How to Manage Up Without Brown Nosing

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If you want to get ahead, then you need to manage up.  But how do you do this without brown nosing?

Learn to manage up the right way:

This is important because….

  • Your boss is probably your most important stakeholder
  • Problems often arise from style differences that are easily managed
  • It’s costly in time, effort and credibility if you get it wrong

Figure out what your boss cares about:

  • Ask to see your boss’s goals and ask about his/her top priorities
  • Link them to your own
  • Set up a recurring meeting if one is not currently in place
  • Assess your boss’s world-view

Create and manage two-way expectations:

  • Know what is expected of you – preferably in writing
  • Communicate what your expectations of your boss are
  • Ask your boss about his/her style
  • Never surprise your boss
  • Make your boss look like a star

Ask for feedback:

  • Actively seek out feedback from your boss and others
  • Listen and act on feedback that you get
  • Give feedback generously to your boss and others

Adjust your style:

  • You can only control your own behaviour
  • You are accountable for your relationship with your boss
  • Communicate in a way that is most meaningfulto your boss
    • Media
    • Level of detail
    • Frequency
  • Look to complement how your boss operates

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Job Descriptions — Probably Poorly Done, Almost Certainly Useless

Do you have a job description?  Have you seen it since you were hired into your current position?  Does it bear any resemblance to what you actually do every day?  If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions (much less all 3 of them), you are in the minority.  Most organizations either don’t have job descriptions, or have ones that are useless.

There is a good argument to be made that job descriptions are a relic from a time gone by, and that many jobs defy a linear description that is normally seen on a job description.  I would argue that the majority of jobs can, and should have job descriptions, but not in the way they are normally done.

If your job description articulates in painstaking detail the activities that you will undertake on a “normal” day, then it officially sucks.  Sorry to be the one to bring it up but:

a)    Nobody cares how busy you are.

b)   Nobody cares what you do.

Of course there are some highly bureaucratic organizations (often governmental organizations) where they do care about these things, but they are the minority.

Well run organizations care what you get done.  What did you produce?  What are your results?  How much value did you create?  A good job description will articulate these things – not how many paper clips you will use to file a report.

So I’m drawing a line in the sand today – Job Descriptions are dead.  Throw them away.  In their place, we will create POSTION OUTCOMES DESCRIPTIONS (PODs).   This is not a directive to the HR people out there – they are usually the last to come on board with such changes.  This is to every person who wants to make a difference.   A well-written POD will facilitate you making a difference at your job.

Write yours today, and get your boss to sign-off on it.  Then, when the crap-tasks start sliding across your desk, you have some mechanism by which to question it.  In your old Job Description, the crap-task would have fallen under “other duties as assigned”.

Now do you see why you need to do this?  There are lots of tools on the Wily Manager website to help you with this.  Join the revolution – and let us know how you’re making out.

Getting Ahead

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There are 5 steps to getting ahead at work:

Step One: Figure out what you want

  • Following your ego is usually a bad idea
  • Don’t do it for the money

Step Two: Make a plan

  • What are the intermediate steps?
  • Don’t be linear
  • Take control – no one else is in charge of your career
  • Manage your reputation

Step Three: Reach out to people

  • Network
  • Ask for Feedback
  • Volunteer for high-profile projects
  • Get outside your silo
  • Network outside your organization
  • Keep your boss in the loop as much as possible

Step Four: Beware of others who may want to keep you where you are

  • If you’re generating results, they’ll want to keep you there
  • Talent hoarding is a real problem
  • Never trust anyone in HR
  • You need to be in charge of your career

Step Five: Help others

  • Karma
  • Delegate lots
  • Be a teacher
  • Build great teams around you

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Getting Ahead

Learn the 5 steps to getting ahead at work.

Listen to the ‘Getting Ahead’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

Getting Ahead Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Getting Ahead’ Cheat Sheet

How to Get Ahead — Don’t Be an Idiot

Every now and then Jed or I will be sitting across the table from someone who will confide in us that he really wants to be promoted into the next job.  Sometimes, he may not know what that next job is, but he really wants it.  “How do I get ahead?”, he may ask of us.  This got me to thinking:

Boot-licking – Constant, shameless, thorough and quality bootlicking.

Eliminate the competition by quietly and carefully sabotaging their every move.  If you think they might be higher in the standings than you for the next role — take them out.

Sewering Your Boss —  Maybe if you make her look stupid enough, they’ll fire her, and put you in her role.

Constantly Champion Your Own Virtues – If people don’t know how wonderful you are, it’s about time you told them.  Don’t be afraid to repeat, ad nauseam.

Sorry – I seem to have lost my inner-monologue.

It’s frightening how many people think that one or more of the above will work.  We see it time and time again, even if people don’t fully admit to employing some or all of these techniques.

There is no doubt that occasionally a boot-licker will slip between the cracks and have some success for a limited period of time.  Maybe even a year or two.  However, there is always a reckoning.  This is not to say that the most qualified person always gets the job – organizational politics are a fact of life that people need to accept.  I don’t know of any organizations that are pure meritocracies.

But people who attempt to prosper by insincere means most often meet their demise with the same level of intensity as they played the game.  What comes around goes around – even though it may take longer than many of us might like.

So how do you get ahead in your career?  Start by not being an idiot.  If you can’t manage that, you’re not going to get ahead anyway, so you might as well cut your losses now.  (Oops – there’s my inner-monologue again).

If you want some other ideas, download our latest podcast on How to Get Ahead – Wily Manager Style.

In the meantime… let’s be careful out there.

Micro-Managing: A Great Way to Get Fired

OK – we’ve all done it.  Decided to do something ourselves because its easier and faster than holding the appropriate person to account.  Maybe you’ve even done it with your children.  Micro-managing – the gift that keeps on destroying.

Every manager has been warned against this, so let’s look at why it happens, given the most common excuses most managers give for doing so:

It’s faster to do it myself.  It probably is faster… the first time.  But if you look at the amount of time it will take you to teach or correct someone else in the execution of a task, versus the amount of time it will take you to do it on an ongoing basis, the answer is clear.

I can do it better. You probably can… for a while.  However, if you insist on doing every individual task yourself, you will become quickly overwhelmed, and will end up doing some (high) proportion of those tasks poorly.

My people aren’t capable. If this is the case for any amount of time, you are clearly not doing your job as a manager.  It is your job to develop people.  Occasionally you truly don’t have the right talent, in which case you have to make changes to your talent bench.

I need to keep close to the details. Actually, you probably don’t.  As a manager, it is not your job to be expert at everything.  It’s your job to create experts, and be able to ask some semi-intelligent questions of them.

If I don’t do all these tasks, I won’t be useful anymore. Listen to yourself.  If you’re that insecure in your role as a leader, you need to examine whether you should be in a management role at all.

The bottom line is that micro-managers sap the productivity out of organizations by failing to capture the discretionary effort of their employees.  They don’t develop people, which is a primary function of a leader.  They also limit their own career mobility by trying to make themselves indispensible in the role they are in.

Micro-management is a self-destructive behaviour, and a great way to get fired.  Then you’ll have lot’s of time.

Politeness in the Workplace? Go #@$% Yourself!

I’m not really sure when it happened.  Sometime over the last few years it has become socially acceptable to have a potty-mouth at the office.  Most often I am invited into workplaces for short periods of time – usually a few months – so I normally don’t know anyone when I first show up, and have to take some time to get to know people.

I find it incredible that people who don’t know me are quite willing to use exceptionally foul language in our very first meeting.  I should clarify two things:

1)   I’m not there to fire them, or otherwise torture them… which may be construed as just-cause for an expletive or two.

2)   I’m not offended by any of this, and use my own fair-share of foul words in more familiar company.

I just find it curious that people think words your mother always told you she didn’t want to hear are now common-place in work settings.  In my experience, this transcends just about all demographic groups.  It is not just younger people, nor is it just men.  I have witnessed this in large cities, and small ones, in a wide variety of industries.  I think it’s safe to say this has become a societal thing.

So… what is to be done?  Probably nothing.  But I would caution anyone who cares that first impressions are very powerful, and if you litter your first impression with language that would make a lumberjack blush, then you will inevitably come across as insensitive and less intelligent.

As a general rule of thumb, it might be good to know someone’s last name, before asking them (in so many words) if they like sex and travel.  Likewise, don’t assume that you’re not offending anyone, just because everyone else seems to be swearing.  It’s amazing that many offices insist on no fragrances or smelly foods for fear of upsetting someone, but have no similar guidelines for certain forms of noise pollution.

Until you know who you’re talking to, you might want to channel Bill Cosby more so than Eddie Murphy.  In the mean time… check out this clip for how one office handled it.

My Boss is a Micro-Manager

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Symptoms of Micro-Managers:

  • Highly Controlling – wants to oversee every aspect of the work
  • Power-Hungry – enjoys “flexing muscles” to ensure everyone knows s/he is the boss
  • Makes all the decisions – no matter how minor

Why are They Like This?

  • Insecurity – may be unsure of their own ability in the job
  • Power-crazed – may use their position to feel self-important
  • Perfectionist – may need every aspect of the job to be as close to perfect as possible
  • Not a Leader – may have been a great individual contributor, but has moved to a leadership role without requisite training

What Can I Do About It?

1. Upward Manage

  • Schedule and structure one on one meeting times with your boss
  • Determine what is most important to him/her, and contribute to those priorities
  • Talk about what you plan to do in the coming week, and get feedback in advance
  • Don’t ever surprise your boss

2. Get a Performance Agreement

  • Define boundaries of authority.
  • Agree on a work plan that defines outcomes and methods
  • Agree on the top 3 – 7 priorities
  • Link your performance goals clearly to your bosses goals

3. Learn to Say “No”

  • Always say “Yes” before saying “No”
  • Acknowledge their position as the boss
  • Refer to your Performance Agreement
  • If you think a request is unreasonable, try to negotiate.  Educate him/her as to the nature of the request
  • Describe the impact a request may have on you without complaining
  • Carefully manage your tone

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Recruiting — The Black Art

In professional sports, considerable resources are spent scouting new prospects and eventually landing them in the organization.  Those that manage professional sports know that you truly do “win it in the draft”, and they take their recruiting process seriously enough to make it a key source of competitive advantage.

With very few exceptions, other businesses do not do nearly as well.  Many (perhaps most) organizations manage the recruiting process about as well as George Bush manages the English language.  It might be entertaining, but only for the same reason you would slow down to look at an accident scene on the side of the highway.

It seems that many organizations of all shapes and sizes improvise their way through this important process.  What makes this most surprising is that every time an organization goes to the market to hire, they put themselves at considerable risk: risk to reputation, as well as legal risk if they mismanage the recruiting process badly enough.

A meaningful discussion of this important subject would take much more space than I have here, but here are five ideas to improve the recruiting process in any organization:

  1. Take it seriously — it’s very expensive to get it wrong.  The Journal of Compensation and Benefits estimates the cost of turnover at 1.5 to 2.5 the annual salary of the position.  So when your new recruit doesn’t work out, and leaves after three months, there is a real cost to the organization.
  2. Know what you’re recruiting for.  If there isn’t a comprehensive job description, you need to write one – before you even place an ad.  You need to know what results the position should be achieving, and what competencies are required to do the job well.
  3. Separate your needs from your wants. I recently read a job advertisement in the paper for a public sector organization that wanted 20 years of experience, and multiple university degrees for a job they were only willing to pay $45k per year.  That person does not exist.  Decide what your “minimum price of entry” requirements are, and categorize everything else as a “want”.  In other words, it would be a bonus if the person had that experience or competency.
  4. Get rid of bad recruiters or hiring managers. Anyone who seems to power trip or get perverse pleasure out of making candidates squirm should be removed from the process.  If you find yourself with such a recruiter or an HR person – fire her.  If it is a hiring manager, insulate them from the process, and seriously consider firing him/her, too.
  5. Make the match. Remember you are being evaluated every bit as much as you are evaluating the client.  Allow the candidate to ask questions; Tell people what to expect; follow up with everyone; always check references.

As best I can tell, most organizations recruit poorly not because they don’t know what to do, but rather because they choose not to do it.  This is at your peril.

By the way – Jed and I have done a podcast and a topic bundle on effective interviewing.  Hopefully you find it useful.

Help! I’m a Micro-Manager

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What’s Wrong With Being a Micro-Manager?

  • You are creating unnecessary work for yourself and others, and therefore wasting resources
  • You could be negatively affecting turnover
  • You are destroying discretionary effort and thereby reducing productivity
  • You will burn yourself and others out

How People Become Micro-Managers

  • They were great individual contributors, but never transitioned to being a leader
  • They have perfectionist tendencies
  • They are insecure in their role as a leader
  • They are control-freaks

How do I Address This?

1. Clearly Define Expectations

  • Put written performance agreements in place
  • Define the boundaries of people’s jobs and determine what level of authority they can have

2. Experiment With Giving People More Authority

  • Define outcomes; allow people to determine methods
  • Start small if necessary
  • Ask for progress reports

3. Leadership Development

  • Find ways to improve your ability as a leader.
  • Dedicate time to focus on leadership issues as opposed to the detail or the work

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