Leadership Fundamentals

To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.

Lao Tzu, 4th Century Chinese Philosopher
Tao – The Way – Special Edition

One of the things managers frequently do is assume that because they are managers, they have all the answers. Frequently, they don’t. Even sadder is that they assume they do, based on the single fact that they are managers. Yet, it should be apparent that those who have the most critical information about a process are the very people who go through the process daily and bump their heads against its inadequacies. Why on earth would you want to change or replace a process if you don’t know why it should be changed in the first place? How would you know that the process that is replacing the original is not worse?

Getting the right information at the beginning of the project, before it is set in stone — especially if it has been outsourced and contracted for with a set of specifications — would seem to be extremely critical if the project is not going to incur cost overrun. Additionally, you can bet the project will probably be late, as review of its functionality [finally!] by those who are going to use the process reveals an alarming inadequacy.

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Would your team fire you if it was in their power?

If your employees were to take a closed-door poll of how you’re doing as a manager, how do you think they would vote? Are you confident that you have their respect, their trust, their reliance on you to perform adequately as a manager? Or would you have misgivings, concerns about how you’d score? If you do have concerns, chances are that you already have an at least an inkling of what your drawbacks are. If your employees could fire you, would they? What’s your management style? Does it work?

Micromanager
Do you feel that you must be involved at all levels in order for any project to be completed in a timely, efficient, and productive manner? Do you suspect that without your attention to all the details, the project could not be completed? Are you involved with every project at the same level of intensity and intervention? You may be doing your team a big disservice by demonstrating that you obviously do not have enough trust in their experience and know-how to carry out a project on their own. While a manager should give project definitions and goal-setting directives, you are killing initiative and the sense of responsibility your team should have if you get yourself overly involved. It’s fine to set delivery dates and allocate certain tasks, as well as to ask for updates on how the effort is going. It is not fine to demonstrate that you have little faith in their ability to complete the task at hand unless the reins are all in your hand.

Directorial and non-inclusive

You call all the shots, and truthfully are not interested in “group participation” or input, not even enough to fake it, because you are sure you are the only one with all the answers. You don’t even give lip service to “teamwork” because you have no desire to let it get started in your management system, to slowly creep into a system that is just fine the way it is [as far as you're concerned] — with you in charge and calling all the shots.

If you start to weaken and let everyone else’s ideas go into the pot, you’ve lost all control, right? Or are you just so afraid of anyone questioning your methods and shining a spotlight on your failures?

One of the other sinister results of this kind of leadership is the fact that you have locked out everyone else’s ability to shine — even their DESIRE to shine.

Once again, remember: it’s not all about you — it’s about your team. But if, by some magic, your team is highly regarded, it will reflect on you. Fascinating concept — yes? By stepping back and letting the light shine on your great team, you still win.

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One of the less than sound moves a leader or manager can make is to be afraid of admitting when they’re wrong. Many bad mistakes are made when an idea or vision is held on to tenaciously just because it is your own. Truly great managers are those who want to examine a policy from all angles before finalizing a decision. You put together what you believe is a team made up of highly creative and hard-working individuals. The purpose of doing that is to achieve access to the brightest and the best ideas to help you sharpen your decision-making practices, so why not take advantage of your assets?

Most of us need and want to look at issues from many sides and consider the possible repercussions of our policies before they are set in stone. There is wisdom in gathering alternate views and considering suggested alternatives. One of the key rewards in listening and reviewing additional points of view is that people buy into policies they have contributed ideas to. It’s that simple. They also take ownership of ideas that make sense to them and seem possible to carry out. The trouble with top-down decision-making is that it’s hard to enforce if it doesn’t make sense to the people who must carry it out. Unfortunately, too often one of the strong reasons people want to manage other people is so they can make decisions for those people based solely on what they themselves want. Too often, when the policies or implementation doesn’t work out, it’s those other people who get blamed for the failure.

The failure is not simply a policy that doesn’t work. The failure is a loss of trust, a discouragement of sharing ideas, and to put it bluntly, a lack of faith in your judgment. That doesn’t mean everyone expects you to be right all the time — they don’t. They simply expect you to listen, to ponder, to be open to other ideas.

When we talk of good management, the same terms come up again and again: trust, communication, inclusion, employee engagement.

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Are you shielding a non-performer because letting someone go is not an easy task? I’ve learned from bitter experience the havoc that can bring. The other players on your team are no doubt aware of the discrepancy between their efforts and the non-performer. They have to pick up the slack, putting an unfair burden on them. They will certainly wonder why you are putting up with it. Your own credibility is at stake, and the longer the situation is allowed to go on, the more it will become obvious that you lack the courage to do something about it. In time, your team will experience an atmosphere that is divisive and considerably unfair.

On top of all that, by allowing the non-performer to remain, you are not doing that employee any favors either. They never get to understand that this kind of behavior must be corrected and their performance must improve if they are to move up in their career. When they have been severed from the company, they will have to examine their own behavior and discover how to correct it. A non-performer tends to muddy the waters by creating dramas that keep attention focused away from themselves and on issues that take attention away from their performance.

The non-performer needs to be separated from the rest of the team. It’s a hard situation, I know. I’ve been there and made the mistake of not acting quickly. This showed a lower level of support for my real performers, something not to be proud of as a manager. If you have repeatedly spoken with your non-performer about his/her failings and have not seen improvement, it’s time to grab the reins and sever the relationship.

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Don’t go any further on a project until you have all that you need to in order to begin!
I consider this an important topic, because if you receive an assignment without sufficient information, it means you will be floundering, wasting time searching for data that really is not relevant to your project. Understanding the goals and the scope of the project allows you to concentrate on what needs to be done.

You must be told the expected outcome, when it is to be delivered, the budgeting for the project (if any), and what resources will be available to you in order to complete it. If you are not given this information, be sure to ask for it. Be sure the scope is specified exactly, because there is always a tendency for the scope to drift and get redefined as the project gets under way. People tend to pile on more and more requirements while leaving the delivery date the same. Of course, the delivery date gets extended again and again, the bells and whistles grow into a long list — many times with items the customer will not even care about — and the central goal of the project is now unrecognizable, late in delivery, and patched together in a shoddy way. In short, the project has failed.

Take a look at this excellent description of scope creep from Wikipedia:

“Scope creep (also called focus creep, requirement creep, feature creep, function creep) in project management refers to uncontrolled changes in a project’s scope. This phenomenon can occur when the scope of a project is not properly defined, documented, or controlled. It is generally considered a negative occurrence that is to be avoided.

Scope creep is a risk in most projects. Most megaprojects fall victim to scope creep (see Megaprojects and risk).[citation needed] Scope creep often results in cost overrun. A value for free strategy is difficult to counteract and remains a difficult challenge for even the most experienced project managers.”

I will be back with more on Agile Software Development later.

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The old annual review just doesn’t hack it. You probably do an annual review of your direct reports. Is that the only time you talk to them about what they are working on, what their career objectives are, or where they could use improvement? If so, you’re letting an entire year go by without giving them any insight about how they are doing, what they need to do, and if they are making headway with their objectives. Make it a practice to stop by their desks occasionally and see how things are going. Are they swamped with work? How are they getting along as a team? Do they have any work issues they want to talk about? Do they have any ideas about improving a project or function? Do they need training for some new technology or upgraded software? How will you know about any of this if you talk to them once a year for an hour?

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