Working Through Direct Reports

Your job as a manager is multifacetedyou assume multiple roles, network with a broad range of people, craft strategies for your group, and develop your managerial skills. However, your primary responsibility is to make things happen by working through your direct reports. You need to rely on your employees and their abilities, not yourself and your own skills, to accomplish your companys goals. Even if you continue to work as an individual contributor, your first priority is to make things happen by working through others. How do you do this? You relinquish the role of doer and embrace the role of people manager. You support your direct reports by serving as a liaison between them and the organization, setting clear direction and goals, creating a supportive environment, and learning about their individual needs. In the end, your success as a manager is measured by the success of your team. Act as a liaison One of your responsibilities in managing a group is to serve as a liaison between your direct reports and the organization. You do this by continually monitoring whats going on in the company and sharing important information with your team. You also filter requests from other parts of the organization so that inappropriate or unnecessary demands are not placed on your group. Simultaneously, you listen to suggestions and concerns made by your team and either respond to them or convey them to upper management as needed. Clarify your group's purpose and goals To ensure the success of your group, you must make sure their work aligns with the objectives of your supervisor and organization. When you become a manager, you will initially want to talk with your supervisor to make sure you understand the overarching purpose of your group and the groups goals. You will also need to understand and clarify the existing individual goals of your direct reports. Over time, you will help establish your groups priorities and be responsible for translating those priorities into individual employee goals. You will also be responsible for aligning your groups goals to the strategic goals of the company. Provide a supportive environment In addition to setting clear direction and goals, you also need to provide a supportive environment for your employees. You do this by creating a climate that helps individuals see themselves as valued members of the group and by providing your employees with the resources they need to do their jobs.

To ensure your employees know that you appreciate their contributions and are paying attention to their efforts, offer ongoing feedback that is both specific and timely. Positive words provide encouragement and recognition for a job well done. When team members offer ideas and opinions, listen to their comments and thank them for their input. Listening shows that you take people seriously and value their ideas. You also support your employees by acknowledging their desire to grow professionally. View training and development as investments in your employees' future productivity. Give them stretch assignments that enable them to master new skills. If they make a mistake, help them analyze what happened and apply what theyve learned to future challenges. Provide constructive criticism in a positive way. To provide your employees with the resources they need, make sure you understand your groups goals, objectives, and desired results. Then consider all the resources that are available to you in the organization. Resources include equipment, time, technologies, systems, office space, training, and people. For each resource need, identify the expected benefit to your team. Then work with your supervisor to determine how you can provide needed resources cost effectively. By creating an environment in which people feel supported and enjoy their work, you enable both the individuals in your group and your organization to achieve higher levels of success.

Developing Rapport, Trust & Respect

The quality of the relationships you cultivate with your direct reports is critical to your performance as a manager. Trust is essential to effective relationships: When people trust you, they are more likely to see you as believable, well informed, and sincere. They know that you have their best interests at heart. They also view you as possessing a strong emotional character (steady temperament) and integrity (honesty and reliability). Those qualities reinforce your appeal, which in turn makes people more inclined to support your ideas. How can you create a foundation of trust and build positive bonds with your employees? The following practices can help:

Strive for consistency. Avoid sending contradictory signals or giving different answers to the same question. Inconsistency makes employees skeptical of your credibility and competence. Demonstrate your honesty. Answer employees questions honestly: Dont pretend you know more than you do. If you dont know an answer, say soand promise to investigate. Then follow through on your promise. Accept responsibility for your mistakes. When you own up to your mistakes, people see you as a truthful personon the assumption that most dishonest individuals try to conceal their faults.

Build a track record of trustworthiness. Follow through on promises and commitments you've made. Share or give credit to those who contribute good ideas. Present consistent values. Bybehaving in a trustworthy manner, you earn a reputation for beingtrustworthy. Put others' best interests first. When people believe that you have their interests in mind, they tend to trust you and your ideas more. For instance, suppose a marketing director helps a valued direct report get promoted to a different department. The marketing director knows it's difficult to lose a top-notch team member, but accepts that helping others develop their professional skills is part of a manager's job. As a result, the marketing director earns the trust of that direct report and also of the other department headwhich may come in handy in the future. Encourage the exploration of ideas. Listen to others' concerns to encourage dialogue and demonstrate your openness to others' perspectives. Establish an environment where everyone can share their ideas and know that their opinions are valued.

Getting to Know Your Direct Reports

Whether you are new to the group or company that you are working with, or have been promoted to a management position and will now supervise former peers, you should take the lead in getting to know your direct reports. In your first few days in your new role, you will want to introduce yourself to your group and plan meetings with each of your direct reports. Introduce yourself Your first team meeting sets the tone and serves as your initial introduction to the group. Hold this meeting, or at least schedule it, on your first day on the job. If team members are virtualor physically separated from one anothermake every effort to include them in your kickoff meeting. Virtual teammates can be connected by telephone or, if your company has the capability, by videoconference. Prepare for this meeting by listing questions your employees may ask you and then rehearsing responses to each question. For example, if you've recently joined the organization, your employees may ask you what your perceptions are of the company and its products. If you've been promoted, they may ask about your priorities and goals. Prepare clear and concise responsesbut try to avoid making pronouncements that might give the impression that you think you already know all the answers. Also prepare a short personal introduction highlighting previous experience that relates to your new job. Finally, obtain a list of your employees names and brief biographical information from the human resources group so that you can be familiar with the important work that each of them performs. If possible, hold the meeting in a room that encourages comfort and enables everyone to see one another. After introducing yourself, ask each employee to do the same. You might invite employees to share their thoughts about the challenges that they think the group faces or

successes that they are particularly proud of. Keep the conversation focused on them, not you. Remember, your goal is to be an active listener so that you can better understand your direct reports concerns. End the meeting by telling your group that you will be setting up individual meetings with each of them to learn more about their challenges and concerns and that you will hold a follow-up meeting with the group at a later date. Meet with each direct report In your first week or two on the job, meet with each of your direct reports. These initial meetings set the stage for developing a relationship of trust. Unless your group is operating in a crisis mode and immediate, urgent action is required, your goal in these initial meetings is to get to know your employees as individuals and to understand what they consider important. Prepare for these meetings by reviewing each employees job description as well as any resume or job application that may be in his or her personnel file. It's a good idea to plan to have two conversations with each direct report. At the first meeting, get to know the person. Ask open-ended questionsquestions that cannot be answered yes or no about their experiences and interests. Let the employee lead the conversation. Use the Preparing for Meetings with Employees tool to prepare for this meeting. Questions you might ask include:

What do you like about your work? What are your other areas of interest? What are your favorite hobbies or pastimes? Where would you like to see yourself five years from now? What are your professional goals?

Although your intention is to get to know your employee, be prepared to share similar information about yourself, if asked. Take the time to record your thoughts after each of these meetings: What have you learned about each of your employees? What are their interests and goals? How might these fit into the work the group does? At the second meeting, talk specifically about the persons job, clarify goals, and determine whether any support is needed. Questions to ask might include:

What are your individual performance goals? What challenges do you have in meeting these goals? How can you best be supported in your job? What changes do you think are needed?

In what ways do you think that your efforts support the strategic objectives of the unit and organization?

After youve conducted second meetings with all of your direct reports, use the Capturing Key Insights from Your Meetings tool to record your observations and summarize overall themes for your group. Analyze what you learned Once all of your meetings have been conducted, analyze the information that you collected to see if patterns or themes emerge. Are people generally satisfied in their jobs? Does the group have a broad range of capabilities, or are team members heavily weighted in one area of expertisefor example, technical skills? Are individual goals aligned with those of the organization? Do team members understand how their work is contributing to the bigger picture? The answers to these questions may reconfirm your expectations of your group. Or you may uncover themes that reveal new insights that you were not aware of. You may want to check your insights with your boss to make sure your preliminary conclusions are correct. Communicate key findings to your group Share the insights that you gleaned from your individual meetings with your group. Summarize the key findings, issues, and themes that emerged from the conversations and ask your team what they think about the conclusions youve drawn. Be open to peoples interpretation of the information and feedback, and encourage employees to give their thoughts to how issues can be addressed. Finally, as you tackle any issues, be sure to continue to involve your direct reports. Consider how you can apply what you have learned about their experience and interests during your initial conversations with them.

Balancing Conflicting Expectations

New managers report that balancing their direct reports expectations with those of their boss is one of the most difficult parts of being a manager. Understanding how conflicting expectations arise can help you avoid being blindsided by themand can help you generate ideas for balancing them. Understand the dilemma As a manager, you face a tough dilemma: To motivate your people and retain talented performers, you need to satisfy your staffs expectations. But sometimes fulfilling your staffs

expectations can jeopardize your ability to carry out your primary responsibility: supporting your companys strategic direction. For example, suppose your team wants you to hire a specialist in a particular database technology to help them carry out a new task involving analyzing customer information. While you have permission to hire one new person, youve determined that it would be better over the long run to bring in an instructor for three days to teach your team how to use the technology and analyze the information themselvesand use the open position to hire an additional team member who is not a specialist. You feel that this solution allows for long-term growth and encourages your team members to augment their skill base. In this case, your team may feel that youre not fully supporting their efforts, while you feel that you are balancing their needs with the companys constraints and strategy. Understand differing perspectives Many instances of conflicting expectations stem from supervisors and employees differing perspectives on how managers should behave, what their priorities should be, and what capacities they should bring to their work. The table shows examples: Issue Time Employees want you to Your boss wants you to

Provide the resources they need to carry Set and implement a long-term agenda out their tasks now for your group as well as address shortterm needs Know more than they do about their jobs, so you can help solve their problems Strengthen your leadership skills, not your individual contributor skills

Skill levels

The "big picture" Professional development Networking

Define the big picture as the groups Define the big picture as your challenges and strategies for addressing companys competitive challenges and them strategies for addressing them Support their personal career interests, Help your people develop skills that regardless of whether those interests serve the companys needs first and relate to the companys needs their career interests second Engage in frequent interactions with them to help them solve problems, explore ideas, and gain emotional support during stressful times Cultivate contacts with peers and other constituents that enable you to collaborate constructively with other parts of the company

Buffering

Shield them from major change so they Ensure that your group makes the can focus on getting their work done changes necessary to support the companys direction Define leadership as meeting their requests for resources, support, Define leadership as setting an agenda that furthers your companys interests

Leadership

Issue

Employees want you to knowledge, and ideas for carrying out their work

Your boss wants you to and taking responsibility for results

Communicate to balance expectations How to handle conflicting expectations? Theres no one-size-fits-all solution. Rather, you need to handle each case separately. However, forthright communication can help you understand the forces behind conflicting expectations as well as begin addressing them. If you sense frustration among your employees after youve made a particular decision, ask them to explain their view of the situation. Follow with an explanation of the reasons behind your decision. You may uncover important differences between perceptions and reality. For instance, Joan, a sales rep, has become embroiled in a dispute with a customer. She asks you to intervene. You promise to gather more information about the conflict. Joan becomes visibly frustrated when you dont immediately contact the customer. When you ask her to explain her perceptions, she expresses concern that youre being indecisive and unsupportive. Heres an opportunity for you to manage Joans perceptions: Explain that decisiveness and supportiveness dont always take the form of instant action. In fact, the best decision makers take time to gather needed information before reacting to the situation. Moreover, by waiting a day or two before contacting the customer, youre giving both Joan and the customer time to cool off laying the groundwork for a more productive conversation about the conflict. In addition, youre providing Joan with the opportunity to come up with creative solutions on her own. Its always helpful to explain the big-picture rationale behind unpopular decisions. For example, the more your people know about the companys strategy and your units role in supporting that strategy, the greater the possibility that theyll understand and accept decisions that on the surface seem ill-considered. Leverage your group's talents Communication alone isnt a cure-all for addressing conflicting expectations. You also need to sharpen your creative thinking abilities. At times, you may be able to involve your group in finding solutions that meet everyones needs. For example, suppose your group needs to reduce order-processing errors but lacks the funding required to research potential new technologies. You could bluntly explain that your groups limited budget must go toward expenditures that relate more directly to the companys long-term strategy. But you could also go one step further: Invite talented and invested employees to brainstorm creative options that cost less and devise solutions to the order-processing problem. By using this approach, you give your employees opportunities to use their creative problemsolving skills, you draw on their technical expertise, and you demonstrate that youre willing to involve them in the process of finding solutions to problems.

Adapting Your Management Approach

As part of your role as a people manager, you need to adapt your management approach to specific circumstances as well as to the individuals youre overseeing. This section will help you understand how to balance supervising and managing activities and how to adapt your management style to individual employees based on their abilities. Managing versus supervising Many people use the words managing and supervising interchangeably. Yet they are two different activities that serve different purposes. In general, management usually includes activities such as setting policies and establishing standards, while supervisory activities typically focus on enforcement. For example, you might manage your group by setting team goals such as Reduce orderprocessing errors to meet our organizations goal of improving customer service. You might supervise your group by periodically assessing their progress on the targets and goals that have been defined. If little progress toward the goal has been made, you might create an action plan for improving performance. Similarly, you might manage your direct reports by defining the performance standard, or target, for each of the goals that have been established. For instance, Reduce order-processing errors by 15% by the end of the year. You might supervise your staff by monitoring how orderprocessing data is recorded to ensure that information about errors is being reported accurately and captured in a timely manner. Finding the right balance between managing and supervising can be challenging, as there is no set equation for how much time you should devote to each. High-risk projects and lessexperienced employees typically require more supervision than do low-risk projects and highly trained employees. Be aware, also, that your own manager's supervisory style may influence his or her expectations about how much you should supervise others. Practice and experience are your best teachers and will help you strike the right balance. Adjust your management style to individuals You also need to adapt your management style to each employee, depending on his or her level of professional development and skill. The table below shows some examples. Development level Employee is inexperienced, but has a high degree of commitment Situations

Appropriate management style

Directive: You monitor the New employees or employees person more closely and provide who have transitioned to a group from more explicit instructions and another department who are demands. enthusiastic.

Development level

Situations For example, a direct report is just starting out in his or her careeror just takes on a new set of responsibilities.

Appropriate management style

Employee is somewhat competent, but has a low level of commitment

Coaching: You identify the Employees who are experienced, persons concerns and work but are wavering in their commitment together with him or her to to the job or organization or are create an action plan for unmotivated. resolving the issues. For example, an individual feels frustrated about challenges he or she has encountered on the job.

Employee is experienced and capable, but has variable commitment

Supportive: You encourage the Employees who have mastered person to identify and build on the skills of the job, but (for whatever his or her strengths, and to reasons) lack confidence in applying gradually take on more these skills. complex challenges. For example, a staff member who has completed training in conflict resolution skills avoids dealing with a difficult peer: The person has not actually practiced these skills before and therefore lacks confidence.

Employee is extremely competent and highly committed

Employees who are strong performers, require little supervision, are committed to the organization, and are proactive in developing their careers and capabilities.

Delegating: You give the person significant latitude and entrust him or her with key task responsibilities and decision making.

For example, an employee has a broad understanding of how his or her work supports the units and companys efforts and embraces goals enthusiastically.

Matching a learning style to a particular person and situation is not an exact science. In fact, one direct report might need different styles, depending on the tasks at hand. For example, you may have a direct report whos been grappling with a work-related problem for several days. The more he works on the problem, the more frustrated he gets. You might use a coaching

management style to help him understand and work through the problem. Once the problem is resolved and the direct reports frustration has abated, you might use a supportive management style. By modifying the way you work with individuals in particular situations, you can help them reach their highest level of performance on a specific goal or task. This, in turn, results in greater organizational effectiveness.