The Effective Manager

by Mark Horstman

Manager Tools defines coaching as a systemic effort to improve the performance of a direct in a specific skill area. It's neither episodic nor inherently negative. Our Coaching Model is a way for you to supervise the self-improvement process of one of your directs, over a series of months. Our Coaching Model has four simple steps: Step 1: Collaborate to Set a Goal Step 2: Collaborate to Brainstorm Resources Step 3: Collaborate to Create a Plan Step 4: The Direct Acts and Reports on the Plan

How do we set a goal? Easy. We describe a behavior or a result that we want to achieve by a date when we want it achieved.

Manager Tools uses a goal structure called DBQ: Deadline, Behavior, Quality. We start with the Deadline portion because deadlines drive behavior. Also, because we remember that coaching is a more powerful tool than feedback, we usually don't set deadlines of less than four months away.

The Behavior portion is what we want the direct to master—the behavior we want to improve. The Quality portion is how we're going to measure the behavior.

We have to define what the measure of success is for the behavior we're expecting to change.

The idea with all brainstorming is simply to go for volume, not accuracy.

Now we just create the first few weeks of a plan—a

The steps in the plan each have three parts: a deadline, a behavior, and the reporting that the task is done, which is inherent in the task. The reporting (see the list below) is what makes a task a deliverable.

we're only going to plan the first one to two weeks.

Even when their development is necessary (because they're underperforming), the vast majority of directs struggle with long deadlines.

difference between assigning a task and assigning a deliverable.

Thus, we don't assign reading a chapter of a book, for instance. We assign the task of reporting (to the boss) that reading.

effective tasks are actually deliverables with short deadlines.

We are now 31 weeks into the rollout process. That's roughly eight months.

He recognized early as a software development manager that his job had changed from solving technical problems to making others more effective so they could solve problems.

When he continued to get promoted, he realized that his job had changed again—from leveraging others' technical skills to leveraging others' people skills.

Your role as the leader means that you're the clearinghouse for who gets assigned what on your team (generally). You're not delegating a task when it's not a task you would normally do, and you're simply assigning that task among members of your team. This is an example of task assignment. Delegation, on the other hand, is you turning over responsibility for one of your regular responsibilities—something you routinely do—on a permanent or long standing basis, to one of your directs.

Don't ever delegate a new responsibility your boss has just given you to one of your directs. Learn it first, master it, before you consider delegating it.

One of your small balls is a big ball to your direct.

The Delegation Cascade.

The individual contributor stops doing something (or, more specifically, and to stay with the math, five small things). We call this “delegating to the floor.”

State your desire for help Tell them why you're asking them Ask for specific acceptance Describe the task or project in detail Address deadline, quality, and reporting standards

We're not cozying up to Sarah here; we're trying to help her understand our rationale for choosing her.

Look for four areas of your directs' abilities to determine what to delegate to whom: what they're good at, what they like to do, what they need to do, or what they want to do.

If your direct is good at something, even if you are too, delegate to their strengths.

If you have a direct who needs to improve in a skill area (often for consideration for promotions or career choices), delegate in this skill area to help them get there.

One reason we do this is that a direct who has already agreed (81 percent of them) is much more likely to listen to the details with an attitude of ownership and trying to solve the problem. If we wait to ask until they've heard all the details, they will often listen to all the details in a defensive way, worrying about workload and priorities.

“If I can address your concerns, will you agree?” So, when you are delegating a task, you might say, “If I can sort out your workload, will you be able to do this work?” or “If I can teach you how, will you do it?” The person will either give you more concerns (in which case, you repeat this step) or will say yes. When they say yes, you now know how to make small changes as you walk through the details of what's involved to satisfy their concerns.

“Here's what I do…”

The risk of being told no, however, is worth it, and here's why. When you use your role power to get something done, you get what is known as “compliance energy” from your directs.

When you use the persuasion built on trust from your relationship power to get something done, you get what is known as “commitment energy.” The direct knows they can say no, and they choose to say yes. That ability to choose frees up that last full measure of work devotion that we want from them.

Never ask a question whose answer you don't intend to honor.

Explain that you're going to start slowly and that you will choose whom to delegate to based on what the direct is good at, likes, wants, and needs to do in terms of performance and goals. Remind them again that when you ask them to accept the delegation, it's okay to say no.

If you want to be a great manager, do these things with love. What I mean is professional love: the willingness to risk yourself for the benefit of another. It means doing something that may be a little more difficult for you, as a way of showing respect for your colleagues and your organization. You can be demanding while also showing respect for your team.