If I am hard pressed to recommend one and only one tool as THE most essential one in every manager’s tool kit, there is no question for me what it will be.
It is the very first tool I teach new supervisors (and any struggling manager) to use;
No matter the industry they are in.
No matter the country they are in.
Whether they are new to their positions or seasoned pros.
Whether they have just one employee or thousands.
Whenever it is calm, and they are caught up.
Whenever it is frenetic and crazy, and they can’t see that light at the end of the tunnel.
Pretty much no matter what the circumstances are.
And get this – even more than my beloved Daily 5 Minutes®.
The One Tool that every manager must work with, and work with daily, is this:
A simple list kept easily and best with pencil and an 8x10 sheet of paper folded into three columns.
This is not just any list, but a very special one.
It is the list that will endear every manager to every employee, every boss, every supplier or vendor partner, and every customer.
It is the list that can single-handedly reinvent a manager’s reputation, as it simultaneously functions as that manager’s best training and coaching architect.
At the top of this list is its name, and right beneath that, as the headings of its three columns, are all the instructions managers will need.
This magic manager’s list is called, THE FOLLOW-UP I NEED TO COMPLETE.
Those headings of its three columns are,
- What I must Do to Honor my Word
- Who I need to Follow-up with, and By When
- Why it is so Important to Them, and thus, to Me.
When management is a calling (as it should only be) managers work more for other people than they do for themselves. The work they do for others IS the work they do for themselves, for when they elevate the human condition, improving it as it aches to be improved, they are most fulfilled in the work they are most needed for, discovering that being a manager can be the most satisfying and rewarding work that exists.
When employees cry out to me that their managers “don’t know what they are doing,”
or “are never around when we need them”
or “are too poorly trained; it’s like we have a revolving door of management trainees here”
or “don’t really care about us”
or “always seem to be working on the wrong things at the wrong times”
or “said they’d take care of it, but we all know what that means”
… the complaining and whining goes on and on… nine times out of ten I will discover that the manager they are referring to has lost all credibility due to a horrible lack of follow-through. They may start with the best of intentions in very sincere conversations, but they have no reliable system for finishing well, and they are not held accountable.
On the other hand, the managers with exceptional follow-through are referred to as “the great ones.”
A key point is that great managers don’t necessarily do all the work and tasks involved; what they do is orchestrate them well, and they keep work flowing, moving all road-blocks out of the way, human and otherwise. They work to remove any obstacles or adversity (or excuses and yeah-buts) and they communicate to everyone involved about status and progress consistently and reliably.
If you are a manager, is that what you do?
Let’s talk a bit more about those three columns;
1. What I must Do to Honor my Word
This column is described this way because a conversation with someone is likely to be what will trigger the entry you are making. What did you agree to follow-up on? This column will teach managers to “eat an elephant one bite at a time.” A common reason good intentions will fall apart is because we’ll make promises that are way, way too big for us to keep. Using this list over time, managers learn to work from conversation to next conversation and tear issues, problems, and projects into doable baby steps. Then the following column becomes a simple status-check conversation of “Here’s where we are now, what should we work on as our next steps, and how much time will that need?”
2. Who I need to Follow-up with, and By When
This may seem obvious, but in my investigations of trip-ups that have occurred, I am amazed at how many times a manager did follow up, but never reported back to the person they’d made their commitment to. Their reputation and credibility has gotten marred by a bad assumption that “the results will speak for themselves.” Well, not really, and not always. In fact, the norm is that they seldom do. This column also helps cure avoidance behavior; if you didn’t get something done yet, just honestly say so and make a new agreement. Don’t just hope the other person will forget about it; trust me, they probably won’t, and the next column helps you understand why.
3. Why it is so Important to Them, and thus, to Me
This column is a teacher called “Empathy Practice,” one whom all managers need to spend more time with. For us to help people best, we need to see a problem or issue in the way that they see it, and since we can’t usually “walk a day in [their] shoes” the best way to understand their point of view is to key in on why an issue is important to them. I coach managers to work with people without robbing others of the engagement, satisfaction, and growth of doing their work for them – the mantra we speak of is “Do with, not for.” There is a balance to be achieved, that this column helps us understand one person at a time.
Management is a situational art. Coaches like me try to help with certain things, and we can provide tools and tips that shorten the learning curve, however a manager’s best teachers, bar none, are their employees and the other people they work with and are committed to. This is the same reason The Daily Five Minutes® works so well: All you need to know about you can find out from the people you work with side by side, day in and day out.
Managers get trained on the job in the flow of the work they are responsible for. When they follow-through consistently, they excel because they deliver well; they exceed expectations. Their word is believed and trusted.
So take this from me; the 1 best list that every manager must work with says THE FOLLOW-UP I NEED TO COMPLETE at the top, and has those three columns. What they write on it, and how consistently they work through it day by day will determine that manager’s success. Just ask their employees.
Related, and highly recommended companion posts:
- What I have learned from the People we collectively call “our employees”
- Let’s make a Great Managers’ Conversation Agreement
- Learn to Finish Conversations Well Redux
- What’s the skinny on the Daily 5 Minutes?
- The Calling of Management: The 10 Beliefs of Great Managers
Photos found on Flickr: Beautiful Tools by geishaboy500, and the pilot p-500 by Mr. Wright.
Hi Rosa - Great management tool! I'd definitely recommend it to folks new to management to help shift their focus on responsibilities. Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Raven | March 15, 2008 at 07:30 AM
Aloha Raven, thanks! I will be writing more about our SLCoaching 3-Column Papers for supervisors as time goes by. They have turned out to be easy-to-use tools, and are aimed at navigating the sticky situations of managing, and helping with productivity in meaningful ways (versus pure hackery).
Posted by: Rosa Say | March 15, 2008 at 07:46 AM
Good stuff. I have to simplify (Trevor would be so proud) everything. I hear the message being that a great manager has to be honest, has to follow through, and must recognize the importance any given situation has on the employees. So a manager must 1.Be Honest 2.Follow through on commitments and 3.understand his/her employees. That is 3 solid tactics for success in any endeavor.Thanks Rosa and I look forward to following this thread on Responsibility
Posted by: Rocky | March 16, 2008 at 03:34 AM
Wonderful Rocky! To simplify it as best for you means you can own it and commit to it. The posting is lengthy just to explain well in the best way possible for this written venue, however the tool itself is indeed quite simple, starting with that blank sheet of paper folded into thirds.
You and Raven both mentioned responsibility (Kuleana: http://tinyurl.com/ynp5ru). The specific responsibility here is with follow-up, and as manager, to own that role of being the go-to person that others can count on. Not to do the work for them, but to demonstrate the art of keeping it moving in the best possible way. I strongly recommend “Learn to Finish Conversations Well” as the companion to this on how work-related conversations happen best as ‘agreement staging:’ http://tinyurl.com/2gp6hd
An Excerpt:
Too often, managers use “safe” sentences so they don’t make promises they can’t keep. They’ll say things like, “thank you for letting me know,” or “that’s interesting, I wasn’t aware of that,” or “yes, I see what you mean” clueless to the possibility that they’ve given the other person the impression they now own the information and will do something about it. But what? And do they own the issue, or do they think they’ve skirted it?
Skirting issues and playing it safe is for wimps. Great managers rise above those tactics because they seek to get stuff done. However, that doesn’t mean that they own everything they’ve been told either. They’re clear. They’re clear on what they will do, and what they will not do, and why.
You can’t fix everything, and you know that you can’t, but you also cannot assume that the person you’re talking to understands that too. As a conversation ends, if you aren’t clear on what you’ll do with your new tidbit of information, you could be giving an employee the impression you will fix it (whatever “it” is), especially when they’re assuming it is in your power to do so. After all, you are the manager, and isn’t that what managers do?
Maybe so, however... Read more at http://tinyurl.com/2gp6hd
Posted by: Rosa Say | March 16, 2008 at 07:07 AM
Safe Sentences - hmmm, I wonder if these feature too frequently on new courses for managers? I've certainly heard them many times - even staffers like me learned to play along.
Rosa - that's a simple but great tool you've described. Thx.
I could see it being used very effectively by the main character (Alex) in Max Landsberg's wonderful book, The Tao Of Coaching.
regards
Posted by: Mark McClure / Career Coaching | August 29, 2008 at 01:58 AM
Aloha Mark, thank you for sharing your comment; I am unfamiliar with The Tao of Coaching (and with Alex) and my next click will be to Amazon.com to check it out.
Posted by: Rosa Say | August 29, 2008 at 08:55 AM
Great article, Love the concept:-)
X C
Posted by: TrainingHack | October 18, 2008 at 02:11 AM