[2023-04-24] Advice for managers

Many years ago, when I was a new manager, I attended a leadership conference. I don't remember anything about the conference beyond the fact that I bought more than $200 in books at the end of it. I later regretted the purchase because I couldn't really afford it and because I felt that I had gotten caught up in the fervour of the event. I had convinced myself that the answers to all my management challenges would be found in those books.

I'm not even sure I read the books, save for one: Why Employees Don't Do What They're Supposed to Do and What to Do about It. The first chapter did stick with me for the rest of my career, and beyond, so perhaps that book was worth all the others put together. What I recalled is that the number one reason employees don't do what they're supposed to do is that they don't know how.

This seemingly simple statement had a profound effect on my thinking as a leader.

I found myself quoting that book today in a mentoring conversation. My mentee talked about a number of challenges she was facing, including how to provide feedback on a strategy that was under development. My suggestions included some of the following:

  1. First, acknowledge what is good about the draft you received. That could be a thorough environmental scan or a comprehensive structure. You can use words such as "we have a solid base to build on" or "this draft moves us at least halfway down the field." (Sometimes you may have to dig deep to find something to compliment, but you must. Starting with the positives helps to create psychological safety, a feeling in your employees that you have their best interests—their learning, their growth, their development—at heart.)
  2. Next, focus on the areas that need work. Approach this portion of the conversation with curiosity—for example, "You've done a great job of identifying the needs of internal stakeholders; did you encounter challenges in identifying the needs of external stakeholders?" This is preferable to asking a why question—such as, "Why didn't you talk to external stakeholders?"—as such questions can sound accusatory, like you're questioning the employees' judgement.
  3. Ideally, provide feedback face to face (in person or over videoconference) so that you can exchange questions and answers in real time. Asynchronous communication (for example, when one person writes comments that are read by the recipient at a later time) leaves the door open for misinterpretation, especially when the two individuals do not already have a strong working relationship.
  4. Remember that your employees may not have given you what you're looking for because they don't know how. Perhaps they've never developed a strategy or performance indicators, a fact they may be reluctant to admit because no one wants to look like they're not up to the task. Part of your job as their manager is to help your employees develop the skills they need for their current job (and, incidentally, their next job). Ask yourself, "What can I do to help my employees succeed at this project?"
  5. Add value by sharing your experience, organizational knowledge and fresh perspective on the document. Share with your employees stories of past projects and even examples of good products to help guide their work. Provide context that you may have because of your level in the organization—for example, context from conversations they may not be privy to. Regarding fresh eyes, I often said that when you're the writer, you can't be the editor. (Of course, you can always edit your own work, but only when you get some distance from it.) If I, as the reviewer, write something new, then someone else needs to edit it.
  6. Understand the barriers and constraints your employees are facing and work to eliminate or reduce these. Were they given insufficient time to flesh out the strategy? Do they have easy access to the people who have the information they need? Asking your employees what you can do to help them succeed can elicit valuable information about what they're up against and what they need from you.
  7. Share why you make changes to the employees' final draft and assure them that once you sign off on it, you stand behind it 100%. Whenever I approved a document, I did so knowing that I could stand behind it, that I would defend it to my boss as a product that my team and I had come up with. That's not to say that I wasn't open to feedback and changes from my boss, only that I would avoid shifting the blame to my employees if my boss didn't like the product. If I had approved it—even if that had meant making changes to what my employees provided to me—it was our product and I would defend it.

I provided a few other key points in my conversation with my mentee today. Using the analogy of real estate—where the three most important things are location, location, location—I said that in work, the three most important things are relationships, relationships, relationships. In my career, the more I worked on my relationships with my bosses, my clients, my peers and my employees, the better my support to them and the happier I was (it truly was in the giving that I received). Yes, relationships take time, but they produce results that are better than just about anything else, including authority, governance and experience.

In the years following my attendance at that leadership conference many moons ago, I continued to develop as a leader. I learned from books. I learned from conferences. But, mostly, I learned from being a manager and observing what worked and what didn't.