Honeymoon Manager: Part 2
In the article “Honeymoon manager: how to spend it with benefit,” we started talking about the first steps of an engineer who was not lucky enough to become a team manager. The fact that is born in the minds of others at this moment, and how to build conversations with the previous manager, HR'om and his new boss.
Today we will continue to analyze this situation and delve into what and how to talk with the team and discuss the 9 universal recipes that have accumulated from the observation of similar situations.
So, recall the pattern of conversations:
The first 3 conversations we discussed in our previous article .
Ideally, it should start with your boss, Ivan Ivanovich, who will explain to the whole team why they appointed you. In this role, Ivan Ivanovich will end, he will leave the room, and the meeting with the team will continue.
')
As for the question whether to be affixed. It is very dependent, because as long as you do not know who has treated your appointment. If there is a 100% confidence that everyone in the team perceived it positively, then we can note. Otherwise, it is better to wait.
The fact. that, like any organizational change in a team, the appointment of a new manager also launches 4 phases according to Bruce Tuckman : Forming (here it happened) -> Storming -> Norming -> Performing
And as always at the Storming stage it would be good to follow proven recipes:
1. 80% of the manager’s attention to those who give 80% of the result , and not to those who generate 80% of problems and conflicts. That is, if there is a dispute in the draft for three days, which naming convention is best used, then there is no need to cut in and participate in the dispute. It is better to spend time on those who are busy at this moment.
(This does not cancel the 1: 1 meetings with those who could potentially give 80% of the result, but now fell into, let's call it that, a non-resource state.)
2. Little victory. Something with your joining the managers should change for the better for the team. But - about this in more detail in the section “Universal receptions”.
3. In the case of a team achieving some result, it would be good to voice this business, noting the contribution of each. It would be good to do this, that is, you should not write a formal letter on the official letterhead of the company.
I usually praise each member of our small team on Skype in the spirit of: “Listen, well, we launched the AAA product well. Christina turned on the phones of our corporate clients, Anton somehow magically prepared the entire video ... ”
Sometimes team managers write something on their personal blogs and facebook pages (without disclosing confidential information, of course). But anyway, when the team gets its first successful joint experience, it should be noted, emphasizing the contribution of each. And then you can just put it - there is something to celebrate.
But we were distracted in the direction of managing the team. And at the first meeting, it would be good to simply announce that now you will be up to date, communicate with the customer, the management, in order to understand what is expected of us. And until you figure it out, you should not expect drastic changes and revolutions (by this we remove the fears of the incomprehensible), that is, you can still play the strike strike counter sometimes. :)
After that, you say that you would like to talk one-on-one with everyone, because you understand that the situation is unexpected, and you would like to hear what everyone thinks.
These conversations should be prepared. You should have information from the previous manager and your boss on each of the team members:
In addition, somewhere in an important place, it would be good to write yourself 3 questions on clarifying the facts (see the section “Universal Techniques”), because people can start to pour out problems. And it would be good to specify these problems in order to see further whether you can solve them. Perhaps it will be your “small victories”.
Here we will step aside a little and talk about the universal tricks of the new manager in working with people.
If you ask us where we took these tricks, there will be no one answer. Some of them were spied on by us in a number of corporate trainings on the topic of “transition to managers”. The part is stuffed with its own cones. The part is peeped in books and conversations with directors (after it was stuffed with its own cones). All these parts repeatedly intersected with each other, as a result, and accumulated in our coaching briefcase.
If you do not know something, or want to clarify, then you can always start the phrase like this: “I’m a new manager, I cann’t understand something ...” and then you can safely clarify anything:
This technique is valid for the first 2-3 months, after which this red face can become familiar.
The situation of the appointment of a new manager - always causes processes inside and outside the team. The situation is extremely unstable. Immediately begin to carry out a revolution, without understanding the issues, expectations and concerns in the minds of others - this is to add even more instability. Among other things, it is not yet clear:
If you are not a crisis manager and you don’t have a task to bring order to order in two days, then at first it is better to abandon revolutions to reduce team entropy.
People as a species are fairly consistent creatures. We don’t remember dates as well, but remember the sequences very well. For example, you may not remember the date when you bought the last car, but, most likely, you remember - it was before the birth of the child or after.
At first, your management should have a “small victory” so that a sequence is formed in your head: there was no manager, and there was no such thing, but a manager appeared, and now it appeared.
"It" - can be anything:
About what small victory to accomplish, you can talk with the boss if you need his support: “I thought what good to do for the team, so that they could see that with my appointment as manager, some right things started to happen, and what thought was born ... "And then you can move on to the following universal method:
Some of the surrounding colleagues may have a fear that you want to add them up is not clear what to expect from you. This fear is very well removed when you ask people for advice. It would seem, why? The fact is that when we ask someone for advice, we actually say several things:
These are nice things that people want to hear. And it usually immediately removes the fear about how they will feel against your background and other such things.
The same technique applies in the following:
Periodically at conferences they approach with the question: “Tell me, please, can a manager without a technical competence be successful?” Usually, for some reason, this question concerns managers without technical competence. They are probably waiting for a response in the spirit: “Of course, why not? And here are 5 steps to do it ... "
In reality, many managers have been seen - both successful and not successful. And among those, and others were both people with technical competence, and without it. But it was noted that in order for a manager without technical competence to be functional and adequately perceived by the team, he must have a very good relationship with the technical leader. In fact, there is a distribution of leadership roles in the team: one person deals with technical issues and is listened to by technical means, the second one solves problems with the customer, counter-agents and other organizational environment.
What are we all about? If you do not have (technical) authority in the team, but you have been appointed manager, then in the first stage you will have to borrow authority.
This borrowing authority. The technique described in many books, in particular, by John Maxwell in his “21 Laws of Leadership”.
There is always an informal leader in the team - the one to whom people listen. As Robert Cialdini told us in his book Psychology of Influence, most people do not have their own opinions on many issues. They do not care. We must go there - no question. From there - yes, too, no question. And most people in the moments when they are offered somewhere to run, look at those who always have their opinion. Actually, you should discuss your ideas with them first, if the new manager has not yet managed to earn his own authority.
If a team was not created by you, then the person who created it always creates a semi-mythical halo "team dad."
Let's step aside a little and remember backyard football. How is the creation of teams. Two guys come out with a ball and abruptly become captains (because the ball is theirs). Then the captains begin to recruit teams for one person: you - to me, you - to me ...
Remember your feelings when you wait for you to choose? First, I want to choose faster - it will show that as a football player you are cool. Secondly, when one of the captains chose you, two feelings arise: positive in relation to the one who chose (“appreciated!”) And not very positive in relation to the one who did not choose (“and he didn’t believed! ”).
In relation to the one who chooses us, we usually have positive emotions. And “team dad” is team dad. Dad may be bad, drinking, not working, but for many people - he is still dad.
Therefore, scolding the founder of the team (even if, from your point of view, you do it deservedly) is the risk of getting a part of the team against yourself.
Since the first stage of the manager’s work involves a lot of communication, here you have to be especially careful. As Vladimir Gerasichev used to say , we have a good pea soup in our head, which has been boiled down: facts, opinions, value judgments, hypotheses, etc., etc. And when we start asking, it’s very hard to work with porridge:
Working with porridge is pretty hard. Therefore, any such judgments would be well clarified by a number of questions:
And finally, a couple of communication techniques:
Do you think that people turn on the brain? Brain in people include questions. You hear: “What do people turn on the brain?” And if there is a pause next, then you start to think: “But really, what does people turn on the brain? ...”
Discussions, which at first will be abundant, will take a long time, need, with or without emotions. But anyway, in these discussions, some moments will be definitely forgotten - both by you and your interlocutors.
Therefore, it would be good to conclude any discussion with the question: “What I haven’t asked yet of what I should have asked?” At this moment, the interlocutor will think about it ... and he can continue: “Exactly, there are still financiers. Look there ... "And you will receive some more valuable information.
At least, we end all conversations with clients with this phrase, or: “What we haven’t yet discussed from what we should have discussed?” True, it helps a lot.
At first, people may want a lot from you - that you meet all their many expectations. And I would like to do it, but in reality, you do not know whether you can justify them, because the situation is not stable. And how it will end and when it ends is difficult to predict.
A good wording for refusal, when you are prompted to make some promises, is the wording: “I do not want to let you down”. For example: “I can’t give an estimate on resources right now, I don’t want to promise, and then let you down. Give me three days to figure out the status of the project according to the plans and in the eyes of the customer, and then I can say whether we are on time or not, and what we will do. ”
As one very experienced director put it: “Promise less, do more.”
Friends, at first I wanted to paint everything to the end, but then I realized that we are again beyond the scope of the article ... Therefore, we put here the tag:
(to be continued)
And in the next part we will finish the protracted analysis of the case “Honeymoon Manager” and discuss:
PS Blog Stratoplana moved to a separate site: http://blog.stratoplan.ru - see you there!
Today we will continue to analyze this situation and delve into what and how to talk with the team and discuss the 9 universal recipes that have accumulated from the observation of similar situations.
So, recall the pattern of conversations:
- 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
The first 3 conversations we discussed in our previous article .
4. Conversation with the team.
Ideally, it should start with your boss, Ivan Ivanovich, who will explain to the whole team why they appointed you. In this role, Ivan Ivanovich will end, he will leave the room, and the meeting with the team will continue.
')
As for the question whether to be affixed. It is very dependent, because as long as you do not know who has treated your appointment. If there is a 100% confidence that everyone in the team perceived it positively, then we can note. Otherwise, it is better to wait.
The fact. that, like any organizational change in a team, the appointment of a new manager also launches 4 phases according to Bruce Tuckman : Forming (here it happened) -> Storming -> Norming -> Performing
And as always at the Storming stage it would be good to follow proven recipes:
1. 80% of the manager’s attention to those who give 80% of the result , and not to those who generate 80% of problems and conflicts. That is, if there is a dispute in the draft for three days, which naming convention is best used, then there is no need to cut in and participate in the dispute. It is better to spend time on those who are busy at this moment.
(This does not cancel the 1: 1 meetings with those who could potentially give 80% of the result, but now fell into, let's call it that, a non-resource state.)
2. Little victory. Something with your joining the managers should change for the better for the team. But - about this in more detail in the section “Universal receptions”.
3. In the case of a team achieving some result, it would be good to voice this business, noting the contribution of each. It would be good to do this, that is, you should not write a formal letter on the official letterhead of the company.
I usually praise each member of our small team on Skype in the spirit of: “Listen, well, we launched the AAA product well. Christina turned on the phones of our corporate clients, Anton somehow magically prepared the entire video ... ”
Sometimes team managers write something on their personal blogs and facebook pages (without disclosing confidential information, of course). But anyway, when the team gets its first successful joint experience, it should be noted, emphasizing the contribution of each. And then you can just put it - there is something to celebrate.
But we were distracted in the direction of managing the team. And at the first meeting, it would be good to simply announce that now you will be up to date, communicate with the customer, the management, in order to understand what is expected of us. And until you figure it out, you should not expect drastic changes and revolutions (by this we remove the fears of the incomprehensible), that is, you can still play the strike strike counter sometimes. :)
After that, you say that you would like to talk one-on-one with everyone, because you understand that the situation is unexpected, and you would like to hear what everyone thinks.
5. Conversation with team members 1: 1
These conversations should be prepared. You should have information from the previous manager and your boss on each of the team members:
- What does a person want (as a person) - growth in managers, architects or stability and not be touched, or something else?
- How can he treat your appointment? Positive, negative. neutral?
- What can you offer him (right now or for the future) so that he will see that you are ready to help him achieve his goals and, let's say, wishful person?
In addition, somewhere in an important place, it would be good to write yourself 3 questions on clarifying the facts (see the section “Universal Techniques”), because people can start to pour out problems. And it would be good to specify these problems in order to see further whether you can solve them. Perhaps it will be your “small victories”.
Here we will step aside a little and talk about the universal tricks of the new manager in working with people.
If you ask us where we took these tricks, there will be no one answer. Some of them were spied on by us in a number of corporate trainings on the topic of “transition to managers”. The part is stuffed with its own cones. The part is peeped in books and conversations with directors (after it was stuffed with its own cones). All these parts repeatedly intersected with each other, as a result, and accumulated in our coaching briefcase.
9 universal tricks of the new manager
1. The status of the "new manager"
If you do not know something, or want to clarify, then you can always start the phrase like this: “I’m a new manager, I cann’t understand something ...” and then you can safely clarify anything:
- ... but why is our planning phase reduced to zero?
- ... but why don't we use the build system?
- ... but maybe a release?
This technique is valid for the first 2-3 months, after which this red face can become familiar.
2. No revolutions at the beginning
The situation of the appointment of a new manager - always causes processes inside and outside the team. The situation is extremely unstable. Immediately begin to carry out a revolution, without understanding the issues, expectations and concerns in the minds of others - this is to add even more instability. Among other things, it is not yet clear:
- How these revolutions will be perceived
- Who and whose opinion influences the company, and what opinion about the revolution will reach the top
- How does all this affect your destiny as a manager?
If you are not a crisis manager and you don’t have a task to bring order to order in two days, then at first it is better to abandon revolutions to reduce team entropy.
3. Small wins
People as a species are fairly consistent creatures. We don’t remember dates as well, but remember the sequences very well. For example, you may not remember the date when you bought the last car, but, most likely, you remember - it was before the birth of the child or after.
At first, your management should have a “small victory” so that a sequence is formed in your head: there was no manager, and there was no such thing, but a manager appeared, and now it appeared.
"It" - can be anything:
- Coffee maker or wardrobe in the room, if people have long dreamed about this
- The acquisition of some good tool, which people have long asked
- Implementing some practice that the team has long wanted to introduce
- ...
About what small victory to accomplish, you can talk with the boss if you need his support: “I thought what good to do for the team, so that they could see that with my appointment as manager, some right things started to happen, and what thought was born ... "And then you can move on to the following universal method:
4. ask for advice
Some of the surrounding colleagues may have a fear that you want to add them up is not clear what to expect from you. This fear is very well removed when you ask people for advice. It would seem, why? The fact is that when we ask someone for advice, we actually say several things:
- I think you're somehow smarter than me.
- I am ready to listen to you
These are nice things that people want to hear. And it usually immediately removes the fear about how they will feel against your background and other such things.
The same technique applies in the following:
5. Borrowing authority
Periodically at conferences they approach with the question: “Tell me, please, can a manager without a technical competence be successful?” Usually, for some reason, this question concerns managers without technical competence. They are probably waiting for a response in the spirit: “Of course, why not? And here are 5 steps to do it ... "
In reality, many managers have been seen - both successful and not successful. And among those, and others were both people with technical competence, and without it. But it was noted that in order for a manager without technical competence to be functional and adequately perceived by the team, he must have a very good relationship with the technical leader. In fact, there is a distribution of leadership roles in the team: one person deals with technical issues and is listened to by technical means, the second one solves problems with the customer, counter-agents and other organizational environment.
What are we all about? If you do not have (technical) authority in the team, but you have been appointed manager, then in the first stage you will have to borrow authority.
An example from life. One of our listeners once told this story (from the first person).
- Half a year ago we were asked to prepare a report on the architecture of our project for the technical committee of the company. I spent two weeks, thought through everything, made a presentation, rehearsed the performance - in short, I prepared myself. And here is the meeting of the technical committee. I state everything, exhale - done! Here, Dima takes the words (this is one of our main gurus), and for all that he is tearing my ideas to shreds. Dima, as you know, usually does not choose words, says offensively.
Unprintable words sound. Someone chuckles, I have emotions, but there is nothing to argue - in fact, he is right. You know, it feels like I'm leaving the room, and my bloody bits and pieces continue to fly there ...
I left the week, and then came to this tactic. If I am asked to prepare something, I cook, and then I go to Dima. Dima, I say, I want to consult with you ... Then I present my ideas to him, he looms, but at least he vomits me personally. And most importantly - in fact, together with him we are finalizing my ideas.
Next - a meeting of the technical committee. I explain everything, and if someone is against it, then Dima takes the word ... He turns his tower, and very intelligibly explains to those who disagree why he needs to do this way.
This borrowing authority. The technique described in many books, in particular, by John Maxwell in his “21 Laws of Leadership”.
There is always an informal leader in the team - the one to whom people listen. As Robert Cialdini told us in his book Psychology of Influence, most people do not have their own opinions on many issues. They do not care. We must go there - no question. From there - yes, too, no question. And most people in the moments when they are offered somewhere to run, look at those who always have their opinion. Actually, you should discuss your ideas with them first, if the new manager has not yet managed to earn his own authority.
6. Do not scold the "father" of the team.
If a team was not created by you, then the person who created it always creates a semi-mythical halo "team dad."
Let's step aside a little and remember backyard football. How is the creation of teams. Two guys come out with a ball and abruptly become captains (because the ball is theirs). Then the captains begin to recruit teams for one person: you - to me, you - to me ...
Remember your feelings when you wait for you to choose? First, I want to choose faster - it will show that as a football player you are cool. Secondly, when one of the captains chose you, two feelings arise: positive in relation to the one who chose (“appreciated!”) And not very positive in relation to the one who did not choose (“and he didn’t believed! ”).
In relation to the one who chooses us, we usually have positive emotions. And “team dad” is team dad. Dad may be bad, drinking, not working, but for many people - he is still dad.
Therefore, scolding the founder of the team (even if, from your point of view, you do it deservedly) is the risk of getting a part of the team against yourself.
7. Work with facts
Since the first stage of the manager’s work involves a lot of communication, here you have to be especially careful. As Vladimir Gerasichev used to say , we have a good pea soup in our head, which has been boiled down: facts, opinions, value judgments, hypotheses, etc., etc. And when we start asking, it’s very hard to work with porridge:
- What do you think about Ivan Ivanovich? - Yes, some kind of muddy ...
- And the guys in the team like? - Yes, normal, the main thing is not the drift ...
- And what about the project? - Yes, everything seems ok ...
Working with porridge is pretty hard. Therefore, any such judgments would be well clarified by a number of questions:
- What does this mean?
- (If you do not understand) Is it good or bad? Why?
- (If you do not understand) And what would you like? How do you know what happened?
And finally, a couple of communication techniques:
8. Universal question to complete any communication.
Do you think that people turn on the brain? Brain in people include questions. You hear: “What do people turn on the brain?” And if there is a pause next, then you start to think: “But really, what does people turn on the brain? ...”
Discussions, which at first will be abundant, will take a long time, need, with or without emotions. But anyway, in these discussions, some moments will be definitely forgotten - both by you and your interlocutors.
Therefore, it would be good to conclude any discussion with the question: “What I haven’t asked yet of what I should have asked?” At this moment, the interlocutor will think about it ... and he can continue: “Exactly, there are still financiers. Look there ... "And you will receive some more valuable information.
At least, we end all conversations with clients with this phrase, or: “What we haven’t yet discussed from what we should have discussed?” True, it helps a lot.
9. Do not promise too much: "I do not want to fail"
At first, people may want a lot from you - that you meet all their many expectations. And I would like to do it, but in reality, you do not know whether you can justify them, because the situation is not stable. And how it will end and when it ends is difficult to predict.
A good wording for refusal, when you are prompted to make some promises, is the wording: “I do not want to let you down”. For example: “I can’t give an estimate on resources right now, I don’t want to promise, and then let you down. Give me three days to figure out the status of the project according to the plans and in the eyes of the customer, and then I can say whether we are on time or not, and what we will do. ”
As one very experienced director put it: “Promise less, do more.”
Friends, at first I wanted to paint everything to the end, but then I realized that we are again beyond the scope of the article ... Therefore, we put here the tag:
(to be continued)
And in the next part we will finish the protracted analysis of the case “Honeymoon Manager” and discuss:
- How to build a conversation with the customer and new colleagues-managers
- How to meet 1: 1. What are the mistakes there and how cleverly they do not commit
PS Blog Stratoplana moved to a separate site: http://blog.stratoplan.ru - see you there!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/243897/
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