Speak Up

Good Middle Managers (MMs) risk a little in being bossy in order to get the job done.

Extremes are never good, so going too far in this direction is a bad idea. But it is better to be on the assertive side than the "wait and see" side of the table.

Its the difference between a.) telling a client you need something once, and then waiting around for them to get it back to you, and b.) telling them a week in advance a specific time and date you need an item from them, and then reminding them consistently up until that point. It also means having consequences for failing to meet those milestones - "if we don't get said materials by said day & time, project delays of one business week will occur", etc. Its the difference between a.) telling your boss you "don't know what to do" in a certain situation, and b.) telling him/her a problem and the three current solutions you are considering. Its also the difference between a.) asking someone when they can meet, and b.) telling them you'd like to meet on Wed the 12th @ 3:00 EST.

Don't tip toe around. Tell people - your boss, clients, colleagues - what it is you want them to do. Tell them how much it'll cost, what the best practices are, when you really should have that meeting, and how long it needs to take. Even if they are busy, speak up.

People want to be led - so lead.

[ For more thoughts on this, check out a previous posting on Drill Sergeant ]

Why?

The more we look at and consider all that's taking place in our economy with increasing lay-offs and business failures, it becomes even more evident that its time to shake off some of our habitual tendencies.

Whenever we begin our approach with the status quo we assume that the existing methods are good ones, if not even great ones. But many times those methods just happen to be the ones that everyone has silently (or even loudly) agreed to.

This makes me start to question all types of things I do...Why do we email the way that we do, have meetings when we do, talk to clients as frequent/infrequent as we do? Why do we wait till clients ask us for help, have the systems in place that we do...you get the idea. Its time to poke holes in our assumptions.

We need to change things up - maybe try to have regularly scheduled and recurring meetings with your clients, suggest exact start & stop times for phone calls and meetings, let people know what you're doing when they can't reach you. It'd be great if this even reached the hallowed halls of corporate America. (Side-note: I'd love to see insurance companies giving rebates for proactive clients - clients are preventative with their health care through regular exercise, clients that do more than get their oil changed when taking care of their cars, clients that will have trees cut down to prevent storm damage to their homes, and so on.)

We all need to throw out the status quo. Work from the ground up and then evaluate where we are and where we really need to be.

[For more thoughts on this, check out a previous posting on Tried...and True?]

Full Circle

Companies spending less is definitely having its ripple effects across the business world. Its unfortunate, but a lot of the lessons being learned right now are things we just don't consider when all is well and the cash is flowing.

When business is good and demand is high, we all have a tendency to act like customers are privileged to have our time. But when the reverse is true, we suddenly become the ones wanting the time and attention.

No matter how busy we may think we are, we always need the work, and none of us are above certain projects, clients, size or scale of projects.

Bottom line: we need our customers. We need to treat them like we are the privileged ones. It shouldn't matter how busy or slow we may be. Resist the stress-induced, "I don't have time for this" and the fear-induced, "I'm desperate for work" extremes.

Schemers

"They're schemers....schemers trying to control their little worlds..."
- From one of my favorite scenes in The Dark Knight | the Joker talking to Harvey Dent.

While watching The Dark Knight again over the holiday, I was reminded about an aspect to management that I often forget about - plans go awry. Schedules fall apart, projects are canceled, clients go bankrupt, and this all happens to the best of managers - managers that are putting together solid Gantt Charts, are regularly updating clients, doing an excellent job of scope management - great managers.

This certainly doesn't mean we bail on squeezing out every ounce of effort we can into maintaining the integrity of deadlines, expectations, etc. Rather, it means that as a good manager, we can deal with failure.

In fact, we should anticipate it. Be ready for our management plans to fall apart. We need to make the blueprints to build the house, and then plan for weather delays and budget pitfalls. Not every project will be this way, but our control does have its limits. Embracing that before it happens is a trait that needs exercising.

Plan for failure.