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-Andrey
Posted by Jeff Collins, Seattle, Washington | Oct 06, 2007
Management 101
Anyone here have employees? I remembered today a little pearl of wisdom a great manager shared with me.
He demonstrated it when someone in our organization came up to him in a panic to ask what they should do about a puzzling situation.
1) 'What are your options?' he inquired.
She then gave a list of things that she could do to remedy the situation.
2) 'Which do you think you should do?' He then asked her.
She thought for a moment & told him which option she thought would work best.
Then he said, 'okay, let's do that,' and he sent her on her way to solve the problem. This was his way of empowering her. I guarantee it didn't take her too many times of asking him questions like this to realize she already had the answers within her.
The following week I came up to him and asked him a question about what I should do. He asked me, 'what are your options?' I smiled, turned around and went off to solve the problem on my own.
Over the years I have found this to be a good two point check list for solving problems in business. Hopefully it helps you and yours as well.
p.s. try it on your kids!
13 Bizniks have posted replies
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Posted by Andrey Rozmaity, Seattle, Renton, Kent, Tacoma, Washington | Oct 06, 2007 -
Posted by Amy Vercruysse, Austin, Texas | Oct 08, 2007Excellent advice Jeff! I'm sure I'm not alone in saying I've had my fair share of managers who did some version of the exact opposite. Fortunately I've also had managers who were great to work for and I hope I've learned from them all to be the kind of manager you describe here.
Thanks for posting!
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Posted by Howard Howell, Seattle, Washington | Oct 08, 2007Jeff.. Good pearl of wisdom. It reminds me of my first sales manager. He gave me somewhat the same marching orders when I asked him: "how can I build my sales territory?"
He gave me a 1 page daily call sheet with space to record 10 visits (who and what we talked about). He said: "complete one every day and turn them in at the end of the week and you'll get a paycheck plus commission."
That's all the training he ever gave me. He empowered me to get off my butt and get out and meet people. Such a simple assignment propelled me to sales success far greater than I ever would have dreamed.
It's those simple little management tips that we all need to remind ourselves of daily. Thanks for the post.
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Posted by Jeff Collins, Seattle, Washington | Feb 14, 2008Anyone else have any management tidbits they would like to share?
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Posted by Arthur Torelli, Seattle, Washington | Feb 17, 2008How did it work on your kids? Art T.
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Posted by Mark Silver, Portland, Oregon | Feb 23, 2008I love your advice, Jeff. I'm going to use it with our next hire- we're currently in the interview process.
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Posted by Jeff Collins, Seattle, Washington | Feb 23, 2008
Thanks, Mark. Just passing along knowledge.
Art, My girls are a bit too young to get it just yet but I'll be utilizing this one soon.
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Posted by Anita CM, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh India | Feb 23, 2008Hey Jeff great tip but I would say thats an ideal scenario management formula wherein the manager is source of strength to the subordinates,someone who can stand by their decisions...
What if the manager in question dosen't have stomach to digest failure on part of subordinates once they have been empowered by him/her to go ahead with their decision?
-Anita CM
(http://www.siteometrics.com)
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Posted by Jeff Collins, Seattle, Washington | Feb 23, 2008
I would consider that an inability to delegate. The biggest reason to divide work is to get more done when you cannot do it all yourself.
For example, even though you are the best in your company at task A, B & C, which are all rather involved, it might end up better for the company if you divide the three items up between people. That way instead of ending up with three projects you were unable to complete yourself the end result is three finished projects. Either you can do one yourself very well and have the other two done to a lesser extent or you can oversee all three projects while helping the workers to achieve their personal best.
This is a rough example but you can see what I mean about delegation & the need to embrace the end result regardless of how you could have done the tasks differently if you were three people.
In this process you should: 1) Create a vision for your employees of how the task should be done. 2) Provide guidance/support during the task 3) Follow up on what went right & which improvements could be made moving forward.
There are lots of people better at management than me & there are also many business consultants here on Biznik whom are experts in the creation & execution of plans/processes.
To answer your question specifically, Anita. Either help that manager see how to make the situation better, demote them to a level where they are not a manager of people or let them go.
My summary of this post would be: Letting Go In Order To Hold On.
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Posted by Margaret Purvine, Edmonds, Washington | Aug 06, 2008Wonderful comments, Jeff. An inability to delegate or let go of a task is a typical problem for new managers, particularly if they are managing a team of their former peers. They are used to doing the work themselves and were probably really good at it. That's why they may have been promoted to management. However, managing is different and requires a different mindset. Instead of doing work, you have to accomplish work through others. It's good to offer direction and guidance, but at the end of the day you have to let your employees accomplish the work in their own way. Then, judge them on the outcome.
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Posted by Marianna Paulson, Surrey, British Columbia Canada | Aug 07, 2008Hi Jeff: I agree. We do have the answers within - it's learning to trust that even if we made a wrong decision, we'll generally be ok.
I have a tip for you with your girls...you can start them on the 'trust' journey by letting them make a controlled decision. "Do you want to wear the purple skirt or the blue pants today?" (Your role will be to keep quiet after they've made the decision.)
Gradually, as they grow, you can increase their options, until they can make their own decisions and learn to live with or adjust them, as the need may be.
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Posted by Jeff Collins, Seattle, Washington | Aug 07, 2008
My girls are 3 and 5 now and dress themselves most of the time. The 5 year old has it down and is very concerned with matching (most of the time). The three year old enjoys asserting herself and saying no to any option given so usually I have to tell her something is too pretty and cannot be worn before she will want to try it out.
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Posted by Steven Wevodau, Fort Wayne, Indiana | Oct 28, 2008Steven Wevodau says: Great tip, Jeff!
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