How to Manage Your Manager?

Who decides?

Are you suffering from management by committee? This affliction manifests itself in multiple ways, some examples include
- I have too many managers, I am not sure who I should listen to
- I don't know what is priority - for me, for the project and for the company
- The dreaded matrix organization - solid line and dotted line

The end result of all this confusion is disenchantment for the workers, lack of respect for the organization, lost opportunities and dilution of leadership. And why does it happen? There are various reasons, extending from lack of leadership at the top, lack of accountability, culture and finally risk aversion. When it's all nebulous and fuzzy it's hard to pin accountability on one person or team. Some people like it that way!

But if you are suffering the consequences of this contrived confusion - what are your choices?

Manage you manager
What you work on and what you should ignore is not your decision but your manager's. Similarly, if you are assigned 100 hours of work or have three deadlines in the same week - it is not your job to figure out how to make it happen. It is your manager's responsibility to define priorities, assign tasks and articulate escalation options for you. If your manager is unable or unaware of this key job requirement, you should meet with him/her to address roles and expectations. Your manager should be doing his or her job and if you sometimes need to remind them of what that job entails - don't be shy to do that. It ultimately impacts your job.

Establish expectations
If you end up working with multiple managers - despair not. The strategy you use to define good working relationship with one manager should be extended to all managers. Define an assignment plan, formalize expectations and get it all in writing. Provide regular status and resolve time/priority issues as soon as they arise to keep all your managers apprised of your progress and issues.

Seek other options
This is the last resort but there are other options to pursue if there is a conflict of culture. If you seek clarity and guidance in your assignments whereas your organization favors blended responsibilities and nebulous accountability - there may be a culture mismatch. If what you face is not an isolated incident but the norm where you work, then this is the way things will be. If you can accept, adapt and be happy working in this environment - go for it. If you cannot - find someplace which values ownership and accountability.

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When You Decide to Go – Just Go!

(Remember to clean up)

A hot shot manager in my previous job put in this 2 weeks and top management freaked out. He was indispensable, the key player in a proposal we were about to submit … basically a superstar who had to be retained. More money sealed the deal and the star decided to stay – for another 2 months before he finally quit.

When you decide to put in your 2 weeks – that should be the final chapter. For some that is the starting point to negotiate a better deal but in my view that is a folly. The employer loses trust in the employee and the employee has already made up his mind - it's a matter of time. You can’t reconcile a marriage by threatening divorce.

To make it work – you have to pursue the 3 step strategy.

Step 1 – You: Are you doing what it takes to succeed? Are you eager, motivated and willing to take that extra step to make it happen? We can very easily fall in the entitlement mode – where we expect the promotion and the raise.

Step 2 – Company: Are you still in love with your company? Do you dig the culture, the style and the company vision? If there is a drifting apart of values, strategies and objectives – time to rethink your tenure.

Step 3 – Time: Sometimes you hit a rough patch. Bad assignments, bad bosses, personal issues – you just can’t seem to catch a break. Give it some time. Work to resolve the issues. Seek opportunities, be an exemplary worker, give it your best.

And finally – when nothing works. You have reached the end of the line. Whatever the reason, you have pursued all options to make it work for you and it has not. Time to move to the next gig.

Related Post/Links
Jack's Take On Stay or Go
Is Your Job Really That Bad
Managing Your Career Progression
How to Get Ahead By Going Backward
What Makes Employees Stay Put?

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PMP - Does It Matter Anymore?

Exclusivity is the name of the game. Exclusive implies limited to only a select few - the finest - the best - the pedigree. What applies to the social context regarding exclusivity also applies to the discipline of project management. And PMP was supposed to confer an exclusive stamp on the select few - the experienced, educated, knowledgeable and competent project managers.

Exclusive brands lose their aura once the brand becomes commercialized for monetary gain or mass apeal. I feel the PMP certification has suffered a similar fate.

What was supposedly an affirmation of high caliber management expertise gained over many years of rigorous in-the-trenches experience augmented by education and mentoring is today being peddled as a cheap three letter acronym. Available to anyone with a week's worth of time and about $1000 to spare.

So what is the credibility of a PMP today? It has become the industry de rigueur certificate to get considered for a PM position. Basically a required but not sufficient trait. If you are an aspiring PM - get a PMP if you want your resume to cross the first rejection point but look beyond the PMP to gain applicable management skills. If you are hiring manager - a PMP is not a guarantee of exceptional skills and thereby the credential needs to be given only so much emphasis.

Unfortunately, when everyone wears the proud badge of being an exceptional manager - it makes you wonder how to tell apart the truly exceptional. Instead of being a differentiator of talent and skill - the PMP certificate has succeeded in providing an easy rubber stamp to flood the market with PM professionals.

Tags: PMP Career Management Project Manager

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Let Me Work

Recently a friend was complaining about the lack of flexibility at his IT workplace. Working from home is looked down upon even though most work is independently executed and most workers have connectivity from home. Management permission is needed for leaving the workplace between 8-5 for even a 30 minute break. The list goes on but the outcome is unmotivated employees, lack of productivity and management attention focused on watching the clock.

On the other end are progressive companies who are exploring new and more flexible ways of engaging their employees. Home Depot has implemented a radical model where employees can work from anywhere, anytime as long as their weekly assignments are completed. Telecommuting is being encouraged to provide appropriate work/life balance opportunities to workers.

"In April 2006, all four employees of San Francisco software developer Red Swoosh Inc. decamped to a beach in Thailand -- for six weeks. They hoped to rejuvenate a team, and product, that had fallen into a rut. The Red Swoosh team battled bugs, a pesky monkey and tropical squalls while writing code on laptops at a seaside café. And that, says founder Travis Kalanick, was exactly what they needed. By the time the engineers returned in June, they had not only rewritten the software and reworked an Internet-sales site, but boosted morale and bonded as a team, he says.
Excerpt from WSJ - Software Firm Learns Rules of Disengagement

In today’s highly competitive and talent hungry environment – companies and managers have to rethink their worker’s engagement. The factory mentality of punching in for a 8-5 shift is obsolete. The knowledge workers of today are geographically spread, constantly on the move and highly connected.

Focus on Output
Management focus should be on output, not worker location. Defining weekly objectives and getting the team to execute on those objectives should be the management mantra. Workers should have the flexibility to organize their schedules, manage their time and choose appropriate work locations. This approach still needs to be tempered with certain rules and accountability for effort tracking, team meetings, client meetings etc but this approach makes the worker accountable for their assignment and provides a better engagement model.

Using the Tools
Video conferencing, teleconferencing, blackberries, WiFi – there is no dearth of technologies that create a virtual work environment. The bigger challenge today is how to “unplug”? With this level of connectivity – physical proximity becomes less relevant in most situations. IM, cell phones and email are used more even in a physical office – so why not leverage these technologies to truly have a virtual work environment.

Win Win
When you give your employees the freedom, flexibility and opportunity they seek – they will return the favor. A happy and engaged employee with be motivated to give his 100%. The employees get the growth and flexibility they desire and the company gets the productivity they seek – a true win win.

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