Mary E. Marshall's Blog, page 9

Team Dynamics: Blurry Vision

Sent: September 17, 8:00 a.m.

From: Chuck, Sales Team Manager

To: Tom, VP of Sales

Subject: Account Assignment

Tom,

Hey man, we need to talk. I’ve been asked by the team to call a meeting with you to discuss how you’ve been assigning accounts across the sales team. People were pretty pissed. I guess most of the team has decided just to distribute their accounts how they want, and so they blew off your assignments completely. This really screwed up the CRM system, so they had IT write a script that changed all the assignments. Is that OK, or will that mess up the accounting system and how commissions get calculated? This is a mess, man. Not sure where it went off the rails, but it did.

Chuck

From: Marcia

To: Tom, VP of Sales

Tom,

I got shorted $1,200 on my commission check. Not cool.

Marcia

From: Scott, Accounting Manager

To: Tom, VP of Sales

Tom,

Somehow, we overpaid one of your sales associates by $1,200. How did this happen? Who is in charge of keeping track of whose accounts are assigned to whom? This is a complete mess on the back end.

Scott

From: Buyer, XYZ Company

To: Tom, VP of Sales

Tom,

I’ve really enjoyed working with your company in the past. And I particularly enjoyed working with Marcia. But she let me know today that she’s been taken off of our account by her manager. We’ve been a great customer and spent a lot of money with your firm—why the change? She didn’t seem very happy about it.

Buyer

Take a lesson from Tom, VP of sales and leader in chaos:

All for one, and one for all! It’s a super-democracy, and a self-governing team with no clear boundaries or rules can result in the top performers rising to the top. So, by all means, let them run the show. Salespeople are too squirrelly to manage anyway, so it makes your life easier, right?

When you leave your team to their own devices, they will certainly self-organize. A lack of clear job descriptions will mean that they simply create their own and do what makes them happy, and who doesn’t love that? A happy team means fewer negative GlassDoor reviews for you! In other good news for you, a self-organizing, un-managed team will develop their own company vision and mission, and who knows!? It might even be better than yours.

And, in the spirit of innovation, a lack of clarity about job roles and the definitions of duties will allow you to pit one against another, force people to compete for the same task or job and disrupt workflow. When individuals don’t meet their goals because of others rather than themselves, chaos ensues. It becomes a dog-eat-dog environment, and the top performers go for the land grab. This is especially successful in managing a sales organization—the more chaos the better!

LET’S GET REAL

Sounds a little like Lord of the Flies, doesn’t it? There is a reason that organizational design and management hierarchy have remained generally the same as long as they have. There is a reason modern experiments like “holacracies” don’t work or don’t last. Human beings need leadership, organization, and direction. In any organization, large or small, intentional organizational design with clear job descriptions, roles, and duties is key to peace and success.

According to Gallup, employees need four things to be satisfied: trust, compassion, stability, and hope. Without these, employees are unsure of their boundaries and will neither feel safe nor perform well. Stability says you will have guardrails in place to keep them in the right lane.

When going into battle, each soldier has a clear mission, set of duties, toolkit, and role that they play in the larger theater of war. If a group self-manages to the point of changing their roles or their toolkit, chaos ensues, and goals are not met. Such is the result of a workgroup that goes largely unmanaged or is expected to self-manage.

As a leader, it is your responsibility to make sure the job descriptions for each of your team members are clear, concise, and well-communicated to everyone. It is as important for employees to know their peers’ job descriptions and expectations as it is for them to know their own. You’ve had your employees study their own job descriptions, but have you required them to study and understand the JDs of others on their team? Only by doing so can you expect them all to fully understand how they fit together and form a highly functioning team. Innovation and initiative are great, but solid lines make these better, not worse.

To purchase a copy of How (NOT) to Build a Great Team click here.

The post Team Dynamics: Blurry Vision appeared first on Mary Marshall // CEO Coach.

Team Dynamics: Skank Ranked

Sent: September 17, 8:00 a.m.
From: Curt, Founder & CEO
To: Tom, Director of HR Subject: Annual Stack Rank

Tom,

I heard the management team went through the first phase of stack ranking last week. I would have liked to participate, but I am sure the team did a great job. I want to make sure you get Stephanie M. in the top 10 percent of the stack rank. She’s amazing. She’s on the product development team, right? She’s got a great presence in the office and always seems to be on top of her game—a real star in the making. She seems enormously popular with the rest of the staff too.

I heard that she was heading up a couple of social groups in the office as well—that’s the team spirit! Make sure she gets a 20 percent pay raise, and I’ll make sure I reach out to her and schedule a time for a 1:1 lunch to show my appreciation for her contributions.

I’ve also got my eye on Jody. Where did you snag her? She sure knows how to work a room. “Large and in charge,” if you get my drift. Let’s make sure we don’t lose her to the competition; I like her style. Put her in the top 20 percent and give her a 10 percent raise. She’s new, so let’s keep her hungry and wanting more—I know I do.

~Curt

Take a lesson from Curt, Founder, and CEO of “Oh, look at that woman over there”:

A most favored event by those at the very tippy-top who want to assert their power over the people and see their shining stars get the recognition they don’t deserve is stack ranking, which is a method by which a leadership team takes an entire staff and puts them in order according to their “value” to the company. Once in order, you take some random percentage at the top, middle, and bottom and award pay raises and bonuses for that group. It’s as flexible as you want it to be, and easy to defend because it’s entirely subjective and not based on any kind of pesky performance data.

The most important thing about stack ranking is that it remains on complete secrecy lock-down. No one other than the leadership team can ever see the results of the stack ranking, nor can they ever find out about the hilarity that ensues when you go through the process as you gossip about each and every employee in the company. You should find a trustworthy admin to take notes during your stack-ranking session and make sure she is ranked near the top so that she’s not tempted to leak the results.

Stack ranking is a great way to penalize employees or “manage them out” for things that are totally unjustifiable otherwise, such as being overweight, ugly, or too shy, or having once cooked fish in the microwave. But make no mistake, no matter how good a job you do to hide the results of your stack-ranking process, your employees all know that you stack rank—so you can count on some pretty interesting behavior from people who are hell-bent on what-ever-ing their way to the top of the list!

From: Tom, Director of HR

To: Jaime, Director of Product Development

Subject: Annual Stack Rank

Jaime,

Did you approve this pay raise and stack-rank positioning for Stephanie? If not, I thought you should know that Curt has mandated that she receive a 20 percent pay raise next year. Good luck managing her performance.

As a reminder, she’s been with the company for three weeks and her probation period doesn’t end until August. Curt knows this, but he wants this raise to happen anyway for some reason.

~Tom

LET’S GET REAL

In case it isn’t abundantly clear in other chapters, we think stack ranking is one of the worst employee-management practices ever invented and should be avoided at all costs. It is worthwhile, in fact, to ask if a company you are considering joining does stack ranking as a regular practice, and if so, include it in your decision criteria for accepting a new leadership position.

Stack ranking is nothing more than a popularity contest, especially when done by an ownership/leadership team that is largely disconnected from the mainstream workforce. It gives rise to the loudest and most notable employees and overlooks the quiet contributor. It is a methodology that creates a breeding ground for discrimination, sexism, and favoritism, and it is an open invitation for legal action.

What’s worse is that stack ranking, like grading on a curve (discussed in the previous section), assumes that you can only have a subset of top performers. It assumes that in any organization there is a top, middle, and lower level of performance. If you wouldn’t assemble a sports team or a military troop based on this kind of thinking, then don’t hire, or manage with it in your company!

Simply put nothing good comes from stack ranking. It’s demoralizing for your employees, it causes unhealthy competition based on favoritism, and it’s bad for developing leaders. Leaders and managers must be taught to evaluate performance on an individual basis as aligned to job requirements, then at the team or group level as aligned to team requirements, then— more holistically—as aligned to company strategy. Peer-to-peer stack ranking takes none of these things into consideration.

But, as in our story above, the real damage is done by the combination of the stack-ranking process and the person at the top who uses it to create their harem of sycophants and/or personal favorites. That leader is subverting the authority and protocol of the organizational chart by making staff management decisions above or around direct managers. If you have a senior leader who is resisting giving up stack ranking, take a good look around them and see if they’ve created a “court” of favored individuals.

In short: banish stack ranking forever and consider banishing anyone who sings its praises.

To purchase a copy of How (NOT) to Build a Great Team click here.

The post Team Dynamics: Skank Ranked appeared first on Mary Marshall // CEO Coach.

Grading on the Curve

Sent: August 8
From: CEO
To: Department Heads
Subject: Stack-Ranking Deliverable Department Heads

I want to see all of your rankings for your employees in my inbox by Friday. I know you all disagree with my methodology; however, it’s not up to you. I’ve listened to your arguments and concluded that I was right in the first place. So please adhere to the following procedure:

Evaluate all of your employees with a score of 1–10 based on the following:TimelinessNeatnessAbility to be an independent worker (doesn’t ask too many questions)Quantity of work performed on a scale of 1–10 (10 being the highest)Quality of work performed (how many times do you have to correct them?)Overall ability to fit into the teamCultural fitTake their total score and divide it by seven to get their average, and then do the same for the entire team to get your team average.The people above the average will get raises; the people below will not.Then send your data to HR, and he will compile the “team” average to compare. Again, those of you above the curve will be in line for annual raises; the rest will not.

I want to put my reasoning and thought process in writing so that I don’t hear any more feedback about this—ever. This is the final word on the subject.

I learned this method in graduate school for my MBA at Wharton, which we all know is the most elite business school in the US (and probably worldwide). The behaviors I value in performance are listed in the ranking. These are the only things that make sense and make us profitable. If we aren’t profitable, no one gets raises, so it doesn’t matter anyway.

You’ll notice I added the seventh item just because you all would not stop talking about culture, so there you have it. I have no idea how you are going to evaluate this, and frankly, I don’t care as it was never listed in my MBA training at Wharton. So, if you want to drop it altogether, feel free to do so.

I want a competitive culture here, and not everyone is entitled to annual raises—those are entitlements and I refuse to ever start that here. We are a performance-based company, and therefore, only performance above the norm gets rewarded, none below. I gave you all the opportunity to grade your employees and only give raises to A’s and B’s, but you whined so much about the C’s that I took that option off the table. Raises are for winners; losers get nothing. We are not giving out trophies just for showing up. That’s not how business works, and these people need to get used to the real world. And I don’t care if they cry and go work somewhere else—good riddance to them. Let them be someone else’s whiner.

I also do not want to hear any more talk about some of our underperforming teams and that if we rank this way, we are still rewarding the highest of the underperformers. We have to start with something, and if they see that half of their team is getting raises and they are not, maybe they’ll work harder so they can be in that top half of the curve.

Conversely, I also don’t want to hear any more talk from some of you who have over-performing teams, and therefore this isn’t fair because half of your team won’t get a raise, even though you rank them 9s or 10s. You have to have some way to get them to want to be a 10, so don’t reward them for being a 9.

I do realize that no method is completely fair, but this is the one I learned at Wharton; and if it’s good enough for the most elite school in the country, it’s good enough for all of you.

I’ll look forward to seeing your ranking—good luck on getting a raise!

What I say goes,

CEO

LET’S GET REAL

Stack ranking employees was all the rage for a lot of large companies and is still used widely today. It comes in different shapes and sizes, but ultimately, it is not universally regarded as the best way to reward employees. In fact, because it is usually done in complete secrecy, it often has a very negative effect on morale.

First, you want to make sure that all of your employees are paid fairly for the jobs they do. This means there is a range of pay for each position, they know what’s required to move from the low end to the high, and there is visibility about the process. It can’t be done in secret, and, worse yet, it can’t depend on completely subjective factors, such as how much the manager likes someone. That will ultimately get you into legal trouble.

Your ability to get a raise should not be dependent upon how a teammate performs. Employees will not perform well if they are graded on factors outside of their control, including other team members’ performance. They either are or are not doing the job well.

In contrast to what our wrong-headed Wharton CEO claims, knowing they will not get a raise, even though they are performing at their peak, will not inspire anyone and will cause them to leave or, worse, become a cultural terrorist inside the organization. If they are a chronic underperformer on an underperforming team and get a raise, what is their inspiration to do better?

Pay needs to be fair. Performance needs to be evaluated fairly. Employees are much happier and perform better when both of these are carefully considered and implemented.

To purchase a copy of How (NOT) to Build a Great Team click here.

The post Grading on the Curve appeared first on Mary Marshall // CEO Coach.

Team Dynamics: Frat House Frenzy

Sent: October 1

From: Scott, CEO

To: All Employees

Subject: Business Travel Rules

Hey guys,

Just want to clarify a few things—btw, I know you’re not all guys and I should probably change that greeting, but hey, I built this company and I’m not going to change now!

The title of this email is “Business Travel Rules”—which, when I read that, I crack myself up because business travel really does rule!! But unfortunately, that’s not what this is about.

I got a big old hand slap from Ms. HR herself, Hannah, about some of the free-forming norms that we use when traveling. First, get things approved before you go, OK? I know, this should be basic, but some of “us” aren’t doing it, so pretty please?

Second, regarding the drinks, rein it in a little, guys!! Even I can’t have six tequila shots both before and after dinner! Kudos to whoever tried to pass that expense report in, and whoa, keep it up, dude, just not on our dime, OK? According to Hannah, we need to start listing the purpose for all of the expenses, including the meals, and “to meet ho’s” apparently is not appropriate (although pretty funny!).

Apparently, we do have an employee handbook, and we all need to read it and sign it as I guess there is some good stuff in there to help keep us from getting sued. Get that into Hannah Banana as soon as you can. She’ll explain anything you don’t understand. We’ve got a few unhappy campers here—especially the women—so we need to see what we can do to make the ladies happy!

Here’s the big bummer: we can’t have booze in the office anymore. I guess we’re being sued by someone who joined one of our after-parties. Not even sure who brought him into the building, but he drove drunk and hit a bunch of parked cars, so his insurance is suing us— and so are some of the owners of the trashed cars. Oh yeah, we can’t have unescorted guests here anymore as well. They all need to pass through the security downstairs. Really sorry about that. I will miss some of our “guests” at the after-work parties!

Oh yeah, we’ve gone through three cleaning companies in the last two months as they refuse to clean up after our parties, and apparently, we now have a mouse problem because of all the food in the cubes. Clean up after yourselves, guys. Remember, yo’ mama doesn’t work here—at least I don’t think so! Ha!

OK, I think those were all the things I was mandated to say, but hey, it’s all good.

Sent: October 2

From:  Hannah

To: All Employees

Subject: Email from CEO re Business Travel Rules

All Employees:

The board of directors has asked me to follow up on Scott’s email from yesterday regarding our handbooks and business travel rules. Scott is on indefinite sabbatical and Ron, the chairman, will be filling in for him until his return.

Please disregard any suggestive or inappropriate wording in his email. The board would like me to inform you that it does not reflect the values of the company.

You will all be required to sign the employee handbook after reading it by 5:00 p.m. today. If you are out of the office today, you will be required to read and sign it before returning to work.

You will all be required to follow all business travel rules in the future, or you will not be reimbursed. You might also be subject to discipline or termination, based on the policies in our handbook.

Please keep your cubicle clean or, again, you may be subject to discipline according to our new policy, outlined in the handbook.

Lastly, my name is not Hannah Banana and do not address me as such.

Sincerely,

HR

LET’S GET REAL

Yes, this may have seemed extreme, but again, it’s a real example. Some leaders never grow up and want to relive their “fun times” in the workplace, much to the dismay of the employees. Although there will always be some who love it, it doesn’t help productivity and it opens you up to all sorts of potential legal trouble.

A good test for determining if you should behave a certain way or implement a specific policy in the workplace is whether or not you could or would want to credibly defend it on network news. We used to say, “Would you like this to be your 60 Minutes moment?” Most of those guys are so old they wouldn’t recognize the workplace of today anyway! So, think network news: Do you want to have to defend a policy that allows drunken parties and illicit behavior? Never say or do what you can’t defend.

The workplace isn’t your college dorm; it’s not your church; it’s not a comedy club; it’s not a fun house or a ballpark. It’s a place of work. It’s up to you, as the leader, to make it conducive to the day-to-day business—not a place to play. This often seems to be forgotten in the need to attract and retain top talent. It’s OK if we bend the rules a little; it will make people happy, and happy employees are productive employees, right? Yes, BUT— that’s a big but—you have to stay in the lanes.

There is just so much that can go wrong when you mix work, alcohol, or drugs—any kind of behavior that should only be done on personal time. You want to protect the company and your employees. You are not running an adult day-care center. If you are, plan on lots of legal bills and frustrations because your liability just went up exponentially.

Provide a safe place for people to work; encourage friend- ships to form, but limit what happens on work time. If you don’t want your employees to be romantically involved with each other, define it. If you’re OK with that, define it. Either way is acceptable as long as you put up the guardrails to protect everyone. Think of yourself as a risk manager. Your people can be one of your biggest areas of risk. Help them stay safe, feel productive, and feel like they belong, and they’ll help the company succeed.

To purchase a copy of How (NOT) to Build a Great Team click here.

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Team Building for Toddlers

Sent: August 8th

From: CEO

To: Extended Management Team

Subject: Leadership Retreat

To all,

I’m very excited to share the agenda for our leadership retreat coming up in two weeks. First of all, our destination is a total score! We were able to schedule this year’s retreat at Haley’s Dude Ranch in Idaho, which will be great to take us all back to our cowboy roots! Can’t wait to get into my boots and feel the horse between my legs. For those of you who have not ridden before, get on board because you’ll all be doing it—it’s a requirement!

Everyone should be prepared to bring rough-and-ready clothes, jeans, shorts, and boots or whatever you feel comfortable wearing. Just remember that we’ll be getting up close and personal.

The consultant we’ve hired has crafted an amazing agenda for all of us. We’ll start off by doing our usual “trust fall” exercise. Be sure to pick a partner that you haven’t done this with before. If you can’t trust your teammates to catch you, how can we be successful as a team?

We’ll be doing more than one, and after the first one your partner will be chosen at random, so be ready for a few falls!

Then we have a great exercise in the barn: You’ll all be stuck in a dirty horse stall and partnered up with a couple of your peers. Your job will be to clean it up with whatever you find in the stall, and the door won’t open till you’re done! Should be a lot of fun! Be sure to bring clothes you don’t mind getting dirty because there will be no avoiding the filth! Our version of a little reality show!

Then it’s off to the horses. You’ll all be charged with taking your horse on the full trail ride, and no dinner till you get back. We will have a few guides to help us along the way, but don’t count on them for much as this will be more of a survival exercise than a feel-good excursion.

That evening we’ll have our usual dinner roast with everyone sharing the most embarrassing story about themselves—the funnier the better! And feel free to share one about your peers too. Remember, raunchy stories are good stories. HR will be nowhere in sight for this one! We’ll be sure to bring the anatomically correct blow-up sheep we had last year, just in case anyone needs inspiration for some fun!

The following morning we’ll have our regular business meeting, and each of you will be invited (required) to share your most memorable lesson learned from the previous day. We might get to the strategic planning if we have time.

The whole point of the retreat is to bond and develop a level of trust that will take the team to new heights of success. Bring your true, authentic self, and let it all hang out. You will be judged on how well you’re able to let your hair down and be real.

What happens at the retreat stays at the retreat! (Until it doesn’t—remember Pete from last year?? I’ll never forget when his wife found out about it at the holiday party!)

See you all there!

Chris

Take a lesson from Chris, CEO of cutting loose:

I always believe in inspiring the team with these free-for-all retreats. No bullshit exercises built for toddlers here; these are bonding exercises for adults. And we need to start acting like adults—who knows what will happen when everyone is forced to reveal their secrets! It’s always been great, although lately we usually lose someone.

But hey, survival of the fittest. Last year, more people than I expected came down with the flu right before the retreat. I certainly hope that doesn’t happen this year. I’ve noted who those folks are.

The board was on me to explain what results I was hoping to get by spending all the money on this retreat, but I simply told them that teams that play together stay together, and they bought it. Really, I just want a getaway that let’s everyone cut loose without all the damn HR rules and regulations on us. Everyone always has a great time, and if it doesn’t really accomplish a business purpose, who cares? We are bonding and forming tighter relationships, so it’s all good.

LET’S GET REAL

Team building has gotten a bad rap over the years because the “purpose” is generally ill-defined and/or has nothing to do with the actual activities. Our CEO, Chris, is designing a retreat that is bound to fail and could result in lawsuits because of so many over-the-line requirements or suggestions that are really directives.

Go back to basics. Why is it good to cultivate the team? Because they work better when they get along and respect one another. Encouraging a sense of belonging is a good thing and increases overall employee satisfaction. However, how you do this will depend on several factors: What are your values? What are you trying to achieve? Do you have some team issues? A new program you’re trying to brainstorm? A strategic plan that has stalled? Whatever the reason, figure it out beforehand and design an agenda that supports that purpose.

Once defined, it’s important to make it overt, not covert. State what you are trying to achieve and ask everyone to help you achieve that. That’s the team in teamwork—it’s not solely up to you. They may likely have better ideas than you, so let them chime in. Incorporate fun things that have nothing to do with work but make them optional. Not everyone is comfortable with what we deem fun or interesting.

It’s important to have options because males and females, or people of different ethnicities or faiths, may not think everything on the list is appropriate for them, but you don’t want them to feel excluded. Going to a dude ranch may not feel great for women, telling embarrassing stories could cross the line into harassment, and anatomically correct blow-up animals are just plain wrong in any work setting. Even when you are not on company premises, the rules of the company still apply. As do those of common sense and decency.

Team building should be happening every day in the work- place—encouraging good behavior, recognizing contributions, and guiding others to success. Great teams lead naturally and inject fun and comradery into everyday interactions. It doesn’t need to be an artificially staged event that most adults will think is childish. Encouraging people to stretch beyond what they think they can do is one thing; forcing them to participate in childish and pointless rituals is completely inappropriate.

To purchase a copy of How (NOT) to Build a Great Team click here.

The post Team Building for Toddlers appeared first on Mary Marshall // CEO Coach.

Team Dynamics: Pissed-Off Posse

Sent: March 5, 6:00 a.m.
From: Cindy, CEO
To: Karen, Chief Strategy Officer; Steve, Chief Operations Officer
Subject: Leveling the Playing Field

Steve and Karen,

Good morning, you two. Hey, so I have been thinking about next week’s strategic planning session. I know you both have strong opinions about the agenda and what you want to accomplish in the session. I’d like to hear them. You two are the only ones that I’d ever confess this to, but I’ve never led a strategic planning session. In fact, I’ve never even really been to one at this level. Kinda leaves you wondering how I got to be CEO without having that experience under my belt, but I did. Call it luck, I guess! So yeah, maybe you guys could give me some guidance here.

I want to show up as a leader, though, so maybe we can meet privately, and you guys can give me your ideas. Then, during the breaks in the meeting, we can chat out of earshot of the rest of the team, and you can let me know if I’m doing OK. You guys are so great—it’s so great to have so much support. This is a big job, being the CEO, and I couldn’t do it without you, for sure. You both have so much more experience than I do with developing strategic plans, but I’m more of a people person. We make a great team! It’s kind of like we all just report to each other, isn’t it? This is going to be a great planning session! Looking forward to hearing the ideas you have for me.

Cindy

Sent: March 5, 6:05 a.m.
From: Karen
To: Steve
Subject: RE: Leveling the Playing Field

Steve, WTF is this? Is she really this stupid and clueless? I mean, I know she’s new to the CEO role here at JobSpots, but how on earth did she get this gig and what planet did she come from? I have been under the impression that she was coming in with some big vision. Guess not, eh?

Karen

Sent: March 5, 6:15 a.m.
From: Steve
To: Karen
Subject: RE: RE: Leveling the Playing Field

Karen, WTF x2. I have no idea, and there is no way in hell I’m going to be her handler and the ghost writer of her “brilliant strategic ideas.” Is she kidding us with this? Who does she think we are? This is not how I roll. Plus, I have an entire operational infrastructure proposal to present to the board.

Steve

Sent: March 5, 6:21 a.m.
From: Karen
To: Steve
Subject: RE: RE: RE: Leveling the Playing Field

Yeah, not to mention the board asked me for a product roadmap. That IS my job after all. Since when do you and I have to be shadow CEO and do our day jobs? If she thinks we’d be a better CEO than she is, then why don’t we just suggest THAT to the board!!!???

Karen

Sent: March 5, 6:24 a.m.
From: Steve
To: Karen
Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: Leveling the Playing Field

Hey, so this reminds me, have you talked to Jim over at CareerHut lately? I guess he’s moving on to start his own business, buying a winery or something. It’s going to leave an executive vacancy at our biggest competitor. You could totally do that job. I could do that job.

Steve

Sent: March 5, 6:28 a.m.
From: Karen
To: Steve
Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Leveling the Playing Field

Steve, you’re a genius. It’s a much bigger company than JobSpots, you know. If we BOTH went there, we could blow her out of the water. And without us here, she’d be the Empress with No Clothes. The whole thing would go down in flames in a week.

Karen

Sent: March 5, 6:29 a.m.
From: Steve
To: Karen
Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Leveling the Playing Field

That’d level the playing field, all right.

Steve

Sent: March 5, 6:30 a.m.
From: Karen
To: Steve
Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Leveling the Playing Field

We’d better use our personal emails for this conversation.

Karen

And in a matter of thirty minutes, early on a Tuesday morning, a plan was hatched.

LET’S GET REAL

Let’s talk about imposter syndrome. Odds are you are going to have some degree of it. Most leaders who aren’t narcissists do. It’s perfectly natural to rise to a level in your career that makes you feel a little unsure, shakes your confidence, or even makes you feel like you’re not worthy of the stature and authority—or even pay grade—that you have achieved. But many leaders lean too heavily on the talents and experiences of those around them to shore up their lack of confidence, rather than doing the work necessary to build their own.

Talented senior managers will fill every void they see in the interest of their own goals and the goals of the business. If that void is you, then you can rest assured that someone will either oust you from below or fly right over you without you ever seeing it coming. They will also have spotted a weakness in your leadership, which is especially useful information for when they go to work for your competitor!

Again, to be fair, it is perfectly normal to be unsure of yourself, and it is even sometimes OK to be out of your depth in experience and skill. But get the help you need from the right resources. There are leadership coaches, CEO coaches, leadership peer groups, or even some board members who will be a good fit for mentoring you and sharpening your skills.

Like it or not, you are the captain, and your crew—no matter how capable or how experienced—is counting on you to act like one.

To purchase a copy of How (NOT) to Build a Great Team click here.

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Team Dynamics – Getting It Together

Team dynamics are complicated and often messy. It takes good leadership to bring out the best in each and every team member and recognize the team effort versus the effort of the leader. However, it’s not about the leader; it’s about the team, and the two become inextricable in great teams.

Great teams accomplish amazing things, and that requires both the team members and the leaders to cede control for individual accomplishment in service of the team. Those teams whose members need individual recognition ultimately fail, as do those that make it all about the leader. Think of great orchestra conductors. They stand in front of the orchestra and wave a baton. They play no instrument and have no audible contribution to the music, but when done well, the results are breathtaking. They know how and when to bring out the individual contributions in service of the team—the greater good—and the result the team can produce. Only through this team effort is beautiful music played and heard.

When famous conductors go off the rails it’s usually because they fail to value the team above themselves. It becomes about them, their idiosyncrasies, and not the joint contribution of the team. This is usually because the leader has let the big “E” word take over: Ego. When ego creeps into the picture, the production of the team—whatever that may be—is always less than it could have been. In some circles, big egos are allowed, even encouraged. However, you will always see a reduction in the performance of the team because it is no longer balanced. Everyone else on the team is a sidekick to the egocentric leader or the star player. Individual contributions that are not simply part of the team production stand outside the circle and detract from performance.

Leading a great team is like walking a tightrope in the beginning: lose your balance and you’re on the ground. If there is no safety net and you were pretty high up, this is particularly painful. Look at any of the great sports teams that continue to win, year after year. It’s about the team, not individual players. Each can be celebrated for their contribution, but without the others, they are nothing more than a great individual contributor. Getting your balance as the leader of a team means being more aware of your team members’ contributions than your own. Organizations are no different than orchestras or sports teams. It takes the precise performance of everyone at the right time to make a strategy come together. Any one person taking credit, hoarding, blaming, or shaming will break apart a team faster than church letting out before a big meal. Results will happen; just not what you originally intended.

Great leaders make sure the team crosses the finish line together—with the leader bringing up the rear.

To purchase a copy of How (NOT) to Build a Great Team click here.

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Performance Reviews for Dummies

Sent: September 5, 9:05 a.m.

From: Ken, VP of Sales

To: Barb, Sales Associate

Subject: Your Performance Review

Hey Barb,

Sorry I’m going to be late to our meeting; I’m desperate for a coffee. Back in about ten. Text me if you want one. If 9:30 doesn’t work for you, let me know; it’s totally no big deal at all. We don’t even really have to meet about your review. You’re doing a good job; keep up the great work.

Ken

P.S. We’re not doing pay raises until the end of the second quarter, that I know of. I’ll let you know if I hear differently.

Performance reviews are passé, overrated, and a complete waste of your valuable time. As every good leader knows, if your people don’t know where they stand without you having to take the time to tell them or write it down in plain English, then they probably shouldn’t be working for you. In the event that your HR director insists that you personally administer a performance review—especially for your most valuable senior management team—let’s make sure you start off by setting the record straight: This is not about them. It’s a painful inconvenience for you that you do not enjoy.

The following are some general rules of thumb to ensure that your team will dread performance reviews as much as you do:

Schedule your performance reviews for no more than fifteen minutes. This is all the time it should take to tell your employees that they are underperforming and need to step up or step out. As the appointment approaches, make sure you either (a) do not show up or (b) reschedule at least twice at the last minute. This will send a clear message that this process is not a priority for you, and neither areIf and when the meeting does finally occur, make sure you start with the bad news by informing them that they did not meet the goals you had in Yes, these are different than the goals written in their last performance review, but as the manager, you changed them midstream to better align with your vision, which is your prerogative. Notifying them of the revised goals isn’t necessary. Top people should know when you’ve changed your mind.Performance reviews are an excellent opportunity to restate your authority, so make sure you do all the talking. Talking over your employees will give them the opportunity to think hard about what they need to do to make you However, do take a moment in between thoughts to check your phone. Important text messages cannot wait, and your employees will understand that you have much more pressing matters than criticizing their idiosyncrasies.Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, be open and prepared for emotional outbursts. Crying is a natural reaction to a well-crafted and masterfully delivered performance review, and you should be proud when you achieve this breakthrough with any

By following these four basic rules of thumb, you can be sure the performance review was administered in a way that will foster fear among your staff and become a hallmark of your leadership for years to come. Remember, the more your employees dread their performance reviews, the better. It will ensure that they put on a top-notch performance at least a few weeks out of the year, right before review (bonus) time.

LET’S GET REAL

Yes, “traditional” performance reviews are being replaced by 360-degree assessments and daily feedback cycles, and HR professionals are experimenting with all kinds of systems and platforms for constructive feedback. But one thing is for sure: as CEO or a leader, there is no better way to spend your time than having honest, thoughtful, and constructive conversations with your team about your expectations and their performance. Never assume someone knows how they are doing. It’s not up to them to know, it’s up to you to make sure they know.

Generally speaking, managers dread administering performance reviews because (a) they have not been an effective manager in the day-to-day, and the performance review is going to include delivering some sort of unexpected news or (b) the platform or system for the review is too cumbersome or complicated to be effective.

No performance review can take the place of good people-management and communication along the way. Employees should know where they stand at all times and should be communicated with about the progress against their goals daily. Their jobs should be designed so that they align with their goals—if they are doing the job, they are achieving the goals. Lofty goals set once a year that are dissociated from the day-to- day tasks of the job will only be out of sight and out of mind.

Be wary of managers who complain loudly that HR isn’t involved enough in performance management, or that a new performance-management platform or software is needed. Again, performance management is really about how well the job description and tasks are aligned with the goals of the individual and how well those goals are aligned with the company goals. If you don’t have that figured out as a leadership team, no software program will figure it out for you.

Why do employees care about employee reviews, assuming performance and goal achievement have been addressed along the way? The answer: promotions and compensation. Make sure your promotion and compensation philosophies are well crafted, well communicated, and, most of all, consistent throughout the organization. There should be zero exceptions to these policies. If your employees know what their goals are, their jobs are designed to meet those goals, and they understand exactly how they will be rewarded for meeting those goals, the rest is smooth sailing.

Remember, your people are the central nervous system of your business. If they aren’t being managed effectively, or if their satisfaction and happiness aren’t top priorities, then it will wreak havoc in every other aspect of your business.

To purchase a copy of How (NOT) to Build a Great Team click here.

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Hiring: Red Staplers

Sent: September 17, 8:00 a.m.

From: Diana, Director of Human Resources

To: Joe, Founder & CEO Subject: Sam

Joe,

I know you think the world of Sam, and he’s been with the company for going on twenty years, but this is literally the fourteenth position that he’s held with the company in that time frame. His record is that he has not been able to stay in any one position for more than six months. He either fails miserably at the task at hand, is rejected en masse by his co-workers and team members, or develops a horrendous attendance problem.

Can we at long last please terminate him for nonperformance?

Sincerely concerned,

Diana

Sent: September 17, 8:05 a.m. From: Joe, Founder & CEO

To: Diana, Director of Human Resources

Subject: Sam

Diana,

Absolutely not. Sam was one of my first hires and has been with me through thick and thin. I’ll never fire him—ever—and neither will you. Just find something for him to do.

Don’t ask me again.

Joe

By all means! You owe it to your most loyal employees to give them every opportunity to fail, and when they do, they de- serve a second chance—and a third, and a fourth. Long-term and well-liked employees are every bit as important as the high performers. You can’t have all high-performing employees, right? And the hanger-on-ers put things into perspective and help the top performers feel more valuable. It is better to have a few hanger-on-ers than to be the bad guy by firing them. So, yes, make it clear to your HR team that their job is to move these people from job to job as often as possible, make them feel successful, and convince the rest of the staff that their new position is mission critical to the company’s success.

A skilled HR professional can easily create job titles and descriptions that sound important but really have no deliverables or outputs. Consider job titles such as Assistant Researcher, Information Specialist, or Director of Company Archives. If your hanger-on-er is the well-liked social type, consider a more modern title, such as Culture Czar, People Person, or Corporate Event Specialist. Even the most incompetent professional can appear to succeed in these jobs for at least six months.

If your hanger-on-er is struggling, even with the vaguest of job titles, consider a lengthy training regimen. Oftentimes, a senior hanger-on-er can appear successful by completing a company-sponsored online MBA program. “Jim is working part-time as he’s getting his MBA” is a great cover-up. Who knows, Jim might actually get smarter through this process, but even if he doesn’t, it buys you two more years of not having to fire him.

“Out of sight, out of mind” theory also works to alleviate some of the friction this might cause with the rest of the staff, so consider having these folks work from home. This is a sure-fire way of maintaining some mystery around them and their contribution to the company. Your staff will see them on the org chart, meet them once or twice a year at the company holiday party or summer picnic, and you can continue the charade that they are integral employees while also forever avoiding the dreaded firing that will make you feel bad about yourself.

You can’t be an effective leader if you feel guilty about every little thing, and certainly about every single person. You also can’t run the risk of a negative GlassDoor review from a disgruntled employee or a wrongful termination suit from a litigious employee. So, pay the price of avoiding risk, and send them to the basement!

LET’S GET REAL

There are few things more unfair in employment practices than keeping someone in a job that they are not qualified for or, worse, just not performing. As a leader and hiring manager, it is your job to have a constant eye on whether or not each and every member of your team is in a role that is a good fit, and an integral part of the company’s success. No one should ever be put in or left in a position simply to reciprocate loyalty or due to your fear of confrontation and bad feelings.

It is human nature to want to feel like a contributor and be successful, but for some people, that can be overcome by a fear of change. People stay in jobs they aren’t qualified for all the time, and some will stay as long as you allow them to, simply because they are afraid of not having a job at all or fear making a life change.

It is also human nature to want to be on a team where everyone is pulling their weight. Don’t think for a second that the non-contributing, non-performing employee that you are hiding in your organization because of your own guilt isn’t resented by your high-performing employees. Everyone in your organization knows about the guy with the red stapler in the basement, and this is unfair to everyone involved and makes you look like an enabling parent.

To avoid hanger-on-er syndrome, consider creating a rigorous 30/60/90-day plan for all new employees. Build in checkpoints to make sure they are guided and directed toward success (see Chapter 3 to avoid the Day One Dilemma and create a thoughtful onboarding process). At ninety days, if your employee has not proven that they are on the path to success, cut bait and let them go. This is how to execute the “hire slow, fire fast” mantra. Give them ample runway but set them free if it’s not going to work out. And face it: you’ll know. The question is whether or not you’re going to be in denial about it.

Strong leaders are in touch with their employees’ satisfaction, happiness, and motivations for work. And strong leaders are decisive and brave enough to make tough decisions when employees are unable to make them for themselves.

To purchase a copy of How (NOT) to Build a Great Team click here.

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Hiring: Tanned, Toned and Tight Before Talent

CEO:  Gina, I’m so excited—I’ve found the perfect person for our new PR manager! I want you to meet her as soon as possible because I want to make an offer tomorrow. Can you make some time to meet with her today?

HR Manager: Wait a minute, who is this person? I don’t recall seeing her résumé.

CEO: She doesn’t have one; I met her, and it was like love at first sight. She is absolutely wonderful and has the look I want for the role.

HR Manager: Look? What are you talking about? The job description clearly states we need someone with five years of experience in running an agency team and who has handled multiple crisis situations. What does that have to do with looks?

CEO: Oh my lord, can’t you ever just think out of the box? You are so literal sometimes; it’s really frustrating when I’m trying to recruit the best talent. Can’t you just let go of your requirements and trust my instincts when I tell you this person is amazing?

HR Manager: I’m not saying this person isn’t the right person for the job; I’m only trying to avoid another mis-hire, like we’ve had in the past when we’ve looked past someone’s résumé. It’s never gone well for us. Remember John? You loved his charisma and so-called wit, and you said not to worry about a background check, but his résumé turned out to be total fiction. Remember we lost one of our best customers because he slept with their representative and promised all sorts of things we couldn’t deliver? He didn’t even know how the basic products worked! And he did not have a degree! Which, by the way, was a job requirement, so thank God none of the other applicants we didn’t hire found out, or we could have been sued. And why doesn’t she have a résumé?

CEO: God, you are such a stick-in-the-mud. For a creative agency, I don’t know how we ended up with you. What are you, the people police? Listen, don’t remind me about John. I was so pissed and hurt when I found out about his sleeping with that rep; you have no clue what a betrayal that was to me. Anyway, I have great instincts when it comes to hiring; I can just look at someone and know they are the right fit by how they look. I’m surprised you can’t do that as the HR manager. Isn’t that a requirement for your job?

HR Manager: Looks are not everything. Now, tell me why she doesn’t have a résumé.

CEO: She’s just starting out in her career, and she’s a free spirit, so she doesn’t want to be defined by labels. I love that! She’s got this amazing full-arm tattoo sleeve that just screams credibility for a cool agency look. Can’t you just imagine what people will say when they see her as the face of the company? She’s got the look!

HR Manager: I don’t know how a tattoo sleeve is relevant for someone who not only needs to be able to speak to our brand and make sure we are seen but also manage us through a crisis. We have no policy and don’t care about tattoos, but seriously, does she have any experience whatsoever?

CEO: Look, she doesn’t have a résumé, and I told her she didn’t need one. I found her at the Starbucks I go to, because I admired her tattoo, her piercings, and her “out there” attitude. She just fits the part! Almost like she came right out of casting after I imagined what this person should look like!

HR Manager: OK, so let me be clear. She has no relevant work experience whatsoever, she has none of the skills on the job description, but you liked how she looked and that she made a good caramel macchiato and had a bit of attitude. Is that about the gist of it?

CEO: Yes. Obviously, when you put it like that, it doesn’t sound as good as it did in my head, but I don’t care. She is perfect, and I want to make her an offer.

HR Manager: So do you even need me to interview her, or is it a foregone conclusion that our new PR manager is your tattooed barista?

CEO: Since you are being completely obtuse about this, let’s just make her the offer. Write it up and get it out to her today.

CEO leans back in his chair with an “I can’t believe some people” look on his face and says to an imaginary camera: When making a hiring decision, the most important aspect is always how the person presents themselves to you. You have to be brave and willing to hire on sheer guts based on looks because, ultimately, who moves up in the world? Those that look the part. We can train for the rest, but I want someone who is the face of our brand because that’s what someone will see first.

It’s our first impression and the most lasting one. Don’t let a cranky HR manager tell you otherwise. It’s first and foremost about how they look and what brand they show up with. Trust your instincts!

LET’S GET REAL

The most successful hiring takes into account how someone presents themselves to the world, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle, and it’s definitely not about beauty or fashion. Professional experience, skills, and real-world proof that they will add value to the organization trumps everything. But unless coupled with good presentation, oral skills, language use, social skills, and yes, professional appearance suitable for your business or industry are there, the skills may never make it into practice. We get taken in or put off by someone’s looks. Remember to dig deeper in both cases. One’s résumé matters, experience matters, natural talent matters, and cultural fit and values matter. Take a look at the job description that is the basis of the job. How likely is it that the person has what it takes to be successful? Usually, none of this shows on the surface.

Don’t let yourself be dazzled by someone’s sparkle until you determine if it’s a diamond or a cubic zirconia. The fakes will cost you money, time, and reputation.

To purchase a copy of How (NOT) to Build a Great Team click here.

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