“Managers, can you hear me now? Hard-Hitting Lessons on How to Get Real Results” by Denny Strigl and Frank Swiatek (McGraw-Hill Professional, $25).
Strigl, the retired CEO of Verizon Wireless and Swiatek, a performance consultant, want managers to stop doing things that don’t matter.
What does matter? Trust, focus, accountability, reinforcing purpose and objectives, fixing things that cause problems and transparency.
Here are some takeaways:
“Every conversation with an employee has the potential to be a coaching conversation.” When managers assume that their employees “get it,” they think their communication job is done. It’s not. As priorities shift, people forget the old messages and focus on the new. Managers must tie the new messages to the old ones. Doing so shows employees that achievement is an ongoing, building-block process.
Don’t rely too much on consensus-building. Be aware of time constraints. Time spent reaching consensus means hurrying to meet the implementation deadline. A rush to deadline never yields optimum results — and often overlooks potential problems. Also, while buy-in is important, ending up with a watered-down version of what was originally intended won’t achieve objectives.
You don’t have to be popular to be respected. Focus on building the confidence of your team, not making friends. “Stretch” assignments combined with coaching build confidence and drive results. As your staff achieves results, they’ll look forward to tackling “what’s next.” The “what’s next” provides the opportunity to increase their ability to accept change and distain the status quo.
Forget “I.” The all-about-me syndrome puts you at odds with organizational goals. You can’t deliver results when they’re not your #1 priority. When recognition does come, the smart manager focuses it on the people who made things happen. “I” also puts you at odds with your peers; it builds silos, not bridges. Being disliked ensures they won’t respect you.
Good-news-only managers make it difficult for employees to broach issues. Hidden problems eventually surface big time. When you could have nipped something in the bud and didn’t, how will inaction affect your relationship with your boss and your team?
The bottom line: If you follow the suggested guidelines, you will get results.
“Flying Without a Net: Turn Fear of Change into Fuel for Success” by Thomas DeLong (Harvard Business Review Press, $29.95).
When change brings anxiety, the comfort zone quickly becomes the danger zone. The irony of the danger zone stems from the fact that people — particularly those driven by achievement — fear failure. They stick with their strengths and never want to expose potential weaknesses. As a result, they forget that someone else is going to do the job they don’t want to tackle. They shoot themselves in the foot and then wonder why their careers screeched to a halt.
DeLong challenges those who fear failure by stressing that growth only comes with change. “The only way you can do something well is to do something poorly first. There is no other way.” I thought back to my first experience with a stick shift. Mom and dad laughed as the 390 hp Mustang lurched forward and stalled every few feet until I got my clutch foot and gas pedal foot synched (and disengaged the parking brake :>).
Image preservation plays a role in aversion to change, too. At work, no one wants to look stupid. Then there’s the problem with managers that want zero defects; they conveniently forget about the learning curve and blame the employee.
DeLong sees many of the reasons as it’s-not-me excuses. When you define your purpose as high achievement, it leaves no wiggle room for learning something new on the fly. Commit to continuous learning as the way to deal with the impact of change. Push the bounds of your comfort zone. Find colleagues who can flatten the learning curve.
And believe in yourself.
Jim Pawlak is a nationally syndicated book reviewer.
