The Rules Of Management (Pioneer Panel's Library) (5 page)

Taking the blame does generate loads of loyalty, but so too does giving the team the credit. Say it loudly, in public, sincerely, but do say it. And don’t do it tongue in cheek with “My team did it,” as if you are giving it credit but making sure everyone knows who really was responsible. The implication that it is your team isn’t necessary. Everyone knows it is your team so there is no need to mention it, ever. It is OK to say, “It did a great job; it is a fantastic team. I’m incredibly lucky to have it.” This implies you had nothing to do with it, and yet everyone knows it is your team and you are its leader, so the team will love you, and everyone else will think you incredibly humble and self-effacing. Well done you.

Again, all this takes courage and a lot of self-confidence, I know. You work hard, and it doesn’t seem fair to give the credit away. I know that you really want to stand up and shout, “Look, it was me, I did this, all by myself, OK?” But you can’t.

You see, you didn’t do it all by yourself, no matter how much you might believe that. If you are selling, then it is the team that built the product you are selling. Without that team you would have nothing to sell. Tell the team that selling the product was a breeze because it had done such a good job. It will glow with pride and redouble its efforts.

If your team is a tool you use to get greater glory for little ol’ you, then the resources your team uses are the tools it needs to carry it—and thus you—onward and forward. Too many managers think that by cutting their team’s resources they are earning some sort of brownie points to be stored up—and used in what? Heaven? I don’t think so. You have to get the best resources for your team. By depriving the team you are depriving it also of the chance to shine, to propel you to greater glory.

I know of a lot of managers who say, “Oh, they can manage for a few more years with Windows Vista.” Or “They’d probably just play games all day with a new iPhone; I can save a buck or two if I hold off for a bit.” I have even heard, “I try to keep a short rein on what they need in case it gets out of hand.”

For heaven’s sake. Get your team the best, the very, very best, and then let it get on with its job—which is to make you look good.

If your people need technology—get it for them even if you have to move heaven and earth. If they need more staff, paper stuff, bigger and better machines, higher quality tools—go get ’em. Whatever it is they need to get their job done slicker, quicker, better, bigger, faster, more productively, cheaper, whatever—go get it. If you have to argue, sweat blood, plead, beg, or bust a budget or two—do it. Do it now.

You simply can’t expect your team to a) give of their best or b) be motivated, if you fail them. They will talk to other people you know: colleagues in the same organization, friends in other organizations. They will know when they are being short-changed and they will resent it, resent you, and work less effectively. As a result, you will fail to shine.
Ipso facto
—go get them the best you can.

I find an excuse every day to reward my staff with a little something—a modest celebration for a result no matter how small, how trivial it seems. If you do the same, you’ll have a motivated staff who have a habit of celebrating every success. And that’s so important.

And the rewards? Tiny. A box of doughnuts. Extra froth on their cappuccinos. A chance to go outside and sit in the sun.

Sometimes I declare today a special day because we just got such and such a result, and then I take them out to lunch, let them take time off, let them tell me their worst jokes—never all at the same time, mind.

And, occasionally, I declare such a special day even if we fail to win an order. I reward mistakes, screw-ups, failures, accidents. Why? Well, they’ve all done their best, given their all, and sweated blood. Why shouldn’t I reward them? Just because we failed doesn’t mean we didn’t strive. I am rewarding the effort. I am celebrating all that we did right—effort, struggle, determination, teamwork, drive, and good honest labor.

Don’t just celebrate the big wins; celebrate all the little ones as well—obviously with smaller celebrations, but celebrations of some sort nevertheless. Hey, any excuse to go and get a coffee. And a bag of doughnuts (or apples if they like). What does that cost you? Very little, but the warm feeling it generates far exceeds any cost.

Now why would you want to do this, unless you’re up to no good? No, quite the reverse in fact. The better a manager you are, the more information you need to keep. Why? Two reasons.

First, consistency. You need to keep everything because you will need to check back from time to time. The question, “Now how did I do this before?” will crop up constantly. Your team needs you to be consistent, and you can’t be that if you don’t remember what you did last time.

If Jim won that big contract last time and you gave him a catered lunch and then Terri pulls off a similar deal and you take her out for coffee and a bagel, chances are she’s not going to be happy and next time won’t give you her very best. So write it down and check back. Similarly if you tell Client X that they are getting the same deal as Client Y, and then they discover that’s not true, they will probably take their business elsewhere. Be consistent.

Second, proof. Being a good manager, a damn good manager, may open you up to jealousy, resentment, and distrust. Not everybody is as upfront as you.

If your team is giving you 110 percent and someone else’s is only giving them 60 percent because they are a bad manager, the chances are they will think you’re up to something rather than looking at their own poor mismanagement skills. It just
might be useful to show where successful projects originated, or that you did everything you said you would.

Decisions have to be taken, memos sent, emails written, and reports presented. Just keep a record of everything. All emails should be saved: this is no big deal because computer storage is so immense these days that if all the emails ever sent were saved, it would still only fill a cyber-tea cup.

When you are running a team, you are dealing with people. And sometimes they take it into their heads to rub each other the wrong way. Why? Who knows. They just do. They encroach on each other’s space, eat each other’s lunches, take each other’s parking spaces. Who starts it? Who knows. Can you let it go on? The hell you can. It has to be nipped in the bud.

You have to be sensitive to friction almost before it begins—and do something about it. There is no point letting it go on for a day longer than it needs to. But to do this you really do need to be on the ball. You have to know your team very well indeed to spot those first early warning signs.

If you don’t nip it in the bud, it will grow into a monster. From tiny nit-picking you’ll end up with a full-scale war, with the rest of the team taking sides.

What to look out for? Silences when there shouldn’t be. Odd complaints, “I wish Clare would stop nagging to me so much.” Grumblings and bitchy gossip. Fierce competitiveness where there doesn’t need to be any. Sudden appearance of demarcation lines, such as potted plants to desk screens. Books or computers on desks being used to screen or shield people. People being left out of social invites. People being left out of office humor.

I’m sure you know as much about this as I do and keep your eyes open and your ear to the ground. The secret is stopping it before it gets too bad. Here you have to be diplomat, parent, politician, and referee.

You mustn’t be seen to be taking sides. You must be seen to be taking swift and resolute action, making it clear that feuding won’t be tolerated. Call them in. Reason with them. Separate them. Swap their shifts. Keep them apart. Make them work together as a partnership. There are a whole lot of things you can do, and I’m sure you’ll pick the right one at the right time for the right situation.

Creating a good atmosphere isn’t only easy but also essential. If your staff are sullen and despondent and depressed and surly—it shows. It shows in their work, the way they handle customers and colleagues, the way they relate to each other, and most important the way they work with you and for you.

It takes nothing to say good morning politely and mean it. It isn’t a chore to make sure everyone has got coffee or tea for a meeting. It takes a second to ask, “How are you today?” The three rules for any workplace are

• Politeness

• Friendliness

• Kindness

Yep, we’ve all known the bosses who shout and are rude and belligerent, but, like the dinosaurs, they are a dying breed, and we can move on. People are entitled to

• Respect

• Civilized behavior

• Dignity

If you can’t give them these things you shouldn’t be a manager. But I’m sure you can. Creating a good atmosphere is easy. It comes from the top down. It is your job and your responsibility to be cheerful, considerate, polite, and helpful. Your people are one of your most important resources—your tools,
your weapons of mass achievement. Without them you are nothing. With them you are a team. Use them kindly and don’t abuse them. Be genuinely interested in them and their lives. If you don’t have time—make time.

I guess the word I am looking for is courtesy. An old-fashioned concept, I’ll grant you, but one that gets mountains moved, doors opened, and staff working shifts they would normally have refused to do.

If you work together, chances are you are seeing more of your team than you are of your family. And your team is seeing more of you than of their families. If this is the case you had better all get along. Now you don’t have to love each other, but you do have to be a family. And the best way to do that is to inspire loyalty and create a team spirit. You, as the manager, have to be the head of the family.

You have to be respected, looked up to, trusted, and relied upon. Tall order. Strong stuff. Can you do all that? Course you can. All you have to do is

• Reward them

• Praise them

• Be kind to them

• Trust them

• Inspire them

• Lead them

• Motivate them

• Grow them

• Genuinely care about them

These are the kinds of things that are easier to say than to do, and there’s a temptation for you to skip down the list saying “Yes, yes, I do that.” Now take a minute and go back and really think about each one. Do you
really
do that? Could you do it better? Are you absolutely sure you
think
you do it, but perhaps don’t actually do it? What people think they do and what they actually do can be very different indeed. Find somebody
you can ask for honest feedback. Ideally one of your team—if not, somebody who sees you with your team. What do they say you do?

I once worked in competition with another company. One of that manager’s team lived with one of my team. She told John, my team member, all her boss’s plans, figures, results, future promotions, and so on, and I was able to beat him every time. Now why didn’t she pass on all my stuff to her boss, seeing as she obviously discussed work with John? Simple. She didn’t like her manager. And that was his fault entirely. He was rude to his staff, abusive, uncooperative, and unkind. Was I a soft touch? No way. I was strict and businesslike, but I treated my team with respect. I didn’t have to do much because my competitor was doing enough wrong to make me look good.

You have a computer I take it? OK, it crashes from time to time—that’s a given. You have a car. It breaks down from time to time—that, too, is a given. Now you don’t eye either of these warily, expecting them to let you down, watching them like a hawk in case they show any sign of breaking down, do you? No, of course not. So stop watching your staff like that. They are a tool to getting a job done. They will break down, crash, whatever, from time to time, but we accept their limitations—
Rule 13
—and we allow them to make mistakes—
Rule 12
—and we accept that we aren’t managing them but their processes instead.

And if you can make that move to trusting your staff, you must show them that you are doing exactly that. Trust not only has to be done, but it also has to be seen to be done. Sometimes you’ll have to make a big show of really leaving them alone to get on with it.

You show them that you trust them by backing off, leaving them alone to get on with the job. Stop peering over their shoulders, checking every few moments, looking up nervously every time they move or cough or get up. Relax and let them get on with it. You can still ask them to report back at the end of the day/week and encourage them to come to you to discuss any problems. Just make it clear you trust them to do it, and you are always there if they need support or guidance.

But, I hear you say, what if I really don’t trust them? What if I know they’re a lazy, good-for-nothing, shiftless bunch of liberty takers? What if, indeed? Whose team is it? Who employed, trained, kept such a bunch of monkeys?

Sorry, bit harsh, but sometimes we need to face the reality. If you can’t trust your team, you need to look to your own management skills—or keep reading. A good team leader (that’s you) has a good team following them. If the team is faulty, then the leadership has to be challenged—that’s not going to be you. If the team is right, you can trust them. If the team really can’t be trusted (and are you sure about that?) then it needs to be changed.