Category: leadership

We could try this

FabrizioLeave a comment

A dialogue that is often heard in organizations of all sizes and in all industries is the following.

Manager: We have taken the decision to do this. Go and do it.
Employees: Who has taken the decision? Based on what? Why are we doing this? How does this fit with all the rest we are already doing?

There are two problems with this approach.

First of all, managers very rarely share information about the decision-making process. This is problematic, since if you want people to be committed you probably need to give them a better idea of what is going on. Chances are, though, that the decision-making process is one or two persons following their intuition, and so there’s probably not much more context to add to the outcome itself.

The second problem is that it sets the employees mainly as executors. It is challenging to give your best when you are not involved in shaping what needs to happen, and if that is the case the manager can already expect some sort of resistance, either in the form of low-quality work or in the form of time-delays.

A far better way to handle this dialogue would be the following.

Manager: We have decided we want to be there next year. How do we make it happen?
Employees: We could try this. And this. And this.

Of course, it sounds scary, as it gives control away. Expect a lot of ideas, initial chaos, and perhaps a bunch of changes in direction (also the other approach has such features, they are just more hidden). And yet, this is the only way to prepare your employees to give their best, to act for what they have prepared, and to deliver incremental value to the whole organization.

Give it a try.

A shortcut

Fabrizio1 Comment

There is an old joke, I am not sure where it is originally from, but at least I am quite sure I have heard it in the series The Middle.

It’s about a wife, frustrated at her husband as he never shares his feelings for her. “You never say I love you”, she says. “I told you when we got married”, he counters. “If anything changes, I will let you know.”

This reflects quite well the attitude towards praise in business.

Managers think members of their teams know where they stand, because they once shared a “good job!” with them, or at the very least because if things would not be ok, for sure they would let them know.

It is an easy shortcut to avoiding a serious conversation about the job that is being done, one that requires a careful look at the whole (what we are doing as a company, why it does matter, where we are headed, …) and at its parts (how does what you are doing fits into it, what I did like of your job in particular, what can be improved, …).

If you do not express sufficient (and specific) appreciation for the people you lead, chances are they are going to look for it somewhere else.

Do not be surprised when they do.

Two gifts

FabrizioLeave a comment

The two greatest gifts a leader can give their team are the following

  • An interesting problem to solve – Something that looks at the future, a new path to discover, a way to improve on what has been done so far.
  • The support and resources to help them solve it – Tools, budget, attention, care, shielding, buy-in.

If you consider this, how many of the managers you’ve met in your career, how many of those you are working with now, how many of the ones that are in charge of the well-being of hundreds of people, can genuinely be called leaders?

Have you ever considered starting to demand that they behave as such?

Brandsplain

FabrizioLeave a comment

If a customer leaves negative feedback, files a complaint, gets mad for something, writes a bad review, speaks ill of your product or service, stops paying you, one of two things is true.

  1. They are right.
  2. They are not your customers

Trying to explain they are wrong, and behaving as if 1 or 2 (or both) are not possible is simply a worthless, damaging exercise.

If even Google forgets this, it’s probably a good idea to keep it in mind in our daily marketing practices.

A daily choice

FabrizioLeave a comment

Not being an asshole is a daily choice.

Not letting your mood affect the way you treat others. Not setting the agenda of a company, of a department, of a team on the base of your current focus. Not having the stress derived from your position permeate every interaction, every decision, every exchange. Not allowing busyness to become the answer to all requests of help or information or attention or care. Not giving a bad day, an unsatisfactory job, a regretful life the power to determine the days, jobs and lives of those around you.

It’s not an If-This-Then-That type of situation. We have an active role in deciding how we follow up with actions and words to the circumstances of the world.

There might be mitigating circumstances, and yet we own this.