managers

Why Your Manager Won’t Make Decisions

September 1, 2021 By Patti Cotton Leave a Comment

Do you have a manager who drags their feet when it comes to making important decisions?

This can affect your entire team and your ability to get things done. Moreover, the impact of just one manager’s indecisiveness affects your entire business.

How do you handle this?

“It feels like things have come to a screeching halt,” said Maxine. “I have one department that consistently delivers late – and always has excuses. Help!”

The more Maxine and I talked, the greater the evidence became that the department’s poor performance was affecting other areas of the business.

“The latest debacle is this: Earl promised me reports by deadline, but once again, he was late.” Maxine continued. “He blames two of his employees for various things I won’t bore you with. The outcome is that I did not receive these reports I needed by our deadline. We actually lost business because of it.”

“So, this has actually affected the business’s ability to compete,” I responded. “And what is the problem?”

“Well, I used to think that Earl couldn’t hold his team accountable. He kept blaming them for performance issues. But lately, I’ve noticed that he really drags in his decision-making. And one of his employees told me she had been waiting on directives from him for three days – that she couldn’t move forward with her project until he made a decision on something.”

Maxine’s business was in jeopardy. After talking with Earl, I asked if I could talk with other managers, as well. My discovery showed that we actually needed to revisit a basic framework for decision-making with Maxine, and then to work with the managers to have a shared understanding.

Here are some of the comments from Maxine’s managers – and which may be reasons your own manager hesitates to make decisions:

I don’t have the information I need. It’s hard to weigh the pros and cons when I don’t have the info I need and the larger picture.
I’m not sure I have the authority. Does this decision fall to me, or does it need to be made by my leader?
I don’t feel like I have the knowledge or experience. I’m new to this position and not sure I am equipped. What if my decision is wrong? I’m afraid to commit, not knowing what the outcome might be.
My past experiences in making these kinds of decisions were poor. What will happen if I make a mistake?
This decision is a tough one – how will I handle reactions? How do I get people on board?

Implied in each of these statements is a lack of clarity in parameters. If you sit with your managers, you may find that they hesitate in decision-making because of similar feelings. Discussions around this and identifying on what is needed to fill gaps in this area are crucial.

Encouraging them to reach out when they have questions is something you should expect. However, if this is not happening, you may want to have further conversations to explore reasons behind this. For more on this, see How Safe is it for Your Team to Make Decisions Together?

© Patti Cotton and patticotton.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express written permission from the author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that attribution is made to Patti Cotton and patticotton.com, with links thereto.

Patti Cotton

Patti Cotton reenergizes talented leaders and their teams to achieve fulfillment and extraordinary results. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.

Identity Mind Trap #1: When Your Manager Always Needs to Be Right

February 19, 2020 By Patti Cotton Leave a Comment

Do you have a manager who suffers from “rightness”? One who, when he believes he is right, stops listening and ignores data that might prove him wrong?

Identify the Issue

Nick was such a manager and his “rightness” was keeping his team from making critical decisions.

Here’s what happened – and how we helped him move past this crippling behavior.

When the CFO called, she had reached her wit’s end. “I can’t have one more conversation with him,” she said. “Whether he offers an opinion, or he responds to feedback, Nick always has a quick answer. And his way is always right. There’s no room for a different perspective or the chance that he might not have considered everything. If someone shares evidence that there is something else to consider, he won’t listen.”

“Nick is a victim of his own identity,” I responded. “His ego demands that he be seen as an expert. And if something doesn’t feel right to him, he will refuse to consider it. You are probably losing a lot of valuable time and forward motion just because of this. What does Nick bring to the executive team that prompted you to call me?”

“We need Nick,” the CFO responded. “He is extremely talented and fills a particular niche that would be hard to fill right now. Can you help?”

Accept the Challenge

Nick and I were introduced, and of course, as a self-proclaimed expert, he was convinced he did not need coaching.

“I’m not sure why you are here,” he said to me. “I’ve taken leadership bootcamps and read a lot of leadership books,” he said.

“Nick, even the best leaders have a coach. As human beings, we are capable of continuous development throughout our entire lives,” I countered. “And it appears that there is something that is holding you back from that next level of development. Let’s talk.”

It was difficult to share. Someone who is always right cannot easily see how he might benefit from growth.

However, after I shared feedback from the executive team and gave examples from some of his decisions that had gone awry, he had to admit there might be something there. It was then that we decided on a development plan.

Focus on Growth

Over the next few months, Nick, and I met on a regular basis. We first focused on understanding how one’s identity is formed and how it might get in the way of growth, and then experimented with developing a taste for considering new perspectives to expand and enlarge thinking and decision-making. He asked for feedback from colleagues and exercised restraint as he considered their opinions. The deeper work was helping him to reshape his identity to become a learner in the world. He was up to the challenge.

Rebuild Trust

Additionally, we had some damage repair to do – Nick had alienated everyone on the executive team, and it was a process for him to learn how to re-enter and build trust. This paid off.

Enjoy New Levels of Success

I’m pleased that working with Nick resulted in success for him and the team. The CFO called just recently, and shares that he is being considered for promotion.

“He has become one of our most trusted assets,” she said. “I’m excited for his future – and for ours.”

Do you have someone on your team who has found him or herself in an ego trap such as “rightness”? How has it affected the rest of your team? And how would your company be able to move forward if this was resolved?

Patti Cotton

Patti Cotton reenergizes talented leaders and their teams to achieve fulfillment and extraordinary results. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.

Three Ways to Help Your New Employee Execute Well

January 24, 2018 By Patti Cotton Leave a Comment

Do you sometimes wonder if one of your managers made a mistake with their latest hire?

How can you tell?

The new hire’s transferable skills check out. Their attitude is positive. Team morale is high. And you can clearly tell the new hire is highly engaged and ready to go.

But he or she is not getting the work done.

Why is this?

There’s a handy, quick mental process I like to go through with leaders when they are second-guessing a latest hire.

Is it really the new hire, or is it your management?

Here is how you can tell.

1. Does the new employee show a clear understanding of their role, responsibilities, and your expectations?

Be careful not to downplay this. I have worked with many great companies whose new hires may receive a job description and a desk as their orientation. The manager counts on the team to fill in the blanks for the new person. If your company takes this casual stance, you are losing money and a potentially great employee.

What does the new hire’s manager truly expect of them and their area of responsibility? What are the goals set for them? Timelines? Metrics?

2. Does the new hire have the right tools and resources to do the job?

Again, most leaders will respond with an immediate “yes.” But they are basing this on what they think the employee needs to do the job. Has he or she been asked the question, “What do you need in order to achieve your goals here? Do you have the tools and resources you need?” Just test this. You may be surprised.

3. Has the immediate supervisor developed an accountability system with their new employee?

Can the employee access their immediate supervisor on a regular basis for help and questions? Does he or she get the regular feedback needed so they know they are on track? The opposite is more prevalent than you would hope.

In fact, according to one study by Dresser & Associates, HR, Payroll, and Management Solutions, only 7% of managers and 10% of senior executives in the workforce are held accountable consistently for developing their direct reports through performance management processes.

How do you compare?

Patti Cotton

Patti Cotton reenergizes talented leaders and their teams to achieve fulfillment and extraordinary results. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.

Coaching Your New Manager

June 21, 2017 By Patti Cotton Leave a Comment

5 Paradigm Shifts to Help Them Win

Onboarding and training a first-time manager requires time, money, and energy. Some of you have sent your new hire to “first-time manager training” or boot camps, and others have thrown this budding talent into the deep end, figuring they are smart enough to swim.

But what happens when the initial onboarding and training have taken place? Now it is up to you. You as leader must help them to step into management-level thinking and execution so that they can begin to excel in the job to which you have promoted them.

Why should you do this? You hired this person because of their talent, and you simply need them to apply it in this new job. But the skills that helped them excel in their former role are not what will make them successful now.

Managing people and an area of responsibility is much different than simply performing one’s own work.

So stakes are high. And if you ignore this, it will cost you 6-9 months of the new first-time manager’s salary to replace him or her.

How do you help your first-time manager succeed quickly?

How do you show the company that you have a reputation for selecting great talent and that you are not simply adding to the budget burden?

Some leaders ignore the period after the “hire honeymoon,” moving on to other priorities. They are happy they have this new talent to help out in the department – to lift and shift some responsibilities so that the team operates at greater levels. A leader that does this has hopefully clarified the new role with their new hire, and they have even given the first-time manager a set of goals to meet.

Such a leader figures that if there is a problem in the future, the new manager should either figure it out, or seek advice.

This is short-sighted.

Not only do 60% of new managers fail in the first 12-18 months, most of the time it is not their fault. It is due, most times, to a lack of clarity, direction, resources, and coaching to help them develop management skills. And that’s something over which you have control.

Yes, after the “honeymoon period” of onboarding and initial training is over, it’s time for you to start coaching the first-time manager.

Where do you start?

You can actually help this new hire to speed-dial their management-level thinking to help them make the shift from a narrow, task-oriented world to a broader one of overseeing an area of responsibility and managing people.

You see, thinking governs the way we make decisions and take actions. It dictates the way we see our external world and how we will then approach it. And moving from being responsible for a set of assigned tasks and projects to supporting a team and holding these team members accountable for doing the same is very different!

So how do you help them begin to develop management-level thinking? You can begin by helping them shift some common, self-limiting language patterns to supportive new ones.

Here are the top 5 negative language patterns heard just this week, and how you can gently correct them.

1. From “We can’t because…” to “How can we…?”

A first-time manager cannot necessarily see a larger picture because they have operated within their own former role’s confines and have not been exposed to more. Encourage them to think about possibilities. Ask them the following: “If we could do that thing you are talking about, what are 2-3 ways we might handle it?” Encourage your new hire to be curious by asking how something might be possible, instead of prematurely pronouncing quick judgment.

2. From “I have a problem – what should I do?” to “I’ve identified a problem and have a couple of suggestions as to what we might do…”

A first-time hire wants to look competent by avoiding making mistakes, so they may run to you for answers when they should be thinking about possible solutions, first. Tell your new hire that as a human, they are sure to make mistakes – that everyone does. Tell them it’s more important to you that they begin to bring possible solutions to you so that the two of you can think through best strategy. This relieves you of having to think for two people, and develops their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

3. From “They’re just that way…” to “This is what I’d like to see…”

Teach your first-time manager to fight bias where other employees are concerned. Instead of allowing them to vilify the employee under discussion, ask your new hire to describe the desired behavior or action they would like to see, instead. Then talk about how they might hold the employee accountable for that. By doing this, you are coaching your first-time manager to take a coaching approach, as well.

4. From “I know I don’t know much, but…” to “One way to approach this is if we…”

In an effort to remain humble or not to appear arrogant or smug, your first-time manager may self-deprecate when offering an opinion. Self-deprecating language is undermining and can actually appear as false modesty. Encourage your new hire to drop all apologetic language and to offer opinions as possibilities. “One way to approach this is if we explore XYZ – what do you think?” is a safe means of offering an opinion while your first-time hire is developing confidence.

5. From “I” to “We.”

This is perhaps one of the most important shifts your first-time manager will need to make. Instead of seeking affirmation for their individual efforts, they need to begin seeing success as a collective effort and acknowledging the team. This point is so important that you may want to have a dedicated conversation around it. Share your own experience. Did you once fall on your face when in that same new position, by trying to “show your stuff with “I” language?” Tell them. Let them know that we all have to learn this at one point – it’s part of growth.

When you coach your first-time manager into management-level thinking, eliminating self-limiting language patterns will help them to replace self-imposed limitations and to model a forward-thinking approach for the entire team.

By the way, if you take these tips and put them to work, not only are you coaching management-level thinking, but you are also helping your first-time manager to reshape their entire approach to work and life. Coaching someone to widen their perspectives and to develop the ability to vision beyond the present is a great gift.

Have you ever had a first-time manager that exhibited defeating language? What would you have liked to hear, instead?

What impact are you having in life and business?
Click below to take the complimentary Impact Assessment.

http://inspireinfluenceimpactquiz.com/

Patti Cotton helps executives optimize their effectiveness in leading self, others, and the enterprise. Her areas of focus include confidence, leadership style, executive presence, effective communication, succession planning, and masterful execution. With over 25 years of leadership experience, both stateside and abroad, Patti works with individuals, teams, and organizations across industries, providing executive coaching, leadership development, succession planning, change, and conflict management. She is also a Fortune 500 speaker. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.

Patti Cotton

Patti Cotton reenergizes talented leaders and their teams to achieve fulfillment and extraordinary results. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.

Why Do 60 Percent of New Managers Fail?

June 7, 2017 By Patti Cotton Leave a Comment

How Do You Help Yours Succeed?

Why do rising stars perform well in one role, only to fail in the next?

If you are in charge of overseeing talent in your area of responsibility, you probably already know this by experience. You promote a promising star, only to be disappointed by her inability to perform in the new role.

You’ve wasted valuable time and energy on this person’s potential. And the company has just lost money. In fact, you can count on losing about 6 to 9 months of that person’s salary. This means that for a new manager making $40,000 annually, the company has taken a $20,000 – 30,000 hit in recruiting and training expenses for the promotion (not to mention other costs to the entire team!).

Since high performance in one role is no guarantee of high performance in the next, do you just flip a coin? How do you save yourself headache, and get ahead?

Becoming a manager requires new skillsets. So if you are thinking of promoting an employee to manager status, here are just some of the shifts this person needs to make:

1. A new manager must learn to move from “doing” to supervising and guiding the team.

Remember that a new manager has been focused on managing their own tasks and responsibilities. Now, suddenly, they must focus on helping their team manage and complete their assignments.

2. A new manager can set a powerfully negative first impression.

Some new managers will sit back and observe, unwilling to make a decision or come across with an opinion. Others may come in “gang-busters” sharing about how they are going to change everything and make it better, now that they are on deck. It’s hard to choose between having a new manager with analysis-paralysis or one who operates as an obnoxious know-it-all. Neither is good.

3. A new manager must learn to grasp the larger picture.

Because they have been previously task-oriented to complete their own assignments, they must now develop their ability to become goal-focused, with a sense of the various pieces that make up the larger departmental picture.

4. A new manager must target early wins.

The problem with most new managers is that they don’t know how to look at the larger picture and reverse-engineer to identify early wins. Without accomplishing some early wins, the boss will wonder if the new manager knows what they are doing. In the absence of seeing forward motion in the right direction, doubts about a new manager’s ability may replace the initial confidence the boss had in their protégée.

5. A new manager needs to develop their authentic leadership style.

Many a new manager looks around to other managers to see how to lead – how to communicate, delegate, execute, and more. The problem is that copycats miss out on operating from their own top strengths…and they come across as insincere.

6. A new manager must learn how to be respected.

It can be awkward for a new manager when their employees have been their friends. How to shift from being buddies with the team to being well-liked and respected is challenging, but necessary. If not, holding people accountable and managing expectations will be poorly handled. Confronting those difficult situations will be painful and sometimes not addressed.

7. A new manager must be careful not to over-promise.

Many new managers have thought they could. They promised to deliver, but failed because they did not know the work involved in delivering those results. By the same token, to be non-committal is to create doubts about ability. A new manager should not be embarrassed to say, “Let me investigate what that would take and get back to you.”

Learning to make these shifts will be helpful if you discuss with your new manager the departmental goals, the roles of the team members, and your expectations. Offer to help put together a 90-day plan that will support the larger picture and identify early wins. Talk about the network your new manager will need to develop to get buy-in from the enterprise. And keep your door open for questions. You’ll help your manager to hit the ground running much more successfully.

What difficulties have you encountered with new managers?

What impact are you having in life and business?
Click below to take the complimentary Impact Assessment.

http://inspireinfluenceimpactquiz.com/

Patti Cotton

Patti Cotton reenergizes talented leaders and their teams to achieve fulfillment and extraordinary results. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.