This is the fourth in a series based on our manager's boot camp. Part 1 focused on the ten hardest things about managing people. Part 2 focused on the principles and tactics we teach managers. Part 3 focused on the most common obstacles preventing managers from practicing these principles and tactics. We asked you to email us and let us know which of these problems you'd like us to focus on in subsequent issues. We received so many emails asking for strategies to deal with these problems that we are going to devote the next three issues (instead of two) to that purpose. Here in Part IV of the series, we'll focus on the top three issues that people asked us to deal with. Guess what? The winners were the top three on my list!
(1) I don't have enough time. First, don't fool yourself. You don't have time NOT to manage people. If you don't dedicate the time to providing direction and support every step of the way, things will surely go wrong. Fires get started that never would have started. Fires get out of control that could have been put out easily. Resources are squandered. People go in the wrong direction for days or weeks on end before anybody notices. Low performers hide out and collect a paycheck. Mediocre performers mistake themselves for high performers. The real high performers get frustrated and start looking for another job. And managers end up doing tasks that would be better delegated to someone else. Second, here's the funny thing: Managers who are convinced they don't have enough time to manage, spend plenty of time managing people. They just spend most of their management time in fire fighting mode. Third, most managers waste plenty of time, even as busy as they are. One way they do that is actually by talking to their employees. They talk, talk, talk, about everything under the sun. There is so much talk in the workplace. There's just not enough talk about the work.
(2) I manage too many people. First, do you have a "chain of command"? Let's say you have four managers who answer to you and each of those four managers is responsible for managing seven employees. If you have a chain of command, you have to start using it. You need to focus like crazy on those managers who answer to you. And a big part of your focus with each of these managers should be how each manager is managing the employees who answer directly to her. So what if you don't have a chain of command? One option is to create a chain of command, either formally or informally. The second option is to choose your targets every day: Concentrate on, say, four people each day. The third option is to rely more on team meetings, either with your whole team or in smaller work groups. But team meetings are no substitute for one-on-ones.
(3) I manage people in a remote location. First, how often are you in the same location with your remote employees? Whenever you are in the same location with a remotely located employee, you absolutely must use that time to really do the work of managing that person. Second, when you are not in the same location, you must create an ironclad protocol for doing remotely all the things you would do in person. Use the telephone, email, videoconferencing, and any other tools at your disposal.
