their discipline on doing the important of not fun tasks of their role. By doing so, you empower them to maximize their achievements and grow. 

As you start this week, think about your direct reports and evaluate their strengths with respect to these skills. If you find they need some improvement, make sure to take the time to help them learn. Just like mom would.