Tag: management training

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coaching

How to ensure your first-time supervisors are bullet-proof without compromising profitability and productivity

If you’ve ever managed people before, then there was a time when you were a first-time manager. We all arrived at that spot by different paths. Some people via the educational route, earning degrees or advanced degrees in the discipline before taking on the role, while others established themselves as uniquely high performers in their field, and were promoted to a supervisory role on merit. Some companies have robust in-house training programs, others outsource their leadership development and still others (perhaps the majority) rely on ‘on-the-job training’, which often translates to sink or swim!

Suffice it to say, it can be a nerve-wracking experience being ‘crowned’ supervisor – especially if it means supervising former co-workers. Most organizations don’t do as well as they’d like preparing new supervisors for their challenges. I’m reasonably confident it’s not out of malice, or some perverse desire to make the new supervisor suffer as we once did (although I’m not saying it’s not…kidding) but I do think as difficult as it is to be a first-time supervisor, it’s equally difficult to manage first time supervisors. Although there’s a plentiful supply of leadership resources to help senior leaders on a strategic level, I haven’t encountered as much from a tactical side for second-tier managers.

One of the biggest challenges first-time managers face when assuming their role is their relative lack of experience dealing with performance problems. The reason is simple – they’ve likely always been high performers, so they’ve never been on the receiving end of the conversation, and there’s likely been very little opportunity for them to deliver coaching for performance. And anecdotally, given the predilection for so many people to avoid these conversations anyway, it’s a safe assumption that this is not an area a new supervisor will come to the table proficient in.

To compound the problem is an inherent insecurity most of them have (I say ‘them’ but let’s be honest and say us because it’s not limited to first-time managers) about not being quite qualified for the role. That ‘if only they knew how little I know, they’d demote me’ fear keeps these supervisors from asking what they think you think they already know. And, if they like you (and hopefully they do) they’re also going to want to maintain your good opinion of them.

That’s why I strongly recommend orienting them to their role with a very clear set of expectations about the types of things they’ll be doing as supervisors that they weren’t doing as individual contributors. In many cases, it’s not just a matter of training them so that they’ll be more comfortable, it’s also a matter of liability. Your supervisors can get themselves and the company in a lot of trouble if they say or do something illegal! Some areas where you’ll likely need to work with them are:

  • Performance management
    • Goal Setting / Organizational and Individual Metrics / Coaching / Reinforcement / Training
  • Understanding and correctly functioning within established company processes
  • Recruiting and hiring best practices
  • HR policies and employment law
  • Communicating appropriately and effectively
  • Championing the company culture
  • Other Management Skills
    • Delegation / Effective Meetings / Vocation to Leadership

Now fear not! Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your new supervisor isn’t going to break your company if she/he doesn’t have this all mastered by day one (probably). You’re not going to teach your first-time supervisors everything they need to know on their first day in their new role, and you certainly don’t want to overwhelm them or destroy their confidence. If your company has defined processes and training in place already, this is much easier. Assuming they don’t, it’s often helpful to start with a simple checklist. List out the items of import and have the new supervisor fill out a checklist indicating for each whether they are: Completely comfortable, desiring refresher training, or in need of complete training. In addition, have them rate the urgency of the training need on a scale of 1-5.

Armed with this information, you can decide first whether or not their self-assessment and judgement is accurate, but also where this particular supervisor needs immediate support. In addition, if adopted by other managers, this will illuminate significant areas of training opportunity within your company.

As with most skills, stating expectations is only the first step to mastery. New supervisors must also be taught HOW to perform the tasks, and how to determine if they are doing them correctly. As their manager, you must be prepared to coach and provide feedback every step of the way as they grow into their role. Encourage your new supervisors that a mis-step does not mean the end of the career or that they just weren’t cut out for management – far from it! Instead, support them in taking the risk of stepping out of their comfort zone! It’s a huge mental shift to learn the delayed gratification of accomplishing tasks through the efforts of others after being a high-performing individual contributor.

I hope you found this article useful. If you are interested in learning more about training first-time managers, please visit us at www.todaysleadershipsolutions.com for more information.

For a free supervisor assessment, please click here!

Carrie Maldonado is the founder of Today’s Leadership Solutions, a Seattle-based consulting firm providing comprehensive organizational development solutions for companies who are growing and who truly value their people.  With certified Executive Coaches, Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) practitioners, SPHR-certified HR professionals, and Organizational Development Specialists, Carrie’s team brings a unique perspective and a cross-functional approach to providing workplace solutions that work.  Carrie can be reached for consultation at carrie@todaysleadershipsolutions.com

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Uncategorized

5 questions every senior leader should ask their new managers

Image created by Today's Leadership Solutions via imgflip.com
Image created by Today’s Leadership Solutions via imgflip.com

Of all the types of employees I’ve gotten to work with, coach, and/or lead, the ones I enjoy the most are the folks who are new to management. Emerging leaders are the most enthusiastic, excited group of employees I’ve encountered. Of course, you have to get to them very quickly, before burnout, disenchantment and bitterness seep in. Which, from my observation,  usually occurs between 6-9 months. That’s about how long it takes the new manager to realize that a) they really aren’t able to implement all the changes they dreamed about making, b) they aren’t still friends with pretty much any of their former colleagues, c) all that management training they were promised turned out to be aspirational more than actual, helpful material.  Most emerging managers are quickly overwhelmed with the pressure to maintain a high level of individual contribution in addition to a whole bunch of new (and mysterious paperwork), and financial reporting that they may or may not understand.

Of course this is a huge generalization and may not hold true at all for your organization. For the other 99.9%, though, I think there are significant gains to be made by investing in your new managers early and often. If it’s too late for early, it’s not too late for often, so don’t despair if your folks are past that 9-month mark. My experience is that most are salvageable, no matter how badly you’ve ignored them (you know I’m only teasing because I love you, right?)

I’ve found the following questions incredibly helpful to gauge where my new managers are at, where they’d like to go and what they need from me. Please remember as you consider these that tone and context are everything. Never forget that most leaders feel unqualified for their role on some level and that’s doubly true for new leaders. In many people’s minds, it’s an incontrovertible fact that if you haven’t had these conversations with your boss before and then she suddenly starts asking them that you’re about to be fired.

The goal with these questions is to establish an honest and trusting relationship so that you will know your new leader’s expectations of their role and of you. I’ve learned over the years that frustration is always a product of an unmet expectation. These questions will help you set a realistic course for your new managers and understand what they think they need from you.  If their expectations are out of alignment with what you’re prepared to provide then is a golden opportunity for you to reconsider your training approach, or simply use it as a teachable moment. There is simply no downside. The upside is that your new leaders will become as effective as possible as quickly as possible (thus, making your life SO much easier).

So without further ado, here are the 5 things you should be regularly asking your new leaders:

·      What do you need to know about the company goals that would help you motivate your team and be as productive as possible?

·      How much of my time do you feel like you need each week?

·      During that time, what do you need more of? Less of?

·      What conversations with your team or your colleagues have you not had that you should have? (and vice versa)

·      What about the (department/organization) processes do you feel like you need to know more about to be more effective (and why)?

Lest you think this list too simplistic, I’ll explain the method to my madness. The first and last questions are directly tied to management systems. New managers need to be aware of the goals of not only the company, but their department and they need to be aware of what productive means. They also need to know the internal processes related to output and to maneuver through the infrastructure. This is the heart of performance and without a solid understanding they will be unable to manage the performance of their subordinates.  If your new managers are not confidently dialed in to what it takes to produce (whatever it is your produce) then that is the first thing you need to address.

The middle three questions will all give you insight into emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and expectations. If their expectation of time with you is radically different than yours, this needs to be addressed promptly, as it will erode your relationship. If you’re not giving them ANY time, it’s going to be very difficult to build a healthy reporting relationship – especially when they’re new. If they want 10 hours a week, that’s probably not feasible and you’ll need to work with them on reasonable expectations.

It’s good to get an idea of their tolerance and willingness to engage in conflict and constructive dialogue. Asking what conversations they’ve had that they shouldn’t should also give you a good read on their judgment and ability to manage their emotions.

It probably goes without saying that you’re not going to get good answers to these questions if you haven’t built a relationship yet, so if that’s the case you can explain that you’re starting a new one-on-one format and keep any negative feedback at a bare minimum to start with. (Practice neutral expressions in the mirror to help deal with unexpected or disappointing answers).

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but your life as a senior leader or company owner is directly impacted by the performance of your team. If you can get in the habit of asking these, you’ll be amazed at the useful information you’ll find out!

Carrie Maldonado is the founder of Today’s Leadership Solutions, a Seattle-based consulting firm focused on helping organizations, leaders and job seekers to identify workplace solutions that work.  As a certified executive coach, organizational development expert and resume writer, Carrie consults with small to medium sized businesses on OD, human resources and recruiting solutions in addition to providing career coaching to managers and executives in transition. Carrie can be reached for consultation at carrie@todaysleadershipsolutions.com

 

 

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coaching Uncategorized

What your managers need the most to make your business successful

We’ve all heard the phrase ‘our employees are our most important resource’ or some version of this. Most companies are in agreement with this (sometimes customers are stated as most important but employees are usually a very close second). It’s true that without employees, you can’t get critical functions accomplished and you wouldn’t have a business, but I think that managers are a very overlooked critical resource within an organization. In larger organizations, there is often a budget set aside for management development but the vast majority of growing companies don’t have this luxury. Often, managers are promoted for technical prowess, or hired from the outside, and organizations don’t devote time or money to growing these people. Failing to grow your managers always results in your leaving money on the table and not just any money, either, but pure profit.

There are several areas where it’s important to work with managers but financial/business training, interviewing and hiring, performance management and succession planning are the areas where failure to invest in your management team WILL result in problems for you.  It’s also important for managers to have a basic understanding of labor law compliance; at least in terms of knowing what problem areas are and when to ask for help. If your managers had a better understanding of each of these areas, your business would be virtually guaranteed to be more successful.

I’ve only met a handful of business owners who didn’t agree that their managers would benefit from being developed in these areas. The ones that don’t typically are the types of people who want to control everything and don’t truly want managers to ‘manage’ anything. Everyone else almost always agrees it’s necessary, but they don’t perceive that they have the time or resources to invest in their team. And they’re not wrong to be cautious. Cookie cutter ‘management training’ is not the solution for many smaller and medium sized businesses. In fact, many managers HAVE read the management books, attending the seminars and/or even gotten the degree. But that’s not what will transform your business.

For your managers to be truly effective, they have to get the relevant information AND learn how to apply it to their employees and business segments. Not many first time managers can read “Good to Great” and turn that into an actionable plan. No, most of these folks are struggling with much more tactical challenges. How do they make sure they don’t hire another deadweight employee? How can they address the fact that their star performer is not playing well with others? What should they communicate to the team about the pending slow down? How can they cut over time but still maintain output?  THESE are the problems real life managers struggle with every day and there’s a very slim chance they will ever feel comfortable telling their boss that they don’t know the answer to these questions.

Targeted training and coaching can provide the competitive advantage needed to overcome these obstacles and many more. This intervention deals with your managers in your environment with your specific problems and teaches managers how to find and apply solutions. The result is more effective, confident managers which will always be felt by the employees. So before you spend another dime on management training make sure this will really help your managers deal with the real problems they’re facing and not just textbook examples.

 So if you are a growing business, first of all, congratulations! Second, don’t beat yourself up for what you might not be giving your managers, but think about outsourcing this very critical business function. Your managers, employees, customers will thank you…not to mention your peace of mind, and bottom line.

Carrie Maldonado is the founder of Limitless HR Solutions, a Seattle-based management consulting firm devoted to helping business owners fall back in love with their businesses. A certified executive coach, seasoned Organizational Behavior Management Practitioner and Senior HR professional, Carrie can be reached for consultation at carrie@limitlesshrsolutions.com

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career coaching Uncategorized

Job search advice from my clients to my clients

I’m in a somewhat unique position from the job search perspective in that I am a professional resume writer, I provide career coaching, I am a recruiter, I am a Talent Acquisition Consultant for a Recruiting Process Outsourcing firm, and for some of my clients I serve as the hiring manager. All that to say, I am intimately involved in the hiring (and firing) process from all levels and lately I have been noticing some things that are keeping perfectly good people from matching up with other perfectly good people!

 

If you are looking for a job:

·      Please include a cover letter with your resume – even if no one asks for one but especially if they do. Take the time to customize it for the actual job to which you are applying. Last week someone sent me a cover letter detailing how their goal in life was to be a medical coder and biller. Too bad they were applying to be an Account Manager for a label manufacturer!

·      Please review the job posting and the hiring company’s website prior to your interview. If you tell me in the interview that you have applied for so many jobs that you don’t recall applying for this one I will have a very hard time believing you really want to work for this particular company.

·      Please tell me your desired compensation range. A range is fine and if you are negotiable let me know but please let’s not play the ‘whoever talks first loses’ game. I will happily tell you my payment range as well but I as the hiring manager am likely more flexible if you are awesome.

·      I don’t expect you to be a professional resume writer (but hey, I can help you out with that if you like) but please get your resume to modern day standards. Don’t give me your career objective, don’t hand me something that looks like it was produced on a typewriter and mimeographed and at if you’re going to claim to have great attention to detail, check your spelling. And don’t go back more than 15 years, because you are unnecessarily exposing yourself to prejudice about age that you just don’t need.

·      I totally understand being desperate for a job, I really do – I’ve been there, but please don’t just send your resume out to every posting blindly. This week I had the same applicant apply to an AR job, a Safety Role and a Business Development manager for two different companies in three different states! No cover letter and nothing remotely relevant on his resume to any of the jobs. Do you just need to check a box that you applied or did you want to be considered.? HELP ME HELP YOU (recruiter cries pitifully)

 

And to my clients who are hiring…

·      Please don’t label someone as damaged goods just because they’ve been laid off if they are an otherwise great candidate. At least let’s find out the whole story.

·      Please hire for culture, but is it really necessary for every manager in the building to interview someone? Especially if none of you get along…how exactly do you see this ending?

·      Please don’t add unnecessary complexity to the hiring process. If you don’t trust your hiring manager to make the decision, why don’t you hire an awesome management development expert (and hey, I can help you out here too) to get your hiring managers more proficient in hiring rather than insisting that the C Level execs sign off on entry-level candidates.  BTW…I have noticed absolutely no increase in retention in companies that do this. I completely agree with hiring for culture and in getting C Level buy off on some position but other times it shrieks control issues.

·      Please try to look for the good and not just the bad. You will find whatever you are looking the hardest for and no offense but are you sure you can afford the perfect unicorn you are demanding?

 

And to my resume clients

·      Pick a career target. Any career target. It will make it easier to write AND read your resume. You can have more than one resume – no one is going to get mad at you.

·      Just be yourself. The right company for you is out there. This is like dating and if you fake it, you’ll end up with someone who only likes fake you, which equals stress, stress and more stress.

·      Please provide me some accomplishments you’ve done, or impact you’ve had. If you want your resume to ‘pop’, you must provide me some information besides all the tasks you were responsible for. Tasks are boring and don’t ‘pop’. And no, I will not use colored font for your resume and neither should you!

 

So there, for the people, by the people, to get the people working for the right people!

Carrie Maldonado is the founder of Limitless HR Solutions, a Seattle-based management consulting firm devoted to helping business owners fall back in love with their businesses. A certified executive coach, seasoned Organizational Behavior Management Practitioner and Senior HR professional, Carrie can be reached for consultation at carrie@limitlesshrsolutions.com

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Uncategorized

The magical formula to crushing the employee performance conversation

Five key components to crushing the employee performance conversation

This is probably THE biggest problem area for managers of all levels; from first time supervisor to CEO. IT is terribly difficult to have a conversation with someone who is not performing well. Reactions to this situation range from just ignoring the problem indefinitely to firing people without ever telling them why. Yes, that’s right – many managers would rather fire someone than tell them they need to improve! Why is this?

I think there are probably a couple factors. First, we are scared the person will get upset and quit and we don’t have a replacement lined up. Second, sometimes managers feel that they have not provided an ideal opportunity to perform well and so don’t feel it’s fair to correct performance in those circumstances. Third, some companies who pay below market average tend to compromise on poor performance out of guilt, or resignation that this is just the best they’re likely to get for what they’re paying. Fourth, people believe that the performance isn’t going to change, so why go to the hassle of an unpleasant coaching talk? I’ll be honest – sometimes these fears are legitimate.  However, I would argue that it’s still good practice and having these tough conversations will increase your management skills. Not only that, sometimes it actually works and performance turns around. The reality is you have nothing to lose by coaching poor performing employees and everything to gain. So what’s the magical formula?

The most important part of coaching poor employees is taking the emotion out of it, for you. There are usually two emotions warring when we have a badly performing employee. First is anger, especially if the performance is making your life more difficult or reflecting badly on you (and eventually it does). Second is fear – fear of confrontation, fear of the employee crying, fear of the employee quitting, or maybe fear of the employee not liking your or their job anymore. It’s okay to be nervous, but it’s not okay to either avoid or villainize the employee because of the emotion. To take the emotion out, take your ego out of it and right size the issue. Likely, it’s not a life or death issue, and will not make or break the company or your career. Put the performance in perspective and remind yourself that it’s part of your job as supervisor to help people do better, not an indicator that you’re failing if they need help. This is crucial.

Next, take a step back and look at the behavior only. Not your label or interpretation of the behavior. If your employee is consistently late for work, or does not complete tasks in a timely manner, this is the issue. It’s not that they don’t care, or are lazy, or have a bad attitude (necessarily). These things may be true from your perspective but it’s highly unlikely the employee will agree. Most of us judge ourselves by our intentions, not our actions, and your employees are no different. Your job as their supervisor and coach is to help them see the discrepancy between their intentions and their actions. This is the magical part of the formula because this is what will help your employees understand that you’re on their side and stop seeing you as an enemy.

Next, in order to increase the likelihood of successful change, you, the manager, must not own the problem. If you want the employee to successful more than they do, it won’t work. Part of the coaching conversation is to uncover or inspire a desire to succeed. If you can’t do that, or it’s just not there, there’s a very slim chance that the employee can and will turn their performance around. It’s very common for well-intentioned managers to own the problem and the solution. I’ve seen managers actually volunteer to call employees at home to wake them up so that they can make it to work on time. This is crossing the line from caring to co-dependent and I don’t recommend it as a general rule. Sometimes the best favor you can do someone is help them become more responsible on their own by holding them reasonably accountable for their actions.

As part of the performance discussion, make sure to establish specifically what you’d like to see more of, less of, started or stopped and the timelines in which you’d like to see it. An expression of confidence in their ability to do this is also good, but only if you believe it. If you can’t authentically tell someone you know they can improve, try for hoping they can improve.

There is one final component to crushing the employee performance conversation and this is to have performance conversations all the time. When someone is doing great, have a conversation to outline what they’re doing well. When they’re maintaining satisfactorily have a touch base to make sure they’re feeling challenged and appreciated. This takes the ‘no news is good news’ perception out of your presence and reduces the fear factor immensely, which makes it much more productive when there actually is an issue.

So to conclude, talk to your employees and talk to them often. Talk to them when things are good and when they’re not and remember that having this conversation isn’t taking you away from your job…it IS your job.

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Superstar School 101: How to make your boss think you’re a rock star

Unless you work for yourself, you have a boss (and if you do work for yourself you have a lot of bosses; they’re called your clients and it’s way easier for them to fire you than traditional bosses).  And, unless you just inherited a gazillion dollars, it behooves you to ensure your boss is pleased with you. I’m not talking about the phony, sucking up kind of pleased. Most bosses and all true leaders are able to look past flattery pretty quickly.  Rather, I’m talking about some basic communication and professional standards of behavior that will mark you as the super star you are, but that are surprisingly UNcommon.  In fact, the majority of management counseling, disciplinary actions and even terminations I’ve seen result from these NOT occurring.  They are so important that even if you are a technical expert at your job, failing to do these things could be the kiss of death for your career. On the other hand, these coupled with competence could just get you labeled a rock star! And you want to be considered a rock star, because it leads to great things like more money, more opportunity, more responsibility, more interesting assignments and more leadership opportunities.

1: Follow up on a request from your manager:

This one is crucial and a huge source of frustration to leaders when it doesn’t happen. If your boss, or the company owner, specifically asks you to do something there are a couple important next steps. First, DO IT. Second, let your boss know it was completed. You don’t need a lengthy dissertation, but a quick email, text, IM or even, gasp, verbal confirmation that it was done is more than professional courtesy. By doing this, you are relieving your boss from having to worry about something. When you are the person who relieves worry, instead of causing it, this is a good thing for you. Now, suppose step one is not possible and you can’t complete the assignment. This happens and in this situation it is exponentially MORE important to communicate this was not done. Your boss may not like that it was not completed but they will dislike getting surprised with this information even more.

2: Restate objectives to ensure you’ve heard them:

This is not something everyone does, but they should.  If communication was easy and straightforward, it wouldn’t consistently rank in the top three biggest issues companies face. I strongly recommend taking notes when meeting with your manager or company owner, even if for no other reason than to keep yourself focused. Always, always and ALWAYS restate the objectives you believe you’ve been given to make sure you and your boss are on the same page. This does more than just reassure you both that you are in agreement, believe it or not, it also is a great way for your manager to process through things. When my employees would do this, it sometimes turned into a fantastic problem solving opportunity for both of us, as I realized there were some missing components in my action plan. Without this critical step, the mission would probably have failed and both me and my employees would have been frustrated.

3: Engage your boss in re-prioritizing:

There will be a time in your career when you are given more than is possible to reasonably do (cough, every day, cough). Most of the time, our priorities are pretty clear, but there can be times when they’re not. Your boss is likely juggling multiple responsibilities as well and, being only human, can lose track of what you’re working on. And sometimes you may be given additional directives from other managers or your boss’s boss. When this happens it can feel stressful, but it doesn’t have to be a big deal. Instead, talk to your boss, reasonably, to ask which is most important. They often times have access to information you don’t which can help prioritize. Regardless, it’s good practice, because this way you are engaging your boss and eliminating the element of surprise at potentially unfinished tasks.

4: Celebrate your team:

This is so important! Teamwork makes the world go round, or at least, good companies. By pointing out the star players on your team to your boss, you are giving him/her a chance to thank them, which can be an amazing boost to morale. In addition, it reflects well on you that you are consciously growing and supporting talent. No company has room for managers who hog the glory or the credit, whether this is spoken or unspoken. It’s confident, savvy leaders who know that building people up is an important component of their job – maybe THE most important.

5: Effectively advocate for the company AND your employees

Most managers are intrinsically good at one or the other, but to be a rock star, you need to do both, at the same time, all the time. It’s impossible to separate which is more important. If the company goes down, no one has jobs and if the people aren’t taken care of, the company goes down. As much as it’s important to celebrate your team, if you are acting more like a shop union steward (in a non-union company) and neglecting to see the big picture of what is in the company’s best interest as well, you will not be successful and you will not be able to partner effectively with your boss. This is not easy, because much of the time it can feel like the company and the employees have opposing interests, but it is possible to find a middle ground and that is where the rock stars live.

So essentially, make your boss (and your company) successful and they will in turn make you successful. Exceptions lie in the cases of grave economic conditions, or working for terrible bosses in terrible cultures but the principles of rock-star-ness hold true even in those situations. Sometimes we are placed in positions to make a difference in bad circumstances, or to elevate our awesomeness to the extent we will be hand-picked by an equally awesome company. So let your inner rock star out!