Getting Started With Succession Planning

The root word of “Succession Planning” is “Success”.  Yet many organizations treat Succession Planning merely as replacement planning.  Join the Wily Manager guys this week, as they discuss the various aspects of Succession Planning, and how individual managers need to stop waiting for HR, and get started on this important business process.

Monday’s Tip:      Don’t wait for HR.   Some organizations have good Succession Planning systems in place.  However, if you don’t, then you should get started on your own, and put succession plans in place for the people that report to you.

Tuesday’s Tip:      Figure out what competencies are required to successfully meet the strategy, goals and objectives of your work group or department.  Articulate these in writing so everyone understands.

Wednesday’s Tip:      Develop those competencies.  Put development plans in place for people to build the specific competencies the organization needs to achieve its plans.

Thursday’s Tip:      Put together a replacement plan.  For each position in the organization, put together a list of people that could act as a replacement if that position were to become vacant.  Again, the competencies required should guide this process.

Friday’s Tip:      Promote and reward people based on their proficiency and the development in the required competencies.

Upward Management: Get Your Boss to Do What YOU Want

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Below we talk about why Upward Management is important to every employee, and how you can best go about doing it.  There are four key steps to Upward Management:

  1. Continually Manage Upward
  2. Know what’s important to your boss
  3. Assess how your boss makes decisions
  4. Do your homework

Continually Manage Upward

Don’t make the mistake of only proactively managing your boss when you need something.  Upward Management is a continually effort.  Here are some ideas as to how to continually Manage Upwards:

  • Be credible to your boss.  The best way to build credibility is to always do what you say you’re going to do.
  • Manage expectations on an ongoing basis.  Make sure you keep your boss up to date as to how things are going.  Don’t wait for her to ask!
  • Never surprise your boss.
  • Adjust your style, if necessary.  If you and your boss do not have a compatible work style, the onus is on you to change.
  • Align your goals with his/hers.  A key aspect of Upward Management  is to make sure your boss views your efforts as furthering her own goals.

Know What’s Important to Your Boss

A critical component of effective Upward Management is to have a very clear understanding of what your boss thinks is important.  If you don’t know, you need to ask.  When trying to influence your boss, can you:

  • Frame what you want as advancing one of his/her goals?
  • Articulate what’s in it for your boss.
  • Identify any potential risks your boss might see?

Assess How Your Boss Makes Decisions

Some people rely most on fact, others on how decisions impact people, and others still on the financial impact.  There are multitude of criteria people use when making decisions.  Effective Upward Management means understanding how your boss makes decisions.  Does s/he:

  • Rely mostly on facts?
  • Does s/he need a high level of detail?
  • Need to contribute to part of a bigger picture or strategy?
  • Highly value dollar considerations or bottom line?
  • Consider political issues?

It is imperative to know how your boss sees these things.

Do Your Homework

Upward Management is not something that should be improvised.  You need to lend careful consideration to all the things mentioned above, and also:

  • Anticipate objections your boss may have.
  • Mitigate risks that your boss may see as a result of your suggestion or action.

Three Things to Remember about Upward Management:

  1. No matter good you may think your suggestion or idea is, you still need to “sell” it.
  2. You need to continually cultivate your relationship, and your credibility with your boss.
  3. S/he may know something you don’t.  If you don’t get the action or answer you want, remember that there may be parts of the situation that you are not privy to.
Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Upward Management (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

Looking for the Full-Length Podcast/Video? …

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Influencing Your Boss

Join Jed and Bob as they discuss the four key elements to effectively influence your boss.  If you stand any hope at all of getting your boss to act on something for you, you need to listen to this week’s podcast.

Watch the ‘Influencing Your Boss’ Video (13 mins 54 sec):


Download the ‘Influencing Your Boss’ Cheat Sheet, Video, Audio, and Slides

5 Ways to Influence Your Boss

Back when I had a real job, I had a boss that just wouldn’t do what I needed him to do.  I set out my expectations clearly, I continually clarified and reinforced what I needed him to do, and I tactfully drew attention to those areas where he wasn’t meeting expectations.  Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, and I had to let him go.  On paper, he was still my boss, but I essentially minimized my relationship with him because he failed to perform.

Oddly, I’m only partially kidding about the above.  It did get me thinking about different ways we can influence those over whom we have no control.  In ascending order of desperation, here are some ways to influence your boss:

  • Do what you say you will.  To influence, you need credibility.  The best way to be credible is to consistently deliver on what you promise.  If you have a reputation for being as reliable as a 1970s model Ford Pinto, then you’ll end up the same way:  in a ball of flames at the bottom of a freeway off ramp.
  • Address your boss’s concerns.  You need to frame whatever it is you want in terms that matter to your boss.  If all he wants for Christmas is the GI Joe with the Kung Fu Grip, then link what you want to that wish.
  • Go Eddie Haskell:  Be a boot-licker.  With some people, sucking-up actually works.  If you’ve got a boss that isn’t repulsed by oral-anal attention, then pucker-up and go for it.
  • Frame or blackmail him/her.  This option is easiest if you’ve already got dirt on your boss.  If you don’t, bring in hash-brownies or poppy seed muffins (shows up as opium in the blood stream), and then tip-off HR and suggest that a random drug test might be in order.
  • Sleep with him/her.  It’s drastic measure, and one that becomes complicated if sexual orientations are not compatible.  It is also fraught with moral hazard.  However, it may quite likely yield the result you’re looking for.

After reading this list, if you feel dirtier than a coal miner at a brothel, remember that the best way to influence your boss (or anyone else), is to create expectations of them, and continually manage those expectations.

At the very least, you should expect your boss to:
  • Offer timely feedback
  • Communicate the larger picture to you
  • Assist with your developmental goals

There’s one very easy way for your boss to assist with your professional development – a Wily Manager Corporate Membership for the whole company.

You and your co-workers get instant, practical advice that allows you to confidently handle leadership situations.  You’ll be a better boss and get ahead in your career.  And best of all, your company pays.

Your company will be happy to foot the bill, because they get an ongoing, relevant, and engaging leadership development program that’s very low cost, easy to follow, and doesn’t take employees away from the office.

Put us in touch with a decision maker in your organization so we can get to work arranging a Wily Manager Membership for you and all your co-workers.

We’ll use our powers of influence…and hopefully we won’t have to sleep with your boss.  We’ll try blackmail first.

Influencing Your Boss

Unless you’re really good at Jedi mind tricks, you could probably use some help from time to time to win your boss over to your way of thinking.  Join the Wily Manager guys this week, as they talk about how to influence your boss.

Monday’s Tip:     Do What You Say You Will.  The best way to be credible with anyone is to always do what you say you will.  Credibility is a key component of effectively influencing your boss.

Tuesday’s Tip:     Know What’s Important to Your Boss.  If you can frame up your idea or request in ways that supports what you know is important to your boss, you stand a much better chance of influencing her.

Wednesday’s Tip:     Never Surprise Your Boss.  Always keep your boss up to date on the status and progress of things you are responsible for.  Nobody likes to be surprised, or to be told way too late that things have gone wrong.

Thursday’s Tip:     Proactively Manage the Relationship.  Don’t wait until you need something from your boss to reach out to him/her.  Continually taking the initiative to connect with your boss will make it much easier to influence them when you need to.

Friday’s Tip:     Know How Your Boss Makes Decisions.  Understand how your boss would rate decision making criteria such as risk, financial, or political considerations, as well as what level of detail they are most comfortable with.

Deciding What Sucks The Least

Back a few years ago, I was on the road more than twenty days per month.

In an effort to instill some element of normalcy to my life, I decided that every Thursday, no matter where I was, would be ‘movie night’.  As a result, I saw some truly awful movies.

I remember one summer evening in particular, standing in the lobby of a movie megaplex in Warrenville, Illinois, staring up at the marquis trying to make a decision about which movie sucked the least.  I selected “Planet of the Apes”, and quickly realized I’d made a horrible decision.

This is a parable for two lessons that have been instructional to me as a manager:

1.     Sometimes, you don’t always get to pick the best alternative, but you need to choose the one that sucks the least.  A case in point: voting.  For most of the Wily Manager audience, voting rates are less than 50%, and with due respect to the Australians – yours would be lower too, if voting weren’t required by law.  People need to stop looking for the best alternative, and vote for the one that sucks the least.  It’s a primary requirement for democracy:  reel in your expectations!

2.     Delaying a decision often doesn’t improve the quality of the outcome.  If I had agonized over the “Planet of the Apes” decision, and sent it to committee, and then deferred it until better information was available, I still would have ended up seeing a crappy movie – it might have just been with different actors.

Of course, the other obvious element to this story is that the movie actually didn’t matter all that much.  It was incredibly minor, and the net outcome of going to a movie, or not (or how bad that movie was) matters very little.  Yet, in organizations, we see minor decisions agonized over all the time.  People end up spending more time debating where to hold an offsite meeting than they would spend talking with a friend contemplating suicide.

New Rule (with full credit to Bill Maher):  If you’re going to spend more than one minute on inconsequential decisions, flip a coin.  If you end up being wrong, you can correct course quickly.

In my case, I could have left the movie, and gone for a walk along the river in Naperville.  But then, I never would have seen Charlton Heston dressed up as a filthy, stinking ape.

Often you’re forced to make quick management decisions that are more consequential than which movie sucks the least.  You’ll need to do more than flip a coin, because making quick decisions can be dangerous.  If you’re not careful, it’s easy to step right into one of the common pitfalls, like ‘Going With Your Gut’ (which can make you appear reckless).

The Good Decision Making Video and Cheat Sheet combo were just added to the Wily Manager membership area, and it’s one of over 90 topics available now.   In it, we show you how to avoid 7 common ‘quick decision pitfalls’, and make quality decisions when you don’t have the luxury of taking a long time to gather information.

Become a member and get 8 free bonus gifts worth $187, plus instant access to all the existing tools and advice already available in the members-only area.   It’s jam-packed with Videos, Cheat Sheets, and other tools…and new content is added each and every week.

Next week we’ll be talking about Influencing Your Boss – you’ll learn how to get your boss to do what YOU want, without being a manipulator.  You won’t want to miss out – become a Wily Manager Member today.

Good Decision Making: Avoid 7 ‘Quick Decision Pitfalls’

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Sometimes you have the luxury of taking a long time to gather information to make quality decisions.  Other times Good Decision Making needs to happen fast.  Below we talk about how to overcome seven of the pitfalls of quick decision making:

  • Good Decision Making Pitfall:  Ignoring the Decision
  • Good Decision Making Pitfall:  Going with your Gut
  • Good Decision Making Pitfall:  Involving too many people
  • Good Decision Making Pitfall:  Not Involving Others
  • Good Decision Making Pitfall:  Analysis Paralysis
  • Good Decision Making Pitfall:  Falling prey to the far-fetched or untested
  • Good Decision Making Pitfall:  Making decisions in haste

Good Decision Making Pitfall: Ignoring the Decision

It is true that if you want long enough, some decisions will go away, but do you really want them to?  Here are some of the possible outcomes of putting off decision:

  • Opportunities to improve pass you by.
  • You leave outcomes to chance, when you may have had a much better opportunity to influence the outcome.
  • People see you as indecisive and might even begin to work around you.
  • People might not consider you for challenging assignments or promotions.

Good Decision Making Pitfall:  Going with Your Gut

Your intuition is a powerful tool, but if you overestimate its worth, there are several potential consequences:

  • Increase the possibility that your decision will go wrong.
  • Gambling with your team’s productivity and morale.
  • Being seen as reckless and not “thoughtful”
  • Intuition is a by-product of experience and countless repetition.  If you don’t have experience in an area, it’s wise not to rely on intuition.  Your choice becomes more of a guess than a decision.

Good Decision Making Pitfall:  Involving too many people

Sometimes it makes a lot of sense to involve many people in a decision making process, and to gain consensus.  However, sometimes there are drawbacks to such an approach:

  • Automatically slows the decision-making process… wasting valuable time.
  • Building consensus is difficult to do quickly … so you risk upsetting people.

Good Decision Making Pitfall:  Not Involving Others

Conversely, some decisions do require the involvement of others, and sometimes leaving people out of decisions is at your peril:

  • You risk overlooking key elements that subject matter experts would have seen.
  • Those who will be affected by your decision might resent or resist it.

Carefully consider the appropriate number of people that should be involved in the decision.  The appropriate number is normally determined by:

a)    How quickly you need to execute the decision.

b)    How much buy-in you need from others, and how difficult that buy-in will be to achieve in your situation.

Good Decision Making Pitfall:  Analysis Paralysis

Some data and analysis often serves you well.  However, waiting for perfect information, or dissecting the information in infinite ways may unnecessarily delay a decision.  Some consequences of over-analyzing decisions:

  • Opportunities to improve pass you by.
  • Others who depend on you to make a quick decisions are unable to move ahead.
  • Productivity and morale suffer.

To avoid Analysis Paralysis, remember:

  • The 80/20 rule. You often can solve or understand 80 percent of a problem or situation with as little as 20 percent of the information, provided that it’s the right information. If you can get this vital 20 percent, press on.
  • Best/Worst case. Put each option you’re considering into perspective by asking yourself, “What’s the best that can happen?” and then “What’s the worst-case scenario if I choose this option?” Taking this approach also will help you quickly assess the relative risks of each option.
  • Mental simulations. In rapid decision situations, time is the enemy. You can’t afford to overanalyze, so take a much simpler route: For each option that seems reasonable, ask yourself, “What if” Play out the scenario in your head to identify potential outcomes.
  • Trends and patterns. Your decision will be easier—and quicker—if you can identify familiar trends and patterns. This is especially true if you’re relying on data to help you make your choice. Sometimes, knowing only the direction of the data is sufficient without knowing the numbers.

Good Decision Making Pitfall:  Falling prey to the far-fetched or untested

Under pressure, sometimes fantastic and far-fetched options can be considered.  While nothing should be immediately ruled out, you need to ground your options in reality.  The risks of not being grounded in reality are several:

  • You might overlook proven, workable options that are easier to implement.
  • Must take time to closely examine the implications of a far-fetched option (and, in doing so, possibly exhaust the time available).
  • You may build a reputation as a dreamer who can’t execute on the simple stuff.
  • Be sure that any option you’re considering is consistent with the organizational culture and that internal politics won’t be a roadblock.

Good Decision Making Pitfall:  Making decisions in haste

There is a difference between making a quality quick decision, and making a decision in haste.  Here are some pitfalls of making decisions in haste:

  • If you’ve assessed the situations incorrectly … maybe the decision doesn’t need to be made quickly.
  • The decision might generate more problems down the road.
  • You can gain a reputation for jumping to conclusions.
  • Speed and simplicity. Your ability to reduce the scope of the decision and the complexity of the process is key to making a rapid decision. Actively strive to keep things simple.

Three Things to Remember about Making Quality Quick Decisions:

  1. Determine whether a quick decision is appropriate for the situation, and then act accordingly.
  2. Narrow the number of options and cut through unnecessary information.
  3. Rely on your experience, good judgment, leadership intuition and subject matter experts as appropriate.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Good Decision Making (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

Looking for the Full-Length Podcast/Video? …

Get Instant Access to 200+ Cheat Sheets, Videos, and Other Immediately Usable Tools for Busy Managers – Try Out a Wily Manager Membership Today!

 

Making Quick Decisions

Sometimes decisions are made too slowly, and other times too quickly.  Join Jed and Bob as they discuss some of the key things that prevent quality quick decisions from being made.

Watch the ‘Making Quick Decisions’ Video (14 mins 16 sec):


Download the ‘Making Quick Decisions’ Cheat Sheet, Video, Audio, and Slides

Quick Decision Making

Join the Wily Manager guys this week in their discussion making quality quick decisions.  Sometimes you do need to decide quickly, and you can do a much higher quality job of it if you’re aware of some of the pitfalls.

Monday’s Tip:    Don’t Ignore Decisions.  If you ignore decisions, you’ll find that opportunities pass you by, and you’ll be branded as indecisive.  Often times, the wrong decision is better than no decision at all.

Tuesday’s Tip:    Don’t rely solely on gut instinct.  Your intuition is a powerful tool, but don’t rely on it exclusively, unless you have a lot of experience in the area of the decision.  You will want to gather what data you have and ask for other opinions.

Wednesday’s Tip:    Overly-Analytical.  Some data and information is good, but rarely will you get perfect information on which to base a decision.  Gather what information you can quickly, and then make your decision.

Thursday’s Tip:    Wrong number of opinions.  Some decisions should be made by consensus; others should be made by a leader in isolation.  You need to decide how much input from others is required, and act accordingly.

Friday’s Tip:    Making Decisions in Haste.  In some cases, you will want to spend some time to gather good information, and consult others.  Do not treat every decision as requiring fast action.  Some decisions should be taken slowly.

The Ugly Truth About Your Time

There are many forms of self-delusion, and “I don’t have time” is among the most common. The truth about how we manage and rationalize our use of time is uglier than Mick Jagger with a hangover on Halloween. Here are some of those truths:

1) You’re not busier than everyone else. Believe it or not, everyone feels time pressure, and in very few circumstances can you claim to be any busier than those around you. If you’re a farmer, or you’re on the London Olympic Organizing Committee, you get a pass. Everyone else needs to stop using, “I’m too busy” as an excuse.

2) Society has not conspired to give you less leisure time. With the exception of the United States, leisure time has steadily increased since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in developed nations. The fact that leisure time is completely overscheduled is an issue of how it is managed, not an issue of quantity. It’s kind of like confusing a Big Mac with actual food.

3) You do, in fact, do what is important to you. I’m always amazed that people claim not to have time to do something “important” like volunteer at their children’s school, but do have time to watch 8 or 10 hours of crap TV shows a week. Ultimately, you do do what is actually important – and it’s reflected in your schedule.

4) You can’t have it all. This is an insidious myth we all use to rationalize each other’s dysfunctional behavior. If you work 80 hours a week, you are missing out on something else in your life – like having quality time with your family. To think that you can dictate “quality time”, is to imply that all the other potential time is wasted, and that somehow you have a magic switch that can mystically transform time into “quality”. These are the same people that put “baby to take first steps” into their calendar for a weekend, when they’re around. You can’t schedule quality time.

5) The world will not slow down. Regardless of how long you think humans have been on the planet, there is one constant: the rate of change has continually accelerated. If anything, the rate of change will increase, so strap in, and wear a cup – it’s rough out there.

If you want to gain control of your schedule once and for all, we can help….but only if you’re ready to face the ugly facts about how you currently spend your time.

The Time Management Skills & Techniques Video and Cheat Sheet combo were just added to the Wily Manager membership area, and it’s one of over 90 topics available now.

In it, we show you why most time management techniques don’t work, and how to ruthlessly zero in on your critical tasks and responsibilities while fearlessly ditch the rest.

Next week we’ll be talking about Quick Decisions, and you’ll learn how to make decisions without regrets when you’re forced to think on your feet. You won’t want to miss out – become a Wily Manager Member today.

You’ll get 8 free bonus gifts worth $187, plus instant access to all the existing tools and advice already available in the members-only area. It’s jam-packed with Videos, Cheat Sheets, and other tools…and new content is added each and every week.


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