managing up, down, all around

MANAGING UP, DOWN AND ALL AROUND

RAD READS

TODAY’S OBJECTIVE

Unlock FLOW and PRODUCTIVITY by

removing FRICTIONin a workflow

A COGNITIVE BIAS REMINDER (AKA WE’RE HARDWIRED FOR SURVIVAL)

▸ Easier to pick angry faces than happy ones

▸ We have more words to describe pain than pleasure

▸ Empathy more triggered by negative stimuli than positive

WHEN YOU ASSUME… YOU MAKE AN ASS OUT OF ME

My Mom (I think)

MANAGING UP, DOWN, AND ALL AROUND

A FEW EXAMPLES

How’s your day going?

When are u sending me that document?

A FEW EXAMPLES

Can you update that paragraph?

I’m such a bad writer

A FEW EXAMPLES

Oh, the meeting, it was fine?

About that meeting: next steps? takeaways? open items?

COMMUNICATING CLEARLY

COMMUNICATING CLEARLY

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE EXTREME▸Bridgewater embraces RADICAL

TRANSPARENCY

▸Ray Dalio, founder: “You first walk into a nudist camp and it’s very awkward”

▸Constant surveillance by video and recordings of all meetings

▸Each worker has a “baseball card” with their ratings for various attributes.

COMMUNICATING CLEARLY

WHAT CAN WE LEARN

▸ “Getting in synch” is the best investment you can make

▸ It’s unhealthy to hide your weaknesses

▸Be self-reflective and make sure your people are self-reflective

▸Allow people to probe your thinking thru candid Q&A

COMMUNICATING CLEARLY

A SLIGHTLY LESS KOOKY APPROACH (CEO SHOPIFY)

We’re very honest about everyone’s strengths and weaknesses.

We even post them on our internal wiki.

Everyone is invited to do it, and they can explain how they like to work and what they value.

RETURNING TO OUR EXAMPLES

Let’s chat about your strengths/weaknesses

Let’s chat about my strengths/weaknesses

COMMUNICATE CLEARLY

RADICAL CANDOR

RADICAL CANDOR

SOUNDS GREAT - BUT HOW?

RADICAL CANDOR

RADICAL CANDOR: BUT HOW?

▸Criticizing your employees when they screw up is not just your job, it's actually your moral obligation.

▸ “If you can't offer radical candor, the second best thing you can do is be an asshole”

HHIPP HumbleHelpfulImmediateP: in PersonP: doesn’t personalize

TRY THIS

COMMUNICATE CLEARLY

ONE-ON-ONES

ONE ON ONES

WHAT MAKES A GOOD ONE ON ONE

▸Frequency: At least 1x/month for an hour

▸Reminder: It’s the employee’s meeting

▸Manager’s Role: Imperative to listen

▸Prep: Employee should prepare a quick agenda

▸Get to know the report: It’s their meeting:

▸ Past, aspirations, hobbies, values

▸Andy Grove:“A 90 minute 1:1 can impact 2 weeks of a report’s work.”

ONE ON ONES

ALSO - USE TWO HOLD FILES

▸A shared document where both manager and report accumulate important (yet not urgent) issues for discussion

▸Manager keeps a separate hold file where (s)he flags any other observations

TRY THIS

COMMUNICATE CLEARLY

MANAGING UP, FEEDBACK

MANAGING UP

WEEKLY UPDATES

▸ Imagine the peace of mind if you were never asked “Hey where’s that thing you were working on?”

▸Everyone has a boss, investor, and/or board that they report to

▸Take 15 minutes a week to eliminate hours of anxiety for both parties

MANAGING UP

SOUNDS GREAT - BUT HOW?

PSST!!! IT’S YOUR

OPPORTUNITY TO HUMBLE BRAG!!!!

TRY THIS

RETURNING TO OUR EXAMPLES

Got the document! I keep it 💯

MANAGING UP

ASKING FOR CONTEXT

▸With new projects, a quick conversation can save hours of work and frustration

▸There are no dumb questions (ever), but here in particular

▸On the contrary, you’re better equipping yourself

▸Both parties should be clear tie task to broader mission

COMMUNICATE CLEARLY

MANAGING UP, FEEDBACK

FEEDBACK MEETINGS

MANAGING UP: MANAGER FEEDBACK MEETINGS

▸Quarterly meeting, separate from the 1:1

▸Employee provides direct feedback to manager including:

▸ What can I start doing?

▸ What should I stop doing?

▸ What should I keep doing?

▸ (Puts accountability back on the report)

TRY THIS

COMMUNICATE CLEARLY

SOCIAL NORMS

SOCIAL NORMS

UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL NORMS

▸Social Norms are the unwritten rules yet collectively agreed upon rules for groups

▸They include: responsiveness, how disagreements are handled, small talk, Slack usage

▸Googled studied all its teams and two stuck out:

▸ The distribution of speaking in meetings

▸ High “social sensitivity” - i.e. high empathy

MANAGING UP, DOWN AND ALL AROUND

IN SUMMARY

▸More transparency is usually better (but spare me the baseball cards)

▸Be careful of “Ruinous Empathy”

▸ Feedback should HHIPP (Humble, honest, immediate, in-person, not personalized)

▸ Invest the time in 1:1s (regularity, prep)

▸Manage up with a weekly email

▸Discuss your social norms with your teams

THANK YOU