A 'Follower' Leads
by Miki SaxonToday is the story of why it is better to ask than assume and how a so-called follower can lead. It all started with Denis’ post December 31 describing what was happening in his company.
“I do not trust the developers I work with to do the right thing,… I used to be able to trust people in the team to correct me and help me get better … Work is a lot less enjoyable when that trust is gone.”
Denis is a reader and we’ve gotten to know each other over the last year, so I asked what happened.
“Let me see management changed, over committed failed to motivate people. The more experienced and talented members of the team left which provided less structure and safe guards. Now as we know unmotivated people don’t give their best. They do just enough to satisfy their management.”
I asked for more details and our conversation moved to email over the next week and have Denis’ permission to share them.
Over the next week three were additional management changes and Denis didn’t sound hopeful about how things were likely to work out. There was a 9% company-wide staff reduction; Denis and three other people became the basis for a new team and its management was taken over by the group that was actually funding the project.
“My impression is that the manager who we report into now was forced to take our project by his business sponsors. The manager himself has a decent reputation though and is in the process of hiring someone to put between him and us.”
Regarding the culture,
“The company thinks of it has a consensus culture. In reality it is a company that works on loyalty networks and temporary alliances among peers.”
As you may have guessed, none of this was exactly a moral booster; in fact, you might call it management by rumor with the assumptions generally falling on the negative side.
Typically, when stuff like this is happening, people’s reaction is to hunker down and polish their resumes, but, in spite of his assumptions, Denis took a chance with a more direct approach that yielded extremely positive results.
“The meeting was triggered by an email I sent expressing interest in him explaining his vision and how we fit in it. I was requesting a one on one but he made the meeting for the whole team. He took 1h 45 minutes of his time to talk when 1h was planned. And he mentioned we will do a social event for the whole group so we get to meet everyone.
So far he is the most competent manager I have met in this company. My direct manager has not joined the group yet but I hear good things about him so there is hope.”
We’ll never know what would have happened if Denis hadn’t sent the email; if the manager is as good as he seems to be he probably would have done the same thing, but maybe not quite as soon and likely with much more damage.
There are at least three important lessons to be learned
- Management must become as competent at communicating bad news as it is at communicating good.
- Remember that the result of no communications is a rumor-ravaged workforce and that once started rumors never go away.
- There are better ways for workers to handle difficult situations than to hunker down or just sit and wait; they can take the initiative and ask for information; most managers will appreciate the request.
What else can be learned from this?
Your comments—priceless
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January 26th, 2009 at 11:56 am
When you are managing in a ‘crisis’ situation, you frequently don’t have lots of time to solicit feedback, and when you do if you don’t get anything, its possible to assume there is no problems. Its imperative that people down the line give valid feedback, or problems will never be fixed.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
You’re right, Jeff, but open feedback is a cultural trait and if that culture isn’t already in place it’s not likely to be implemented successfully during a crisis. And from Denis’ description of the culture that wasn’t happening. Feedback in a crisis can be a scary function when it’s not the cultural norm.
January 28th, 2009 at 10:00 am
I agree with both of you.
In my case the manager promptly and appropriately answered concerns that may not have been to the forefront of his mind.
Also, having conversations with Miki and others helped me realize that, although the manager could have done better, there was something I could do to improve the situation or at least disambiguate it.
January 28th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Hi Denis, I’m glad I was of help. Asking questions as you did is one of the main ways the “person out front” stays informed.
In or out of crisis, one of the most difficult problems facing any leader/manager is staying in touch. It’s also why I believe that leading and initiative are pretty synonymous.