Leaders & Managers Kill their Careers Because they Tolerate Direct Reports Who Can’t Step Up & Take Work Off their Plate. They’re stuck doing lower level work and never have time to tackle higher level projects. This signals their boss that they are not ready to move up. No promotion.
Consider the conversation I just had with the CEO of a fast growing manufacturing company. She was overloaded and looking to adjust her organizational chart in the year ahead. As we discussed each of her direct reports, she contrasted one VP who dodged responsibility for projects the she had delegated, versus another who actually told the CEO, “I’ve got this [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][project] and will report back if I run into any obstacles,” and delivered results. What a stark contrast. One will move up, the other will not.
Direct Reports Make The Difference
Is one VP lazy and the other industrious? No. Both are hard working. The difference is that one VP has direct reports who are growing in their roles and support the VP by doing parts of his job for him, freeing him up to take tasks from the CEO. As the business grows, this VP will gain a c-suite title and his team will follow him, staying near the top of the organizational chart. The other VP will move down a layer (at best) with a new executive placed above him.
Most of the time, executives & managers assume their direct reports have clarity on priorities and possess the skills and experience to tackle the important tasks, not just the urgent ones. They check in with subordinates on an ad-hoc basis and hear about “what’s going on” and “how busy things are.” The assumptions are wrong, and ad-hoc conversations won’t cut it.
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Great careers are not made by keeping busy. They’re made by tackling the most important tasks and de-emphasizing everything else. It’s the leader’s job to help their subordinates to do just that. They must require clear, written milestones for any projects in the hands of a subordinate and have weekly one-on-one meetings to examine how time will be invested in key priorities plus reviewing anticipated and realized progress. Most 1:1 meetings miss the mark and waste time. Here’s how to make them powerful.
Making Weekly 1:1s Powerful
For each subordinate:
1. Have them choose the five most important priorities/initiatives in the month ahead. Limit them to about five. Starting with a list of 20 important things on their plate is useless; even harmful. If they struggle to pick five, then you are getting your first lesson about why they’ve struggled to produce important results. Help them as needed to pick the five. Try not to do it for them.
2. Ask them for simple project plans for each priority. This is a chronological list of five to 10 key steps for the project, with a starting and ending date for each step, along with a guess on how many hours they are budgeting to complete the step. Many managers do not know how to do this. You may need to teach them how, doing it with them a few times. Part of your job as a leader is mentoring. Save a copy of these project plans in a shared drive.
3. Ask them how much of the week will be devoted to these five priorities. Assuming they are an exempt, salaried manager, I’d expect them to work around 50 hours per week total. Perhaps 25 hours goes to the priorities, with the rest going to “day to day” tasks. (Some line managers spend most of their time on day-to-day, so they might only have five hours for priorities.)
4. Ask them to allocate those 25 hours to certain steps of the five priorities. In writing. For example, five hours for each priority, with the specific step identified.
5. Meet weekly. The first few times you take a subordinate through the weekly meeting additional time may be required for mentoring. But by the third week, the weekly meetings should be held to 30 minutes or less. It begins with the subordinate producing last week’s plan (with their brief notes as to how their time was spent versus plan and what was accomplished) and their proposed plan for the week ahead (following the guidelines above).
Reviewing the prior week lets the subordinate know you’re looking and will call out any loss of focus. This visibility will help them stay focused amidst all their distractions (i.e. e-mails, lunch, meetings, travel). For the week ahead, you may modify the plan or adjust priorities. For any new priorities, you will review the step-by-step project plan briefly. An excellent subordinate working in a well-led environment will get their priorities right 95% of the time.
The meeting will be very fast. Your subordinate will exit the meeting feeling good that they know exactly what you want and have a plan for the week that they helped construct. And they’ll feel a bit of pressure that they’ve committed to focusing on specific priorities with certain accomplishments expected. That pressure is exactly what they’ll need all week long to resist interruptions, avoid attending worthless meetings, shorten long lunches and minimize time spent on “nice to have” projects. They’ll exhibit a more disciplined use of time.
Discipline Is Unnatural
For most humans, discipline is unnatural. Many executives start off this process well, then allow their subordinates to become undisciplined, and weekly 1:1s turn back into formless conversations that don’t produce results. Be rigid in what you require from each subordinate at the start of each meeting. Stick to the process.
Sometimes you’ll have to skip your 1:1 due to travel or vacations. I understand. But the subordinate should still turn in their weekly plan, and you should still look it over and respond by e-mail. Their simple act of writing and reviewing their own weekly plan has tremendous value. Your subordinate’s productivity is too important to your career to allow a full week without a plan and your brief review.
Sometimes a week seems too frequent, especially for subordinates who are supervisors, with a majority of their work falling into the day-to-day category. While in some cases a every other week interval can work, I instead recommend shortening the weekly 1:1 to a five or ten minute meeting. A weekly cadence is powerful in helping keep focus on priorities, which can sometimes include managing key performance indicators along with initiatives.
In all of the companies I’ve consulted for, great leadership is sought after and rewarded. Far and away, promoting from within is the preferred approach, but only if there are executives who are signaling that they are able and willing to step up. Managers and executives who help their boss win by taking tasks off their plate are positioned as ideal candidates for promotion. Companies benefit through accelerated growth when the entire leadership team is stretching and growing; tackling new challenges. Make implementing this management discipline a priority throughout your leadership ranks.
Also on Forbes:
Follow me @RobertSher and check out my new book, Mighty Midsized Companies; How Leaders Overcome 7 Silent Growth Killers.
Forbes.com | July 21, 2015 | Robert Sher
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