Canadian Government Executive - Volume 22 - Issue 2

27 / 32

February 2016 // Canadian Government Executive / 27
next column answer these questions for each individual: What
should I be talking about with this person; when and where; and
what is needed to prepare in advance?
“You should be asking and answering those questions for your-
self every day until you get into the habit of the one-on-ones. Once
you are really, really in the habit, your People List will change.
How you change it will evolve to meet your needs,” he says.
But never stop keeping your People List. You never outgrow the
fundamentals. No matter how rigorous and disciplined your rou-
tine, no matter how advanced your management skills may be-
come, you can always benefit from asking and answering those
questions for yourself every day.
There is no such thing as advanced management, he insists. It
always involves these fundamentals. The book shows how they
work in 27 challenging situations, broken down into seven cat-
egories: Being the new manager, teaching self-management, man-
aging performance, managing attitudes, managing superstars,
managing despite forces outside your control, and management
renewal.
One-on-ones are the crux, but some of his suggestions surprise.
He argues that attitudes can and should be managed, starting by
separating them from what the employee is feeling and focusing
on the outward manifestation of the attitude, observable behav-
iour. With superstars, he recommends asking them to design their
dream job before they get an offer that takes them away from you.
If the dream job is at all feasible, even if it might mean working
only four days from a remote cabin, he suggests going along, since
superstars will still offer supercharged performance – which may
be true, but his advice harder to follow in government than cor-
porateland.
It’s a provocative book that will force you to confront your own
approach – do you undermanage? – and then require you to take
some stiff medicine for the rest of your managerial life.
time for this positive pursuit. “If you are not able to maintain an
on-going one-on-one dialogue with an employee, you are not
managing that person,” he declares.
Prepare in advance and make sure your subordinates do as
well. Follow a regular format for each person, customized to that
individual. Always start with top priorities, questions either of
you have, and any work in progress. Consider holding the conver-
sations standing up (you may want to hold a clipboard for note-
taking) to keep the meetings quick and focussed. Remember not
to dominate by doing all the talking.
If you manage people who work other shifts, stay late or come
in early. Deal with remote employees as rigorously and frequent-
ly as in-house staff, using telephone.
He says if you have a chain of command, use it. Focus first and
foremost on the managers you manage. Talk with them about
how they are managing. “Every day, coach them on the manage-
ment fundamentals -- make sure they are having regular one-on-
ones with their direct reports. All the way down the chain of com-
mand. Managers need to be taught to practise the fundamentals
at every level. If you don’t, your chain of command is not going to
work,” he says.
High substance, the second element you are seeking in these
conversations, means rich in immediately relevant content.
It should be specific to the situation and the person. The focus
should be on execution.
“Talk about what’s going right, wrong, and average. What needs
to be done? What are the next steps? And the next steps after
that? Spell out expectations in clear and vivid terms, every step of
the way,” he explains.
Regularly remind each person of broad performance standards
and try to turn the best practices in your operation or compara-
ble units into standard operating procedures. Develop plans and
checklists when possible.
Focus on concrete actions within the control of the individual.
Then monitor, measuring and documenting the person’s perfor-
mance in writing. “Follow up, follow up, and provide regular, can-
did coaching-style feedback,” he says.
Ask powerful questions, and listen carefully to the answers.
“What do you need from me?” can be a critical probe. Get them
to outline their planned progress: “What is your plan? What steps
will you follow? How long will each step take?” Pay close atten-
tion to the gaps you sense in the approach.
It’s a long way from: “How are you?” “How’s everything going?”
“Is everything on track?” “Are there any problems I should know
about?”
Since each employee is different, you must customize your ap-
proach. He recommends keeping a “People List” of key colleagues
like your boss, peers, and direct reports. On the spreadsheet, by
each name note when you held your last conversation with that
individual and what it was about. Now grade the conversations
for structure and substance: A+, B, or C- perhaps? Then in the
web
user/21-harveyschachter.html
“What’s amazing is that so few
managers in the real world consistently
practise the fundamentals very well.
What’s even more amazing is that so
many managers think they are doing it,
when they are not.”
The Leader’s Bookshelf