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Good Management Is About Maintaining Good Relationships
Tulgan explains that rewards, financial or otherwise, should hinge on performance, but he emphasizes that on an ongoing basis, “the only lever you have to pull is your day-to-day engagement with that person.” That, he adds, is the primary driver of daily performance. He reminds us that a boss who knows exactly who you are, what you’re doing, a boss who really cares what you’re doing and tells you that your work is important, gives you nowhere to hide.
Regarding accountability, be sure you distinguish it from punishment. Lawyers are likely to feel that certain skills should not need to be taught, but effective performance does not roll out without strong and clear direction from a leader who has identified distinct goals to be achieved, with clear targets and timelines.
”Accountability,” he explains, “means giving an account to someone else about your performance.” Knowing that in advance changes your performance in advance.
At every step, an effective accountability process outlines clear expectations and makes use of fair and accurate tracking of performance: “Tell people what to do and how to do it.” Conventional wisdom holds that we should not tell people how to do their jobs, says Tulgan, “but you don’t get better on a musical instrument by winging it. Likewise, with any established best practice.”
Sometimes leaders like to let people learn from their mistakes. However, Tulgan asks, “Why wouldn’t you help them avoid those mistakes in advance if you could?”
When you don’t spell out the guidelines so a person can do a task properly, you often end up having to fix someone else’s work. What often passes for micromanagement is really under-management in disguise.
Find The Best Management Balance
How much guidance is necessary? It’s a moving target, Tulgan says, and “the sweet spot is different with every person on every task at every time. If you’re giving too much guidance and feedback, you’re just not paying attention to the cues from that person.”
You’ll find the right balance through ongoing dialogue. But that doesn’t discount the value of standards: if you have best practices for anything, make them standard operating procedures; then turn those into checklists, tools and systems to help people use them. But,
Tulgan cautions: keep the conversations going lest your protocol becomes like the wallpaper that people no longer see.
Tulgan is wary of those who create a sink-or-swim environment under the guise of empowering people. That’s just negligence, he says. When people have to reinvent the wheel again and again, when nobody’s in charge, you need to step up those conversations.
Finally, it is essential to track performance every step of the way. Keep track of these conversations in writing; you’re tracking performance expectations and performance observed, directly or indirectly. You can use checklists to not only guide others but also as self-monitoring tools. “Now, you’re keeping a performance file.”
Effective management is about putting systems in place so that people can develop properly, and so you can be more effective and productive.
“Try doing this for a few weeks,” Tulgan concludes; “you’ll wonder how you ever thought you were running your practice before; how you ever thought you were in charge of anything.” Until now.
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[...] unknown posted a noteworthy aricle today onHere’s a small snippetHe explains the need to talk like a performance coach, but that doesn’t mean cheerleading: “It means you talking to your team members about their performance on a regular basis, eyeball to eyeball.” Use descriptive language, he says, … [...]