Moving On Up:
Changing Your Approach at the Managerial Level
In this eBook, we’ll discuss how life on the productivity path will change for you once you step up to the hallowed halls of management.
When you do make the transition (and you will!), you'll find that while the basic principles that have guided your career thus far still apply, your approach to them must change. Things look somewhat different at the managerial level, and your duties and decisions are more encompassing than ever before. Therefore, to adapt properly to your new circumstances, you'll have to revamp your thinking somewhat.
In this book, I'll provide some pointers on how to:
• Manage others, not just yourself;
• Juggle multiple projects with many moving parts;
• Delegate tasks to maximize your efficiency;
• Follow up with your team members and keep them positively motivated—without micromanaging;
• Manage meetings, so they don't eat up your precious time; and
• Maintain a positive outlook that pervades your team and consistently helps you move forward.
Before I get started, I'd like to point out that it would be a mistake to consider any of these factors to be discrete items that can be addressed in a vacuum. They're all pieces of the same puzzle, and to be truly productive, you need to assemble them into a seamless whole that lights the path ahead. So don't be surprised to hear some of the same notes repeated in different sections of this presentation; when you do, you're hearing the unifying theme that underlies it all.
With that said, let's go!
When you step up to management, you're no longer on your own in terms of professional responsibility. Suddenly, a number of other people are looking to you for guidance, not just in terms of their job responsibilities and company policy but also, to some extent, on issues of morality and judgment. Worse, they're all doing it in their own inimitable styles, which you can't ignore.
Now, in any bookstore, you'll find dozens of books on how to be a good manager, and they'll vary according to what the author thinks "good" means. Given our limited venue here, let's boil it down to the sensible and straightforward: to be a good manager, at the very least you need to be honest, trustworthy, reliable, thoughtful, fair, patient, and responsible. Sounds kind of like the Boy Scout oath, doesn't it?
How you apply all these factors determines how you shape your team to maximize its productive capacity. As the leader, it's your privilege and responsibility, at least within certain broad guidelines, to tinker with your organization until you've got a lean, well-oiled machine that can help pull your company profitably into the future. So consider the structure of your team thoughtfully when you ascend to your position, and start building it toward your productivity goals. As appropriate, be willing to educate and train the people you have; and when you need to pick new members for the team, choose the best available people for the job.
You should always be an active leader, a motivator whom people can look up to and emulate. It's a big job, and here's where the honesty, trustworthiness, and reliability come into play: they all help you lead by example. Hone your interpersonal skills and learn to communicate better, so that you and your team members can more easily understand each other; and display your patience through a willingness to work with them and accommodate their personal styles (again, within certain broad guidelines). Always be evenhanded—favoritism is a productivity killer—and be willing to listen and act on complaints as necessary while maintaining a persistent level of positivity. (We'll come back to this later). Praise your best workers at every turn, and provide recognition in visible, obvious ways. A simple "Attaboy!" can work wonders, and so can a nice monetary bonus.
Mutual trust will also go a long way toward enhancing productivity in a team setting. To engender trust, you need to show trust in others. Be open in every way that you can. For example, it's your responsibility to share your job responsibilities, relinquishing them to others without excessive oversight (I'll talk more about this later, too). And always be willing to share your knowledge at all levels, whether that means mentoring employees one-on-one, offering constructive improvement strategies on either team or individual bases, or being punctual about passing on company news. The company's mission and vision, and the team's place within both, should also be communicated freely and openly.
While it does happen, it's unusual for any team to be dedicated to a single client or project, so you'll most likely find yourself with several to juggle. It's critical to stay highly organized when doing so, if only to decrease stress and make sure that things get done on time. As the manager, you absolutely must be aware of the big picture, at least within the context of your team; so your first step upon taking control should be to create and maintain a master list of your current projects, complete with project milestones and the resources (human and otherwise) devoted to them.
As with any to-do list, your next step is to prioritize. Sit down with your crew (and your superiors, as necessary), decide which projects are the most important, and turn the majority of your attention toward those. While you do have to keep track of everything you're juggling, some of those things are more like chainsaws or flaming torches than apples, so you have to give them more of your focus.
That said, always know the next major action for every project, and always be aware of your next deadline. In addition to keeping a general to-do list of all the projects in play, create a status file for each project. Microsoft Outlook includes excellent project-tracking features, but you can also use a spreadsheet program like Excel to track your projects. At the very least, include the timeline (start date, end date, and milestones), the personnel and resources dedicated to it, the budget, and the percentage of completion at any particular time. If it's a large project, it's a good idea to split it into sub-tasks, each with its own timeline. Create a schedule with ticklers to remind you of mileposts (again, easy to do with Outlook), and, if necessary, a checklist where you tick off items as they're completed.
Part of the art of juggling multiple projects is deciding which team members to assign to them. This is textbook delegation (see below), but never forget that it's your responsibility to coordinate the project overall. Do your best to communicate effectively and require consistent updates, but not so often that they interfere with productivity. That's textbook micromanaging.
On the client side (whether the client is your boss, an in-house consumer, an end user, or someone in a different company), never "go dark" on a project. When you proactively keep them apprised of your progress, not only does it help reassure them that they're not forgotten, it helps keep you and your team on track.
Modern business is built on delegation. Managers are intended to be facilitators and overseers; they're not supposed to do every little thing they're responsible for, which is a big change for those of us who've worked our way up from the lower echelons. It's easy to stay stuck in that self-reliant mode; but to really get things done, you have to share your authority. Otherwise, you're just hurting yourself and the company.
Delegation is simply the assignment of authority from one decision-making level to a lower one: that is, it gives someone else the power to do something that's nominally part of the manager's job. For reasons of budget and efficiency, delegation should always be pushed down to the lowest possible level.
Reasonable delegation transfers three things from manager to delegate:
• Responsibility. The delegate is provided with basic instructions and clear expectations that the job is theirs now, and it's up to them to get it done however they reasonably can. That may involve them delegating the task further down the line, as with the lieutenant who, when ordered to erect a flagpole, passed the task on to his sergeant (who sent it on down to the privates).
• Decision-Making Power. The delegate has the power to make decisions on how to do the job, per above, within certain well-communicated guidelines determined by budgetary constraints, schedules or timelines, available resources, and other applicable boundaries.
• Accountability. Finally, the delegate must answer for his or her performance, receiving the commensurate penalties or rewards as applicable.
Despite some belief to the contrary, delegation is not simply task assignment, which involves assigning work within the normal duties and responsibility of a particular position. For example, asking a secretary to make photocopies for you isn't delegation, whereas appointing someone to run a division would be. Nor should delegation involve the dumping of unpleasant tasks that you just don't want to do. That can kill productivity in a hurry, especially if you're dumping tasks that rightly belong to you—reporting to an unpleasant boss, for example.
Delegation offers significant benefits at all levels. It benefits you, the manager, because it reduces stress, makes your job easier, and lets you focus on your most important (e.g., profitable) tasks. Benefits to your team members include growth opportunities, and (ideally) a boost to self-esteem, confidence, and morale that can power a sense of engagement and empowerment that leads to greater productivity. Delegated duties can also train an individual in decision making, and help them clarify their sense of accountability. Inevitably, these factors enhance the team member's value to the organization.
So not only does the process of delegation tend to save money—by pushing responsibility down to the appropriate level of the team hierarchy, where it can be handled on the most cost-effective basis—it also promotes teamwork and maximizes professionalism. All these things translate into increased productivity.
While delegating authority to your team members is crucial, things can easily go awry if you don't make a sincere effort to keep track of what they're doing. Some employees just need a push in the right direction, and they'll keep going until you tell them to stop. Others need more direct encouragement.
As I mentioned above, you need to communicate clearly with your delegates at all stages and levels. Check in at least once a week, but don't overdo the oversight lest you venture into the mire of micromanaging. Emphasize to your team that you're keeping track not due to a lack of trust, but because a reasonable level of oversight is necessary and prudent. You need to be there to offer help, as necessary, and so they don't feel forgotten or lost at sea; and of course, your own job responsibilities require it. You needn't point it out directly, but the truth is that their performance is ultimately your responsibility, and you'll have to answer for it to your own manager(s) if they don't get their jobs done.
Some managers get so busy that they forget to follow up, which is where the project status file I mentioned in the "Juggling Multiple Projects" section really comes in handy. That tickler system to remind you of the project mileposts can also be set to remind you to check in with your team members. Alternately, you can use a system of recurring reports and/or meetings, as long as there aren't too many. That would negatively impact productivity, and again veer too close to the micromanaging.
Avoid micromanaging at all costs. It can be the death of an organization, because it stresses everyone out, destroys trust, and stifles the kind of individual initiative that drives innovation and morale. So remember: while a hands-on attitude and close attention to detail are laudable, they're damaging when taken to extremes. If you apply them too rigorously to the oversight of your management team, they'll strangle progress and hurt productivity, as sure as summer follows spring.
Instead, embrace positive motivation: get to know your team members, offer interesting job perks, provide the tools and resources they need to grow, and reward creativity. If you work to build team spirit and recognize accomplishments, then solicit feedback and actually act on it, productivity can soar.
Meetings are inevitable in the business environment, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. They offer excellent venues for delivering news, handing out and tracking assignments, and presenting praise and rewards (criticism should be limited to private discussions). On the other hand, they can also be notorious time wasters when wielded improperly.
In order to conserve your limited resources, your meetings must be brief, to the point, and productive, in the sense that they move work forward. They mustn't drag on, become social events, or take your team members away from their work for long. Don't bother with any meeting that lacks an easily articulated purpose, a specific agenda, and a timeframe with definite start and end times.
Before calling a meeting, you should have a clear understanding of the meeting's goals, inviting only those who can contribute in some way or otherwise need to be present. Plan ahead: give yourself and your attendees sufficient notice to put the meeting on the schedules, solicit agenda items, and pull together any necessary tools (such as handouts and audiovisual aids). Start the meeting on time, and stay focused so that you don't wander off on tangents. If you must, appoint a topic keeper to gently keep you from straying. It's a good idea to use a checklist to work your way down the agenda, especially if the meeting covers more than a few points. If you think it's necessary, have someone keep notes, and compile them for later distribution to the attendees.
To keep from wasting time, don't wait to start a meeting so that others can get there, and don't review what's already been discussed for stragglers. Catch them up offline instead.
When you ascend to management, you acquire an awesome and subtle power: the ability to shape the professional outlook of your entire team. Whether you like it or not, your subordinates will look to you for guidance in this as much as anything else. Individual personalities and attitudes will color what they see and absorb, of course, but your influence will always be significant in this regard.
For good or ill, the workplace is, to some extent, like a grown-up game of Follow the Leader.
Therefore it behooves you, as the Leader, to initiate and maintain a positive, problem-solving approach in everything you do. You must be willing to face the world with a can-do attitude, one that doesn't shirk from the challenges that you and your people face. This kind of outlook really does rub off on people, improving morale and motivation and reducing stress all around. Positivism is simply healthier, more energizing, and more attractive than negativism.
Aside from being upbeat and proactive, one way to remain relentlessly positive is to institute a "no complaining" rule in your organization, especially on your part. Avoid derogatory talk and, insofar as possible, all other forms of negativity. Make it clear to your people that complaints will be heard only if they're brought to the attention of the proper person, and only if accompanied with a possible solution. Simply spouting off to co-workers can't be tolerated, because it's damaging rather than helpful.
This may sound rather autocratic, but to some extent a manager is an autocrat, and let's be honest here: while constructive criticism can be useful, plain old bellyaching just lowers morale, causes conflict, and skyrockets stress. All these are costly: by some estimates, negativity costs American businesses up to $250 billion per year due to lost work time, because a high percentage of doctor visits are stress-related.
Instead of stewing over your problems, turn them around—and teach your people to do the same. While the cynical often consider the entire concept to be hopelessly naïve, it really does help to reinterpret problems as challenges that offer opportunities to improve your team. It's always better to be positive whenever possible, because being negative just adds to the problem rather than contributing to the solution.
Of course, when someone fouls up, as people inevitable do, you can’t sweep it under the rug. Recognize the mistake, but emphasize (to yourself and anyone who asks) the contributions of the individual making it. Recognize too that any mistake, properly framed, contributes to their knowledge and experience. Reacting positively builds their strength, self-esteem, and self-confidence rather than undercutting them, as a negative response would. They'll not only try harder if they know they have your support, they'll also be more loyal, enthusiastic, motivated, and helpful, and more willing to work toward your vision and the company's.
The process of ascending to management can seem to cast you adrift in a whole new world, where responsibilities, liabilities, and expectations are different (whether subtly or entirely) from what you've come to expect. What you do matters more than it ever has, with repercussions that go well beyond your personal sphere. That being the case, you not only have to step up to the plate and give it your all, you have to retune your way of thinking to mesh more effectively with your new reality. If you take note of the guidelines I've outlined here, it'll be a lot easier for you to follow your new managerial path toward success -- right up to the C-Suite, if you like.
To hire Laura Stack to speak at your next meeting or event, please contact:
Laura Stack, MBA, CSP
The Productivity Pro®, Inc.
Laura@TheProductivityPro.com
www.TheProductivityPro.com
303-471-7401