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Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

I was on my way to my manager’s office and noticed her door was open. As I came up to the door, I realized she was on the phone and heard her mention my name. She was telling the person on the phone about how she had told me to implement HER idea – the one that was really MY idea.

I was angry so I went to her door and cleared my throat. She looked up in surprise and quickly ended her call. She then asked me, “What’s up?” I should have confronted her but I didn’t. I’m not sure why. I usually have no problem in confronting people. However, I never trusted her again and never again made suggestions that would benefit the group or product. Not long after, I left her group. So perhaps that was my protest?240_f_58227718_credit

I always try to give credit where credit is due. If one of my team members does something really good, or has an idea I want implemented, I make sure to acknowledge that person and give them credit for the work. I do this because then my staff understands I won’t take credit for the good work they are doing. The result is my behavior motivates them to want to produce high quality work.

Acknowledging, publicly, individuals’ contributions is highly motivating.

Don’t de-motivate your team by taking credit for their ideas. Give them the credit that is due to them. It’s one of the best investments you can make in your team. And you will get the credit for having great team members who come up with and implement great ideas.

Of course, when I do have a good idea, I’m happy to take credit for it!

When Helping Is Not Helpful: Making Assumptions

When Helping Is Not Helpful: Making Assumptions

As a newly minted first line manager, I was eager to help my team. As I met with each person on the team, each one explained what he or she was working on. I asked a series of questions. Those questions were usually asked with the unspoken assumption that the employee hadn’t done something or considered something important in doing their job. After all, I was helping!

In one of these meetings, an employee said to me, “You know, it would be much more productive if you asked me if I did those things already instead of assuming I haven’t.” Oh. She didn’t say, ‘trust me to do those things,’ but that’s what I heard. I’ve always wanted my employees to trust me and here I was – not trusting them to do their jobs.

 Never make assumptions.

At some point in our careers, we all enjoy (not!) the manager that doesn’t trust his staff. You know the one. The one who assumes you haven’t done the simple things already and instead tells you to do them never asking if you already have.

Here I was, being that manager. Argh.assumptions

I didn’t think I was being an assuming type of manager. I really believed it was helpful to ask those questions. I still slip up every now and then and ask assuming questions. Sometimes I catch myself and respond with, “But I know you probably already considered that, right?” It’s how I try to recover from making assumptions. Why take the time to recover? Because making assumptions can damage the relationship I have with my employee.

So when talking to your employees remember what it feels like to have your manager make assumptions about you. Holding that thought in place, ask your employee what has already been considered or done. This is so much more respectful of your employees and you might end up very surprised by their answers.

To Lead is to Let Go of Control

To Lead is to Let Go of Control

What makes a good leader? I’ve given this much thought during the years I’ve been managing. I don’t believe any person in a leadership role sets out to be a bad leader – and bad leaders, unfortunately, usually think they’re good leaders.

What exactly does “leader” mean? I looked it up and one definition is “the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country.”* It also means “a short strip of nonfunctioning material at each end of a reel of film or recording tape for connections to a spool.” *

While some may think of their current leader as bearing a great deal of resemblance to a nonfunctioning material, I’m going with the first definition of leadership and assume we’re talking about “the action of leading a group of people or an organization.” I also looked up the word management and here’s the definition I found: “the process of dealing with or controlling things or groups of people.”*

So, in looking at these definitions, I do manage people, but I also lead people. Leading is different from managing because as a leader, my intention is to inspire, motivate and provoke a desire for excellence from a large group of people, some of whom I will never meet.

You can’t control everything.

 

It’s true, I do manage my direct staff, and managing includes controlling things like budgets, but I can’t control everything. I have to depend on my leadership skills to inspire the organization to reach its goals and do some of the work of controlling things.

For me, a good leader understands he can’t control everything in the organization; he has to trust the peopleAdobeStock_100113673-3 working for him. To achieve organizational goals, a leader needs to motivate and inspire their teams. To encourage innovation, a good leader knows he has to trust the people working for him to be creative and to think of new approaches for products, issues, or problems.

In one group I led, we had software quality issues. Not minor ones either. Some of the quality issues were because management wanted to hit certain deadlines and corners were cut. In other cases, it was bad development practices. So each vice-president had a goal for their organizations to decrease the backlog of defects as a starting place for addressing product quality.

We all decided on a certain percentage to hit and then told the teams to fix all of the high priority defects to hit that percentage. Things were going great! Most every team was on track to hit that percentage. We were slapping ourselves on the back in congratulating each other in hitting our goal.

But then I met with a developer. You see, I often do skip-level meetings with staff . These skip-level meetings often begin with some discussion on how things are going and general chit chat, but sometimes someone will say something quite stunning.

This developer, after about ten minutes of the general chit chat, paused, looked me in the eye and asked, “Why is this goal in fixing defects focused only on the high priority defects? Wouldn’t a better approach be to determine where all the defects are in the code and then tackle the code that seems so problematic?”

I was stunned. I looked at her before replying because I was thinking, duh, should have thought of that! We did meet that year’s goal of fixing a percentage of high priority defects, but the next year? We did exactly as she recommended. And the team found there were a couple of areas in the code base that needed to be reworked or refactored thereby resolving most of the software quality issues.

I learned from this experience that as a leader, I shouldn’t try to control what everyone does – and I don’t want to control every single thing. That’s not my job. My job is to trust my employees to hear what I think is an issue or problem. Then I listen to what they suggest before I make decrees. The results are often far better than I expect.

*New Oxford American Dictionary

 

Down Sides to Skip-Level Meetings

Down Sides to Skip-Level Meetings

balancing act cleaned up

In a prior post, I wrote about having skip-level meetings with team members and the benefits of doing so. Skip-level meetings mean I skip one or two management levels and meet directly with individuals on their teams. We talked about the benefits of doing skip-level meetings, now let’s talk about the down sides.

One down side to skip-level meetings is that my managers may feel like I am going around them or disrespecting their authority. Perhaps the manager is insecure in their management skills or position, or perhaps they don’t entirely trust me. Maybe both.

I acknowledge those concerns; they are valid. Having successful skip-level meetings is a delicate balance. I don’t want to disempower the manager. So I am careful when I talk with an individual they are clear on what I will – and will not do. This ensures the employee does not get mixed messages about who manages their day-to-day activities.

I will listen and consider what they are saying. I won’t take action without input from their manager.

There are delicate situations in which I have concerns about a manager. The skip-level meetings are a way for me to determine if those concerns are valid.

When there is an issue with a manager, it means I need to get more data points so that I can discuss the issue with the manager. Sometimes the issue is successfully resolved, sometimes it means parting ways. Having the manager leave is difficult but it is more difficult to keep him if he is having a negative impact on the team.

Sometimes there is an issue with an individual on the manager’s team. That’s the manager’s responsibility, and I totally step out of the manager’s way. Though I do follow up to make sure the issue is successfully resolved.

In a skip-level meeting with someone, if that individual has a suggestion or recommendation for a particular situation, a good one, I first encourage her to talk with her manager. If there is reluctance, I try to determine why because I prefer that the employee talk to her manager. At some point, I need to step away so I’m not getting in between the manager and his employee.

I’m not always successful at the stepping away part. I’m sure I’ve frustrated some of my managers when I don’t step away. Why don’t I step away? Sometimes I really want to see something changed due to a recommendation or insight from the person with whom I met. Sometimes, change needs to be encouraged. That’s when I don’t step away – when there is a reluctance to change.

The upsides to skip-level meetings out weight the downsides.

In the long run, I think the down sides to skip-level meetings are out weighed by the benefits. We are a management team and need to support each other. And skip-level meetings provide a crosscheck ensuring we are all seeing what needs to be seen as well as taking care of the issues in the organization.

Image: NL Shop. www.clipart.com/433789

Taking Time to Meet with Employees: Investment Opportunity 101

Taking Time to Meet with Employees: Investment Opportunity 101

Once one of my peers and I were commiserating about how our calendars were overflowing with meetings. I mentioned I was cutting down on meetings that didn’t have agendas and specific objectives because I wanted to make sure I had time to meet with my staff one on one. He looked at me oddly and very condescendingly replied, “I don’t have time to meet with my staff one on one. They should know what they are doing.”

His reply shocked me to say the least. Why? Because I don’t meet with my staff to tell them what to do or how to do their jobs. I meet with them to listen to them. To find out how things are going for them and what challenges they are having right now in their jobs.

Listening to people.

Smiling beautiful businesswoman in glasses talking to young businessman in meeting room

In our meetings, I make it clear that I am only there to listen. If they want me to do something or help them or give them feedback, they need to ask for that. I view these one on one meetings as an opportunity to provide support and mentoring to my employees. To meet them where they are.

When I meet with one of my managers, I hear about the morale of their team, the challenges their team is facing, the wins they’ve experienced. They talk through employee problems using me as a sounding board. When appropriate, I give suggestions or refer them to someone I think can give them better feedback or support than I can.

For me, these one on one meetings are the best investment I can make in their future – and my own. When you tell folks what to do instead of supporting them in figuring it out themselves, you are not supporting the value they bring to the table. And you are actually making your own job harder.  The conversations we have in our one on ones build bench strength and grow my staff members into their next role. And the best part? When my employees are successful, they make me shine.