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Sowing Chaos

I routinely get to  work with people who are very senior level individual contributors and also peers who have chosen to manage people like them. The leadership style varies a great deal between these two categories. The people managers need to corral a group of high functioning, high performance, Type A individuals who are not afraid to voice strong opinions and can be stubborn. They don't feel like they need to be managed - most have at some point managed others and don't feel like it anymore, In some cases people management never felt like a good fit. Managing a crew of this variety and getting results is no joke. So the person who has chosen to do that work has to a lot of skill and stamina. 

F is one such manager and people around her can feel disoriented by her quiet persistence, it is so relentless. She will have people work together on things they don't agree on at all and force consensus. At that point she is just as likely to rubber-stamp it as she is to ask them to return to the drawing board. After a point, the work teams realize they are better off co-operating with each other so they can process what she throws at them. Through sowing apparent chaos, F is able to herd the cats she has to. There is a method to the madness that the new person in the mix starts to see after a while. It is no wonder F enjoys the utmost confidence of her leadership team. It is something anyone who desires to manage a high performing team could stand to learn.
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