“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.”
We do a significant amount of work across the Globe with managers and leaders - from those taking their first steps into 'people-management' - right up to Senior Executives leading multi-billion dollar Global businesses. We cover development in local languages, with local talented experts.
We have a strong track record in;
Assessing
Monitoring
Mentoring
Coaching
Educating
Hiring
Our passion for supporting Managers and Leaders has resulted in many long-term international relationships that transcend our original assignments and continue throughout their career as they take on new challenges.
We often hear the old adage 'great individual contributors don't make great leaders' and we'd like to challenge that.
We think being a good leader requires a solid foundation of the activities being performed within the team. There is no better education than being at the coal-face and doing the job yourself. This allows you to empathise with those you are leading, it gives you credibility with your team and halts the whispers of 'How would they know? They've never done it'.
Our hands-on experience and experts allow us to equip ‘people managers’ with knowledge of the many tricks and tactics used by those in the role.
They will also benefit having been a team member. There is little that can get past a manager who was also a team member in the past!
Those who came from the team or a functional role also know a thing or two about the frustrations, required motivation and the 'mindset' of those doing the job, which is invaluable when asking people to undertake daily tasks.
However, what we do see is;
The expectation for a manager to be an exceptional coach.
A 'sink-or-swim' approach where managers are given insufficient support in their transition from an individual contributor.
Poor coaching of the manager by their manager.
Poor access to simple, yet effective, performance management tools.
So what could be done to support the role of the leader?
Quite a lot ...but before exploring the options let's look at the fundamental role of a leader.
Yes, we know there are MANY more aspects to being a leader...and we have over-simplified this with the above diagram, but the core principles remain the same (no matter how junior or senior you are);
Collaboratively work with your people to set SMART goals that align to your functional and business strategy.
These should be clearly understood so people can relate to them in their day-to-day activities.
Help your people (and the team) to stay on track in pursuit of these goals through regular conversations, coaching & mentoring.
Some of the time people will 'drift away' from the goals, so the role of the manager is to seek out or provide; feedback, education, mentoring, coaching and support.
Have difficult conversations where performance isn't meeting expectations. Know how to give motivational corrective feedback.
Where people 'drift' too far away from the goals (sometimes because the manager hasn't remained close enough to their performance) the manager must take decisive, effective and appropriate action.
There are also a wide range of other supporting knowledge and skills areas, including:
Recruiting and onboarding new hires.
Performance management (setting goals, having one-to-ones, conducting reviews, calibration & supporting development planning).
Creating and shaping a vision and strategy.
Team and individual motivation.
Providing sound career coaching and advice.
Networking and encouraging this across the team.
When setting goals they must be relevant and aligned to the strategic goals of the business.
In our experience goals are often poorly written and so 'lofty' or'vague' they mean little to most people doing the work.
The role of the manager is to take the company goals (those of strategic importance) and translate these into a format and language people can relate to.
To do this they need to;
List key activities people do that help to support / drive the company to the achievement of the strategy goals.
List the knowledge and skills required to perform these activities.
Identify gaps in knowledge or skills.
Look at how to close these gaps, through a variety of different methods.
We have a great deal of experience in helping organisations (and managers) work through the above and arrive at cost-effective ways to close the gaps.
Where performance is below expectations, use a simple 'performance diagnostic' tool.
Where there are known performance gaps, such as a failure to achieve goals, objectives or quality standards, it becomes essential to identify the specific reason for the gap.
Whilst there are many reasons why performance might be impacted, the above model is a simple, yet effective, way for a manager to get to the heart of the issue. Most performance gaps are due to:
Lack of knowledge ('I just don't know...')
Lack of skill ('I know it...I just can't do it...')
Lack of motivation ('I know it, I can do it - but I just don't want to...')
Barriers in the way ('I know it, I can do it, I want to do it...but there is something preventing me...')
There are a number of simple questions a manager can ask to establish the root-cause of a performance issue.
In our experience many managers will stop searching for this root-cause once they have asked the individual a few simple questions, such as; 'Tell me how...'.
Most people can recall or answer this type of question but 'knowing' is not the same as 'doing' and a more effective manager will ask; 'Okay, you clearly know it...but let me see you do it...'. The results are often revealing.
If the skill can be demonstrated the next question should be; 'So you know it, and you can do it...so what is stopping you?'. This should reveal either a lack of motivation or a barrier.
We can coach your managers to a high level of competence and confidence in using this type of diagnostic approach.
If there is a gap...what is the best approach to address it?
Before a manager decides on a development approach there are two things they should consider;
What is the person's level of expertise to complete the task, is it; low, medium or high?
How complex is the task...and what would be the risk if it went wrong, is it; low, medium or high?
The intersection of these two can help to determine an appropriate approach or 'development style' for the manager to use.
Also note;
Those with a high degree of expertise should avoid low complexity tasks...their capability could be leveraged elsewhere.
Those with a low degree of expertise should avoid highly complex tasks...as failure could destroy confidence or cause significant issues.
The style of 'coaching' is the most commonly adopted approach.