By Daniel Bobinski
Lots of people strive for positions of management or leadership. Some people are naturally inclined to do well in those roles, others must learn the skills. When someone exercises good management or leadership, chances are the workplace hums along pretty well. However, when someone in one of those positions lacks those skills, let’s just say things usually don’t go so well.
Such was the case when a friend of mine, whom we’ll call Robert, signed on to a new company. A few months back, Robert was asked to join the team of a start up to serve as director of production. Wisely, Robert asked for a job description, but none existed. “It will have to emerge,” the company founder said.
Since the company founder, whom we’ll call John, owned several businesses, Robert assumed John knew what he was doing, and he discarded his standard practice of taking a position only when a clear job description was provided. Suffice it to say Robert quickly regretted his decision. Robert recently shared what happened.
Onboarding was horrible. The new company already had five other employees when Robert was brought on. Robert figured John would introduce him to the other team members, but no introductions took place. Robert knew one of the other employees already, but John made no effort to get Robert connected with the others. This frustrated Robert, because not only was he unclear about his own job responsibilities, he was unclear about what the other people were supposed to be doing to help the company meet its goals. No policies were explained. However, as Robert soon observed, that’s probably because policies and procedures were made up on the fly.
Micromanagement flourished. The owner, John, revealed his micromanagement tendencies in the very first week. Even though Robert had decades of experience in project management, John kept redirecting Robert’s decisions and acting as if Robert ought to be able to read John’s mind. Tasks would be delegated to Robert, but then John would step in, take back responsibility for the tasks and do them the way he wanted. Rather than receive training on what was expected, Robert was corrected and scoffed at.
Meetings were disorganized. Robert was accustomed to attending meetings where agendas existed and focus was maintained. Such meetings did not happen at John’s company. Meetings regularly ran long, despite John declaring that meetings needed to start and end on time. And, because no meeting agendas existed, conversations took many directions and much time was wasted. The first meeting ended with John saying, “OK – we’re done.” After that, Robert stepped up at the end of each meeting to summarize what decisions were made and clarify the action items decided.
Communication fell flat. All employees of the company were told to communicate using an online app, but when Robert sent questions to John via the app, John would rarely answer. And even when he did, his answers were terse and unclear. Robert would have to text John to ask him to respond to the questions posed in the app, but even then, John would only respond occasionally.
It didn’t take long for Robert to feel frustrated. He’d always been recognized as a top performer in his previous places of employment, but now he felt he was being set up for failure. He didn’t feel valued. He didn’t feel productive. And, he didn’t see any hope of things turning around. Before his two-month anniversary with John’s company, Robert resigned.
This did not need to be. It was obvious from Robert’s past successes that he could have been a huge asset to John’s business, but John failed to create the conditions for similar success. Let’s go back through the reasons Robert left and discuss what John could have done differently.
When onboarding, by all means, even if it’s a rough draft, companies need to provide a list of tasks and duties required for every position. Duties are general areas of responsibility; tasks are specific action items that someone is supposed to do.
Additionally, ensure all new hires are introduced to their team members, including people from other departments who will interact with the new hire. Each person’s basic responsibilities should be explained. Research shows that a new employee’s attitude toward the company is set within 72 hours of starting. For employees to be fully engaged, managers or leaders need to connect with new hires multiple times during those first three days, answering questions and asking what can be done to help the new employee succeed.
Micromanaging is a most demoralizing management style. Training needs to occur, followed by good delegation. Three things need to be delegated: responsibility, authority and accountability. As a quick overview, being responsible to complete a task means one is duty-bound to do the work. John would delegate a task, but then, without telling anyone, he would do the work himself. Robert was shocked many times to discover a task he had been assigned was already completed by John, and all his efforts to accomplish his assignment were wasted.
Meetings need a clearly stated purpose and an agenda. Whoever is planning the meeting needs to think those things through, and then publish an agenda for how the meeting should flow to achieve that purpose. When those things happen, meetings are often more productive. It’s also important for whoever is leading the meeting to keep it on track.
Communication is key, and it must work for everyone. Lots of communication avenues exist these days, so care should be taken not to use too many methods or details get lost. Perhaps most important, rapid response and clarity need to be practiced. Managers and leaders cannot ignore questions from subordinates and expect those people to remain engaged and productive. Let me also add that “please” and “thank you” go a long way toward people feeling valued and respected.
Most employees will work hard for an organization, but managers and leaders need to create conditions for success or those employees will leave for greener pastures.
– Daniel Bobinski is author of the best-selling book, “Creating Passion-Driven Teams,” and president of Leadership Development, Inc. He’s been helping organizations of all shapes and sizes since 1989. Learn more at www.eqfactor.net or reach him at DanielBobinski@protonmail.com or 208-649-6400.
