13 01-02 management by objectives
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The document provides guidance on coaching employees through management by objectives including tutoring techniques, challenging performance, counseling behaviour, mentoring, assigning tasks, developing personal objectives, effective communication, handling responses to questions, and understanding motivation using Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It also includes examples of balancing scorecards, product roadmaps, workload planning, and other management tools. The overall focus is on coaching employees to achieve both individual and group objectives.
13 01-02 management by objectives
- 1. Management By Objectives coaching 2nd January 2013
- 2. How to coach Clarify performance shortfall and expectations Gain commitment to 2. Challenging accepting more difficult tasks Provide strategies and performance techniques for improving Accurately describe problems performance and identify root causes Help the person develop ways Encourage the person to to monitor performance and express his or her feelings self-correct in the future Facilitate the development of personal insights 3. Counselling Explore behavioural alternatives that could solve behaviour the problem 1. Tutoring technique 4. Mentoring Help the person develop Help understand their technical understanding and political savvy/ organisation and gain competence political savvy gut feel Sensitise to the likes and Design effective learning dislikes of senior executives strategies and increase the Model the goals and values pace of learning of the organisation Teach the person how to Share technical insights manage her/his own career
- 3. Management by Objectives Task Motivation INDIVIDUAL assignment Assertiveness Professional Effective Influencing development communication tactics Types of people Workload Feedback Milestones/ Forward metrics pipeline Critical Group Path/Gannt Diagnostics stages Balanced scorecard Financial levers/ Handling GROUP Cash flow Experiments conflict OBJECTIVE SUBJECTIVE
- 4. GROUP/OBJECTIVE Why plan and review progress? • Depersonalises issues: – Data is “out there” and the whole team can look at it and critique it • Provides focus: – “What gets measured gets managed” – especially if it is on the team wall – BUT you need to make metrics hard to “game”! • Simplifies communication – Explain stuff once – then come back to the same points and see how you are dealing with them
- 5. GROUP/OBJECTIVE Different team objectives/situations .XXX Technical Communications You Targets Power modular Language of product undefined α β 1.0 3.0 architecture Process experiential compression Source: ARM PhD
- 6. 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 Jun-07 Sep-07 GROUP/OBJECTIVE Dec-07 Mar-08 Jun-08 Sep-08 Dec-08 Mar-09 Jun-09 Sep-09 Dec-09 .XXX Revenue targets Mar-10 Jun-10 ILLUSTRATIVE
- 7. GROUP/OBJECTIVE .XXX financial levers ILLUSTRATIVE -12% Downloads Actionable? +8% No point showing # Sales = junior people stuff +23% they cannot do Conversion rate anything about – it just frustrates them +7% Revenue = X Timely? How often does the data change – and how efficiently can you update it? -1% Revenue/ sale=
- 8. GROUP/OBJECTIVE .XX organisation chart management team Can you create sub- teams that scale up more easily? .XXX How will your time be freed up to manage external perceptions – Customer Product management and key clients? Market Support Develop Test/QC 1 FTE 3 FTE 2 FTE
- 9. GROUP/OBJECTIVE .XXX product road map ILLUSTRATIVE Old .XXX customers Old AAAcustomers Business/market New customers Product/service Old tool Acquired tool New build tool Technology ??? ??? ??? Training: www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/ctm/trm/documents/strat_roadmapping5.pdf
- 10. GROUP/OBJECTIVE .XXX Gannt/critical path Q3’07 Q4’07 Q1’08 Q2’08 Q3’08 … Q3’10 ILLUSTRATIVE Develop What is the company year end for overall budgets? Test Release What is the release schedule? (e.g.first, new version, patch) Support Who are the critical Develop resources? (e.g. testers Test get pulled into live Release support) What external deadlines Support cannot be slipped? (e.g. major shows, key clients)C
- 11. GROUP/OBJECTIVE Tech Comms Balanced Scorecard Financial - to succeed financially, how must we appear to our shareholders? e.g. reducing internal investment, increasing return by selling documentation, reducing after-sales support calls Customer - to achieve our vision, how must we appear to our customers? e.g. customer survey on technical communications project management Business process - to satisfy our customers and shareholders, what business processes must we excel at? e.g. quarterly customer satisfaction/support surveys Learning and growth - to achieve our vision, how do we sustain our ability to change and improve? e.g. training and related cost savings Source: Mead (1998) Measuring the value added by Technical Documentation, A review of research and practice (tc.eserver.org/10355.html); Carliner (Physical, Cognitive, Affective): saulcarliner.home.att. net/id/newmodel.htm
- 12. GROUP/OBJECTIVE Tech Comms service levels What dimensions do Cost α β 1.0 end-users value in Technical Tested Communications: Live support -media (file, embedded, Community online, live, Diagnostics community…) -richness (entry level, power user) Experimental First iteration Embedded error Text/online help What breakpoints do handling Quick start guide users perceive on Power user features these dimensions? What service levels do Technical Communications need Worst point – Delivered to deliver to get to each high cost but service level? not different Source: Kodak photo booths (time to develop – customer workshop), Xerox vs Canon photocopiers (time between failures – miniaturisation capabilities)
- 13. GROUP/OBJECTIVE Tech Comms: filling out design 1. Research scope ILLUSTRATIVE (2-4 weeks) error text What interim 2. Design deliverables are (2-6 weeks) topics needed at each stage to scope the Green light work and support clean handovers 3. Development within the Technical (3-12 weeks) Communications team? 4. Writing full text (2-10 weeks) diagnostics What effort is associated with each 5. Testing interim deliverable (4 weeks) for each service Release level? 6. Support QC
- 14. GROUP/OBJECTIVE Tech Comms: forward pipeline ILLUSTRATIVE Project Version Stage Start Days ETC Author 1 α 1 25/6 0.5 0.25 Heather 2 2.4 2 29/6 1 0.5 Kirsty 3 β 3 20/6 15 5 Kirsty 4 1.2 4 22/6 40 15 Brian 5 3.1 4 45 45 40 Kirsty 6 2.4 2 30 30 5 Heather 7 α 2 15/7 0.5 0.25 Brian …
- 15. GROUP/OBJECTIVE Workload ILLUSTRATIVE When will you need to start hiring new people – and what will their learning curve be to take up the workload? Are there short term blips that might require sub-contracting staff or borrowing from general pool? Q3’07 Q4’07 Q1’08 Q2’08 Q3’08 … Q3’10
- 16. INDIVIDUAL/OBJECTIVE Good task assignment • Clean task – No “long loop” – Representative user • Assertive introduction – Not aggressive – Right degree • Shared responsibility
- 17. INDIVIDUAL/OBJECTIVE Personal development Interpersonal & Results Focus Problem-Solving Knowing our Leadership Communication business INFLUENCING Persuading others ACHIEVING RESULTS ANALYTICAL THINKING RESOURCE USE PEOPLE MANAGEMENT internally/ and or Achieving goals for Breaking down problems Responsible use of the Facilitating the effectiveness externally to support and organisation. These goals and issues in order to organization’s resources of others through providing buy into desired courses may include meeting resolve them and awareness of costs direction and a motivating of action quality standards, and financial controls work climate. This achieving targets or competency is generally COMMUNITY SPIRIT/ working within budget needed by those in a TEAMWORK CUSTOMER FOCUS CONCEPTUAL position of formal leadership Showing respect and Delighting customers by support for others and THINKING pre-empting and genuinely valuing their Seeing how ideas and responding to their needs OWNERSHIP OF contribution issues fit together. It in a timely and RESPONSIBILITY includes recognising appropriate way Taking personal patterns and trends and TRAINING AND INTERCULTURAL responsibility for ones the big picture KNOWING THE DEVELOPMENT AWARENESS actions and EXTERNAL Coaching and developing Is appreciating and demonstrating pride in ENVIRONMENT others to help them achieve valuing others from working for organisation Understanding the their full potential different backgrounds, INNOVATION competitive environment cultures and expectations Daring to be different by and external forces (internally and externally) PLANNING suggesting new and impacting upon organization Establishing the route to radical ideas and finding achieving defined goals alternative solutions to INTERPERSONAL AWARENESS those that are CROSS-COMPANY Is an accurate awareness established, tried and INFORMATION FLOW of other people, needs, tested. Actively sharing ideas and ADAPTABILITY/ motives and feelings, information across the FLEXIBILITY adapting behaviour organisation This involves The willingness to change accordingly both seeking out and priorities and act alerting others to pertinent differently as the situation information demands, responding RELATIONSHIP positively to change BUILDING SPECIALIST TECHNICAL Building and OR PROFESSIONAL maintaining SKILL AND KNOWLEDGE relationships with contacts internal and / or external to organisation
- 18. INDIVIDUAL/OBJECTIVE Clean task assignment No “long loops” e.g. separating engine design and car chassis design is ineffective because the size of the engine impacts the hood and the weight of the car overall impacts the size of the engine needed. Expensive changes late in design like adopting an aluminium engine result. Representative user e.g. pick a lead user who will give feedback iteratively and whose needs are close to a lot of the final target audience
- 19. INDIVIDUAL/OBJECTIVE Being assertive “acting appropriately on one’s own behalf while not violating the rights or stifling the viewpoints of others” 1. Act as if you have the right to assert yourself 2. Volunteer – give them “something to shoot at” 3. Take the initiative. If nobody seems to understand, get up and draw a picture. Offer to follow-up on something where you have a stake. 4. Make frequent, short contributions. Elaborate on the comments of others. 5. Use strong verbals. Speak firmly and concisely, without overqualifying. 6. Use assertive body language – eye contact, lean slightly towards the other person, gesture broadly, be animated 7. Know the limits of your personal and psychological space, and know when those limits are being violated. 8. React when aggressors try to silence you. 9. Practice saying “No”. 10. Extinguish verbal aggression through selective inattention. Point out offensive words and only respond when those words are not used. 11. Give assertive feedback on aggressive or offensive behaviour.
- 20. INDIVIDUAL/OBJECTIVE Right degree of assertiveness Do it or else Do it now Do it Please do it I need you to do it I would like you to do it I would appreciate it if you did it If I’m not imposing, I’d like you to do it Would you do it? Would please do it? Would you mind doing it? Do you have time to do it? Could I ask you to do it? Shall I do it myself? Okay, I’ll do it! When do you want it done?
- 21. INDIVIDUAL/OBJECTIVE Effective communication - BEST Bottom-line Make it simple, clear, concise Evidence and Prove it. Show how it examples applies. Make it specific and concrete. Summary Restate key points, themes. Reinforce. Time awareness Keep it short.
- 22. INDIVIDUAL/OBJECTIVE Ask questions! NOT … BUT Rapid-fire, staccato questions that sound Directional questions e.g. Have you like an interrogation considered selling the technology? “Prisoner’s Dilemma” questions that trap Clarifying and probing e.g. what do you the respondent e.g. “when did you stop mean by “incendiary”? wasting the company’s cash on that?” Encouraging participation e.g. Carl, if this Multiple questions were your call, what would you do? Questions that respondent cannot know Facilitating a meeting e.g. Are there any e.g. “what motivated John?” comments on the agenda? Questions that are statements Building relationships e.g. how long have you been collecting stamps? Why questions (imply disapproval) Stimulate creativity e.g. what if you reversed those steps?
- 23. INDIVIDUAL/OBJECTIVE Handling responses/questions 1. Listen carefully 2. Summarise the response/question if it is long or complex 3. Reinforce correct answers or positive contributions 4. Give partial credit where the answer has some positive elements 5. Acknowledge their effort and redirect the question when the response is off track 6. Defer or deflect questions where you don’t know the answer
- 24. INDIVIDUAL/SUBJECTIVE Motivation “The inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organisational goals” caused by: #1 Interesting work #1 Interesting work #2 Full appreciation of work done #2 Good wages #3 Feeling of being in on things #3 Job security Source: Kovach (87) “What motivates Source: Harpaz (90) “The importance employees? Workers and supervisors of work goals: an international give different answers”. Business perspective. Journal of International Horizons 30 58-65 Business Studies 21, 75-93 but!!!! … factors are not additive and vary with age and income
- 25. INDIVIDUAL/SUBJECTIVE Motivation also varies by role Individual Team Bob Sales Karen Marketing Jules Development Zac Technical Services Jill
- 26. INDIVIDUAL/SUBJECTIVE Maslow’s hierarchy of needs Self-actualising “lower level needs -interesting work have to be satisfied before next higher Esteem level need will -full appreciation of work done -promotions and growth motivate” Social -feeling of being “in on things” -tactful discipline Safety -job security Physiological -good wages -good working conditions Source: Maslow (43) “A theory of human motivation” Psychological Review, 370-396
- 27. INDIVIDUAL/SUBJECTIVE Herzberg motivator and hygiene factors “If motivators are present, satisfaction will occur – but absence will not lead to dissatisfaction. If hygienes are absent, dissatisfaction will occur – but presence will not lead to satisfaction” Source: Hertzberg, Mausner, Snydermann(59) “The motivation to work” John Wiley
- 28. INDIVIDUAL/SUBJECTIVE Making jobs motivating Job enlargement More activities and more variety of activities Job enrichment Add higher level responsibilities and give compensation if accepted Promotion Change job to one with higher level responsibilities with compensation
- 29. INDIVIDUAL/SUBJECTIVE Influencing tactics Positive Negative Explaining Avoiding Legitimising - authority Passive aggressive Ignoring Logical persuading - data Delaying Asking Threatening Appealing to friendship - favours Describing punishment Socialising - disclose yourself Inflicting punishment Consulting - appeal to expertise Carrying, brandishing or refering to Stating - Assert a weapon Inspiring Intimidating Appeal to values – tell stories Using size or power to get your way Interrupting Modeling – give the example Manipulating Exchanging – create win-win Witholding information Alliance Building – build consensus Lying or disguising your intent
- 30. INDIVIDUAL/SUBJECTIVE Different types of people Extraversion E I Introversion Sensing S N Intuiting Thinking T F Feeling Judging J P Perceiving Source: Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
- 31. INDIVIDUAL/SUBJECTIVE Recognising and adapting to types Recognise How to work with them Recognise How to work with them Extravert •Team meetings Intravert •Don’t embarrass them •Think out loud •Assign presentations •Like working alone •Listen •Discuss before writing •Don’t assign solo work •Write out ideas first •Allow them to prepare Sensors •Give facts INtuitors •Ask them to challenge •Factual – proven? •Outline step-by-step •Future/big picture •Don’t give detail •Fine tune not invent •Show how risk reduced •Restless/energy bursts •Allow them to daydream Thinkers •State the principles Feelers •Be responsive •Analytical/objective •Give analysis/graphs •Concerned for people •Ask them to evaluate •May seem insensitive •Ask them for review •Empathic/good listener impact on people Judgers •Start and end on time Perceivers •Be flexible/adaptable •Want closure •Be structured/neat •Dislike tight deadlines •Avoid tight deadlines •Impatient •Use them to manage •Process not results •Ask them to handle last •Make to do lists time and monitor tasks •Spontaneous minute changes (but ensure Judgers have time to get product out!) Source: Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
- 32. INDIVIDUAL/SUBJECTIVE Influencing different types ST Practical and matter of fact NT Logical and ingenious Logical persuading – STs are factual Appeal to values – they like and logical. Show your plan/proposal pioneering, and subordinate human is well thought out and evidence values to abstract patterns and based. possibilities Legitimising Logical persuading – their logical Exchanging (if it seems logical!) side Consulting – they want involvement SF Sympathetic and friendly NF Enthusiastic and insighful Socialising – SFs are also pracitcal, Consulting – NFs are interested in but approach decisions with the complexities of human subjectivity and human warmth. communication Appealing to friendship – SFs trust Alliance building – they are very their feelings and are more interested concerned about the impact on in facts about people people and want to involve others in Consulting planning Appeal to friendship Appeal to values
- 33. INDIVIDUAL/SUBJECTIVE Why give feedback? What I know about me What I don’t know about me Arena Blind spot What others know about me Interpersonal communication Seeing yourself as others see depends on open and free you is key to self- exchange of information. With understanding. Soliciting greater disclosure, feedback is the primary communication increases and tool for anticipating blind spots serious conflict decreases Facade Unknown What others don’t know about me Selective disclosure of Without feedback, the hidden feelings, ideas, unknown stays unknown. attitudes, goals and values Feedback generally gives can build the relationship with illumination for both others. With a big façade, parties people doubt your intentions. Source: Johari window, Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham
- 34. INDIVIDUAL/SUBJECTIVE Giving feedback 1. Why Before giving feedback, think about your motives and perceptions. Are you being genuinely helpful and positive? Are you perceiving the situation correctly? 2. When Avoid feedback: • you are angry • you want to put someone down • you have not observed the behaviour yourself • the other person cannot change or control the thing you want to discuss 3. Be SPECIFIC • Avoid labels, judgements or stereotypes e.g. “unprofessional” • Avoid exaggerating for emphasis e.g. you are ALWAYS this careless • Avoid judgement words like “good”, “better”, “should” 4. Speak for yourself Restrict your comments to what you have seen yourself and how that makes you feel. Offer your perceptions as perceptions, not facts
- 35. INDIVIDUAL/SUBJECTIVE Receiving feedback 1. Be receptive to feedback You don’t need to believe everything – but you have to be willing to listen! If you are too busy to be responsive, say so and set another time. 2. Listen carefully Attend to the person, avoid interrupting, and stay focused on the message, despite your emotional reactions to it. Confirm your understanding by paraphrasing and summarising. 3. Control your physiological responses Breathe deeply, relax the muscles in your face, neck and shoulders. If you find your body reacting (e.g. crossing arms, legs), control it. 4. Avoid the impulse to argue or defend yourself Swallow the impulse to argue. Defending yourself closes your mind and makes you competitive. You can argue with the facts, but not with the perceptions – and that is all feedback is!
- 36. GROUP/SUBJECTIVE Intervening in groups Forming the group, setting ground Forming rules, finding similarities Storming Dealing with issues of power and control, surfacing differences Managing conflict, finding group Norming norms, resurfacing similarities Functioning as an effective group Performing Finding closure Adjourning Source: Tuckman model of group development
- 37. GROUP/SUBJECTIVE Handling conflict • Deflect aggression – Focus on the issues – Do not defend yourself – ignore insults • Defuse emotional issues – Step away from the situation and cool off – May need to address the relationship problems first • Choose to remain centred and objective • Know what’s important • Use the energy of conflict to probe and problem solve • Conflict is not a contest
- 38. GROUP/SUBJECTIVE Overt and covert conflict Covert conflict Overt conflict hi Passive Assertive Other’s degree of cooperation low Passive-aggressive Aggressive low hi Other’s acknowledgement of conflict
- 39. GROUP/SUBJECTIVE Handling passive-aggressives • Recognise their need for control Avoid • Avoid power struggles initially Inform – Give on some issues Engage Disclose Explore Wait • Appeal to self-interest Assert Surface • Reveal your own frustration Declare Specify Persist • Use confrontation as a last resort Confront Surface Declare Specify • Enforce agreements by making them public Enforce
- 40. GROUP/SUBJECTIVE Passive • Easier than passive-aggressives • Will usually co-operate because they dislike confrontation • However they may later change their mind when they no longer feel a threat!
- 41. GROUP/SUBJECTIVE Aggressive* • Deflect aggression – Ignore insults – Focus on the issues • Know and act on your limits – When you reach your limit, calmly and firmly tell the aggressor to stop – State that you refuse to be treated that way and suggest a later meeting when they are calmer *”Excessively controlling or threatening, being overly competitive, being insulting or intimidating, needing to prove others wrong, winning at others expense, acting spitefully or vengefully”. Or physically forcing people to do things!
- 42. GROUP/OBJECTIVE Reporting vs. milestones/metrics Weekly: Operating Committee -Review short-term deadlines and load-balance -Share external feedback and priorities Need:One pager summaries from sub-team leaders etc Monthly: Management team -Review progress against milestones -Identify causes of slippage and budget variance Need:Time reports, quality metrics etc Quarterly: Budgeting -Account for time
- 43. GROUP/OBJECTIVE Why diagnose? • Expose your thinking and explore the real alternatives thoroughly • Build an “open” logic to the decisions that draws your team into participating • Identify what you have to manage closely and allow experimentation on how to get there
- 44. GROUP/OBJECTIVE When experiment? • Where value at risk is high and the winning approach is changing • Where costs or risks can be reduced by staging commitment through early trials (non-scaleable) or pilots (scaleable) • Where outcomes from those trials or pilots can be observed quickly and resources committed accordingly
Editor's Notes
- #3: We started out by writing out a contract, describing your current situation and what gaps needed to be covered by coaching. For the first couple of months, most of the coaching was Tutoring on specific techniques. This was a good place to start because it helped you get to grips with your new teams. You were producing plans, discussing them in the team and resolving conflicts anyway, and having short tutorials that helped you prepare materials for those team sessions was useful. In the next couple of months we have been doing more Challenging. While we have done some content sessions on areas which were gaps (e.g. how to coach, how to assign tasks), we reviewed quite a lot of progress material that you were producing. This was also useful because it helped you to practice presenting and showing where you were going.
- #4: A range of skills are needed to Manage by Objectives. A good place to start is the Group Objective. As we will see these Objectives were quite different in a profit centre (.NET) and in a service unit (Tech Comms). Consequent we did separate sessions for the first few tutorials until you had your business plan/balanced scorecards in place. Objectives need to be assigned to individuals as tasks, and those individuals need to be developing themselves professionally. Individuals also need to make sense of their objectives for their own subjective experience and satisfaction. We discussed how to assert and take feedback, and we did tutorials on motivation, influencing tactics and different types of people. Individuals interact, and the group as a whole can be a positive or a negative experience. We looked at group dynamics and ways to handle conflict. Finally, we closed the loop by looking at Group progress against milestones, diagnosing issues and experimenting with new approaches.
- #6: The situations for .NET as a profit centre and Tech Comms as a service unit are very different, so objectives are expressed very differently. .NET is a self-contained unit, so James is mostly trying to influence people who reported to him, while Rachel needs to influence many different leaders of other groups (Development, Testing, Marketing etc) to get Tech Comms to work smoothly. James can rely on authority more than Rachel. .NET is an experimental unit trying to define new products in a market that has not yet formed, while Tech Comms is operating with well-defined market standards for what good help looks like at different stages. This makes it easier for Rachel to communicate using commonly understood terms and define standards. .NET is experientially iterating releases of products to learn about market needs, while Tech Comms is trying to compress the time to get high quality help out for a whole series of products at the same time. Rachel needs to manage a forward pipeline of many products for a set of largely independent “consultants” while James needs to integrate the efforts of a large team around a few core products.
- #7: .NET topline revenue targets drive the activity of the whole team
- #8: .NET revenue targets require a series of financial levers to work together. The whole team has to pull together to grow revenues by improving Downloads (Marketing getting customers interested), Conversion rate (Sales convincing users to pay) and Revenue per Sale (Development providing a higher value bundle). Drawing together actionable and timely data on these key levers of the business means that .NET is able to identify trends and understand what progress is being made towards critical breakpoints (e.g. $750/product bundle) that need to be reached when to make the revenue plan.
- #9: The objectives then relate to sub-teams within the .NET division, giving challenging but autonomous tasks to the people reporting into James.
- #10: .NET financial objectives depend on getting new products to market to build a more valuable bundle over time. Understanding what key technologies are needed to make that product road map and when they have to be in place gives the critical path for the development team.
- #11: The critical path forward plan lays out the dependencies to make the product road map, and makes clear the impact of not getting resources assigned in time.
- #12: By contrast, a service unit Tech Comms needs to balance the cost of providing service levels with customer satisfaction and quality.
- #13: Consistently delivering good enough quality to make Red Gate help distinctly better requires a clear understanding of the different service levels needed at different stages in a products life and making sure those are delivered across all products.
- #14: Tech Comms need to create interim deliverables that allow Help to be designed into products from the start rather than tacked on as an afterthought.
- #15: Tech Comms need to estimate effort and assign responsibilities for a forward pipeline of work from across the whole of Red Gate. Making this forward pipeline visible is difficult but essential.
- #16: Once a plan is in place, the team can anticipate how much effort will be needed overall. Changing the timing on tasks or borrowing resources to achieve a smooth growth for the whole team is essential – it takes time to hire and train up new people!
- #17: The individuals in the team need to have clean tasks where they can take autonomous decisions and see results, and these tasks need to be introduced to them in an assertive way.
- #18: Task assignment needs to take account of the areas where previous reviews have shown that the individual needs to improve. This links tasks clearly to personal progress towards the kind of job that will satisfy the individual. We went through all the key people in the team and identified their development needs using a detailed breakdown of capabilities. We thought about concrete behaviours that they have been doing which illustrate that these are real issues they have to tackle. We thought about specific tasks that they will need to do as part of their individual job and how they can prove they have learnt their lesson.
- #19: Assigning clean responsibility for all closely inter-related aspects of a job to one person eliminates the frustration of rework after “long loops”. The most important decision is the representative user who will give feedback to improve the first version of an output. Selecting a user with a good fit to the characteristics of the final audience will reduce the risk of the project.
- #20: Manager’s need to assert the importance of the tasks that are critical to progress towards the overall team goals.
- #21: Managers need to be flexible to get action, taking into account the real impact of the task not being done.
- #22: Clear communication is essential.
- #23: Managers should draw on what their colleagues already know by asking questions.
- #24: Managers also need to listen to what their expert colleagues say and improve the plan.
- #25: Managers need to make jobs motivating
- #26: There are clear differences by function (Sales/Service) on what people want to be measured by and how they like to be rewarded
- #27: There are two different theories about how people can be motivated. Maslow’s hierarchy says that you have to get a platform of things right before people start to respond to the higher level levers.
- #28: Herzberg says that you need to get hygiene factors good enough and then motivators will make people happy.
- #29: But in general you need to be moving people towards broader more interesting roles, and giving them compensation if they take on more responsibility
- #30: We may not be conscious of the tactics that we use when trying to influence people, but it is worth keeping a diary of our interactions with different key people to see what negative or blind-spot relationships we have and consciously improving them.
- #31: People really are different on a number of dimensions
- #32: These differences mean that they like different kinds of work, and a wise manager will adapt their style to suit their colleague
- #33: Different tactics appeal to different types of people
- #34: Feedback is important as work on tasks gets underway, to help colleagues understand how they are perceived.
- #35: Making time for good, clear feedback wll pay back longer term
- #36: Managers have to listen too!
- #37: The overall team/group dynamic will make a big difference to overall performance. Teams normally go through a series of stages and the role of the manager changes as the group matures.
- #38: Conflict is a good way to come up with a great solution, and finding positive ways to handle it will make the group effective
- #39: Some people are less keen on having direct conflict, and you have to adapt to them.
- #40: Passive aggressives who appear to agree but then don’t deliver are particularly hard to handle
- #41: Passives are easier
- #42: Aggressive colleagues are actually relatively straightforward
- #43: The team needs a clear regular view of how progress is going against the plan
- #44: Reporting performance into levers or balanced scorecard elements gives a clean overview of how things build up, and allows the team to see how their activities inter-relate. We found that .NET could get more control over downloads by separating out activity by geographical region of the world. This kind of “ad hoc” diagnostic can then get built into the next round of reporting and forms the team vocabulary about what they are trying to achieve.
- #45: Having identified problems, the manager needs to give colleagues the autonomy to try to solve them. However she/he can stay in control by setting clear limits to experiments and clear success criteria for further activity.