Fix the Team Problems Growth Has Exposed
Fix the Team Problems Growth Has Exposed
Growth doesn't create every team problem. Sometimes it just makes existing ones impossible to ignore.
Michael will help you look at who is doing well, where responsibilities have become unclear, which problems are being worked around instead of dealt with and where too many decisions still come back to you.
Who is thriving? Who is struggling?
As a business changes, jobs change with it.
Someone who worked brilliantly at one stage of the business may now need different support. Someone else may have far more ability than you are currently using. Another person may be carrying responsibilities that were never properly explained.
Michael will help you look at the people around the business without assuming every problem is a performance problem.
Sometimes the role needs changing. Sometimes expectations need to become clearer. Sometimes someone needs more support. Sometimes a difficult decision has simply been delayed.
Clear roles and expectations
Accountability should not mean creating a workplace where everyone is waiting to get in trouble.
It means people understand what was agreed and can have a sensible conversation when the result is not happening.
Michael will help you look at whether expectations are clear enough to hold people accountable and whether important conversations are happening early enough.
Accountability without making everyone miserable
Accountability should not mean creating a workplace where everyone is waiting to get in trouble.
It means people understand what was agreed and can have a sensible conversation when the result is not happening.
Michael will help you look at whether expectations are clear enough to hold people accountable and whether important conversations are happening early enough.
Hard conversations you're avoiding
Most directors already know which conversation this is.
It may be a performance problem, a responsibility that needs to move, a manager who is struggling or behaviour everybody has gradually learned to work around.
One of the questions Michael already uses with directors is:
What hard conversation am I delaying?
If the problem is already there, another six months of avoiding it usually does not make the conversation easier.
Developing leaders instead of creating more dependence on you
A manager should eventually remove some decisions from the director, not become another person who asks the director what to do.
Michael will help you look at whether people have enough clarity, authority and support to lead properly.
That also means looking at what you need to let go of. People cannot become confident decision-makers if every different decision gets taken back off them.
The 7 External Allies
Directors need at least seven external people who can challenge them and prevent isolation.
The exact seven will be different for everybody. The point is that a director needs people who can bring another perspective, challenge assumptions and provide somewhere to talk through things that may be difficult to discuss inside the company.
Michael may be one of those people.
He should not be all seven.
Questions Worth Asking Yourself
- What hard conversation am I delaying?
- Where do people rely on me too much?
- What behaviour do I allow that weakens the culture?
- Do people bring me problems or hide them?
- How clearly do I communicate expectations?
- Where do I avoid accountability?
- How do I react when challenged?
- Who am I developing as leaders?
- What example do I set every day?