MikeOnBlog

While I think for the most part the Harvard Business Review has become complete crap over the last couple of years (much like Forbes but I still keep renewing my subscriptions every year hoping things will improve) every once in a while a sidebar of an article will catch my eye. January’s edition is a special issue on The Tests of a Leader (immediate eye rolling and groaning of warmed over huggy and fuzzy stuff riffed with “Be a change agent!”).

One article is basically a self assessment entitled “What to Ask the Person in the mirror”. Fortunately in this article is a sidebar summarizing the 11 pages of mostly drivel containing a few reminders for anyone who is a manager. In the end a manager is solely judged upon the teams output as it relates to increasing shareholder value. Nothing more, nothing less (more on this in a future blog post). The 7 concepts mentioned are basically common sense but worth thinking about and reminding oneself about on a regular basis. I’ll try to boil down the HBR language into common english:

1. Vision and Priority: Basically the people that work for you should know what’s going on and what they should be working on. This is more than assigning action items. Assuming the people that work for you prefer a bit of independence, the vision provides the context for which they can make their own judgements. Without this you the manager becomes a task master. No fun for you, less fun for your employees.

2. Managing Time: Let’s face it. Most of us suck at managing our own time let alone the time of others. It is human nature to do what is easiest not necessarily what is most important first. Also, tasks with a short term nature are much easier to get started and finish than longer term tasks even though the latter could be more important. I’m always impressed with those that surmount these two tendencies and I find it to be one of the true tests of a great manager. Also, as much as it sounds like micromanagement it is imperitive that the manager is aware of what the employees are spending their time on. Delegation is important but, as a CEO I once work for says “Delegation without monitoring is abdication of responsibility”.

3. Feedback: Give it and seek it out. If someone is screwing up they need to know about it. If someone is doing a good job they need to know about it. It’s can be hard. It has to be done. It is the right thing to do. Always encourage people to give you honest feedback. As a manager it’s rarely going to happen but once in a while you get lucky to have a brash, opinionated employee or employees (sometimes they prowl in packs) that have no qualms telling you that you suck (and hey, when it comes down to it, we really do mostly suck). After channelling this person’s beligerency into reasonable feedback you might get an honest picture of where you can improve. It’s up to you to listen.

4. Succession planning: Well… Having twice been on the receiving end of getting shafted after I hired in or grew potential successors I’m not too sure about this one. I can see how “My” manager likes some bench strength in case I get hit by bus or go postal but this just smacks of executive brain washing to me. I’m all for growing employees (and is actually what I enjoy most about management) but why would you want someone to take your job? Nothing says great job at having a successor in line like getting layed off or pushed aside. The truth is, and let’s be honest, you want someone that can *almost* fill your shoes.

5. Evaluation and Alignment: Classic HBR speak for don’t get too comfortable. Some people by nature are paranoids and they do well in this area. Others should have a structured, systematic approach to revaluating everything (strategy, resource utilization, etc.). I happen to do this once a quarter as I evaluate how things went the previous quarter and plan for the next.

6. Leading under pressure: Nothing get’s a manager jazzed like having an opportunity to prove him or herself under fire. Unfortunately this usually turns into a manager pissing contest because there is more than one manager trying to prove themselves at the same time. Successful managers have perspective. Most of us aren’t managing a space shuttle with lives on the line. We’re managing some operation that if it doesn’t go well will piss off your boss and/or lose the company money. Both usually aren’t the end of the world. The successful manager either calmy navigates the crisis or calmy fails but always with the appropriate level of urgency and always learns from the event.

7. Staying true to yourself: To me, this is the most important. If you can’t look yourself in the mirror every morning without feeling proud of what you do every day you should be doing something different. There isn’t much you get to take with you in the end. I plan on taking my love for my friends and family, my dignity, and my self-respect (hopefully my ipod too but I’m not counting on that).

So…. Am I a better manager than I was yesterday? Are the people working for me working on the right things in the most efficient manner? Do the people that work for me *believe* they are working on the right things in the most efficient manner? Are the people that work for me more effective because I am their manager? Am I a better manager than I was yesterday?

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