Push your talents!

In every organization you have different types of employees. And even if their differencies and complementaries in the end make an interesting mix and are part of every working culture, to know who belongs to what category and how to deal with them is crucial.

The dinosaur

The dinosaur has been in the organization like forever. Everybody knows them due to their grey hair, their capability of having an opinion on everything, often not being a positive one. They have often changed jobs and sometimes not to their advantage and even against their will. It's quite easy to detect a dinosaur by reaction to change. Often the response to new ideas and processes is: "We have done this already, it won't work!"

The resignator

The resignator is the one who has already resigned but didn't have the guts or the possibility to leave the company. The inner resignation nevertheless is signed and in general they are very passive with no particular interest in anything. When looking around people you can easily track them as during discussions their main visible focus point is the carpet between their feet.

The 9-5

The 9-5 works by the books, does exactly what he is told but nothing more. They are often extremely well organized as in life and as in business and are not easy to move out of their comfort zone. Often they are part of sports clubs and social organizations even within the company. They are reliable but absolutely unflexible when it comes to hours or working schemes. Look for the ones wo react first when you schedule a meeting at 6pm and you have your 9-5s!

The overambitious

Ambition is a good thing. But as all energy if not canalized it doesn't go anywhere. The overambitious is always on the top of his game and looking for more. He is constantly thinking about his next steps and trying to please his superiors. At some point he can be a difficult team player as he runs faster than the rest of the team.

The greenhorns

Don't fool yourself thinking of greenhorns as being young. They are new to the organization and in general try to find their way. You can distinguish them by their constant question mark on their face. At the beginning they tend to follow the disonaurs for reassurance. Be careful there as it can be dangerous for their future behaviour.

The talents

Then there are the talents, that you could see as the right mix of the above mentionned. It is good to let your experience be part of your judgement as dinosaurs do and it is important te be able acomplish a job withing reasonable hours as the 9-5. The talent will see ambition as a true motivator and accelerator but wisely judges when to go for it and when to slow down and every talent has been a greenhorn at the beginning, although they quickly move forward and evolve into a more independent worker. Their mtoivation comes from putting their talent up for the good of the company and sometimes it may not work and they feel moments of resignation. The difference though is that they take it as a challenge to overcome such phases and grow stronger from it.

The role of a good manager is to detect these types within the organization and find the right mix. It is obvious that a successfull manager tends to reduce the number or resignators and dinosaurs which is often difficult due to regulations or costly seperation schemes.

In my experience it is important to spread your talents equally withing the organization and push them to be the motor of success. Gather the greenhorns around them so that they can follow and learn. Put the overambitious amd dinosaurs among the talents, so that they can be moderated and finally assign some 9-5 to the talents so that they can organize their workload and delegate.

When this organization is set withing a clear and well communicated vision and strategy, you will have a setup that is bound for success.

Giving feedback to your team

When working with people one of the most important things is to give them regular feedback on how they are doing and if they are going into the direction you want them to. As I am now in quite intense phase of feedback to my team I want to share some of my thoughts and basic rules about it.

Why is feedback important you might ask? We all are measured on results and in most companies most of the compensation models are based on specific quantitative targets. But is this all there is? How do people know if they are doing the right thing? What is the success of a team and what is the individual contribution to it?

Let's take the example of a football team. Obviously the ultimate objective is to win a game or a championship but is that it? How does the offensive player feel when he just scored 2 goals and them lost 2:3? Did he do his job? Even in teams the individual effort is important and even if the team is not reaching the objective it can still be that some team members did a great effort and even had very good results. So it is important to give individual feedback, so people can learn, evolve, question themselves and set new reachable targets.

In the process of evaluation you should take into account the following:

1. Preparation is key for both sides

Take the time to think about what you are going to say and prepare for each and every evaluation. Your team member has to the same. Only then a real conversation will take place and a reflection on both sides can happen. Right down the most important things so that you don't forget it and choose angels if you know you have to talk about touchy subjects. 

2. Be transparent and direct, but stimulating and encouraging and give positive critic

Evaluation is about giving feedback and not beating around the bush. Deliver the message and ask your people to do the same. The time you waste to make your point is the time you loos to get it fixed. If critizising do it with respect and taking into account specific efforts made. Encourage and empower your team member so that they leave the meeting with real prospects and motivated.

3. Adjust goals and objectives if necessary

Remember that objectives have to follow the KISS principle. If they don't (e.g. they are not reachable anymore or too easy to reach) then they are not helping the individual to progress and even less your team to achieve the overall objective. Make sure that the team member knows his role within the team and how his achievement helps the overall effort. 

4. Ask for mutual feedback

Ask how he feels working with you and how your influence on his results were. You will be surprised how even small adjustments in your behavior and input will completely change the perception of your team member. When being challenged on your personal style or the help and input you can or should give, don't just defend but try to understand and if you are sure about what you do, then explain clearly why.

5. Right the most important feedback down and keep track on it

A written track of the most important talking points is giving the employee a feeling of consistency and value and it gives you the possibility to get back to the notes and reflect on what was said and to take action if necessary.

So remember, feedback is important and is not only about having a nice chat. Address also the difficult points and speak openly about it - only then will change happen!

Getting a new team started

You certainly experienced the uneasy feeling when starting a new job or taking over a new position. People have a lot of expectations and you don't know really if you're up to the task. This gets even more complicated when not only you are new but you're whole team or part of it is too.

In this situation your skills as manager are even more important as you have to manage yourself as well as your team, challenge yourself as well as your team. This feels like joggling with 10 balls at the same time. In this situation three major principles are in my eyes crucial for success. The order I put them in is not by accident:

1. Evaluate the existing team and make necessary changes
2. Empower the new team by giving them your trust and letting the space to act and learn
3. Listen and adjust

In a former blog I already talked about the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people. I know how difficult it can be to let people go (above all in a European context) but you can only be successful when surrounded by good elements (cf Setting up high performance teams).

The difficulty when entering a new organization is to assess your team as you obviously don't know them. Often you'll get a lot of information within the organization or from your predecessor. Trust your guts as you won't be able to factualize anything withing a reasonable amount of time. But do make the changes for two simple reasons:

1.  the loss of energy and time trying to lead a mediocre team is much more important than the energy you invest to get new people up and running
2. the remaining team will acknowledge the changes and see it as a sign of trust

Once you think you got the right team, let it work. Your task at this time is to understand how the organization works and to gather all important elements you need to establish your strategy. You're not there to make the job of your team. You will soon realize that people tend to take the space you leave them and grow in their jobs, working better, more efficient, being in high spirits by regaining confidence. You will need this energy for the further steps if you want to implement strategy changes.

Your most important task in this moment is to listen and learn. Within and around the organization you will find all necessary and relevant information you'll need to define the future strategy and assess the relevant stakeholders for the future setup.

In this moment be bold and trust yourself, you'll have to dare to take important decisions without having all knowledge needed.