Sometimes I'm left surprised when an issue hits my desk and I begin to work backwards to find out what happened. In too many instances, I can trace it back to follow-through. Someone in the organization knew something, or was assigned to do something and for some reason forgot. What's even more irritating is when I'm the guilty party!
Recently, I was rightfully called out by one of my peers for not communicating a decision impacting a critical project out through the organization. She had every right to call me out on the lack of communication. It was my error and I could do nothing but agree with her and acknowledge the failure. I like to pride myself on the fact that have strong communication skills and working relationships with my peers, and so I take this one personally. There are many excuses that I could use - I'm too busy as we move several key projects into production ahead of our year end production freeze; the Project Manager should have communicated that out to the team. Ultimately, I made the decision and I had the responsibility to communicate the decision across the organization - especially when that decision was going to put pressure on other teams across the organization.
This is not unique to myself. As I began to explore at the beginning of this post, too often I look at the root cause of an issue and it all goes back to someone knew and didn't think to share that knowledge.
I recognize that some of this is human nature. In the heat of the moment, decisions will be made that we believe will move the process forward and get the entire organization closer to the end goal. While that may be the case - follow-up is critical. Let's face it, we've all sat on the receiving end of some decision that made our lives miserable. We've had to deal with the fallout when that information comes at the last minute. I will be the first one to step up and call someone out when they do that to myself or one of my teams - it's only fair that I take the feedback when I'm the one causing the problem.
To allow this type of honest feedback - you need to be willing to trust the teams you work with on a daily basis:
- Your direct reports
- Your peers within your supervisors team
- Your peers across the organization with whom you deal with on a daily basis
One of the best books that I've read on this topic was written by Patrick Lencioni, "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team".
This book leads you through a scenario of how a group of individuals that didn't work or trust each other was transformed into a highly functional team.
I was first introduced to this book, by my current boss - our CIO. It was the first thing that he wanted me to read after I was hired. In fact, he sent it to me before I even officially started. It is now one of my favorite books. I in turn have required all of my direct reports to read the book. I encourage my team to be honest with each other and to hold each other accountable in their daily interactions.
We have been hired for a purpose. We are here to make a difference, to move the ball forward. That means holding ourselves and others accountable for the deliverables that people throughout the organization rely on so that they can do their job. We must open ourselves up to others, understand the story that is driving their actions and be prepared to receive open and honest feedback when we fail to live up to our commitments.
Don't get me wrong - this isn't a directive for you to walk around the building pointing fingers at people and telling them they're not doing the job - chances are if you did you'd have a line of people at your desk telling you that you didn't do your job. What you should do is be willing to engage in a positive open communication. Explain what you are seeing - you may not have a full understanding of the situation and be prepared to change the direction of the conversation based on what you hear. If the person truly is responsible for failing to deliver, than it's up to you to find a positive way to work with the person and manage the situation. Help them help you!
If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile
Are you managing or are you leading? The two are very different and if you're not leading, you shouldn't be a manager!
Managing is handling the tactical day to day activity within a group of people. Ensuring that milestones are hit, coordinating activity between your team and other teams, reporting progress, etc. In short the manager maintains the status quo - acting within the defined processes to keep the business moving. They manager accomplishes activity due to their authority.
Leading means changing the dynamics to get the best from the processes and people. A leader inspires the people around them to effect change. They can establish a vision and know how to tap into individual team members to get them to see the vision and how they can contribute to the overall vision. Leaders instinctively know what motivates an individual within the team and can appeal to that individual to use their strengths to close the gap between today and where the leader wants to be tomorrow. Leaders are focused on the longer term vision.
I freely admit that there are moments in time where I must manage - stepping out of my normal role and acting in a more tactical fashion to help the team push something across the finish line. This isn't a bad thing, and to be quite honest I think as a leader sometimes you need to do this to ensure that you understand what is really happening within your teams. I also, sometimes by choice, make the decision to drop into meetings I normally would not attend - project status meetings, implementations, integration test sessions. Not only do I get the benefit of getting to know some of the team members I would otherwise not interact with on a regular basis, but it also gives me a temperature of what is really happening within various projects.
However, my daily focus is, and should be, at a different level within the organization. My job is to look ahead of the teams and remove roadblocks. Understand processes that are not working and change those processes. Identify when changes in the business may require organizational changes within the teams that I manage. Identify opportunities within the industry and find ways to get ahead of our competitors. Find ways in which we can change that will improve the experience of our customers. Working with our Human Resources team to build pipelines to talent pools so that we can fill vacancies or know where we need to go to find resources when we expand our teams. It's also my responsibility to look beyond the tactical needs of the organization and create the vision for my part of the organization. Where do we need to be and what and how do I change things to get us there - then driving that vision down and through my organization.
When I first moved into a management role -- I figured my job was to be the tactical expert. Help my individual team members get stuff done. Now as a Vice President, I still need to be in tune with my team members and help them get stuff done, but along the way, I've learned being a manager/leader is so much more.
I want my managers to be leaders within their teams and within the organization - no, they don't necessarily have the influence that I have to effect change, but they can lead and drive change within their teams and the processes they interact with/manage:
- Managers are the closest link to individual Team Members. They need to be driving the growth of each team member. One of the mantras that I have within my teams is that you can't get promoted to the next level until your doing the job of the role you want. In other words, if you want to move from a Software Engineer I to a Software Engineer II, you must demonstrate you can perform the duties of that new role. It is the Managers job to establish a growth plan with the individual Team Member and guide them/mentor them so that they can see that promotion. I ask each of the managers within my team to establish individual learning plans with each team member and constantly work those plans with the team member.
- Managers see the reality of the process works versus the theoretical process that was defined. I encourage each of my managers and direct reports to constantly provide feedback on what is working and what isn't and most importantly, if they think it is broken, how do we change the process to make it work better. Even better, if they are working a project and want to try a new way of doing something, let's talk, give it a whirl and see if it gains us anything.
- Managers are the actual touch points between their department and other departments, I expect them to drive the relationship and identify how to improve communications between not only the departments within my organization, but departments reporting up through my peers. It is an expectation that they act as a role model to their team members in showing that we can establish positive working relationships between departments - that doesn't mean we always agree, but that we find a way to move the conversation forward in a professional and positive way.
This isn't meant to be an exhaustive tale of how I see my management team playing within their roles, more of a prime to get people to see that they can play more than a tactical role.
I once had one of my bosses tell me, "I don't know what it is you do, and quite frankly I don't have the time to figure it out. When you need something, tell me who I need to talk to and what I need to say." Was this the worst person I 've worked for, no. Did I have any respect for this person, no. While he had the title of Director, he didn't mange, nor did he lead his organization. He came in in the morning and sat behind a closed door - rarely interacting with any of us. Luckily, he was gone within 6 months - the company had seen fit to move him into a different role. I left the organization shortly after that, but have never forgotten those words.
Are you being a leader for our teams? Are you setting the table and letting people within your organization lead where they can?
If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile
