The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You

by Julie Zhuo

When you think about formal training, the question to ask isn’t Is this worth doing right now given all the other things on my plate (or all the other things I could spend money on), but rather One year from now, will I be happy I did this? When framed that way, the choice tends to be clearer.

Success here is both getting to a clear decision and everyone leaving with a sense of trust in the process. You don’t need consensus, but those whom the decision affects should feel that the way it was made was efficient and fair. If people don’t trust the process, you’ll find that the decision drags on.

hiring is not a problem to be solved but an opportunity to build the future of your organization.

can’t tell you how many times I have had candidates accept and tell me that part of their reason for doing so was because the interview process felt so attentive, focused, and fast.

The more senior the candidate, the more critical your involvement is in the close because that person likely has many options, and you are looking for her to play a leadership role within your team.

or “I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t hire her …” I noticed that weak hires were given when a candidate didn’t have any obvious issues—they seemed pleasant enough, they toed the standard line in their answers, and they had relevant experience. At the same time, they also didn’t wow in any particular dimension. None of the interviewers felt strongly enough to fight for the hire if the decision came down to no.

Since every hire is already a gamble, reject any weak hires. While they’re not likely to bomb, they’re also not likely to add much. If you’re going to make a bet, bet on someone with a passionate advocate behind her. If a candidate gets mixed reviews but all the interviewers that said hire are adamant about wanting to work with her, it’s usually a sign that she brings something highly valued to the table.

What kinds of challenges are interesting to you and why? Can you describe a favorite project? This tells me what a candidate is passionate about. What do you consider your greatest strengths? What would your peers agree are your areas of growth? This question gets both at a candidate’s self-awareness and what his actual strengths and weaknesses might be. Imagine yourself in three years. What do you hope will be different about you then compared to now? This lets me understand the candidate’s ambitions as well as how goal oriented and self-reflective she is. What was the hardest conflict you’ve had in the past year? How did it end, and what did you learn from the experience? This gives me a sense of how the candidate works with other people and how he approaches conflict. What’s something that’s inspired you in your work recently? This sheds light on what the candidate thinks is interesting or valuable.

A 2014 report of hundreds of public companies found that those with the greatest ethnic and racial diversity in their management ranks were 35 percent more likely to have financial returns higher than average.

The power of diversity helps our team avoid biases, make better decisions, and think more creatively.

If you were to hike some distant mountains or sunbathe on a remote island for a few months, how much would your own manager need to step in to ensure that everything ran smoothly? If the answer is “not much,” then congratulations! You’ve got a great bench. If the answer is, “Hmm, my manager would need to do a lot,” then that’s a sign your next layer of leadership could use some shoring up.

Having a great bench is one of the strongest signs of stellar leadership because it means the team you’ve built can steer the ship and thrive, even if you are not at the helm.

you have the chance to establish a culture that outlasts you

Repeatedly talk about your values so that everyone understands what great talent looks like.

you scrap what failed and double down on what’s working.

Instead, tangible visions have the most impact. Recall Herbert Hoover’s catchy campaign slogan: “A chicken in every pot.” It’s the opposite of squishy. The promise isn’t “America’s going to get wealthier.” It’s not “People will have more economic prosperity.” “A chicken in every pot” conjures up an image of millions of families enjoying a hearty and substantial meal for supper.

Assume you have a magic wand that makes everything your team does go perfectly. What do you hope will be different in two to three years compared to now? How would you want someone who works on an adjacent team to describe what your team does? What do you hope will be your team’s reputation in a few years? How far off is that from where things are today? What unique superpower(s) does your team have? When you’re at your best, how are you creating value? What would it look like for your team to be twice as good? Five times as good? If you had to create a quick litmus test that anyone could use to assess whether your team was doing a poor job, a mediocre job, or a kick-ass job, what would that litmus test be?

Just like you wouldn’t send an army’s cavalry on a spying mission, you shouldn’t create a plan that doesn’t match what your team is well suited for. There are usually dozens of ways to get from Point A to Point B. Do you want to go by land, sea, or air? If you choose land, do you want to take the jungle path or the mountain path? There is no universal right answer. The plan that is smartest for your team is the one that acknowledges your relative strengths and weaknesses.

They put average effort into too many things, rather than superior thought and effort into a few important things.

The best plans don’t matter if you can’t achieve them accurately or quickly enough to make a difference.

Throughout your career, you will make countless mistakes. The most frustrating will be the ones where you don’t learn anything because it’s not clear whether the issue is with strategy or execution.

Here are some ways to tell if your team is executing well: Lists of projects or tasks are prioritized from most to least important, with the higher-up items receiving more time and attention. There is an efficient process for decision-making that everyone understands and trusts. The team moves quickly, especially with reversible decisions. As Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says, “Most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70% of the information you wish you had.8 If you wait for 90%, in most cases, you’re probably being slow.” After a decision is made, everyone commits (even those who disagree) and moves speedily to make it happen. Without new information, there is no second-guessing the decision, no pocket vetoing, and no foot dragging. When important new information surfaces, there is an expedient process to examine if and how current plans should change as a result. Every task has a who and a by when. Owners set and reliably deliver on commitments. The team is resilient and constantly seeking to learn. Every failure makes the team stronger because they don’t make the same mistake twice.

My colleague makes sure that a third of her team works on projects that can be completed on the order of weeks, another third works on medium-term projects that may take months, and finally, the last third works on innovative, early-stage ideas whose impact won’t be known for years.

Emphasize that you welcome dissenting opinions and reward those who express them.

“If you were me, what would you do in this situation?”

At higher levels of management, the job starts to converge regardless of background. Success becomes more and more about mastering a few key skills: hiring exceptional leaders, building self-reliant teams, establishing a clear vision, and communicating well.

“So there’s a lot going on, but what I’m most interested in is the team. Do we feel like we have the right people on the right problems?”

the end goal of management is to get better outcomes. When someone isn’t a great fit for his role, there is a cost. Would you rather pay it by making a hard move or by passing it on to other team members and customers?

“Assume the role was open. Would you rather rehire your current leader or take a gamble on someone else?”

Change is hard, but trust your instincts. Would you hire this person again if the role were open? If the answer is no, make the move.

The rule of thumb for delegation goes like this: spend your time and energy on the intersection of 1) what’s most important to the organization and 2) what you’re uniquely able to do better than anyone else.

As you manage more and more people, you’ll play a bigger role in shaping culture.

ALWAYS WALK THE WALK People watch their bosses closely to understand the team’s values and norms. Our radars are fine-tuned to spot instances where someone in a position of authority says one thing and does another. This is one of the fastest ways to lose trust. Consider the following examples: A manager asks his team to spend company money wisely, but then splurges on a fancy desk and couch for his office. A manager expresses annoyance when her report shows up after a meeting has already started, but she herself is five minutes late to everything. A manager says he wants more diverse perspectives on the team but only promotes people who think like him. A manager says a top goal is to create a supportive work environment, but she has a tendency to lose her temper and chew out her reports. A CEO says that the goal of his company is to serve a social mission, but his decisions read like they are favoring short-term profits.

When a report does something difficult that is in the spirit of your team’s values—passing up a lucrative sales deal because of ethical concerns, firing a star performer who is creating a toxic work environment, or admitting openly when they’ve made a mistake—recognize them for it. Acknowledge that it was hard, and thank them for doing the right thing.