Honeymoon Manager: how to spend it with benefit
"A specialist is like a flux: his fullness is one-sided." (Kozma bars)
How is the appointment of a manager in our industry? We take the best programmer in the team andimmediately assign it first to clarify the situation:
After that, two things happen immediately: the company loses a good programmer and acquires abad, not quite experienced manager. And old Demarko and his company of consulting friends then begin to say that “the problems of the projects are more sociological in nature than technological.”
The results of our recent study once again poked into our industry specificity:
What prompted to write this article.
')
The overall effect of the transition to managers is further enhanced by the fact that our brother IT specialist usually first turns on the electrical appliance (“if I implement multi-threading in Java, which, I won’t figure it out with the washing machine?”), And in case of problems starts reading the instructions. I mean, he begins to study the science of working with people when the first bumps are not just stuffed, but two more layers of bumps are stuffed over them.
Meanwhile, the appointment of a new person to the position of a manager is a painful and extremely unstable situation. Why is this happening, and most importantly what exactly to do, if they appointed you, today we will talk.
A colleague selikhovkin somehow cleverly designated this situation as a honeymoon for the manager . Well, let's see, with whom tohave a romantic relationship to work closely with the manager in the first days, weeks and months.
Consider a simple situation. Once there was an engineer named Epifan, he worked for himself in a team of colleagues, together they sharpened several key nuts in one of the projects.
And everything would be fine if today I didn’t bring the message that the project manager Nikolay had suddenly left the company.
The colleagues did not have time to take a breath and wash the bones to the authorities, who were taking incomprehensible steps, as a letter arrived from the director of the department (Ivan Ivanich):
At trainings, students usually say: everyone. All - hardly. It seems that not all 7 billion people in the world are worried about the appointment of Epifan. But who exactly the situation will affect is:
1. Team Epifan - colleagues, with whom he had previously worked in the same team. And now became their leader.
2. Ivan Ivanovitch, under whose authority, a new green manager has now appeared.
3. Customer project, which now has a new manager.
4. Colleagues of managers - from the team Ivan Ivanich.
5. HR-s, system administrators and other colleagues with whom one way or another Epifan will need to interact.
6. The family of Epiphanes.
7. Epifan himself.
In this case, if we think about what it means to "touch", then we will come to the conclusion that people have in mind:
Take, for example, the command Epiphanes. Be sure that some of them (if not all) will have a question in their head: “Why was he appointed, not me?” In fact, these are two questions:
In addition, the question immediately arises: where did Nick go? What do we have with the project? Maybe there is better? Maybe Kolya knows something we do not know yet? Isn't it time to update your resume?
As you can see, innocent questions can transform into fears. How does Epifan use the information he knows about us? We used to drive together in counter, while the manager was at meetings, and now? ..
And of course, the team may have expectations: Epifan from ours, from engineers, he knows all our pains - we will finally live! ..
With all this farce in the minds of people Epiphanes something needs to be done. Because unanswered questions, unclear expectations and concerns that are not lifted can lead to unpredictable consequences.
Let's return to our Epifan. Questions of all affected persons should be answered, concerns removed, expectations cleared - and this should be done as soon as possible. Otherwise, among the possible consequences:
It is hoped that these consequences will not happen, but hope is not the most sustainable management plan . Need to do something. The question arises: what?
First of all, it would be nice to understand with whom and in what order to speak. The order may vary, but the general scheme, which seems logical to us and has repeatedly worked well, is as follows:
A departed manager is a valuable source of information:
When communicating with a departed manager, it would be good to consider two things:
A. How can this be perceived by the authorities (Ivan Ivanovich). If there is a chance that communication with Kolya may be perceived harshly negative (as a betrayal), then it is likely that this most valuable source of information will have to be abandoned.
B. The frame of the departed manager. A person can leave on a positive and then everything will be fine with him:
- The team is excellent, the customer is difficult, but you can learn a lot from him, Ivan Ivanovich is a man!
Or Kohl can go on the negative and then the weight will be bad:
- Ponabirali on ads, the customer is inadequate, Ivan Ivanovich - like a good man. but as a full manager ...
Therefore, in a conversation with the departed manager, it would be good to catch the facts. We will not give a list of questions here - it is disclosed in sufficient detail in our mind map "Formula for working with people . "
It is clear that HR in companies play very different roles. But it may turn out that this person knows a lot about team members:
As part of this conversation it would be nice to do a few things:
A. Ask to formally introduce yourself to the team and explain why the boss made such a decision. The fact is that Epifan himself cannot explain to the team why they appointed him. It was not his decision, and so far he has not much authority in front of the team. (Yes, he most likely has technical authority, but people still have a question: why not me.) There should be a legitimate transfer of power.
And if at a meeting with the team, someone will have questions, why Epifan was appointed - Ivan Ivanovich will answer these questions. After that, he can leave the meeting with the team.
B. Find out why Kohl left. This can be compared with the information received directly from Kolya and draw a picture of two opinions to oneself, trying to select the facts. They will be useful in explaining the team why Kohl left.
C. Find out what the boss is now waiting for from the newly appointed manager. And by what specific parameters, he will understand that he coped. If you do not ask for it or get a fuzzy answer, then this is a game according to the rules that will open after its completion.
D. Discuss the feedback format - what will be done and when you come to tell you what happened and what you learned.
A complete list of questions for discussion with the head is again in the Formula for working with people .
(to be continued...)
In the next part we will talk about:
PS Blog Stratoplana moved to a separate site: http://blog.stratoplan.ru - see you there!
How is the appointment of a manager in our industry? We take the best programmer in the team and
- Want to be a manager?
- What should I do?
- Well, are there sausages in MS Project to move and get plus 300 bucks?
- Of course I will!
After that, two things happen immediately: the company loses a good programmer and acquires a
The results of our recent study once again poked into our industry specificity:
- More than 50% of people believe that their leader does not know how to work with people.
What prompted to write this article.
')
The overall effect of the transition to managers is further enhanced by the fact that our brother IT specialist usually first turns on the electrical appliance (“if I implement multi-threading in Java, which, I won’t figure it out with the washing machine?”), And in case of problems starts reading the instructions. I mean, he begins to study the science of working with people when the first bumps are not just stuffed, but two more layers of bumps are stuffed over them.
Meanwhile, the appointment of a new person to the position of a manager is a painful and extremely unstable situation. Why is this happening, and most importantly what exactly to do, if they appointed you, today we will talk.
A colleague selikhovkin somehow cleverly designated this situation as a honeymoon for the manager . Well, let's see, with whom to
Consider a simple situation. Once there was an engineer named Epifan, he worked for himself in a team of colleagues, together they sharpened several key nuts in one of the projects.
And everything would be fine if today I didn’t bring the message that the project manager Nikolay had suddenly left the company.
The colleagues did not have time to take a breath and wash the bones to the authorities, who were taking incomprehensible steps, as a letter arrived from the director of the department (Ivan Ivanich):
Dear colleagues, as you already know, Nikolai left our company. Epifan becomes your project manager on Monday.
Have a good weekend!
Ivan Ivanovich
The question arises: who is affected by this situation?
At trainings, students usually say: everyone. All - hardly. It seems that not all 7 billion people in the world are worried about the appointment of Epifan. But who exactly the situation will affect is:
1. Team Epifan - colleagues, with whom he had previously worked in the same team. And now became their leader.
2. Ivan Ivanovitch, under whose authority, a new green manager has now appeared.
3. Customer project, which now has a new manager.
4. Colleagues of managers - from the team Ivan Ivanich.
5. HR-s, system administrators and other colleagues with whom one way or another Epifan will need to interact.
6. The family of Epiphanes.
7. Epifan himself.
What exactly arises in the mind of all these people?
In this case, if we think about what it means to "touch", then we will come to the conclusion that people have in mind:
- Questions
- Fears
- Expectations
Take, for example, the command Epiphanes. Be sure that some of them (if not all) will have a question in their head: “Why was he appointed, not me?” In fact, these are two questions:
- Why not appointed me?
- Why was he appointed?
In addition, the question immediately arises: where did Nick go? What do we have with the project? Maybe there is better? Maybe Kolya knows something we do not know yet? Isn't it time to update your resume?
As you can see, innocent questions can transform into fears. How does Epifan use the information he knows about us? We used to drive together in counter, while the manager was at meetings, and now? ..
And of course, the team may have expectations: Epifan from ours, from engineers, he knows all our pains - we will finally live! ..
With all this farce in the minds of people Epiphanes something needs to be done. Because unanswered questions, unclear expectations and concerns that are not lifted can lead to unpredictable consequences.
An abstract story about the arisen fears. Six months after starting work in the corporation, all employees received a letter of the following content:
Dear colleagues, the policy of our company is to pay salaries in the national currency of the branch where you work. Therefore, such and such, your salaries will be transferred from US dollars to rubles at the rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation for this day.
The company began driving:
- This is all for a reason ...
- The company wants to save on us ...
- What is the point of working for a company that wants to save on you? ..
Yes, I will update, just in case, a resume ...
Having noticed the movement, the managers came to the director, saying that they had to do something. The director thought and called for help from the president of the Russian branch of the corporation. The President arrived.
The president went out to the people and put forward a powerful thesis that "the policy of our company ..." From the back rows there was a skepticism:
- It’s not just that you want us to transfer salaries into rubles!
- I explain the policy of our company ...
- No, you just know that the dollar will rise, and you want to save on us!
- Ghm, why does the course grow?
- It is obvious! Soon the US presidential elections, after them the course is always growing!
The President began to fall jaw. Long years of work in Russia did not prepare him for such a diverse argument. He stood, thought, then confusedly said:
- You know, we are not so smart ... If I knew where the dollar rate would go, I would do other things.
This greatly defused the situation. Simply put, the people screamed. And at least, until the notorious date, no one left the company. And then he did not leave, because, having hesitated to and fro, the dollar began to adjust at all. Despite signals from the White House about the re-election of George W. Bush.
An abstract story about failed expectations . After one Siberian training, fate brought beer to a director of a small company. A colleague shared an instructive story.
A year and a half ago, he says, he hired a new employee. The man immediately fit into the team and began to create with terrible speed and productivity. Never before has this happened, and here in a couple of months a person has reached the level of a good employee.
And the New Year's Eve came up - it's time to pay awards in envelopes, conditional $ 3,000. The director wondered how much to give to the person. On the one hand, he worked only two months. But on the other hand, immediately fit into the team and it burns, it burns straight! Give, thinks, I will give him $ 3,000, like everyone.
Issued an envelope, the man was incredibly happy. And who would not be happy?
A year has passed. Again it's time to pay the premium. The director gives everyone $ 3,000, this guy also gives $ 3,000. He looks into the envelope and is visibly sad:
- Why so little?
- In a sense, a little?
- Well, I then worked for two months, the premium was $ 3,000, and now I have worked for a whole year, and again $ 3,000? Where's the justice?
- $% ^! So then I just wanted to encourage you ...
“Hmm, it looks like the purchase of a cottage will have to be postponed ...”
What words did the man explain to the wife of the postponed cottage - we can only guess. What happened to his motivation at work - we can also only guess.
Let's return to our Epifan. Questions of all affected persons should be answered, concerns removed, expectations cleared - and this should be done as soon as possible. Otherwise, among the possible consequences:
- Reducing motivation: what's the point of working with full dedication, if the manager appointed do not understand who?
- Sudden layoffs: everything, the career path is now closed for a couple of years, we must look for other ways ...
- Attempts to help the manager fail
- ...
It is hoped that these consequences will not happen, but hope is not the most sustainable management plan . Need to do something. The question arises: what?
Conversation scheme: when, with whom, in what order
First of all, it would be nice to understand with whom and in what order to speak. The order may vary, but the general scheme, which seems logical to us and has repeatedly worked well, is as follows:
- Conversation with the departed manager
- Conversation with HR
- Conversation with the boss
- Conversation with the team
- Conversation with team members 1: 1
- Conversation with the customer
- Conversation with new colleagues
- Conversation with the boss
1. A conversation with the departed manager (Kolya).
A departed manager is a valuable source of information:
- About all the people with whom Epifan is to work now
- Project status
- Status of problems, agreements, etc.
- Why did he leave and what happens at all
When communicating with a departed manager, it would be good to consider two things:
A. How can this be perceived by the authorities (Ivan Ivanovich). If there is a chance that communication with Kolya may be perceived harshly negative (as a betrayal), then it is likely that this most valuable source of information will have to be abandoned.
B. The frame of the departed manager. A person can leave on a positive and then everything will be fine with him:
- The team is excellent, the customer is difficult, but you can learn a lot from him, Ivan Ivanovich is a man!
Or Kohl can go on the negative and then the weight will be bad:
- Ponabirali on ads, the customer is inadequate, Ivan Ivanovich - like a good man. but as a full manager ...
Therefore, in a conversation with the departed manager, it would be good to catch the facts. We will not give a list of questions here - it is disclosed in sufficient detail in our mind map "Formula for working with people . "
2. Conversation with HR.
It is clear that HR in companies play very different roles. But it may turn out that this person knows a lot about team members:
- When someone raised salaries
- Who wanted to go where
- What conflicts have anyone with whom?
- How best to communicate with Ivan Ivanovich
- ...
3. Conversation with the boss.
As part of this conversation it would be nice to do a few things:
A. Ask to formally introduce yourself to the team and explain why the boss made such a decision. The fact is that Epifan himself cannot explain to the team why they appointed him. It was not his decision, and so far he has not much authority in front of the team. (Yes, he most likely has technical authority, but people still have a question: why not me.) There should be a legitimate transfer of power.
And if at a meeting with the team, someone will have questions, why Epifan was appointed - Ivan Ivanovich will answer these questions. After that, he can leave the meeting with the team.
B. Find out why Kohl left. This can be compared with the information received directly from Kolya and draw a picture of two opinions to oneself, trying to select the facts. They will be useful in explaining the team why Kohl left.
C. Find out what the boss is now waiting for from the newly appointed manager. And by what specific parameters, he will understand that he coped. If you do not ask for it or get a fuzzy answer, then this is a game according to the rules that will open after its completion.
D. Discuss the feedback format - what will be done and when you come to tell you what happened and what you learned.
A complete list of questions for discussion with the head is again in the Formula for working with people .
(to be continued...)
In the next part we will talk about:
- How to build a conversation with the remaining participants of the situation
- Meetings 1: 1 (by the way, I will talk about them for 2 hours on November 14 at the conference Stratoplan PRO + People )
- 9 universal things and techniques that greatly facilitates the work of a manager in a new team
PS Blog Stratoplana moved to a separate site: http://blog.stratoplan.ru - see you there!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/242193/
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