FIRE ALL THE MANAGERS

This is a quote from an article in Harvard Business Review.  It led me to approach clients with this question:

How do you in your manager's role add value to your organization's success ['beyond what your people contribute]?

The answer is usually focused on tasks performed, not value added.

Managers would be more successful in focusing on building successful cultures, building relations with other functions, inspiring their team to work up to their full potential and publicly acknowledging their people's successes.

Without that consider that management:

•  Is an expensive overhead, generally 33% of payroll
• Increases the risk of bad judgment...most powerful managers are the furthest from front-line realities
• Slows down decision making with unnecessary layers and bias
• Disenfranchises lower-level employees

Virtually every executive I have coached, struggles with adding meaningful value.  Just ask their employees their opinion.

82 EXECUTIVES NOT LISTENING

Last week I attended a meeting with 82 executives with one hour socializing over coffee.

Most everyone had a story to tell; however, who was listening?  I counted 3 people. The rest politely nodded their heads or were quick to tell their story.

What a ripe audience for my practice of coaching!

My goal at these events is to get an appointment for coffee following the event. "XYZ sounds terribly important to you.  Shall we continue over breakfast or lunch?"

That little comment is listening and engaging my prospective client where they are. No need to tell my story.

BE AWARE: PEOPLE ARE SEING YOUR BLIND SPOT

CEO to President: "Fire your COO.  He has his resume on the street and not showing loyalty to our corporation."

President: "But, our COO is the best in guiding us to the next generation of products.  I need you to support him so he stays motivated."

Blind spot: CEO is unaware of how he is perceived. President does not have the courage to engage on how to better motivate people. [President is my client]

Consultant asks CEO, "what is it like working for you?" Answer: detailed oriented, bias towards action and frequently critical of how others do their job.

CEO is terminated by parent corporation.

THE DEFENSE HAS RESTED

You know I am not a defense attorney!  However I am a resource for helping top executives reduce their defensiveness that attempts to cover their weaknesses.

These executives are expert at avoiding conversations that may blow their cover...that is the defensiveness I am referring to.

Defensive Actions I have Observed

n  Control of meeting agendas to avoid potential topics less confident in dealing with.

n  Monopolize conversations so one is in greater control.

n  Blame others for causing conflict

Triggers

n  Recently hired to be Chairman, becomes a fire fighter to impress Board

n  Having never been Chairman, feels a lack of confidence

n  Changing the culture is risky and makes one feel vulnerable.

A key problem of being perfect at avoiding attention on management weaknesses is that others see the truth and become expert at avoiding constructive feedback.

What weaknesses are you covering up?

WHY YOUR BOSS DOES NOT HEAR YOU

Getting your ideas across to your boss is no different than how to influence a business owner who is on the fence to sell her business.

You talk, they hear you...and nothing moves forward.  Frustration

The problem is most likely when you keep the conversation going; and, you miss the cues from the other person.

So you may not know your boss or business owner well enough to influence them; and you conclude they don't understand you.

Example: I engaged a client by first hearing from his spouse.  We arranged lunch to determine a good fit with her husband.  It was 2 months before I found out that she hired me to help her husband.

Complex triangulation!

This reminded me of not only to stop talking but to use the powerful tool of silence, sitting back to be open to the other person to tell me more.

Of course this probably does not work well with your spouse!

BE AWARE: JULIA IS HAVING CONFLICT

Conflict I have observed within my client's organizations always involves different communication styles. Usually one person is outspoken and monopolizes conversations which impacts those more reserved.

And the outspoken person needs to be a better listener!

I am currently working with Bob [CEO], who has a "need to be right" when speaking with Julia. He is more experienced and proud of it [to the annoyance of his team]

Julia, as a result, feels unappreciated, misunderstood and isolated because of a lack of dialogue with Busy Bob.

When one person feels the other does not take the time to understand him/her, trust is weakened, conflict rises.

"Conflict management" is rarely the issue; more it is what people need to openly talk about that prevents conflict.

In Bob's case, his staff would work harder for him if he took the time to LISTEN!

WATCH OUT FOR THE FILTERS

Filters, a communication typically based on opinion, not fact.  I see these in [1] vertical hierarchy...how many layers from top to bottom, [2] personal opinions not based on fact, [3] parent/child relations.

Take the case of my client Xenox Enterprises.  The CEO [68] has hired mostly relatives for managerial roles because, she says, in the beginning [40 years ago], it was believed that relatives are more trusted.  Ha!

Today the CEO is totally stuck with less than competent relatives in management positions.  He will not terminate them [of course not family] nor coach them to reach expectations [does not know how].

The CEO has stated that one alternative is to sell the business; however he has never sought people who could at least determine Fair Market Value and has discounted the fact that no one would want to inherit a dysfunctional management team.

Solution?

We are making headway by getting agreement from the CEO to form a management team where he will not have any direct influence, but will be kept him informed. This eliminates the clash with the next generation in the business as well as the aunts, cousins and "close relatives", incent them to reach specific company goals and be more strategic to grow from a successful regional producer to at least develop customers east of the Mississippi.

You might consider this a "work around" but the CEO is finally hearing the news that without him in the business, it will fail.  It will succeed by empowering his younger team.

"The buck does not stop at the top!"