Have you ever started a new job and wondered what to tackle first?  You received a bunch of information from your new boss, but it seems to lack any coherent direction.

5 Conversations

This article provides insight on 5 critical conversations to have with your boss when starting a new job to clarify your path and avoid unnecessary friction.   The result of these conversations will also provide you with the freedom of movement you desire to gain momentum in your new role.  Having these conversations early will not only prevent unneeded conflict but will set conditions for you to accelerate your success in the organization.

After you’ve started a new job and started following your 90-day transition plan, you will need to have a few conversations with your boss in order to ensure you are on the same page with shared expectations.  The purpose of having these conversations is to ensure you both agree on the direction and manner in which you want to drive the organization that you are now a part of. Having these conversations will help you avoid putting a lot of energy into an idea that either your boss hasn’t bought into or doesn’t agree with.

Ideally, you’ll want to do this after you’ve assessed your organization (first 30 days) and have a firm understanding of the people, processes, and problems.  Having an understanding of your organization provides the context in which your plan will work within.  These conversations are adapted from Michael Watkin’s book The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels.  The five conversations are:

Your role and situation

As a starting point, line out your understanding of your roles and responsibilities to your boss. Ask whether you see things the same way.  Someone may have already explained this to you on your first day but take the initiative and time to brief back your boss to ensure you have clarity.  This is a great way to save time and future pain by gaining alignment early. If you skip this conversation you risk moving out on great initiatives, but potentially in the wrong direction.  I’ve personally and painfully learned this lesson by skipping this step.

Also, provide your understanding and assessment of the organization in an effort for shared understanding.  Your organization could be a startup that needs energy upfront to get it off the ground. It could be one that is currently successful and just needs minor corrections to sustain that success, needs realignment, or could be a failing enterprise that is in need of a complete turnaround.

Expectations and Goals

Once you and your boss are in synch on your role and the organization’s situation, it’s time to discuss expectations and goals.  It’s a good idea to ask your boss for desired outcomes in the short and long-term. This is a chance for you to shape those expectations by outlining what you think you can achieve over time.  You can have ambitious goals here, but remember it’s always better to under promise and over deliver rather than set yourself up for unmet expectations.

Communication Style

Discuss how your boss wants to communicate in terms of frequency, medium, and what kind of type of content.  Asking your boss “How do you like to receive information?” is a great way to learn how to make your message stick.

Some bosses like to read information in the form of an email or white paper.  Others are visual learners and better understand things through graphs and charts.  You will be doomed to Powerpoint if you are in the military.  Some may like to hear things verbally.  If this is the case, you can help yourself with a little preparation and prepare a narrative to provide the information. Messages are more easily remembered and repeatable in the form of a story.

Resources

You will need resources in some form to get the job done.  This can take the form of money, people, time, training, etc.  This discussion can easily turn into a negotiation. You should be prepared to outline what you think you’ll need to get the job done.  More often than not, you will be asked to get the job done with fewer resources than desired.  This may be due to competing priorities, upcoming deadlines, or merely because fewer resources are available.  Don’t let this become a contentious discussion for either of you.

Understand that you have shared interests here and look for ways to convey mutual benefits in terms of resource usage.  Linking resources to outcomes and providing a menu of options is a great way to gain progress in these discussions.  For example, “With 4 people on the team, I think we can get this done in the next 3 weeks. If we have 3 people on the team, we will likely need another week to get the same results.”

Feedback

After 90 days or so on the job, it will be time to ask for feedback on your performance.  Asking questions about how you are performing and where you have room for improvement is critical for your growth.  Discussing your strengths is just as important to gain better awareness of your unique talents that you bring to the team.  Strengths Finder 2.0 is a great book on this topic.  It is also beneficial to discuss training, projects, or assignments you can undertake to continue your growth as a leader.

 Conclusion

Having these 5 conversations will help save you time and prevent potential friction with your new boss. These conversations will provide you with a level of clarity and direction that will set you up for accelerated success in your organization.

Question: How have you gained clear direction from your boss?

Photo Credit: Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meets with Adm. Harry Harris Jr., commander of U.S. Pacific Command, at Pacom headquarters at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Feb. 1, 2018. DoD photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Dominique A. Pineiro

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As warmer weather approaches, most military leaders understand that summer season is a time of transition and changing jobs.  If you’re changing jobs this summer this article is for you.

Transition Plan

Many of us transition from one job to the next moving at 100 mph and don’t have a chance to give much thought to their next assignment, let alone have a plan on how they are going to manage the transition.  This article lays out a 90-day plan that leaders can implement to maximize the value they provide their organization during these transitions.

Why 90 days?

90 days may seem like a long time to transition into a job that you may only be doing for one to two years.  This 90-day plan doesn’t have you sitting back for three months.  In fact, with this plan, you’ll be making a positive change in your organization one month into the job.  90 days allows sufficient time for you to learn the new organization and its environment so that you can appropriately determine how to gain some quick wins and improve performance before bringing in new and innovative ideas. This 90-day plan is broken down into three 1-month phases. Phase 1 is dedicated to learning. The second phase is dedicated to quick wins and increasing momentum.  Phase 3 is dedicated to innovating with new ideas into the organization.

Phase 1-Learn

You can’t expect to be very effective in leading an organization that you don’t understand. Take your first 30 days to get to know the organization’s mission and its people.  Take time to introduce yourself and let your team get to know you as well.  Learn not only the organization’s mission but learn how it operates as well.  Try to understand the operating environment. You can do this by learning the organization’s recent history and key relationships of leaders in the organization.  Start building a relationship with your boss as well as your team. Gain understanding of the organization’s current strengths and weaknesses.  Learn what challenges the organization faces and conversely what opportunities lie ahead (every challenge can be seen as a future opportunity). Once you have a firm grasp of the organization, its mission, people, challenges, and opportunities, you’ll be ready to start making a positive impact.

Phase 2-Increase Velocity

Making a positive impact with only 30 days on the job can be difficult.  However, you’ve studied the organization for the past month and have a better appreciation for the team and its people.  In the second phase, you want to gain some “quick wins” to get some momentum going under your leadership.

What can you do to gain “quick wins”?  One good place to start is by removing obstacles that hamper your team’s ability to do its mission. You should have gained a good sense of these obstacles when identifying challenges in your first month on the job. Obstacles for your team can include duplicative efforts or processes that seem to be cumbersome and slow.  Obstacles can include gaining approval for tasks or projects at levels that are inappropriately higher than they need to be.  By removing obstacles that hamper your team’s ability to do its job, you will increase the speed at which your organization can operate.  This will give your team some momentum and demonstrate your ability to add value to the organization.

Phase 3- Innovate

After you’ve gained a greater understanding of your new organization and have increased the teams’ momentum, conditions will be set to begin innovating with big ideas and any bold changes you want to implement.  Before your team is ready for change, they will have to know that you care and are competent and worthy to follow.  By now, you’ve taken the time to learn and understand in your first month and have proven your value in the second month.

Now that your team trusts you, as you’ve earned some street credit, they are ready to follow you through change.  Innovative ideas can stem from ideas you had before coming to the job or based on ideas your team wants to implement. If the changes you want to implement stem from goals you had prior to joining the new organization, you’ll want to ensure that these goals are still relevant based on what you observed in the first two months.

Conclusion

If you follow the three-phase plan above you will likely improve not only your performance as a leader but also improve the performance of your team.  You’ll also set conditions to gain buy-in from your team members for bold changes and foster an environment of innovation.

At no time do you need to wait to correct deficiencies in the organization or correct behavior that is detrimental to the team.  This 90-day model is meant to ensure that you’ve given sufficient time to learn your organization, its people, and gain some credibility prior to implementing any vas changes.

Going into a new position with a transition plan gives you some direction. This plan is merely a framework to follow that you can adjust and not meant to be a rigid process. You can always audible from the plan if a crisis emerges.  If you go into a new endeavor without a plan, you have no basis for adjustment and are really just shooting from the hip.

Give the 90-day transition plan a shot and let us know how it works in the comments section. Also feel free to share any of your tips for transitioning to a new job.

Question: What do you do to facilitate job transitions?  Please comment below.

The post How to Make a Greater Impact at your Next Job first appeared on Developing Your Team.

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A few years ago, as an Executive Officer and Chief of Staff, I found myself flustered with subordinate leaders who seemed to bring me problems to solve for them.  I found myself helping them with organizational issues in their areas of specialty throughout the workday. Eventually, 5 pm would roll around and things would quiet down to a point that I could finally get my own work done. This traditionally meant that I missed dinner with my family. I knew there had to be a better way.

The Quest

Determined to find a solution, I started to analyze these issues. I looked at the root causes of the problems that led to daily emergencies. I knew that understanding the cause of these emergencies would help me find a solution.

The following days were spent asking questions to understand how we got to a specific problem.  What were the underlying conditions? Who was responsible? How can we prevent this from happening again?

Why People Bring You Problems

As I looked deeply at the issues that troubled my team, my first realization was that whether you are in the military, the corporate world, or in any industry that involves human interaction, problems will arise.  My second discovery was that I, in fact, was a big reason that my team brought me problems instead of solutions. The reason people brought me problems was because I enabled their behavior.  I did this in two ways:

1. I attempted to add too much value. Marshall Goldstein discusses this phenomenon in his book “ “>What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.”  Goldstein states, “A classic problem of smart, successful people is Adding Too Much Value. This bad habit can be defined as the overwhelming desire to add our two cents to every discussion…It is extremely difficult for successful people to listen to other people tell them something that they already know without communicating somehow that (a) they already knew it and (b) they know a better way.”  The Military Leader’s Drew Steadman also speaks to this issue in his blog post Adding Too Much Value.

2. By consistently solving every problem brought to my attention, I trained my staff to rely on me and bring me issues for a quick fix. This meant that I wasn’t giving them an opportunity to figure it out on their own first.

Once I understood my role in the problem, I quickly realized that I could change the situation as well.  I discovered that a simple question empowered my team and put them at the center stage.

There is one simple question that you can start asking today to empower your team members and get them in the habit of bringing you solutions instead of problems.

What’s Your Recommendation?

Asking your team members for their recommendation, empowers them and transforms their thinking into that of a problem-solver.  This simple question moves your employee to the driver’s seat instead of just being a passenger.

How One Question Empowers Your Team

There are several reasons this one question transforms your employees from merely reporting problems up the chain to an active member in the issue.

• Gives Voice. The question gives your team members a voice in the issue.  Over time this voice will grow from one with an opinion on a specific problem to a voice that helps improve the organization.
• Provides Agency. Being asked for a recommendation gives your team member a stake in the matter. They now have “skin in the game” as they are now part of the solution.
• Instills Ownership. Having agency gives people ownership of the topic. Once your team members “own” the issues they come across, they will work feverishly to not only solve them but look for ways to prevent them in the future.
• Expectation. This question implies that you expect your team to be part of the solution, which transforms them into a group of problem solvers.

Once I started asking this question, I saw a change in my team over time.  At first, they struggled with an answer but came to the see solutions as we discussed the problem.  Soon my team came to be prepared with a recommendation in hand.  And later they informed me that there was an issue, but that they had solved it with a specific course of action.

This one simple question empowered the team and transformed them into being proactive problem solvers.  This question can work for you and your team too. Give it a try.

Question: How do you empower your team?

Photo Caption: Staff Sgt. Kyle Law and Staff Sgt. Joshua Jorgensen, 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron crew chiefs, consult a technical order to troubleshoot a C-130H Hercules engine problem. They are at Bagram Air Field, Parwan province, Afghanistan, Oct. 6, 2013. Hercules aircrew from the 774th EAS delivered 32 cargo bundles during two trips to remote drop zones in Ghazni province, Afghanistan. Law, a San Antonio, Texas, native, and Jorgensen, a Brentwood, Calif., native, are deployed from Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. (USAF Photo/Master Sgt. Ben Bloker)

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Patience

1. Being a father teaches you to be patient. Our children don’t know as much as we do and are learning how their world works every day. In all honesty, patience is a personal weakness of mine, but I try to improve every day as well.  Patience fosters an environment that promotes learning. This applies not only to life at home, but also applies to the environment at work, which is needed for the next point.

Teaching Moments

2. Parents teach their children every day, whether we realize it or not. Our children are sponges that absorb the things they see and hear. They have great memories and want to learn as much as they can.  As father’s we need to take the time to intentionally teach our children valuable lessons.  Ordinary moments, like looking up at the stars at night and showing your kids the constellations, can be a teaching moment that leaves a lasting impression. Ordinary events at work can also be used as teaching moments. Instead of dreading your next meeting at work, view it as an opportunity to create a teaching moment and see the impact it has on your outlook.

Reacting to Mistakes

3. We all learn from our mistakes.  Our children are no different.  The laws of probability make it more likely that our children will make more mistakes. We can choose how to react the next time our kids spill or break something. My natural inclination is to respond with anger (see patience above), but fatherhood has taught me to pause before I respond.  I now realize that the mistake in question can be used to reinforce a lesson and discuss how one could improve. A lesson that will carry with them over time. This not only applies to our children, but with our employees (and bosses) at work.  How we react to certain events and bad news forms others’ perception of us and can build or diminish our credibility.

Role Models

4. We are role models to our children. Our children are always watching us and learning.  They learn not only from moments when we are at our best, but also include the moments that we are less proud of. None of us are perfect, but our kids not only learn the right things to do from their parents but also learn what not to do from watching us. As Michael Hyatt consistently mentions in his blog, “There’s an old saying about parenting: More is caught than taught.” As fathers, we need to remember that our children will imitate our behavior for good or for bad. Our children will carry some of our behavioral traits into adulthood, just as we carry some of our parents’ behavioral traits (regardless of whether we want to admit it). Our employees at work are always watching their leaders as well. Younger employees see their leaders as successful and will also emulate our behavior to some degree. They too are always watching us and learning.

 Focus on Others

5. Being a father requires you to focus on the needs of others, especially your family.  When fathers come home from a long day at work, we typically don’t come home and rest on the couch. Fathers are needed to help with homework, practice taking slap shots, or even change a lightbulb. Focusing on the needs of others changes our mindset from one of being focused on oneself to that of being focused on others.  This also applies to our work environment. Being a servant leader is the highest form of leadership, in my opinion. Effective leaders put others’ needs ahead of their own.

Being a father not only brings us joy and great memories.  Fatherhood bears the gifts of teaching us patience, provides us with opportunities to teach our children, reminds us to model appropriate behavior, and provides us with the opportunity serve others. These gifts provide us an opportunity to shape our children into adults. These opportunities don’t only apply at home, but reinforce leadership principles required to shape future generations of leaders at work as well. Enjoy your Father’s Day and remember the impact that you bring as a father and a leader.

The post 5 Leadership Lessons Gained from Being a Father first appeared on Developing Your Team.

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Two Questions

A few years ago, a mentor of mine described how his boss fully supported him every time they met, which was only once a month. In these monthly meetings, his boss only asked him two questions. These two questions were:

1. How are you doing?
2. How can I help you?

Many people will read these two questions and think, “That can’t possibly be all there is to improve my team’s performance.”  The fact is that you can improve your team’s performance with these two questions, but you also should walk the walk and act on the answers to these questions.

These two questions demonstrated that his boss supported him, cared about his team, and had complete confidence in his employees.  Let’s explore what is behind these questions

How Are You Doing?

• Empathy.  The question “How are you doing?” shows that you care about your employee, soldier, or direct report.  In order for the question to have meaning, it must be asked while making eye contact. This question will backfire if you ask it at a superficial level because people can sense insincerity.  You must truly care for your employee’s well-being to have an impact.

• Service. “How are you doing?” also shows that you, as a leader, are present to support and serve your direct report.  Leadership is NOT a one-way street, where employees execute tasks as the boss directs.  True leadership is, in fact, a two-way street in which managers and leaders serve their employees’ needs. Serving your people and taking care of your team defines leadership, not a title or job description.

How Can I Help You?

• Support.  The question “How can I help you?” demonstrates that you not only serve your employees but that you are there to help them succeed.

• Trust.  This question also provides employees with a sense that you have confidence in them and trust their judgment.

• Confidence.  Your confidence in their performance, in turn, gives your employee confidence in themselves.

• Empowerment.  Asking your team members what they need from you to complete their job empowers your employees. They feel that they have more latitude in performing their duties.  Empowerment boosts performance as those that are empowered feel that they have agency in the organization.

Conclusion

Nothing motivates people more than knowing that their leaders care about them, support them, and have confidence in them.  Employees are motivated when they trust that their leaders essentially have their back.  Does your motivation when you trust your leaders and they trust you? The same is true for your team members as well.

Try asking these two questions of your team members next time you meet with them. Ask with genuine interest and act on the answers.  See what impact it has on your people and your organization.

Question:  In what ways do you demonstrate trust and service to your team?

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Problem Employee

A few years ago I was handed a problem employee as soon as I joined an organization. My boss did not give me much background information on this particular employee, whom we’ll refer to as “Bill” in this article. My boss simply stated that the employee had to have a change in supervisors based on a personality conflict. 

Red Flags

As I looked into this employee’s file, three red flags stood out immediately: 

1. I was Bill’s fifth supervisor over the past two years. This employee did not change positions and held the same job that he had entered the organization with several years before.
2. Bill was written up for yelling at his previous supervisor
3. There were some time card discrepancies in the past. However, this in itself was not remarkable when combined with other issues that showed a pattern of misconduct.

There were no real consequences in response to these problems. These incidents were documented in memorandums, but no action was taken, which seemed odd. It was clear that my boss wanted Bill to have a fresh start. I also wanted to give every employee a fair chance. 

Although I have a military background, I managed more civilian employees than military members at this particular assignment. 

Open Mind

Despite these red flags, I wanted to keep an open mind. I did not want to make any premature judgments before I worked with a member of the team that I was now responsible for. Given the revolving door of supervisors, I didn’t rule out that poor management could be part of the problem. While yelling at one’s boss is not a preferred technique, I understood that personality conflicts do arise at times and an argument can break out if tensions are high. Lastly, the time card incident could have been an honest mistake. 

True Colors

It wasn’t long before I witnessed Bill exhibit performance and misconduct issues. Bill wasn’t getting assignments done on time, and sometimes never completed them. Simple tasks were blown off. Excuses were readily made for why things weren’t getting done. 

Furthermore, Bill demonstrated poor customer service. His immediate response to any service request was that it couldn’t get done anytime soon, if at all. Bill claimed he was constrained in doing his job properly due to regulations from our parent organization. 

Systematic Approach

I took a systematic approach to providing feedback for both conduct and performance issues.  Issues that fall under the Performance category are those that involve the satisfactory performance of one’s job (e.g. failing to meet deadlines). Issues that fall under Misconduct are those that have to do with behavior and conduct at work and are not necessarily related to the quality of performing one’s responsibilities (e.g. falsifying time cards). 

Below are steps that can help guide you when dealing with problem employees.

• Making expectations clear

• Documenting issues and providing regular feedback

• Assessing Improvement

• Following through

Ensure expectations are clear

First, I held an initial counseling session with Bill to lay out expectations for performance and behavior. 

In order for an employee to meet your expectations, they must be aware of them in the first place. People are not mind-readers, so it is imperative to outline expectations clearly at the outset of an employee assuming a new position. I recommend doing this in writing, even if responsibilities are included in the employee’s contract. Don’t assume that an employee will understand expectations based on responsibilities listed in their contract. The point is to have an intentional conversation with your team member. 

Regular Feedback and Documentation

It was clear that Bill needed consistent feedback in the form of counseling sessions, as outlined in a previous article. I provided Bill with immediate written feedback following any misconduct. 

Although I typically conduct performance counseling with most employees on a quarterly basis, it was clear that Bill needed feedback more frequently. After my first three months as Bill’s supervisor, we started having monthly performance counseling sessions. These sessions were always face-to-face and also documented in writing. Bill was given a copy of the session summary to follow along during our discussions and to keep for reference. 

Our sessions followed a consistent format:

• Outlined how Bill was not meeting the expectations outlined in his initial counseling session. 

• Provided Bill with some advice on how to improve his performance.

• Concluded each session with areas that Bill needed to focus on.

Adjust the Plan

It was evident that Bill had problems keeping tabs on multiple tasks or projects simultaneously. He also had problems with prioritizing tasks. I ensured that I was communicating priorities clearly before looking at my employee for fault. I did this both verbally and in his monthly counseling sessions. 

In order to help Bill with juggling multiple items, I provided one or two projects to be completed each week over the next month. This method was aimed at helping Bill break tasks down into manageable pieces. While this can be seen as micromanagement, it was an honest attempt to ensure clear communication and help an employee prioritize his work. Once Bill got the hang of prioritizing his work, we would meet less often. 

At no point did I ever do Bill’s job for him. This wasn’t really possible due to the technical nature of his position. Nevertheless, if a leader is performing their employee’s job, then the leader is not focusing on doing his/her own job. 

Assess Improvement

Although there was a brief period of improved performance, after six months it was clear that Bill’s performance was not improving over the long-term. This was documented in Bill’s mid-year performance review. This is when Bill was placed on a Performance Improvement Plan. The performance improvement plan was really just a summary of previous counseling sessions. It outlined where Bill wasn’t meeting expectations. It also provided steps to meet expectations and advice on how to excel in the position. 

Misconduct

Aside from his poor work performance, Bill’s misconduct issues continued. Bill’s misconduct reflected the red flags identified at the outset of our relationship. These were dealt with immediately and systematically. I took several steps to effectively respond to Bill’s persistent misconduct:

• Written Warning – a first step to identify that misconduct is unacceptable.
• Official Written Reprimand – a next step to show that misconduct has consequences.
• Suspension – if misconduct continues, a temporary suspension of work is required.
• Termination – if an employee shows no sign of adjusting their behavior, termination might be necessary.

As Bill’s misconduct persisted, the level of action was elevated until Bill was eventually terminated.

You will have to check with your Human Resources department and/or lawyers to see if these steps are appropriate for your organization.

As described above, misconduct issues are separate from performance issues. However, many problem employees seem to have issues in both categories. Frankly, it is easier and faster to terminate an employee based on continued misconduct. That’s not to say that we immediately sought to terminate Bill. I personally invested a lot of time in trying to help Bill improve his performance. 

Follow Through 

Once you establish expectations, it is imperative that you follow through on them. If your employee’s performance is lacking, then setting priorities and deadlines may be appropriate. Deadlines may need to be set on a more frequent basis (e.g. weekly). If your employee misses a deadline, it is important to follow through by recognizing it first, then providing a consequence.

If Bill’s performance improved and he demonstrated an ability to operate within established expectations, we would have held counseling sessions less frequently. Despite Bill’s lack of long-term improvement, this method has garnered positive results with other employees.

Bill’s situation provides a story that allows the article to address the full range of options for both performance and misconduct. It also highlights that employees’ decisions play a large role in the outcome.  You gain an employee’s attention when you confront them and make it clear that their performance or conduct is not acceptable.  It is then up to an employee to work within expectations, or continue down the wrong road.

Conclusion

Dealing with problem employees can be time-consuming, but is a necessary undertaking for both the employee and the organization. Making expectations clear, providing regular feedback, assessing improvement, and following through are the keys to improving performance.  Misconduct issues should be dealt with separately but swiftly, as lack of action equates to tacit acceptance. No one likes to deal with problem employees.  The good news is that problem employee can choose to change.  It is up to management to make standards and expectations clear and uphold them.  

Question: What steps have you found to be effective in dealing with problem employees?

The post How to Deal with a Problem Employee first appeared on Developing Your Team.

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