FAQ

Remember the old rule when it comes to school teachers? Start off very strict and then, after the students come to expect, accept, and adapt to the strict regime, you can relax a bit. As long as the students continue to act like they are still in the strict regime, you don’t have to be quite as strict.

The same basic rule applies to managing employees, but you have to do it one person at a time.

If you start out very hands on, you’ll figure out just how closely the person needs to be managed and you can calibrate your approach accordingly. As well, you’ll make it clear right at the outset that your expectations are high and that you are willing and able to manage very closely. So start out very hands on: Meet with the employee every day. Break goals down into lists of concrete action steps with lots of guidelines and very short deadlines. And then, as the employee delivers on those expectations, you can gradually back off. If the employee keeps delivering, back off some more. But don’t back off too much. Keep meeting regularly to review priorities, clarify expectations, and to monitor, measure and document that person’s performance.

If the employee’s performance falters in any way, tighten the reins for a while. Be much more hands on. If the employee slows down, be more hands on. If the employee starts missing details, be more hands on. If there is some behavior problem, be more hands on. And by the way, the same goes for any major change that is not related to a diminution of the employee’s performance: If there is a big change in circumstances, be more hands on. If the employee has a change in role, new tasks or responsibilities, a new project, be more hands. Be more hands on until you have things under control, until the employee is acting like he is in a strict regime. Then you can back off again.

***

The obvious corollary here is this: What about training? Shouldn’t we be able to train employees thoroughly at the outset of their employment and then expect them to do their jobs properly? Think about the Marine Corps. They put their new employees through an eleven week boot camp. But after that, they still manage them very, very closely. Do you have an eleven week training program to tear down and rebuild your new employees? Just how thorough and rigorous is your initial training? Even if it is thorough and rigorous, you cannot simply train a new employee and then assume that he will do all the work very well very fast all day long. You have to keep managing that person. In that sense, you could say that there is little difference between good management and ongoing training. You cannot simply train an employee once at the outset of a job and assume he has all the tools and techniques he needs to do the job properly. You have to talk with the employee about his work on an ongoing basis: Talk through tasks step by step, spell out expectations, and go over standard operating procedures. Then you have to monitor his actual work performance to see that he gets it right. Reinforce him when he gets it right and correct him when he gets it wrong. If he keeps getting it wrong, break it down into smaller pieces and spell it out more clearly… over and over again. If he keeps getting it right, take a step back, give him some more space to make decisions and take action on his own. Keep monitoring his performance to see that he continues making the right decisions and taking the right actions. If he does, reinforce and reward him accordingly. Perhaps he is ready for expanded tasks and responsibilities.

First, let me promise you this: Most employees require more management time than you think and most require much more management time than you might wish to spend. Some employees need to be coached into their roles every step of the way.

Second, here is some good news: Most employees require more of your management time in the early stages of a job and less over time. Most require more management time in the early stages of a new task, responsibility, project, or role, and then less over time. This is how employee development actually plays out. If you provide a lot of direction, guidance, feedback, and support, hammering away at expectations and standard operating procedures and best practices, employees learn and improve. They grow. They get better at their jobs. They get better at managing themselves. They get better at being managed by you. And thus, they usually require less time over time. But this only works if you put in the time, up front, over time, to build that person up. (As I’ve said a bunch of times, this is what I call “real empowerment”!)

Third, with every individual, you have figure out just how closely the person needs to be managed and you can calibrate your approach accordingly. Some people, you will discover, require a huge amount of management time in order to succeed. And with some people, the amount of time necessary does not diminish much. Hands-off managers sometimes mistake these employees as incessant low performers. Hands-on managers usually discover that these employees can and will do good work, but only with constant coaching and assistance.

So when is it too much? That is a business decision you have to make for yourself. Is this employee much less able and skilled and motivated than other employees you could hire for this job from your available labor pool? Are you sure? Or is it the case that, if you replace the employee, the labor pool available to you for this job is likely to yield a similar employee? Sometimes the punch line is this: Given your available labor and given this particular job, the only way you are going to get high performance consistently is if you commit to very high intensity management---twice, three times, four times a day. Sometimes the punch line is this: No way! I’m paying this person too much and this job is too high level to justify the kind of management time this person requires.

In my view, everybody needs to be managed. Even CEOs need to be managed by boards of directors. But of course, one of your primary goals should be to help your employees grow and develop and become more self managing. How? By managing the employee very, very well.

By managing the employee very, very well, you are demonstrating the same methods he’ll have to apply when it comes to managing himself. You are demonstrating that self-management involves a constant accounting: What is expected of me? How is my performance measuring up to those expectations? What can I do to improve? What do I need to revise and adjust? Constantly clarify priorities; clarify expectations; clarify plans; clarify action steps; clarify timelines.

Second, by managing the employee very, very well, you should be teaching the employee what to do and how to do it. On a whole range of tasks, the employee should be learning through sheer repetition: The employee should be learning guidelines, specifications, and standard operating procedures.

Third, by managing the employee very, very well, you and the employee are likely to be creating tools (like checklists) that should help the employee become more self-managing.

Fourth, by managing the employee very, very well, you should be gradually expanding the employee’s scope of responsibility. This means bigger goals or bigger constellations of goals. This means longer deadlines. This means you are stepping back, meeting every other day instead of daily; meeting once a week instead of every other day.

Fifth, by managing the employee very, very well, you should be teaching the employee great work habits like these:

• Start every endeavor with clear goals. Before you invest your time and energy in anything at all, clarify exactly what it is you are trying to accomplish.
• Deadlines are the key to making a plan of action and managing your time effectively. The trick is to use deadlines every step of the way. Break up larger goals and deadlines into smaller pieces---intermediate goals and deadlines.
• Break intermediate goals and deadlines into lists of concrete actions (this is the classic to-do list). As you tackle each concrete action and move toward each intermediate goal and deadline, you can monitor your effectiveness along the way. If you find yourself off schedule, you know you need to reassess: Are you taking the concrete actions you’ve planned? Are they taking longer than you thought? Or are you running across unexpected obstacles? Do you need to revise the plan? Or do you need to change something about your work habits?
• Take action and keep moving forward. Every concrete action can be broken down into minute components and each minute component is, itself, a concrete action. Sometimes when you get bogged down in the feeling that you are “not getting anything done,” this is a very helpful reality check and it can get you focused and back on track. If you break every task into its minute components and start tackling them one at a time, you will start moving forward.
• Use time wisely. There are 168 hours in a week. How do you use them? There are 1,440 minutes in a day. How do you use them? Keep track of your time and use it with purpose.
• Be high quality. You are what you write, say, create, and do (in no particular order):
  - Think before you speak (and rehearse).
  - Outline before you write (and always do second and third drafts).
  - Plan before you take action.
  - Double- and triple- and quadruple-check anything and everything you do.
• Be full of integrity. If your boss (or customer) of the day wants you to lie, cheat, steal, or harm others, don't do it. Quit if necessary. Blow the whistle if you think it's appropriate. No matter what, don't get involved in unethical dealings. It's not worth any price. Be honest and honest people will gravitate toward you. But, let's face it, that's the easy part. I mean, how much judgment or effort is really required to reject downright dishonesty and corruption? The hard part is when integrity requires more than sitting on a high horse in judgment of others. Real integrity requires proactive behavior: Breaking your back to deliver, if necessary, when people are counting on you; helping others, even when nobody is there to give you credit; intervening when others are being treated unfairly; and speaking out loud for unpopular causes (if you believe in them).
• Be flexible enough to go, on any given day, from one boss to another; from one team to another; from one organization to another; from one set of tasks to another. At any given time, you may be balancing three part-time "jobs" or moving from one short-term project to another or working a day job and starting your own business or doing all of those things and going to school at the same time. To move seamlessly between and among these different spheres every day, you need to be as adaptable as a chameleon.
• Be one of the few people who is willing to do whatever is needed, whenever it's needed, whether it is something you already know how to do or not, whether it is supposed to be "your job" or not, whether it is something you love to do or something you are going to have to just tolerate for a few weeks or months.
• Be good at evaluating context. No matter who you are, what you want to achieve, or how you want to be, your role in any given situation is determined---in part---by factors that have nothing to do with you, per se. These are pre-existing factors, independent factors, factors that would be present even if you were not. Before you can figure out where you fit, you need to get a handle on the other pieces of the puzzle. Ask yourself: Where am I (what is this place)? What is going on here (what is the mission of the group)? Why is everybody here (what is at stake for the group and for each person in the group)? When did they all get here (not just today, but in the overall context)? Who are all these people (what role does each person play)? How are they accustomed to doing things around here (what is standard operating procedure)? Now ask yourself where you fit in this picture. Why am I here? What is at stake for me? When did I get here? What is my appropriate role in relation to the other people in the group? What is my appropriate role in relation to the mission? Who am I in this context? Always play your role very, very well before you try to build on it.

Sixth, no matter how good your employee gets at managing himself, remember, he still needs you. If not, then you shouldn’t be his boss anymore.