What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful

by Marshall Goldsmith

As part of my interview process, I enlist each of my client’s coworkers to help me out. I want them to assist, not sabotage the change process. I let the coworker know how my process works by saying, “I’m going to be working with my client for the next year or so. I don’t get paid if he doesn’t get better. ‘Better’ is not defined by me. It’s not defined by my client. ‘Better’ is defined by you and the other coworkers who will be involved in this process.”

I then present these coworkers with four requests. I call them The Four Commitments. I need them to commit to: 1. Let go of the past. 2. Tell the truth. 3. Be supportive and helpful—not cynical or negative. 4. Pick something to improve yourself—so everyone is focused more on “improving” than “judging.”

If we aren’t going to try to help our colleagues, why should we be allowed to judge them?

I mention this because writing a memo to staff on “How to Handle Me” is not only an admirable exercise in self-examination, but a surefire method for stimulating dialogue with the troops. But be careful. Your memo has to be brutally honest. Your employees have to believe it is accurate. And most important, they must believe it matters. Anything less on all three counts and you may as well keep your instructions to yourself.

One, I wanted her to ask each of them, “Let’s look at your responsibilities. Are there areas where you think I need to be more involved and less involved?” She was making them define the areas where they could legitimately ask for face time with her—and areas where it was not legitimate. In effect, she was delegating more responsibility to them, but in a generous and empowering way. She was allowing them to determine how much responsibility they could take. Two, I wanted her to say, “Now let’s look at my job. Do you ever see me doing things that a person at my level shouldn’t be doing, such as getting involved in details that are too minor to worry about?” She was forcing them to come up with ideas for how she could become more disengaged. In effect, she was letting them help her get home by 6:30. What better gift can a leader present to his or her troops? And vice versa.

A lot of managers assume that their staff should be exactly like them—in behavior, in enthusiasm, in intelligence, and most especially, in how they apply that brainpower.

At the same time, we’re also smart enough to know that an organization stocked with clones marching in lockstep doesn’t create diversity in an organization. You need different voices, different mindsets, different personalities in the mix. In my experience, it’s the odd out-of-left-field dissenting voices, the ones challenging groupthink and the status quo, that make an organization hum and thrive.

Also, a staff of clones does not guarantee fluid teamwork. For example, if I were Michael Jordan starting a basketball team from scratch, I’d be glad to have one player like me, but I’d still need two or three taller, stronger players to man the front line and a smaller, lightning-quick player to feed me the ball. A basketball squad of five Michael Jordans, intriguing as it sounds, is surely a recipe for dysfunction. Most bosses are smart enough to know this and therefore resist the temptation to hire only mirror images of themselves. But that doesn’t mean the message sinks in completely. Sometimes I have to remind even the most sensitive, tuned-in bosses, “You are not managing you.”