They Don't Teach Corporate in College (50 page)

Earlier in this chapter, I suggested how to set a precedent for good communication. Keeping the lines open through time, however, is more challenging than you think. When you're a busy manager, the tendency is to stop talking to your employee. You're tied up with your own assignments, and you expect your employee to be off and running with his. After you provide initial direction on a task, you assume that he knows what he's doing. You don't check in with him, and you don't ask him to check in with you.

As time goes by and your employee doesn't see you for a while, he begins to perceive you as unapproachable. He is working in a vacuum, and it's anyone's guess whether or not his performance is actually on target. In the absence of feedback from his manager, he might feel confused or demotivated. Pretty soon, he might stop making meaningful contributions to the team, and his career growth will slam to a screeching halt.

Don't get me wrong: Communication breakdowns are not always the manager's fault. Some employees are notoriously closemouthed and will refrain from volunteering any information about their work. Others will give you data that you don't need. For the sake of group performance, you must solicit timely and relevant feedback from your employee. Set up weekly or biweekly meetings with him to discuss the status of his projects and to provide guidance on issues he may be facing. Consulting firm BlessingWhite recommends asking targeted questions during these meetings to draw your employee out, and to encourage informative responses:

Factual Questions:
These questions should be asked when you are looking for specific data or statistics. Because these questions are straightforward, have a reason for asking them and don't make your inquiry sound like an interrogation. “In order for me to get an accurate picture of our team's productivity, how many reports did you complete last month?”

Value Questions:
These questions should be asked to find out how your employee thinks or feels about a particular issue. They help you understand your employee's point of view and determine areas that might need further exploration. “What do you think about having two primary account managers instead of one?”

Open Questions:
These questions begin with a
what, when, where, why
, or
how
. They cannot be answered with a yes or a no. These questions allow for the greatest range of responses and provide the greatest opportunity for your employee to express his ideas freely. “Why did you bill the client for hours you spent at the training seminar?”

Closed Questions:
These questions can be answered with a yes or a no. They allow you to ask for more specific information and narrow the range of responses, which can help keep the discussion on track and moving forward. “Did you bill the client for the hours you spent at the training seminar?”

Finally, let your employee know that you are always there for him. Make it clear that you have an open-door policy, and if he comes by your office and you don't have time to chat, try to set aside time that day, if possible. Remember that the younger your employees are, the more sensitive they tend to be, so be gentle with your criticism. Take advantage of every opportunity to mentor your employee, and allow him to benefit from your experience. Touch base with him often—always graciously—and he will feel comfortable coming to you. I think you'll find that when you are proactive about establishing a pattern of open communication, information exchange is easy, and your team is happier and more productive.

As an employee, I suffered from a certain curse: My strong work ethic compelled me to do the best job possible on every assignment—even if it was the worst assignment possible. However, some of the people in my group were particularly lazy when it came to the work no one wanted to do. After my boss got burned a few times, she started giving all the unpleasant tasks to me because she knew I would get them done. I was actually being punished for my performance, and it felt horrible. Now, as a manager, I remember that this is no way to treat people I want to keep around. All of the work is doled out equally, but the more appealing tasks are used to
reward hardworking employees. My strongest people feel appreciated—and the others are motivated to do better so that they, too, can get the favorable assignments.

Susan, 28, Texas

J. Richard Hackman, author of
Leading Teams
, defines a team as a set of people who view themselves as members of the same group and who share accountability toward some outcome. As a team manager, you are responsible for ensuring that your employees understand the purpose of the group and how to leverage their own expertise to achieve the group's objectives. Previously, I talked about supervising teams in the context of project management. Your mission is raised a level when you are chosen to manage a team permanently, and when your employees rely on you for total job direction rather than individual project direction. Hackman offers the following recommendations for negotiating the team terrain:

Maintain a stable group. People need to be on the team long enough to know how to work well together.

Communicate a clear direction, while giving the team freedom to figure out how best to accomplish the group's objectives.

Support your team by sharing information often, making training readily available, and by providing consistent rewards.

Prevent organizational roadblocks by collaborating with senior executives to make sure that the right conditions are in place.

In my experience, leaders must keep in mind a few additional guidelines to effectively manage a team. First, you must treat team members equally. This might sound like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how easy it is to play favorites or choose to spend more time with certain individuals. After all, some of your employees will have working styles or personalities similar to yours, so you'll find it easier to coach and delegate projects to them. However, because your employees will talk to each other, make a concerted effort to share workload, information, and kudos across the board. Also, don't take advantage of the can-do people in your group by giving them twice as much work as everyone else. If some employees aren't pulling their weight, address the issue with each person individually rather than relying on the others to carry them along. And if you're going to reward a certain team member with a raise, a comp day, or a special privilege, do it discreetly so that you don't arouse resentment within the group.