Posts tagged business

I’ve been mulling two semi-related work habits/beliefs that I think really contribute to individual & team success. I see them in a lot of people I admire and to be honest, they are habits that I’m glad I’ve naturally adopted.

1) There is Always More You Can Do

A few months ago, my coworker/direct report said to me “Well, I finished my all my stuff for today so I’m taking off early.” She does a great job, but her attitude didn’t rub me the right way. The next day I told her:

“If you feel pretty ahead on your work and you’ve been putting in long hours, sure, an early day is fine. But don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re actually DONE with all your work.”

You are NEVER done.

There is always more you can do - more industry research to do, more analysis to perform on the metrics you track, more phone calls could be made to a potential clients / partners, more practice on the presentation you have next week, more emails to write (perhaps to a coworker saying “thanks for your help on project X”), hell, more icon cleaning on your desktop to perform.

People who are sucessful get ahead because they recognize that the number value-adding activities are endless and are always doing much more than is strictly required, because you don’t achieve great thing by doing just enough.

2) Take Initiative / Responsibility for Improving Everything

If you don’t like some aspect of your firm or your work life - salespeople aren’t closing, the payroll process sucks, your boss never responds your emails, the press releases the PR team sends out are super-bland - don’t just blame someone or throw your hands up in frustration.

Do something about it.

Build relationships with the various departments and stakeholders so they trust & respect you. Learn about what they do and study industry best practices. Ask the HR team if they’d like feedback from the staff, have a meaningful conversation with your boss, forward your PR team a press release you like, talk to customers about what closed the deal for them and send the insights to the sales team. I hate it when people say “that’s not my responsibility” because it is a sign of apathy and helplessness that is not productive.

I’m not advocating shirking your own job responsibilities, just that you ought to  proactively address other areas if you feel you can help the firm improve its performance.

These ideas may be a little off putting to some people and it’s possible that they can backfire (burn out & angry coworkers come to mind) but I do believe that people who adopt these mindsets will ultimately add more value to their organizations and be more successful.

I just watched Up in the Air - it’s a movie starring George Clooney as a “career transition counselor” hired by downsizing companies to tell their employees that they are fired. He does it in a firm, thoughtful, and sensitive way, and he is very good at his job.

The movie is really good and touches on a number of interesting themes: intimate relationships, jobs & personal identity, re-evaluating life choices. However, the thing that struck me the most was the whole concept of a “firing consultant”.

Career Transition Counseling is a real thing (note the terrible 1990’s website) and apparently many companies exist to help other companies downsize. The practice is almost inevitable in our capitalist society as whenever there is a need that can be profitably served, there will emerge people willing to do it.

However, I believe that CTC is a cop out. Managers should personally hire and fire. That is their job. When you become the manager of other people, you are accepting a load of responsibilities and obligations to your company and your employees that you did not when you were “just” an individual contributor. I think all managers need to read, understand and agree to at least a basic list of statements like this:

As a manager I …

1. Will only make decisions that I think will make the company more valuable.
2. Will only hire people that I think will make significant positive contributions to the company
3. Will always give clear and useful feedback whenever possible to help improve my employees performance.
4. Will always seek to provide flexibility, organizational resources & fair compensation for my employees to do their best.
5. Will tell employees to their face when I need to let them go, for whatever reason.

As a manager, you are responsible for your team and responsible to your company and its shareholders. People from the top and the bottom are counting on you and you have to deliver. If your division screws up, everyone pays for it, including you and your team, but also others and their teams. If you do well, everyone looks good - you, your team and your peers.

I’ve hired many people. It’s a fun job. I’ve let go of people, and it is definitely not a fun job. But you’ve got to do it. Own up to your duties, don’t pass them to others.

Potential managers must understand, passionately believe and agree to those obligations. If you don’t like giving negative feedback or firing people, and are unwilling to tough it out and do it yourself, don’t become a manager. We all know the world could use much fewer spineless bosses wandering around corporate America.