Three Keys To Managing Your People
THREE KEYS TO MANAGING YOUR PEOPLE
by Paul Cormier, President, Cormier Strategy Advisors Inc.
August 2008
One thing that I am consistently surprised by is the difficulties that so many managers have with managing people. However, I then realize that I really shouldn’t be surprised. In today’s business environment, more and more managers achieve their positions due to their abilities as subject matter experts and less as managers of people. The skill sets involved in the two areas are very different. I can tell you that early in my career I struggled in my people management skills. I fell into the deadly trap of not developing the people around me by thinking “I won’t show them how to do this; it will be faster for me to do this myself.” What a huge mistake that was!
As my career has evolved, I have seen many managers struggle with managing people. They have dissatisfied staff generally performing way below their capabilities. I have also, much to my surprise, been increasingly told that I am a great manager of people. So I started thinking, how did I get from being a self-admitted struggling people manager to someone who is regarded as a leader of people? So I took a critical look at what I was doing differently and what those individuals who I regard as good leaders did. I found that there were three key elements in well run departments and companies.
The three keys (or 3 Cs, if you prefer) to managing staff are:
Communications
Consistency
Care
I don’t know if there is any list related to business management that doesn’t involve the concept of good communications in one manner or another. It is just so critical and seems so obvious, but is still so hard to pull off. We are human beings and we don’t always express what we feel or think in a way that conveys our true meaning. As a manager you better be able to communicate in a way people understand or you have no hope of being successful. Communications is a pretty broad concept though. What specifically does a successful leader communicate?
There are two things I think the successful leader communicates. First is their vision. The people who work for you look to you for direction. They want to know why they are doing what they are doing – what is the end purpose for their efforts. I regularly see employees who don’t know this. Your job as a manager is to make sure they understand how their contribution leads to the achievement of corporate or department goals. It motivates them. It excites them. It makes them feel part of the team.
The second thing a successful leader does is to communicate pertinent information that helps their employees do their job better. Isn’t this obvious? Well let me ask you this? Have you ever had a boss or a co-worker who deliberately withholds information? I bet your answer is yes. Many people believe information is power and they jealously guard information in an effort to maintain power. They are right – information is power. But they are wrong when they think there is a finite amount of information and power available. When you use that information to make the people around you better, smarter and faster, your people grow and your power will grow along with it. You want to be a good manager? Make a conscious effort to share information.
The second key to managing people is consistency. By consistency I am referring to two areas. The first is consistency of direction and instruction. Don’t decide that you want something blue the first day and red the second. It confuses and frustrates staff more than practically anything else. It causes them to believe that you don’t know what you want and diminishes their opinion of you faster than just about anything. A successful leader is very clear in providing direction and consistent in that direction. Figure out what you want before you ask for it. If you do have to make a change later, explain why. This is vital to your staff understanding you.
The second area of consistency is consistency of opinion. If you have an opinion about a person, situation or initiative one day, you better make sure you say the same thing the next. The manager who criticizes in one venue and then praises in another appears insincere and fake to their staff. They will think “gee, if he says he doesn’t like this behind closed doors, I wonder what he says about me when I am not around?” Be consistent and your people will always know where you stand.
Make sure you care about your people. If you don’t care about your people and are in management, I have a suggestion for you. Find a job where you don’t have to manage people. There is a bad tendency in some companies to only associate with individuals at your level, one level above and one level below. If you don’t know every one of your direct reports’ direct reports personally, you have a major problem. Make sure you extend contact to all staff you possible can. They used to call it management by walking around and it’s a lost art in many corporate cultures. I will get more information talking to staff at all levels in 2 hours than I will ever get reading 100 emails. Make sure that there are regular opportunities to involve all staff in social occasions. These efforts: 1) prevent alienation among your people, 2) allow for more complete information to be gathered and 3) get around “yes-man” syndrome (the awful tendency for those directly below you to tell you exactly what you want to hear). Developing a sense of caring and camaraderie creates a team atmosphere.
In the end, being communicative, consistent and caring all do the same thing – they instill a sense of trust and trust is a fundamental feature of strong working relationships. Do a critical self-assessment on yourself using these criteria. Work to improve these three areas. If you do, I bet you will notice the results.
Paul Cormier is President of Cormier Strategy Advisors Inc., a firm which provides clients with strategic consulting, project management and short-term management services.