09Aug/13

Do You Know What You Don’t Know

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If you ask what makes a good manager, you’ll get a lot of different answers. A good manager communicates well, knows when to delegate, keeps the big picture in mind, etc. This is all true but it also takes something else, a special insight into yourself as well as others – you have to know what you don’t know.

Here’s what I mean by knowing what you don’t know. When I left active duty in the Navy, I joined the Reserves as was assigned as the Division Officer for a particular unit.  The first night, I held a quick division meeting and introduced myself.  As soon as I asked if anyone had questions, a young petty officer said “Yes ma’am, what makes you qualified to run this unit?”  Before I could answer, the Chief Petty Officer standing beside me pointed out the bars on my collar and said “these make her qualified, and I’ll see you after the meeting”.  I knew that the Chief was going to lay into the kid for the way he phrased the question but it was a valid question. Just because I was in charge didn’t mean I knew anything and my first job was to find out what I didn’t know.

Turns out that I not only had to learn about the unit mission and equipment but I also had to learn about the organization. I learned my role and how to partner with my Chief and not be his “boss”.  I learned that if you have to say “that’s an order” and it’s not a safety issue, your people have lost respect for you as a leader. Better to get it right from start.

So how do you do that?  It’s not hard but it means taking a long look at yourself.  Here’s one way. A SWOT analysis can be used to analyze a situation or problem before starting to strategize a solution.  SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.  I see no reason not to do one for yourself.  Take a piece of paper and divide it into four sections.  Label each with a SWOT characteristic. Start with your job description and write down all of things for which you are responsible. Place each duty in the correct box. Is it a threat to success because you don’t know how to do it? Is it strength because you’ve been doing it all your life? Do the same thing with your education, your belief system, or even what you think the job should be.  Add anything you can think of that will help you figure out where you are, what you know and what you don’t know.  When you’re done, examine the grid for things you can do to capitalize on your strengths, shore up your weaknesses, explore your opportunities and neutralize your threats.  Not only will you find out what you don’t know, you’ll be shocked at how much you do.

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25Jul/13

Managerial Courage – What is it and do you have it?

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Black and white photo of small boy wearing striped shirt with oversized boxing gloves and headgear

My courageous neigbour (sic) photo by Konrad M

Managerial Courage. I touched on this in a previous post but I’d like to explore the subject a little more. If courage is lacking, it makes it hard to do the right thing when difficult issues arise. Managerial courage means taking on a project or making a decision without being 100% sure that it will work. It means having a conversation with a good worker about poor performance and spelling out expectations. It means not letting small indiscretions slide hoping they won’t turn into big ones.Here’s the thing – courage is always in play but the type of courage can change according to the circumstances. Adrian Furnham talks about three types of courage: courage to fail, interpersonal courage and moral courage. Let’s take a look.

Courage to Fail

This one’s pretty simple. If you’re afraid that you’ll get it wrong, it easier not to do it. Here’s an example: An employee explains an innovative change that will increase productivity. You like the idea and think it will work but you’re not sure. Plus, you don’t believe your boss will support it so you don’t mention it. No worries right? At best, productivity levels remain the same. But what about the intangible effects on the staff? The employee feels that his worthwhile contribution was ignored so why should he continue to give his best effort. He talks to others and so on. The next thing you know you’re in your bosses’ office trying to address the drop in morale (and the resultant drop in productivity). You get the picture. A good manager is not afraid to fail because failure creates opportunity for innovation. Additionally, a great manager embraces appropriate failure as necessary for growth and then gives employees permission to make those mistakes.

Interpersonal Courage

This goes back to my fundamental management principle: know your people. As a manager, you have to relate to your employees personally to coach and counsel them effectively. I don’t mean that you have to know every detail right down to their shoe sizes but you do have to know what’s important to them. What do you do if a strong performer starts to slip? If you don’t know anything about that employee you have no idea what may have caused the change. If you don’t know the cause, your solution probably won’t get the results you want. What do you do if an employee comes to you complaining of scent allergies and identifies one of your strongest performers as the catalyst for his allergy attacks? Issues don’t have to be big ones to impact your staff and ultimately, your business. As the boss, you must be strong enough and sensitive enough address issues in a way that fosters understanding and teamwork. One way to help develop interpersonal courage is to increase your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient).

Moral Courage

This one is simple: Do the right thing. If you don’t know if something is morally right or not, your body will tell you. We know when we’re about to mess up whether we’re telling a lie or watching someone walk out with the company cashbox. We get a visceral feeling in our gut that warns us of impending embarrassment, failure or jail time. The gut check is the best moral courage indicator I know.
For example: two of your employees are close friends but something happens and they wind up going at each other in the break room. You break it up, give them a good talking to but decide not to document the incident. After all, they’re friends right? And besides, if you document it they will be disciplined and awarded suspensions and loss of income. You care about what could happen to these guys and you may even be thinking about the increased workload their absence would create, but your gut is telling you write it up. Don’t ignore the feeling. Use your critical thinking skills to help you look beyond the immediate and see the big picture. Thinking it through will move you from the emotional to the rational and ultimately to the right decision. In the break room scenario, you immediately understand the risk to your two employees but if you play the tape forward, you will also see the potential for greater risk to all employees and ultimately, the company if a workplace violence situation ensues. Now you have the information to back up your actions.

There is one other benefit to developing managerial courage. Once you develop the courage to manage you’ll be on your way to having the courage to lead.

Reference: Furnham, A. (2002). Managers as change agents. Journal Of Change Management, 3(1), 21.

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12Jul/13

PC or not PC

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“We can’t do that, we have to be PC”. Ever hear that?   For some reason, these two letters push many managers into a state of inaction. What I don’t understand is why?

Why can’t we say “Don’t do that again”? Instead we say “Let’s see how we can do this differently”. The latter is great if you are coaching someone but only after they’ve been told that the previous method is unacceptable. Don’t confuse the two – the first is a directive, the second is instruction. It’s OK to use the two techniques together

Being politically correct means treating everyone with respect and dignity. It means making sure that we do not use our differences to demean, insult or injure.  It means making sure that we are following legal requirements to extend equal opportunities to all who qualify based on ability and not some arbitrary factor such as age or sex. That’s all it means. What it does not mean is that we can’t let our staff know when they are doing something that is unacceptable.  If there is doubt about whether you are being “PC”, get advice.  Talk to your boss, your HR department, employee relations or company counsel.  But don’t sit idle because you think you might offend. Find out, adjust accordingly and then take care of the issue.  It all comes down to having the managerial courage to do what’s right.

Managerial Courage

I suspect that if you ask 10 people to define the term you’d get 10 different answers. For some, it might mean having to make tough decisions. For others, it might mean disciplining a difficult employee.  For me it means having the confidence, the skills and the ability to be the manager. You are in charge. You have been given the responsibility and the authority to tell people not only what you want done, but when and how to do it, and conversely when and how not to do it. You have been tasked with making decisions that affect issues that are important to the organization. As such, you must have the courage and the confidence to guide your staff to achieve goals that contribute to success.  When you have managerial courage, you use the laws, policies, procedures and rules to help you make a decision.  You do not use them as an excuse for not making a decision. That’s when being PC is worthless. It protects no one and confuses everyone.

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