July 2010 Archives

An item by Rosabeth Moss Kanter and the Harvard Business Review shares some thoughts about lessons from Tony Hayward, CEO of BP. Specifically, Hayward's leadership in the face of the Gulf disaster provides a set of anti-rules for bad leadership. As Kanter puts it, "The Case of Tony Hayward and the Gulf Oil Spill will be fodder for business school discussions for years to come, as a how-not-to-do-it guide for leadership".

Here is how (not) to lead:

• Deny and minimize problems.
• Emphasize your own power and importance.
• Rarely bring forward the rest of the team.
• Make the story all about you.
• Never apologize (and don't learn from your mistakes.)
• Hang onto your job even when it's clear you should go.

Managers really owe it to their staff to communicate: to give explanations where needed, etc. If managers do not provide the vision and background surrounding certain decisions, the staff may find themselves without sufficient direction to get them to the goal.

But what if you're one of the staff, and your manager hasn't provided that explanation?

You need to ask "why". But this is not always so easy. There's a balance that's needed. Too soft, and you may be overlooked. Too strong, and your supervisor may think you're "not a team player".

I find the best way to ask "why" is by asking a different question, something that gets at the information you need. "Can you talk about your vision for this?" is one way to ask "why", in a way that (usually) prompts the presenter to talk in more detail about the topic.

In what other ways can you ask "why"?

I'd like to share some thoughts from a short essay by Roger Schwartz. The article may be found in his newsletter Fundamental Change, but the highlights are provided here. If you manage others, even informally as a team lead, you may find this helpful:

What do you owe the people who report to you? What are you accountable to them for?

An explanation of our reasoning.
If you don't explain why you have made certain decisions, you may find your staff make up their own explanations. The result will be chaos, as everyone generates a different vision of your direction. Take the time to craft your vision statement, and explain why certain decisions are necessary.

Timely feedback.
Schwartz suggests that if you have not given the feedback within a week of observing either something good that needs to be recognized or something ineffective that needs to be addressed, you have waited too long.

Identifying your contribution.
Your direct reports are in a kind of partnership with you. Explain to them how their performance reflects upon you, and how your effectiveness can help them contribute.

What do you think you owe your direct reports?

I haven't received a lot of responses on the survey yet, so I am reposting it.

I am interested in writing an article about the Relative Importance of various skills, at different levels in an IT organization. You can help me by responding to this simple survey. It should take 15 minutes or less of your time:

• Relative Importance in IT (survey)

Please feel free to share this survey with others! I would like to hear from as many people as possible. Share it on Facebook, tweet it on Twitter, post it on your blog, email the URL.

The form is very easy. Just enter a number between 0-100 for the Relative Importance of each category: Technical, Strategic, Interpersonal, Finance. How important is each to your job? Think about the things that you do most often, the types of tasks that you tend to work on every day. Consider how important each area is to what you do. Some areas may be more important to you than others, or get more "exercise" in your day to day routine.

So I can get a baseline on Relative Importance, please make sure the total scores for all categories add up to 100. For example: 10, 25, 30, 35 = 100.

A month ago, when I held an all-team meeting to announce that I am leaving OIT, one of the questions in the Q+A asked what I am planning to do with this blog. I said I'd keep you posted.

I've decided to continue writing this blog, discussing general topics about leadership: mentoring, co-coaching, communication, coaching buttons, and other related topics.

I am planning a Morris-specific blog about campus strategy and IT issues, but I haven't written anything there yet. I'll link to it when it's up.

I'll also highlight the ITLP Tuesday Readings blog, with items from Jim Bruce of the IT Leaders Program (ITLP). It's a good read.

In successfully managing a change, steps 1 through 3 are usually "communication, communication, communication." The key is to provide a vision for what the change will deliver, and set an expectation for the general steps required to reach that vision. Even if your change isn't really a "change" per se, just a transition, it's still important to communicate openly about goals, so that everyone has an opportunity to participate and knows what will be expected of them.

Here's an example my work group discussed as part of the IT Leaders Program, a few years ago. We did this as part of a special presentation in the style of a news discussion show, and I'll preserve that format here:

To start, we have Emperor Palpatine, supreme leader of the Galactic Empire. His style is very top-down, but also not very inclined towards making major changes in management structure.

But what's that? We have breaking news from the forest moon of Endor:

"As you know, Emperor Palpatine visited today the new peacetime orbital platform: the Digitally Enhanced Array, Troop Habitation, Satellite Transmitter And Receiver. Also known by its initials: DEATHSTAR. We have received word that Emperor Palpatine suffered some kind of industrial accident while touring DEATHSTAR, and Palpatine was killed. Power has now defaulted to the second in command, Darth Vader, who is also aboard DEATHSTAR."

Back to the discussion. Vader now has a difficult job, to transition leadership of the Galactic Empire. Our discussion panel provided some guidance:

We might expect Vader's management style to be very similar to Palpatine's, so maybe no changes are forthcoming. In this case, Vader still needs to meet with his teams, and communicate to "stay the course", nothing should change. By doing this, Vader sets an expectation that everyone understands. His areas can get behind the idea, and will generally support the transition.

But wait. We have another update from our reporter on the forest moon of Endor:

"We have received further news at this time. Darth Vader has been killed, and DEATHSTAR has been destroyed, by the Rebel terrorist leader Luke Skywalker."

"Not much is known about Skywalker. He was raised in isolation on the desert planet Tatooine, and trained by the reclusive Yoda - a small green Jedi, about whom even less is known."

(artist's impression, no official photo of Yoda exists)

Back to the discussion. Skywalker has an even harder transition ahead of him, moreso than Vader's. Again, our discussion panel gave some advice about managing this change:

It's safe to assume that Skywalker will want to bring the Empire in a new direction. So his first task should be to meet with the senior leadership and explain his vision. What are his major priorities and goals for the first 100 days? What are the broad themes?

Skywalker might consider leading a "SWOT" exercise with the senior leadership, to identify the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats for the transition. Understand the current state, how this compares to Skywalker's desired "end state", and the talent needed to get him there.

Ultimately, it all comes down to "communication, communication, communication." Get the ideas out there, and do it early, so that everyone understands what is happening, and what will be expected of them.

Photo credits: SarahMcD, Wookieepedia, Wookieepedia, Wookieepedia, Muppet Wiki