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Now that you know what we expect of our employees, let’s shift our attention to what our employees can expect of us. More specifically, what can our employees expect of our managers and our management philosophy?
Our managers are, first and foremost, employees. They meet all of the above criteria and operate with the same degree of autonomy and flexibility extended to other employees. As they interact with other employees, they model those criteria and consistently treat other employees as they themselves expect to be treated. Given these expectations, the following behavior and approaches are seen in all of our managers as they work with employees to fulfill our mission and manage related functional parameters.
Our managers make sure a job can be done before holding anyone responsible for it. Employees are certainly expected to try, to give it their best. However, they are not held responsible for an assignment not working out unless their manager can objectively confirm the assignment was doable.
Our managers are clear with people about what they expect. This starts with being clear about whether they actually expect the job to be done. They may only expect the employee to give it a try, work on it if there is time, or to do as much as interest and resources allow. Alternatively, they may expect the job to be done and done on time. Managers know being clear about expectations is a touchstone of our management. They are clear about what they expect. Our employees do not wonder or have doubts about what is expected.
Our managers take time to be sure employees understand how their responsibilities fit in with other people’s duties and activities. Our employees always understand how what they do fits into the plan for the organization to achieve its mission. They know why they do what they do. Although they may not see every connection, knowing why their job is important is essential to their success and to our collective success. Employees do not doubt the value of their contribution to our organization’s success.
Our managers give our employees clear reasons and explanations whenever they ask for them. Why? is a question for which employees want an answer that makes sense to them. If they do not get it, they fill in their own answers. Having filled in the blank, they have a do-it-yourself explanation for everything. People make sense of their environments, whether it has any relationship to reality or not. What is the result? There are many and usually conflicting explanations for anything happening and nearly as many for things not happening and that are not going to happen. This is unlikely to occur within our internal eco system, though. If employees bring their questions to their manager, they get the honesty and respect they deserve. Not to give them reasons and explanations when they ask for them is unacceptable.
Our managers delegate often and well. Delegation is, for them, a critical key to their success. They follow three rules when delegating. First, they appropriately delegate tasks and duties. Delegation is not a whoever happens to be around process. Our managers are careful to only delegate to employees who have the skills and know-how to get the job done. Second, they do not delegate a job to someone and then try to manage it themselves. They give employees the freedom they need to do what they need to do. Third, managers always delegate enough authority so the employee can get the job done. This does not mean they give employees unlimited, free rein. What each employee does must fit with everyone else’s activities. At the same time, each employee has the freedom and authority to do what needs to be done.
Our managers access the resources needed to get the job done. A manager’s responsibility is to facilitate other employees’ success. Being sure available resources are sufficient for success is, in turn, the manager’s responsibility. There may be other employees who have tasks and assignments related to resource development; but if the resources are not there when they are needed, the manager has not gotten the job done. Our managers know not having enough of the right resources when they are needed is a certain route to failure.
Our managers are skilled at using informal strategies to get things done. There are formal policies, procedures, and ways things are to be done. It is also true they sometimes do not work and situations come up where there is no formalized approach to get from here to there in the time available to get there. Now and then employees take this to mean they can ignore the rules, not pay attention to the formal processes. This is not our managers’ perspective. The informal approach supplements formal procedures and is not a substitute for them. For our managers, the informal approach is simply one more strategy available to them within the formal context. They want employees to use informal strategies, to talk with each other, to informally innovate when they need to, to avoid being too rigid about the rules when something unusual comes up not quite fitting into the established procedures. Our employees are responsible people who can and are expected to use their good judgment and common sense.
Being skilled at using informal strategies includes knowing when to use them and when formal is better. If informal strategies are used too much or inappropriately, things become disorganized, chaotic, and quality suffers. If they are used too little, our internal eco system becomes rigid and inflexible, creativity and innovation disappear, and our organization loses its cutting edge. The real skill in using informal strategies is in finding and maintaining the balance.