Since I've Been Asked

I have neglected to update this blog since getting a new position. On January 2 of 2007 I started a new position in where I've worked for the past 12 years at the top technical position with a title of Consultant-Specialist. Initially I was in the Virtual Infrastructure team working on server virtualization using Linux on zSeries. In April I was moved to the Mainframe engineering team where I am as of today.

Do I miss management - the short answer is yes. The longer answer is that what I miss is the interactions with my staff, helping them to achieve the company's and their goals, and generally trying to do what is right for all involved while developing my management skills. What I do NOT miss is the politics where I disagreed with the ethics of different aspects of management. This may not be proper to state but it is a fact that some in management are unethical yet they don't see it and when confronted don't take it well.

In my view a manager has two primary jobs - first to the company through his immediate boss to meet the goals and objectives given and second to his staff to see that they have the management backing and support to succeed.

Doing the Right Thing

I ran across this quote this week and it hit home:

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.

Peter Drucker
American (Austrian-born) management writer (1909 - 2005)
(from http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/26536.html)

You are probably asking why this hit home and that is simply because too often as managers we are forced by the situation to do what is expedient rather than what is right. Sometimes it is polities, sometimes time constraints, and sometimes it is the path of least resistance. When that happens everyone looses although it may not be obvious and it may or may not come back to 'haunt' you.

Doing the right thing can also be difficult to determine at times because what is right for one part of the organization may not appear to be right for another part but if you take the time you should be able to determine the better right.

Interviewing/Hiring Frustration

One frustration that I experienced during this process was being told "you don't have enough management experience". While that is what I was told I'm sure there is more to it than that as some individuals can master a skill in a very short period of time while others can take much longer so requiring 'x' years in a skill or position to achieve mastery may be setting the bar too high or too low depending on the individual.

I believe in being open and honest and would have felt better if I'd been told that I didn't get a position because of 'x' or 'y'. Then I'd be able to work on improving either 'x' or 'y' but as it stands the only thing I can work on is tenure which appears to not be in the cards for management at this point.

I would encourage everyone who is in a position to decide on hiring to be honest and candid with those candidates that you turn down. Finding someone that is a better fit is great but tell the other candidates where they didn't fit - take a few minutes and help them know what they need to work on. You will be a big encouragement to them if you present it in a positive and encouraging manner and you will feel good because you didn't just slam the door on someone but you showed them the door and gave them some direction.

Leaving the world of Management

Because of the recent reorg and my opportunity to once again seek a new job it would appear that a position in management is not in the cards - at least not right away. I have been offered and have accepted a position as an individual contributor and will start that position on January 2, 2007.

I have really enjoyed my time in management and believe I learned a lot while contributing to the success of both my team and my manager and at some point in the future I hope to have that opportunity once again.

The status of this blog right now is that I plan to keep it open and on a random basis I will make continue to add my ramblings on management but this time from that of one under management.

Lifetime Learning

You've probably heard it before but I'm going to repeat it again for you - you should never stop learning. This is especially true for a manager (ok - it's especially true for everyone).

Why is it important for a manager? First because you don't know it all (and you probably never will). Second because it will help you to improve your management skills which will make you a better manager for your staff and a better employee to your boss.

Does this mean you have to go back to school? Definitely NO!

There are many ways you can continue to learn and one of my favorites is to open my browser and do a search on a topic of interest. Once you cut through the chaff to find the wheat there is a lot there.

Among the web sites that I have found worthwhile and have bookmarked are these:

http://www.manager-tools.com By visiting this site once a week you will feel like you've enrolled in a manager education program at a top management school. The big difference is that the material here is free and the lectures are available as podcasts. They sponsor a web forum where you can discuss topics from the podcasts with the authors and others who register to participate (again it is all free).

http://www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com/ This is a site where Marshall Goldsmith is making available a wealth of information from his vast experience and the information is also free.

Between these you'll be able to schedule 1 hour a week in your calendar for management development and your staff and your boss will see a difference in you within a few weeks (possibly within a few days) and you will notice the change yourself as you become more effective in your job.

A note about podcasts - you do not need an iPod to listen to them. The files are mp3 format audio files which can be easily downloaded to your PC (or Mac) and then played on the built-in audio player that comes with your PC (or Mac).

Stress

Have you ever noticed that your job is stressful?

OK - those who answered no either are not working or having way too much fun.

Every job has some level of stress. Sometimes it is a problem that was not anticipated that needs to be fixed yesterday. Sometimes it is a request from upper management that they want done yesterday. The first is understandable and we can all deal with that kind of stress and in fact many of us don't even think of that as stress. The second is something that management has control over in most, not all, cases and is a matter of setting realistic expectations.

What is realistic is different for everyone. Asking someone to do something they have never done and expecting it to be done in the same time frame as if the individual were experienced is not realistic - yet that is what I've seen too many times.

As a manager you have to have and set realistic expectations and when you give an assignment you have to provide enough information so that it can be done to your expectations. When an assignment is given with less than complete information the results will not be what you expect and the individual doing it will be stressed trying to decide what you really want.

An example - my manager asked for a copy of all checklists. That was the request. No explanation of what kind of checklists, how they would be used or who the target audience would be. Consequently there was a lot of discussion among my peers and I about what was expected and no one had the same answer. We finally asked and received clarification that the checklists requested were problem resolution checklists but still no answer on who the audience would be. Thus what was provided were checklists assuming that they would be used by individuals with the same high skill set as those who created the checklist. Sadly this was not what was expected as the target audience for using the checklists was to be entry level technicians which required that the checklists be rewritten for the audience. This caused stress for everyone involved that could have been avoided.

The lesson is that some stress can be avoided if management sets realistic expectations and clearly articulates all assignments.

Science vs Art

Management is both a Science and an Art. Part of the 'science' part is all the mechanical aspects of the job such as keeping track of information on your staff, hours worked, vacation earned, status reports, kudos, warnings, performance reviews, etc.

Some have all of this information 'well organized' in various notebooks or folders in their desk. Others have this information in both papers as well as in electronic form in Word and Excel files somewhere on their workstation.

Being one of the organized types (some of the time) I was frustrated by not having easy access to all of this information and using my technical background I picked up a copy of Domino Designer and created a simple database where I can keep all of the information on my team in one place. When I've shown this to other managers they are amazed at the ease and speed of finding this information and at the same time they are reluctant to try it themselves because they "don't have the time".

The amazing thing is that they will never have the time and yet they can't afford NOT to do this.

Something I have learned is that many times it is worth spending extra time one time to save many times that time investment later and this is one example where this philosophy has paid off.

90 days and counting - random ramblings

I was just given my 90 day package which means that I am on the payroll for another 90 days during which time I need to find a new position either within my current company or outside. My preference is to stay as I fully support the mission and I like the people I work with.

I'm also struggling with should I remain in management. I've been told that I'm an excellent manager by those I manage, by my peers, and by my immediate management. The challenge is finding another management position. There are a lot of 'project management' positions to be had but very few management and a job is a requirement as I have yet to win the lottery (perhaps if I purchased a lotter ticket it would help improve the odds).

I have a strong technical background and have learned to manage highly technical individuals in areas where I do not have the in depth background.

More later ... time to work on in house networking.

Year 3 and my 3rd opportunity to find a new position

This week I was informed that my position had been eliminated and I have yet another opportunity to find a new position. This is the 3rd time this has happened to me in nearly 3 years. Each time I've landed a job where I was able to continue to contribute and where I was able to continue to grow and learn.

The first thing I did after getting home the day I was informed was to write a 'letter of introduction' which I view as similar to a resume cover letter. The next day I asked my current boss for his opinion before I sent it out (as I always like to have an extra pair of eyes review important things) and he approved without finding anything that needed to be changed. I then sent it out to six different Directors and a VP along with a few other contacts within my company. To date I've been promised two interviews.

I've also decided to take this opportunity to learn from and have asked both my 1st and 2nd level managers for their thoughts on what I do well as a manager and what I need to improve upon - no response as yet. I also asked my staff. If I can get even one thing (and there are probably many) to improve upon it will be worth it.

More later.....

Respecting your Direct Reports

One thing that everyone who leads people should consider is how to show respect to those who report to them. Here are some suggestions:

1. Answer e-mails from your staff in a timely manner. Don't sit on them. At least acknowledge that you have received the e-mail and commit to get back to the sender.
2. Acknowledge instant message sessions with your staff as soon as you can. Don't ignore the instant message. If you can't chat at that moment let them know you will 'ping' them when you are available.
3. Respond to voice mail messages from your staff as soon as you can. Preferably within the same day.
4. If your e-mail client allows it you should flag all e-mails from your staff so that they will stand out from all the other e-mails that you receive. Some ways to do this are:
• Set a specific color for all your staff's e-mails
• Move all e-mails that come in from your staff into a special folder (and then monitor that folder)
  

The bottom line is part of showing respect is to be available to your staff and to respond to their communications to you in a timely manner.

The Success of a Team

Teams, we are all members of one or more, are how things get done. The slogan of the U.S. Army of "An Army of One" is so far removed from reality that it is laughable. In combat, in business, and in life, we succeed when our team is successful. In combat you need a team (platoon) around you so that someone can guard your back, in business you need a team because you can not do everything, and in life your team is your family.

One characteristic of every winning team is a coach (sergeant, manager, father) who cares about the team members and who invests in making each successful first as members of the team and then in their individual roles. Sometimes the individual does not fit and needs to find a different team (somewhat difficult when that team member is your teenager) but in most cases every team member who receives the attention they need will succeed. The type of coaching will be different for each individual and that is the challenge for the coach.

If the coach simply tells the team that they need to go onto the playing field and win without providing any guideance is a coach who is not needed and the team will loose unless a member of team steps up and takes responsiblity for coaching the team.

It is also true that teams succeed more often when they work as a team than when you have a team of individuals, even if each individual is the best in their field. If they don't work together toward that common goal they will fail more often than not.

Thus the coach/leader must do their job of coaching and leading their team and if they don't then they need to be coached or replaced. I always recommend that coaching come before replacement because it is very likely that the individual can be turned if the coach invests in them (this is sadly not always the case).

Coaching

One area that I've an interest in is coaching. Why? Because I've not seen in many good examples during my tenure in management. I've had bosses who have said "I need this" but never define what "this" is - they just know that they want it. Providing them with "this" can be done but it is difficult when "this" is something that you've never done before and for which your peer managers have not done either. And when asking for more direction on how to do "this" getting an answer of just go figure it out does not help.

I've had several of these requests in the past year and found each to be a major challenge for which I didn't get the right answer after several tries and for each attempt I received the coaching of "it's not right - try again" without once getting even one minute of real coaching, such as "to get 'this' you need to do ...". I finally figured out how to do "this" when my boss became so frustrated that he did it on his own - and then never told me the why's, etc. and left me to intuit the steps from start to "this". Had I been given a few minutes of coaching the frustration on both our parts would have been eliminated and I would have improved as a manager in the process. As it is I've improved as a manager but only after a lot of frustration on the part of my boss and myself.

Coaching is more than just dropping someone blindfolded into the middle of the English channel in the middle of a moonless night and telling them to swim to shore after spinning them around several times. Coaching is, at a minimum, pointing them in the right direction and providing encouragement that you believe they can successfully swim to shore. Coaching is also being there when a wave turns them back out to open sea and providing guidance on how to get back on course. When you let the person swim out to the open sea then the coach is not doing their job and the swimmer is not able to learn and grow to do their job.

Imagine the coach of a professional football team during a game who just tells his team - "go win this game" and who then puts on the jersey of a referee and hands out penalties the rest of the game while providing no more guidance to his team. Chances are the team will loose and the coach will be upset. In this case the team owner will probably replace the coach whereas in the business world it tends to be the team that is replaced.

Comments....

Honesty in Communications

Today I received an interesting e-mail. Another support group had sent a request to mine over a month ago, in the process it was misrouted a few times, and we started to work on it but did not complete it when the user requested it. The e-mail stated that this person had left me two unanswered voice mail messages and then he escallated it up the food chain. The only problem is that the two voice mail messages were left within 30 minutes of each other today while I was in a meeting and thus unable to answer them. By the time I got back the e-mail was in my inbox.

The impression is that the two voice mail messages were left prior to today in an attempt to escallate the priority of the request which was false.

Honesty is important in all communications and the omission of a fact can result in misleading the recipient.

Transitioning to a New Job

Right now I am in a state of transition. The job I've been doing for the past 15 months was changed in a reorg and has been given to someone else and I've been appointed to a interim position until all the other jobs in the new org have been defined and posted. Next week I have to turn over what I've been doing to the new manager.

To faciliate the transition I have created an informal transition document that defines the organization and responsibilities. This document is somewhat stream of consciousness and nothing fancy but it should help my replacement to better understand what she is getting into. I've also created a Excel workbook with a list of over 70 issues that my team faces and the status of each issue which will also help in the transition.

The rule - truth in advertising applies here as well. You have a responsiblity to your replacement as a person to provide them with as much assistance in replacing you as possible. They don't have to accept it or do things the way you did but they do need to know what they are getting into.

Who you are

You have to be real and be who you are both for your own sanity and for the sake of those who you work with. A phony will be spotted a light year away.

For me this means remembering that I am a follower of Jesus Christ, also known as Yshua HaMashiach, who is the living Son of God who came to Earth to be born a child, live a sinless life, minister, then die on a cross for my sins and yours, and after three days to rise again to live forever at the right hand of the Father.

I believe the Bible is the inspired word of the Lord and it is 100% accurate in every word in the original languages. When I study the Bible I use several translations, all of which are considered very accurate to the original (I prefer the English Standard Version or ESV but also use the New American Standard (NASB) and the King James Version).

I believe you have to confess your sins (for we are all sinners) to the Lord and ask forgiveness and confess that Jesus is both the Son of God and God incarnate. The mystery of the triune God is one that I believe in and one that I will fully understand when I stand before Him one day.

Note that while we are all sinners we can all be saved - does that mean we will never sin again - no it does not. But it does mean that if you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior that you will not face eternal damnation in Hell but will spend eternity in Heaven.

Because I hold these beliefs they directly affect how I treat others.

Being Honest with those who work with you and for you

I have a boss who likes to say that he will never lie to those who work for him or with him when asked a question.

He likes to say that:

1. If he knows the answer and can tell you he will
2. If he does not know the answer he will tell you that he does not know
3. If he knows the answer and he can't tell you then he will tell you that he knows the answer but can't tell you

I admire this individual and find this is one the reasons that I admire and respect him and this is one of the things that I want to emulate and you should as well.

There is never any reason to lie to anyone. When you lie someone, somewhere, somehow will find out and you will be embarassed or worse fired. It is also much easier to remember the truth as it is real whereas trying to remember a lie will tax your memory.

And the bottom line is that when you tell a lie you are making a mistake. You are betraying the trust of the person you are telling the lie to and you are impeaching your own integrity.

So be honest and you will respect yourself and others will respect you as well.

Meetings

The bane of most managers (and non-managers) is having to attend meetings. I have just finished reading an excellent book that I want to recommend to everyone who schedules, chairs, or attends meetings. This book is a very easy read and you will put it down with a lot of great ideas on how to take a good meeting and make it better and how to take a rotten meeting and make it one you look forward to attending.

Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable...About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business
by Patrick Lencioni
John Wiley & Sons © 2004 (260 pages)
ISBN:0787968056
This book is a blueprint for leaders who want to eliminate waste and frustration among their teams, and create environments of engagement and passion.

Saying what you mean

How many times do you give your boss (or other coworker) a set of options only to receive an answer of 'yes' instead of geting a direct answer? How often are the answers ambigious when you need, no require, a direct answer?

Too often from some and it can be very frustrating.

When all options are acceptable then the response should indicate that.

This is all part of setting expectations from upper management - you have to let your staff know that if you give an ambigious answer that they are free to select the one they believe is the best. If that expectation is not set then everyone looses.

Career Goals

I've been asked several times what I want to do in 5 years. Do I want to be a Director, a Vice President, or what?

My answer is that my life goals are not work focused. Yes I want to do a good job and contribute to the best of my ability where I am employeed. No my life does not revolve around work. Unfortunately lately it has because the job has been very demanding and needs more balance and I'm hoping to be able to do that soon.

This is a question that you have to ask yourself. How do you want to balance your work and your life. Is your job more important to you than your family, your spouse, your children, your close friends? Would you rather be in a meeting or on the side lines supporting your child at a sporting event in which he/she is participating in? How many times will your child take his/her first step, first home run, first summersault? How many meetings will you be in (more than you probably would like)?

Something to think about.

The Platinum Rule

We've all heard about the Golden Rule - "Treat others the way you would like to be treated". I just learned about the Platinum Rule by Dr. Tony Alessandra which says "Treat others they way they would like to be treated". You can find out more about it here:

http://www.alessandra.com/about_platinumrule/index.asp

IMHO understanding this will make a manager a better manager in their relationships with their staff, with their peers, and with those higher up the organizational food chain.

Your Most Important Asset

Many companies will tell you that their people are their most important asset and then they will proceed to disprove that in the way they treat their people. If the staff, including management, were important to an organization then the senior leaders in an organization would treat their people with respect. Respect includes realizing that a work/life balance means having adequate staff to allow people to take vacations and around holidays to allow more than 1 or 2 to be off.

My Philosophy of Management

1. Availability and Customer service come first.

2. Problems will be resolved as quickly and accurately as possible.

3. We will not place blame, we will solve problems together.

4. My team must be successful for me to be successful.

5. I will do what I can to make my team successful, including education and opportunities for promotion.

6. I will respect my team as I expect respect in return.

7. I will always be honest with my team and I expect honesty in return.

8. I will set clear priorities.

9. I will always be available to my team, and when I’m otherwise occupied I will make every effort to get back to my team as soon as is possible.

10. I will reward my team when appropriate in public, and will correct when appropriate in private.

11. I expect to be notified of any problems reaching severity 2 or severity 1 status as soon as possible and to be kept informed of the progress in problem identification and resolution.

12. I expect to be notified of any severity 3 or 4 problems that have the potential to reach severity 2 or 1 level as soon as possible.

13. I expect my team to make appropriate recommendations for additional resources to resolve problems. When in doubt – escalate.

14. I will be open to suggestions and criticisms from my peers and my team, as the only way to improve is to know what needs improving. In return I will provide the same feedback to my team in a private and respectful manner.

15. My team knows their job and I will not micro manage them. I expect my team to let me know when they need additional skill training and/or resources to do their job.

16. My team should enjoy what they are doing and if they are not then I will work with them to change things where pOssible. This may include additional training or more challenging job assignments that might lead to a promotion or a position in another group.

More on Work/Life Balance

People work so that they can enjoy life, not the other way around. This is something that some in management positions forget. These managers require their staff to work long hours and will even threaten the withholding of permission to take vacations until a project that is behind schedule through no fault of the staff is handled. They will do this and then provide no positive reinforcement when the staff performs the 'miracle', instead they denigrate the staff for not doing that work sooner. A manager's job is to manage their staff and that includes managing the projects of their staff which includes factoring in reality. True miracles can occur but they are rare and those that do happen are because of extra effort by the staff who gave up some of their precious personal time.

Granted there are times in any organization where there are urgent projects that require overtime, sometimes for an extended period of time. When this happens it is managements job to realize this and provide relief for the staff by bringing in temporary help from other teams or from outside the company. Any extended period where the staff is working extended hours drains the energy, morale, and quality of work of the staff that will hurt in the long run if not resolved.

When your staff's work/life balance is out of balance because of the requirements of the job it is your job to resolve this. Typically it means that there is a failure somewhere in the management planning process. In my case this was a failure of several years of attempting to get by with the bare minimum investment in the infrastructure, not adding the necessary staff as the number of users of the infrastructure grew, and then not accepting that this could not be resolved by forcing the staff to work 'smarter'. The challenge of making this case to your management is not to be underestimated as they may be those who made the decisions or are being directed (indirectly or indirectly) to improve things within the constraints of the current budget and in some cases within the constraints of a budget that has been reduced to meet some unrealistic target (e.g. 10% less than the prior year). When this happens it is your job to make your management aware and if they don't provide any relief your challenge is to try to run interference between upper managements expectations and the health and wellbeing of your staff.

First Thoughts - Three Responsibilities of a Manager

Whether you're new to management, I've been in the role for 14 months, or if you've been doing it for years and years you are faced with three responsibilities that you have to balance:

First is your responsibility to your employers to do the job that you've been hired to do. This may be the easiest of the three.

Second is your responsibility to your staff to see that they do their job and are able to grow and excel. When this happens you will be successful simply because this is the key to your first responsibility.

Third is your responsibility to yourself to see that you grow and excel.

Can all three be done - without a doubt. But in doing so you have to take into consideration a lot of different things.

One of the first things to consider is the work/life balance that is important for you and for your staff to maintain a healthly life. Your staff, as well as yourself and those above you in the organization, work so that you can enjoy life. While there are rare instances (more so the higher in the organization one gets it seems) of those who live to work and believe that others should have that same goal, you should never let this happen. The moment you start down this path you and your staff will be working 10, 12, 14+ hour days and 6 or 7 days per week along with most holidays. That is not healthy. You (hopefully) and your staff have families and friends and outside interests that need time.

Another thing to remember is that your staff are just as important to the organization, if not more so, as your stockholders. They have made a commitment to work for your organization and most want to do their best.