The Manager/Direct Report Disconnect

Here is a quick challenge for you:

1) Pick a specific role in your company, like "marketing assistant"

2) Go to the manager of the marketing assistant(s) and ask what top skills/talents are required for the marketing assistant role

3) Go directly to one of the marketing assistants and ask what top skills/talents are required for the marketing assistant role

4) Compare answers

From my experience, the answers you receive in step 2 and 3 are different, and sometimes completely opposite. This disparage means that the manager's perception of the position is different than the reality of the position...which is a big problem. High performance is impossible to achieve when the manager and direct report are not even on the same page about the demands of the job role.
 
(Though not always) the person IN the position usually has the most accurate understanding of what is required to perform the job well. Many managers, in contrast, have never actually performed the role that they are managing. Thus, the manager's understanding of the role and what it requires is, oftentimes, an inaccurate one. Yet it is that faulty perception that the manager uses to train, judge performance, and measure success. The result is a direct report who feels he must do one thing to get the job done and another thing simply to please the manager.
 
I have seen this problem persist for years within a company before being fixed -- or even identified! A particular role is notorious for a poor supervisor/direct-report relationship or plagued with high turnover, but no one knows how to get at the root of the problem...and therefore, nothing changes.

The good news is that identifying the in-congruence between the manager and job performer is actually quite simple. In our company, we use a 20-minute assessment* to quickly and reliably diagnose the problems and craft a tailored solution. Who knew that years of poor performance could be pinpointed in 20 minutes? Well worth the time, isn't it?

*If you would you like to read more about the assessment mentioned, visit: www.preparingforlaunch.com/BusinessSolutions.html

Giving Others What They Need

One Saturday afternoon I was washing dishes in our kitchen. Our lawn mower stopped working a few days prior, and my husband was in the garage diligently tinkering with the machine.

A brief side note...
My husband -- in terms of instinctual talents -- is referred to as a "high implementor." That means he actually likes when something breaks around the house, because he naturally engages in hands-on, fix-it type tasks. Then there is me. If I attempt to fix a leaky faucet (and I wouldn't do so without coercion), I end up creating an in-house river. In instinctual terms, I am a "low implementor." My talent lies in visualizing solutions...not in actually building them.

So I was scrubbing a pot when Ethan treads up the basement stairs to announce, "Honey! I fixed the lawn mower!" With that mere statement, my low implementor needs were met. I got it; the lawn mower now works...great! For me, the communication process was successful. Another item taken off the checklist for the day; time to move on.

My back was turned, but I could sense that Ethan was still standing at the top of the stairs. I turned around to find him motioning for me to follow him downstairs. Knowing my husband, I knew what was coming next. Though it was instinctually unnecessary for me, I knew that Ethan needed to physically show me his work. Simply communicating that something was accomplished didn't satisfy his innate need to demonstrate the success. So I pulled off my dishwashing gloves and followed him into the garage. I tried very hard to seem interested as he pulled off the cap to the mower engine and pointed to his fixes.

Clearly, Ethan and I are wired very differently. And that hardwiring determines how we communicate. I talk about ideas without ever touching an object or building a model. Ethan, on the other hand, must have a visual tool, a concrete demonstration of his thoughts. When we work independently, we draw on our own instincts. But when we work together, we must be tolerant of each others' method. Over time, I learned to give Ethan what he needs to feel successful, and vice versa. As in my story above, I didn't need to have a visual explanation of the fixed lawn mower, but Ethan did. So participating in his 3-minute demonstration was well worth it.

Though marriage is not a business, many of the principles that apply to your marriage also apply to your relationship with employees. Are you giving others what they need to be successful? Do you recognize that your employees may have a different method for communicating and solving problems? Do you automatically move on when your needs are met, regardless of whether or not your team's needs are met?

Oftentimes, it takes an act as small as walking down the basement stairs to view a fixed lawn mower to boost team morale and give others what they need to be successful.

Leading Reason Employees Leave

I recently came across a book by Leigh Branham entitled 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave. The "provocation" of the book is that money is often not a key factor in employee resignation, as often assumed.

So why do employees quit their jobs? Reason #2, according to Branham, is a mismatch between the person and the job. Her conclusion is based on striking research that shows "80% of workers feel they are not being allowed to use their strengths on a daily basis, [and] too many managers lack the passion for getting the right people into the right jobs."*

Wow -- that is an incredibly significant insight into the culture of American business. 

Let's take a moment to dissect Branham's conclusion, because there are two critical and distinct components:

Part One: Workers feel they are not being allowed to use their strengths on a daily basis.

Notice this statement does not say that workers lack the necessary strengths to be successful. Rather, the statement's basic premise is that workers have strengths, yet those natural talents are being restricted, misunderstood, punished, or ignored. The more I think about this concept, the more absurd it gets. The strengths, the raw talents, are already there. But no one is tapping into them, and management may even be (knowingly or unknowingly) deterring their use. 

Part Two: Too many managers lack the passion for getting the right people into the right jobs.

My first thought is "Why?"

Lydia Morris Brown, a reviewer of Branham's book, summarizes the explanation: "For some managers, helping employees grow and use their talents is not a high priority and, for others, they are so rushed to hire that they just hire warm bodies."* To me, there are two solutions to derive from that explanation. First, managers need to adjust their priorities, placing employee growth and maximization of natural talent at the top. Second, the hiring process needs to slow down, so better--as opposed to faster--hiring decisions are made. 

What does this mean for you?

If you've experienced any employee turnover, whether one person or one hundred, it is critical that you examine the circumstances of each employee's resignation against these factors. What you may have thought was an isolated situation or unconnected instances, may actually be the result of ingrained organizational culture that is driving out talent from your company.

*http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:A_z0_BwHDG4J:www.keepingthepeople.com/pdfs/7HiddenReasons_BBR_Full_Review.pdf+top+reasons+why+employees+leave&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjCgt5kS7DeKgWVmFvOY4WQdKeyq28S09ztfmordwb0tcHGqrZW-7vaSGMccTlC90vPQyUs42n1f91ohlMtoWHZp1iAk6vzONN5NIRj49k15kTi3GZD09gtDwC_nB2iHdpi3ZBr&sig=AHIEtbTIhRN2YxJ6fNUieWdhcRJrOpOeIA

Hammer vs. Pick Up Truck

A colleague of mine, Stephen Semple, once shared this illustration with me:

"Which is better: a hammer or a pick up truck? Well, it depends if you want to haul wood or drive nails. You can haul wood with a hammer. You can also drive nails with a pick up. But, why would you?"

If you often feel exhausted, frustrated or under-accomplished, it may be that you are putting your effort into the wrong things...like hauling wood with a hammer. You may still be getting results, but the road getting there is a tough one. The key is to identify your natural strengths so you can strategically target your efforts to get the results you want, while being successful and satisfied in your work.

The irony with a lot of poor performing teams and individuals is that they already have all of the right tools...it's that those tools are misused and energy is put in the wrong places.   

So, how many nails are you trying to drive with a pick up truck?

Magic 8-Ball Hiring

There is a hiring “method” out there that I lovingly refer to as Magic 8-Ball Hiring. Though I have never witnessed it in person, I am convinced that – behind closed doors – a business owner is whispering into a Magic 8-Ball, “Should I hire Janet?” then giving the clairvoyant toy a good shake.  

Ok, all kidding aside. You may not consult a Magic 8-Ball (or maybe you do) for hiring decisions, but, in all honesty, is your evaluation process really any better? Are you using a reliable and valid tool to predict who is a good hire and who is not? Or do you keep getting the message, “Reply hazy, try again?”    

A Magic 8-Ball can solve many of life’s mysteries, but it does not provide an answer for the challenge of who to hire. Don’t leave your hiring decision to chance, when there are tools and experts who can provide you with certainty.

Just for kicks, (and maybe a flashback) here are the 20 standard 8-Ball answers:

• As I see it, yes
• It is certain
• It is decidedly so
• Most likely
• Outlook good
• Signs point to yes
• Without a doubt
• Yes
• Yes – definitely
• You may rely on it
• Reply hazy, try again
• Ask again later
• Better not tell you now
• Cannot predict now
• Concentrate and ask again
• Don't count on it
• My reply is no
• My sources say no
• Outlook not so good
• Very doubtful