đź“• subnode [[@bbchase/managing humans]] in đź“š node [[managing-humans]]
đź““ garden/bbchase/book notes/Managing Humans.md by @bbchase
  • Author:: [[Michael Mayberry]]
  • Full Title:: Managing Humans
  • Category:: [[books]]

  • Highlights first synced by [[readwise]] [[September 2nd, 2020]]

    • Pure delegators are slowly becoming irrelevant to their organizations. The folks who work for pure delegators don’t rely on them for their work because they know they can’t depend on them for action. This slowly pushes your manager out of the loop and, consequently, his information about what is going on in his organization becomes stale
    • Managers who don’t have a plan to talk to everyone on their team regularly are deluded
    • Do you have a one-on-one? Do you have a team meeting? Do you have status reports? Can you say no to your boss? Can you explain the strategy of the company to a stranger? Can you explain the current state of business? Does the guy/gal in charge regularly stand up in front of everyone and tell you what he/she is thinking? Are you buying it? Do you know what you want to do next? Does your boss? Do you have time to be strategic? Are you actively killing the Grapevine?
    • I have a standing agenda item for all team meetings that reads “gossip, rumors, and lies,” and when we hit that agenda item, it’s a chance for everyone on the team to figure out what is the truth and what is a lie.
    • In the absence of information, people make shit up
    • Status does have a bigger role in a team meeting
    • the Grapevine is a powerful beast, and a team meeting is a chance to kill messages it transmits
    • A growing group needs to continually invest in new ways to figure out what it is collectively thinking so anyone anywhere can answer the question, “What the hell is going on
    • Where am I? and What the hell is going on?
    • The presence of rigid, e-mail-based status reports comes down to control, a lack of imagination, and a lack of trust in the organization.

  • New highlights added [[September 3rd, 2020]] at 9:00 PM

    • Your job in a one-on-one is to give the smallest voice a chance to be heard, and I start with a question: “How are you?”
    • A Disaster is the end result of poor management. When your employee believes totally losing their shit is a productive strategy, it’s because they believe it’s the only option left for making anything change.
    • Your failure to heed your Twinge is a management failure
    • until they prove they can’t synthesize well, you assume they can.
    • the definition of a successful meeting is that when the meeting is done, it need never occur again.
    • The agenda answers the question everyone is wondering as they sit down: how do I get out of this meeting so I can actually work?
    • If they’re doing anything except listening, they aren’t listening. There are lots of exits from a meeting that look nothing like a door.
    • Each time an unheeded Twinge story jumps from one person to the next, a lie is being propagated throughout the organization. And if the story started in your group, it’s your fault this misinformation is running amok
    • As a manager, when the story doesn’t quite feel right, you demand specifics. You ask for the details of the story to prove that it’s true. If the story can’t stand up to the first three questions that pop into your mind, then there’s an issue.
    • When the Vent begins, you might confuse this for a conversation. It’s not. It’s a mental release valve, and your job is to listen for as long as it takes. Don’t problem solve. Don’t redirect. Don’t comfort. Yet. Your employee is doing mental house cleaning, and interrupting this cleaning is missing the point. They don’t want a solution; they want to be heard
    • Give it 30 minutes, at least
    • for any story you’re hearing, you’re getting the ­version that supports their chosen version of reality
    • All active participants in a meeting can instinctively sense progress, and when progress isn’t being made, they get cranky and start looking for the exit. A referee’s job is to shape the meeting to meet the requirements of the agenda and the expectations of the participants
    • the core difference between a conversation and a meeting is that it needs rules so people know when to talk.
    • As a manager, think of your day as one full of stories. All day, you’re hearing stories from different people about the different arcs that are being played out in the hallways and conference rooms. As these stories arrive, there is one question you need to always be asking: do you believe this story
    • this story is incomplete, and you’re OK with that
    • There is a fine line with the mandate. It is just as easy to convey, “Shut up and get moving,” as it is, “This is the move and I’m the guy you can blame if it’s a bad call.” Your job as a manager is to move the team forward without hurting morale.
    • Always do it:
    • paying attention is best done in a one-on-one with the people you manage
    • A meeting has two critical components: an agenda and a referee
    • Hold a one-on-one the same time each week:
    • The content is merely a delivery vehicle for the mood, and the mood sets your agenda
đź“– stoas
⥱ context
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