Ruth's Blog: Managing Nicely
Your actions count and your actions repeat.
I heard about an executive who, because of a decision to add new employees to the team faster, took action and made a decree: He told his new young managers to "hire only people they connected with" and within months, he had a totally tattooed workforce*.
This silly story reminded me of years ago when my older brother came home for a holiday visit after securing his first job, I asked him about work. He told me that his learning curve was still very high, but he already knew that work is two things: Your actions count and your actions repeat. He told me of a small decision with action he made that went on unimpeded and became a pervasive part of a system throughout the entire global company. It repeated across time, in the systems, and through the people in the organization.
Just this: Before making that hasty decree to your people, take a moment and think how this will play out. Then track your many decrees because once articulated -- and until you notify every one of a change -- the decrees you make can take on surprising lives of their own.
How to kill initiative:
I know a guy who killed all the initiative in his company. He had not created an atmosphere that allowed people to tell the truth about what was really going on. His initial angry responses to issues being brought up made everyone cringe. Killed their initiative; killed their independent thought. This became a vicious cycle where they could no longer creatively solve problems, and he felt he had to do everything himself which added to his busyness and his stress and all those associated emotions.
This reminds me of when I was a girl and furious about whatever the problem of my day was - my father asked me to tell him about it. After hearing my story, I still remember how, instead of supporting me in my anger, he surprised me with his smiling response, "You've got to learn to control your emotions. Pretty hard to think straight when you're mad, isn't it?"
Here's the thing: Don't train your team to keep important information away from you. Be known for maintaining grace under fire.
One way to say, “You’re doing a bad job,” but nicely.
I heard a story about a part-time employee, who, in his usual mode, was lazy in his work, and his results were substandard and untrustworthy. He was capable enough as he was a university student in a tough academic field. As I listened to this story, frustration was clear as she told me, “This [guy] works as slowly and poorly as possible; he’s driving everyone nuts. We’re a small company and can’t afford good help. Worse, he’s related to someone here in the office, so we can’t say anything…” Here’s the thing: you cannot afford not to say something. What a dumb drain on the company finances and morale!
It’s easier than you think to begin a tough conversation. Think carefully about the way that particular person needs to hear things and when they are likely to be receptive. Ask if they would be willing to hear something difficult from you. If so, you might begin with, “I think you’re better than this. You’re doing an important job; I’m concerned that you haven’t been doing it as well as we need; perhaps there is some information that we’ve missed giving to you. So, what do you need to know...?”
When you’re coming from a place of true helpfulness you can say anything to anyone provided you soften and monitor your tone of voice.
If you haven’t told them, then how are they supposed to know?
One of my new CEO friends is on the phone and he is seeing a couple of his team members hovering around the door to his office. He knows it will be a string of interruptions for simple questions. What he doesn’t yet know is that this is a symptom of fuzzy leadership.
I am no longer surprised when I’m working inside a clients’ company and find out that some of the people there are not absolutely certain of what they should be doing, why they are doing it, or when it needs to be done.
Like it or not, you are the leader. It is you who must communicate the mission, vision, and values of the company as well as the specifics of the work that is to be done. It is you who must tell them and face-to-face meetings are the best way to connect.
Look them in the eye, tell them what you want, and be sure to ask what they’ll need from you to get it done.
Fix it or decide to find it charming.
I once had a manager who, when tired and stressed, behaved poorly by talking incessantly in a rudely contemptuous manner. I needed to fix this because this was something that was oft repeated and did not sit well with anyone in the organization. It could not be ignored, it had to be fixed. A discreet and civil chat resolved the issue.
In a different place, a manager told a customer that his business was no longer welcome here because he was too mean to the staff. This manager was surprised to learn that I was okay with it. But civility is a guiding principle: My trusted manager had his team’s best interest at heart.
Deciding to discover likeable things in a person or situation is a choice. After you determine that a circumstance does not require your intervention, show your appreciation and decide to find it charming.
Define the rules of non-interruption for your company.
My friend is a perfect entrepreneur, but for days he didn’t get very far on the design proposal work and time was sliding dangerously toward the deadline. Silly but demanding interruptions, crisis, and general flare-ups were sapping not just his time, but energy. He was constantly overly busy.
In the extreme environment that is typical of a small company, it is vital to make the right choices and potentially fatal when bad choices are made. You’ve heard it many times: First, hire an ally, a business manager to build the foundation, systems and processes for the business. A professional can play multiple roles at first, and then build the team as the business expands. So when I came on board to help my friend, I just ordered it up out of thin air – we created long stretches of uninterrupted time for him to think and make the right choices, to create, to work at peace.
Talk with your business ally. Define the rules of non-interruption for your company. Everyone on your team needs freedom from interruptions to do the best work for your organization.
Crazy doesn't show up in interviews.
“Crazy” doesn’t always show up in interviews. This glib statement is a result of an incident in which I found myself hearing about an employee who, instead of spending his time doing good work for the company, spent time writing numerous preposterous emails to our various departments. With no authorization he posed as a customer in a variety of situations and our very lean staff wasted valuable time as they tried to solve the mystery. Why did he do that, you ask? Indeed. How did he even get hired? Propensity for aberrant behavior may not always become apparent during the short time that we spend interviewing candidates.
That’s why due diligence when you’re hiring is critical. Listen to your instincts and perform background checks. Spend quality time with your potential new hires, focusing on not just what a person can do (skills, abilities, talents), but who they are (character, personality, stability) as well.
Hiring well is so important: As your people go, so goes your company.
Some of his managers were looking to band together in a formal way to make themselves heard
Early one morning, my smart friend discovered that some of his managers were looking to band together in a formal way to make themselves heard with the goal of getting some percentage raise. After realizing that his team was not exactly outside his door with pitchforks and torches, he recovered from his hurt feelings enough to see the issues – and immediately decided two things. First, he challenged himself to talk more with the managers so in the future he could discern the pulse of his organization.
He also saw from their viewpoint that these are very tough times. They actually deserve raises and new equipment. But given the company's current financial conditions, they want the impossible. Why is it then, that only a few people in his company know this? He decided that his organization needed to become smarter.
One way to accomplish this is to have everyone learn more about money. I like the book, Financial Intelligence: A Manager's Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean, by Karen Berman, Joseph V. Knight, John Case. It is an easy read that can help your team make informed decisions about the business based on a better understanding of financial reports.
We are gathered here to make money: What your employees don’t know is a problem to you, and worse, it is likely that they mistakenly think finance stuff is for the finance people in the organization. Information about how some financial decisions are made, shared appropriately, is a must.
Everyone is doing the best that they can with what they’ve been given.
Because I believe this, I am able to approach less than ideal situations with extreme friendliness. I have confidence in my teams. I believe that each person is using their talent, tools, and intelligence, all to the utmost.
I know a company whose business is putting on elaborate events with lots of moving parts. A key manager had totally misjudged the complexity of an event and the thing literally fell apart before their eyes. The hapless manager did not try to make a bad situation befall him. In this sad instance, someone was in over his head – he actually was doing his best. His level of responsibility was outside the scope of his capability: He was not in the right job.
If you have people on your team whom you think are not doing a fantastic job, it is entirely your problem to solve. Assuming that you fully know your people, it means one of just a few things: You are not communicating what you want, or leading well, or giving them the tools they need to do the job, or you are simply not hiring well. Once identified, the good news is that you can fix it.
You keep wishing the moments away and pretty soon you’re wondering where the days have gone.
It seems that some of us have a habit of getting ahead of ourselves. Generally, this is a good one: we envision goals and the future and have the sight of it in our mind. But this impatience can lead to a blockage for the rosy future that we’ve painted so clearly, especially when we have a far distant goal of the audacious type.
One far-flung goal I have is so doubtful that it leads me to a dangerous version of running on auto-pilot throughout the day. Here’s how I know: I asked what did I accomplish yesterday? The more time spent on auto-pilot, the more difficult it becomes to match accomplishments yesterday with the plan to achieve the goal. No special meaning for the day; no change for the worse; no change for the better. This lack of dedicated action reminds me of a bumper-sticker I saw in Alaska a few years ago, “Please God, let there be another oil boom and we promise not to p*** it away next time”.
Ah, the poignant regret of waste. It is so easy to waste time and neglect action steps in our plan to achieve the rosy future. You do have action steps, don’t you?
