So, You’re the “New” Manager

By Vic Downing

© Vic Downing March 2007

Being a manager is tough. Being the “new” manager is tougher.

Being a manager requires unilateral action, greater risk than return, fewer privileges, and being more frequently misunderstood and slandered. Being the “new” manager means you must do all that with little or no political capital and, quite possibly, with a group of people who are eager to see you take a dive.

It is also true that being a manager can be more than worth the expense and risk. Managers make things better, change the lives of people for the better, and are responsible for innovations that raise standards and encourage people to do more than they thought they could do.

There are at least three kinds of “new managers.” (1) The person who accepts a new assignment to manage an existing team or an altogether new team. (2) The person who (in effect) becomes “the new manager” as a result of the manager’s boss being replaced and the new boss having a different standard for excellent management than the former boss. (3) The person who (in effect) becomes “the new manager” as a result of deciding to dramatically change how the team will be managed. In all cases, there are ten major steps you should undertake to succeed as The New Manager:

1. Clarify Expectations and Potential Before You Accept The Position
2. Explicitly Confirm Expectations With Your Boss Before You Accept The Position
3. Complete Your Evaluation of The Status Quo of Your Team Not Later Than The End of Month Three
4. Manage Up
5. Beginning in Month One, Make The Invisible Visible
6. Set Expectations With Direct Reports Within The First Month
7. Beginning In Month One, Rest and Remember Regularly
8. Invest In The Best Beginning in Month One
9. Pursue What You (Alone) Cannot Do Starting Not Later Than Month Four
10. Weed The Garden, Beginning Not Later Than Month Four

1. Clarify Expectations and Potential Before You Accept The Position

Often you will not have the privilege of doing this step: the job is thrust upon you and you simply don’t have the ability to say “no” or “wait.” Nevertheless, it is critically important that you take the time—even after the fact—to thoroughly understand “the lay of the land.”

What are your boss’ most important accountabilities?

Your answers to the following questions will help you prevent many problems that pop-up down line because you will be armed with a clear understanding of what is most important from the perspective of your boss, the risks you face, and the gains that you can make.

1. How has your boss related to the person who held your position in the past?
2. What are your boss’ most important accountabilities?
3. Why is your predecessor no longer in this position?
4. What is the history of the team you will be leading?
5. Who will be “passed over” if you take the position?
6. Who could succeed you when you want to move on after this position?
7. What is the reputation of the team you will lead?
8. Who are the customers and suppliers of the team you will lead and what is their experience with your predecessor?
9. What is the official vision/purpose/mission of your boss’ organization?
10. Why has your boss’ organization prospered or faltered?
11. What does your boss say s/he expects of you?
12. Considering all of the above, what will be expected of you?
    1. What end-of-fiscal year, objectively measured results will be required?
    2. What objectively measured indicators of process excellence will be required?
    3. What kind of “culture” will be expected of your group?
    4. What problems does your boss want to be solved or to not emerge?
    5. What does your boss expect in terms of the development of your people, staff turnover, and succession planning?
    6. What does your boss expect of you in terms of your development, your tenure in this position, and your support of his/her efforts?
13. Considering all of the above, what are the risks you will face in this position?
14. Considering all of the above, what are the potential gains you might enjoy in this position?

2. Explicitly Confirm Expectations With Your Boss Before You Accept The Position

It’s one thing to clarify what will be expected of you… it is entirely another thing to confirm those expectations with your boss. Both are as essential as water and oxygen.

You may be one of those fortunate few whose boss takes the lead on this, but probably not. Take the initiative. After you have completed step # 1 (above), write what you think is expected of you. Get your boss to confirm, or edit and confirm, those expectations. Don’t settle for a verbal confirmation of expectations.

Following are a few, essential steps for you to take:

1. Review the work you have completed in step # 1 (above).
2. Which of the above expectations do you need to change or delete?
3. What expectations do you need to add?
4. What expectations do you have of the your boss?
5. How will each of the expectations be “measured?”
6. How frequently will you and your boss review your progress toward your expectations?
7. Have you and your boss agreed?
8. Is your agreement in writing?

3. Complete Your Evaluation of The Status Quo of Your Team Not Later Than The End of Month Three

Take the initiative.

Your evaluation of the way things are (the “status quo”) began when you first considered managing the group. At some point—and it needs to be very early in the game—you need to bring that evaluation to a close, decide what you will do, and do it.

Following are a few questions that will help you wrap-up your evaluation of the status quo:

1. Who is the customer/are the customers of the organization you will manage?
2. Who are the suppliers—the teams and organizations upon which you will depend—and partners of the organization?
3. What is the value-add of the organization you will manage?
4. To what extent does the value-add contribute to the larger mission?
5. How is the value-add measured?
6. What is the process—the wiring diagram or process flowchart—by which your organization adds value?
7. What are the sub-processes?
8. Are the sub-processes tied to a single evaluation system?
9. Who is accountable for each sub-process?
10. What are the priorities of sub-process owners?
11. What are the capabilities of sub-process owners?
    1. Technical/area of expertise
    2. Planning
    3. Staffing
    4. Organizing
    5. Decision making
    6. Confrontation
    7. Winning commitment
    8. Building teams and rapport
    9. Identifying problems
    10. Solving problems
    11. Management of personal life
    12. Personal alignment with the vision/mission/purpose
    13. Personal integrity
    14. Willingness to lead
    15. Willingness to support
    16. Rapport with you
12. What is the relationship between sub-process owners?
13. What is the relationship between sub-process owners and your boss?
14. What were the relationships between sub-process owners and your predecessor?
15. Therefore:
    1. What are the assets that you can leverage?
    2. What are the problems that you can eliminate?
    3. What are the deficiencies that you can fill?
    4. What will it “cost” (in terms of time, money, alliances, and political capital) to accomplish a-c?
    5. How will you obtain those assets (see above)?
    6. What is your date-specific plan, including measures of success?

4. Manage Up

Your boss is your most influential customer.

In the final analysis, your job is to make your boss successful. The following 20 recommendations will greatly increase your potential for success:

1. Be absolutely clear on how your boss’s performance will be measured at the end of the year. You cannot succeed if your boss fails… although it is possible to fail even when your boss succeeds.
2. Be absolutely clear on how achievement of your accountabilities contribute to your boss’ success. If they don’t, then do everything you can to drop those accountabilities.
3. Develop a detailed, current, intelligent understanding of your boss’ customers, suppliers, partners, and competitors.
4. If at all possible, find out what your boss aspires to do next in his/her career. Make sure your contribution moves him/her in that direction.
5. Armed with the above (1-4), make every effort to stay current on all issues related to the above items. Bring useful information regarding items to your boss’ attention to help him/her succeed. Couch your recommendations and objections in those terms. Put simply, always “speak your boss’ language” not yours.
6. Make it easy for your boss to “find you.” Let him know (literally or in effect) where you are and where you are going. Don’t wait for your boss to ask you for a progress report: report on a regular and frequent basis. Be brief. Use data. Tell the truth. Highlight emerging problems. Highlight successes s/he can “take upstairs.”

   Your job is to make your boss successful.

7. Don’t wait for your boss to find problems in your area. Take the problems to him/her and always take your analysis of the root cause, the alternative solutions, and your recommendation. Never ever whine!
8. Tell your boss what you need to succeed… not what you need to have an easier go of it. When you present what you need, also present the costs of obtaining that, the cost and risks of not getting it, and how you will go about getting it. If you can get what you need to succeed without troubling your boss, do it… and be prepared to defend your decision.
9. Always make sure your boss learns about problems in your area from you before s/he hears about it from anyone else. Never keep an important problem to yourself in the hopes of it “going away” and you “looking good.”
10. Always make sure your boss learns about significant change in your area from you before s/he hears about it from anyone else… and make sure s/he hears about it sooner rather than later.
11. Listen more than you speak when in meetings of more than three people.
12. Answer questions directly and with no preamble. Answer questions with backyard barbecue language. Answer questions with specific facts and not generalities. Be quick to say, “I don’t know.” Never fake it.
13. When you make a recommendation, make the recommendation first and the argument for it second, not the other way around.
14. When you write e-mails, put the point/the bottom line of the e-mail in the first sentence. Write short sentences that don’t require commas or semi-colons. Avoid the words would, could, should. Avoid words that have “ing” on the end of them. Do your best to write sentences no wider than the screen. Never write an e-mail that is longer than the screen. Copy only the essential persons on the e-mail. Use bulleted lists and not long paragraphs.
15. Find out what “on time” means to your boss. Never be late.
16. Be the first to re-fill the coffee maker, un-jam the Xerox machine, call-in the order for lunch.
17. Don’t steal things. Don’t steal ideas. Don’t steal company time for personal business. Don’t steal credit for success.
18. Speak in terms of “we” when there are successes. Speak in terms of “I” when there are problems.
19. If your values conflict with your boss’ values, then (A) suffer in silence, or (B) avoid the subject or the situation, or (C) find another boss.
20. If your boss has come to a wrong conclusion or has missed the point and if it matters to the mission, tell him/her. Do everything possible to tell him/her in private. Always do so respectfully, sooner rather than later, directly, briefly, plainly, and do so with specific evidence, not opinion.

5. Make The Invisible Visible, Beginning in Month One

We do what we see far sooner than we do what we are told. Here are some surprising realities:

• We don’t see goals that are posted on the intranet.
• We don’t see goals that are in file folders.
• We don’t see values that are affirmed in our minds or “hearts.”
• We don’t see priorities that leaders agree to in closed conference rooms.

Here’s the good news:

• We see goals that are posted on the wall.
• We “see” goals that are regularly and frequently reviewed in graphic form.
• We “see” values that are demonstrated via behaviors routinely demonstrated by senior people.
• We “see” priorities that are converted to goals that are posted on the walls.

Following are a few questions that will help:

1. How will the quality and effectiveness of your performance be measured? Make sure these are visually displayed in semi-public places and make sure these are reviewed with your team at least monthly.
2. What are the end-of-game results your team must achieve? Make sure these are visually displayed in semi-public places and make sure these are reviewed with your team at least monthly.

   It is what people remember—not what people have done—that determines what people will do.

3. What are measures of process-excellence for your team? Make sure these are visually displayed in semi-public places and make sure these are reviewed with your team at least monthly.
4. What are the six or fewer key behaviors—not attitudes or thoughts or philosophies—that must be characteristic of your team. Make sure these are visually displayed in semi-public places and make sure these are reviewed with your team at least monthly.
5. What are the personal life characteristics you prize most highly? Make sure these are always characteristic of your life in ways that members of your organization can easily and frequently see.

6. Set Expectations With Your Direct Reports Within The First Month

Your success largely depends on your ability to close the gap between what your people expect and what they experience. It is your job to set those expectations. The sooner you state your expectations, the more likely it is that your people will adopt those expectations.

Following are some tips on setting expectations early and successfully:

Get to know your people.

• What is each proud of?
• What is each pursuing in life?
• How has each gotten to this point?
• What are the strengths of each? (Always play to strengths.)
• How did each relate to your predecessor?
• How does each view the official vision/mission/purpose of the organization?

Let yourself be known.

• Invite questions.
• Meet in your home and in your office.
• Eat together.
• Demonstrate the kinds of candor you expect from them.
• Defer statements about the direction of the company until later.

Establish core expectations.

• What does “You are accountable.” mean to you?
• What do you expect when a direct report drops the ball?
• What do you expect when your people are in conflict with each other?
• What do you expect with regards to ethics, law, and safety?
• What do you expect with regard to decision-making?
• What does “on-time” and “late” mean to you?
• What kinds of behaviors will put a member of your team in jeopardy of being fired?
• What kinds of behaviors will make a member of your team a “hero?”
• What do you expect the whole team and each member to do and to accomplish for the next twelve months?
• Do you have explicit, written agreement to the above?

7. Rest and Remember Regularly Beginning In Month One

Resting is a prerequisite to running.

Feeding your people a constant diet of go-go-go! will result in mediocre output, resentment, illness, and discouragement. Like a coach on the basketball court in the middle of the championship game, it is your job to call a time-out right in the middle of the game. Likewise, it is your job to put your star players on the bench periodically… even during the big game. Don’t run ‘em ‘til they drop. Rest ‘em so they roar!

It is what people remember—not what people have done—that determines what people will do. Even teams that have an impressive history of success begin to feel like losers when they are in the middle of a prolonged period of all-work-no-win. It is your job to help your people remember their history of success: problems they have solved, deadlines they have met, opportunities they have captured, changes from which they have rebounded, et cetera.

1. Do what you want to see.
   1. Don’t work at all at least one day every week, beginning week one.
   2. Work for a reasonable, not a heroic, length of time six or fewer days each week.
   3. Routinely cite prior successes when confronting similar, contemporary challenges.
2. Tell your boss about your team’s successes and the barriers that have been overcome at least once each month.
3. Require your direct reports to tell you what has succeeded or what barriers have been overcome at least once each week, beginning month four.
4. Delegate the task of building an organization history display for a semi-public place. This should show the crises that have been surmounted, goals that have been achieved, tragedies that have been overcome, from the beginning of the organization until now. Annotate the timeline with what was learned/guiding principles. Keep it current. Refer to it frequently as a basis for convincing people that “we can do it… we’ve done it before.”
5. At least once per month tell your direct reports well in advance that you will be pulling the stop-work lever on a particular day and time. Pull them together for the explicit purpose of “goofing off” (i.e., resting). Don’t let work sneak into this time. Don’t do it after hours; do it during regular work hours. Thirty minutes is the minimum time required. It doesn’t need to be fancy. Just rest.

8. Invest In The Best Beginning in Month Three

The things that grow are the things you feed.

It is your job to invest more time and money in those persons and processes that are most productive. When you invest more in what works best those things become stronger and your people learn what is most important.

Following are some ways to invest wisely:

1. Give more of your time, more accountability, more authority, bigger budgets, more access to you and to other influential people and information, more tools and training, more “applause,” and more “slack” to direct reports that consistently demonstrate the “key behaviors” (see above) and get results.
2. What are the processes that work best? Invest more resources in them and replicate them wherever possible.
3. What are the policies that work best? Invest more resources in them and replicate them wherever possible.
4. What are the partnerships with colleagues and vendors and customers that work best? Invest more resources in them and replicate them wherever possible.

9. Pursue What You (Alone) Cannot Do Starting Not Later Than Month Four

Your people will give their individual, best efforts only when the failure to do so will result in the loss of something that is of great personal value. Therefore, it is your job to set your goals high enough that they cannot be achieved apart from the best efforts of your people. This is risky. Your people may not come through. If they don’t come through, you are left holding the bag. It is precisely this risk on your part that wins the trust and enthusiasm of your people.

What is your desirable/achievable future for your team?

1. Can that be achieved apart from the personal, best efforts of your people? If so, then upgrade your vision of the future.
2. What are the costs or resistances to achieving that future? (Identify by specific populations.)
3. What are the disadvantages to specific populations of maintaining the status quo?
4. What are the advantages to specific populations of achieving that future?
5. What are the major phases of achieving that future?
6. What are the specific steps each population needs to take beginning today and through the next year?
7. Convert all of the above into a single sentence: “I want to win your commitment to change from ___ to ___ so that we __________.”

Build formal and informal guiding coalitions of explicit support for your vision of the future.

1. From your boss
2. From process owners
3. From customers
4. From suppliers and partners
5. From individual contributors
6. Build a specific campaign for accomplishing these changes

Find out what is personally most important to each member of your group.

Take time to figure out how being on your team will help get them to that point or help them preserve that prized accomplishment. Then help each member of your team see explicitly how being an extraordinary performer on your team results in achieving what is personally most important.

10. Weed The Garden, Beginning Not Later Than Month Four

Set your goals high enough that they cannot be achieved apart from the best efforts of your people.

You don’t need to plant weeds in your garden… they volunteer! If you don’t get rid of the weeds, you won’t harvest the tomatoes. The same is true for the group you are managing: weed the garden or lose the garden.

Weeding the garden at work is not pleasant. Weeding the garden at work is risky. It is critically important that you proceed quickly while relying on data. The following questions will help:

1. Who are the direct reports who have not demonstrated the key behaviors (see above) and/or who are not achieving the desired results (see above). Build a date-specific plan for quickly solving those problems or moving them out of the organization. Be sure to align with Human Resources.
2. What are the processes that don’t add value? Eliminate them.
3. What are the processes that don’t work well? Fix those processes.
4. What are the policies that don’t add value? Eliminate them.
5. What are the policies that don’t work well? Fix them.
6. Who are the partners or suppliers that don’t work well? Improve those relationships or replace them or become far less dependent on them.

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