It should be clear by now that management is all about the art of balance. When it comes to planning and execution, if you only think about the next three months, you might make shortsighted decisions that create problems down the road. On the flip side, if youâre always thinking many years out, you might struggle with speedy day-to-day execution.
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As a manager, you are judged on your teamâs outcomes, so your job is to do whatever most helps them succeed. If your team is lacking key skills, then you need to spend your time training or hiring. If someone is creating problems for others, then you need to get him to stop. If people donât know what they should be doing, then you need to construct a plan. A lot of this work is unglamorous. But because itâs important, it must be done, and if nobody else does it, then it falls to you.
This is why adaptability is a key trait of great managers. As your team changesâwhether itâs goals shifting, people joining or leaving, or processes evolvingâwhat you do every day will also change.
Your job as a manager isnât to dole out advice or âsave the dayââitâs to empower your report to find the answer herself. She has more context than you on the problems sheâs dealing with, so sheâs in the best position to uncover the solution. Let her lead the 1:1 while you listen and probe.
Here, setting expectations helps with both problems. At the beginning of the project, let your report know how youâre planning to be involved. Be explicit that youâd like to review the work twice a week and talk through the most important problems together. Tell him which decisions you expect to make, and which he should make.
There are two major errors with that line of thinking. The first is overestimating what you, the manager, are capable of. Yes, it may be within your power to solve a wide variety of issues, but as a single individual, you canât solve that many of them. The best work comes from those who have the time to live and breathe a problem fully, who can dedicate themselves to finding the best solution.
The second error is assuming that nobody wants to take on hard problems. In fact, the most talented employees arenât looking for special treatment or âeasyâ projects. They want to be challenged. There is no greater sign of trust than handing your report an intricately tangled knot that you believe she can pull apart, even if youâre not sure how.
Make sure your leaders know to quickly escalate to you whenever two goals come into conflict or when the priorities arenât clear.