Upgrade to Pro — share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …

Setting Expectations as a Manager

Setting Expectations as a Manager

One simple way to create predictability and stability for your team is to be transparent about what you expect of your teammates, and what they can expect of you.

All kinds of organizational expectations (quarterly goals, job descriptions, team mission statements, etc.) will evolve based on company context, scale over time, leadership changes, you name it. As our environments change, managers need to flex HOW they set expectations, to set their teammates up for success.

In this workshop, we talk about how to balance being empowering and being directive as a leader, and how to know when to switch up your approach. We’ll also work on helping managers identify their default approach, so that they can see when it's most useful, and when they might need to adapt it based on what their team or company needs, what the challenge is, how much urgency there is.

Lara Hogan

May 13, 2018
Tweet

More Decks by Lara Hogan

Other Decks in Business

Transcript

  1. Setting Expectations

    View Slide

  2. ● Company-wide
    e.g. company values
    ● Function-specific
    e.g. skills matrix, career ladder
    ● Team-specific
    e.g. team mission
    ● Individual-specific
    e.g. quarterly goals

    View Slide

  3. ● Company-wide
    e.g. company values
    ● Function-specific
    e.g. skills matrix, career ladder
    ● Team-specific
    e.g. team mission
    ● Individual-specific
    e.g. quarterly goals

    View Slide

  4. Why should we set
    expectations?

    View Slide

  5. ● Improvement and progress
    ● Clarity and transparency
    ● Alignment and efficiency
    ● Feedback

    View Slide

  6. Empowerment vs Direction

    View Slide

  7. Empowerment Direction

    View Slide

  8. Empowerment Direction
    Coaching teammates to
    connect their own dots
    Sponsoring teammates for
    visible/stretch assignments
    Group brainstorming to create
    expectations docs and
    roadmaps

    View Slide

  9. Empowerment Direction
    Coaching teammates to
    connect their own dots
    Sponsoring teammates for
    visible/stretch assignments
    Group brainstorming to create
    expectations docs and
    roadmaps
    Writing job descriptions
    for each team role
    Scheduling oncall rotations
    Assigning work to
    each teammate

    View Slide

  10. Risks and tradeoffs

    View Slide

  11. Moving along the
    spectrum
    More Empowering More Directive

    View Slide

  12. Your cross-functional
    peer is falling short on
    their core responsibilities.
    1

    View Slide

  13. Your direct report
    wants to be promoted,
    but you’re not sure if
    they’re ready.
    2

    View Slide

  14. Your direct report has
    come to you with a
    competing job offer at 2x
    their current salary.
    3

    View Slide

  15. One of your direct reports
    has been mean to their
    teammate when you’re
    not around.
    4

    View Slide

  16. When a new request
    comes in for your team,
    no one jumps in to triage
    or address it.
    5

    View Slide

  17. A senior leader
    routinely interrupts
    you in meetings.
    6

    View Slide

  18. Your approach will be informed by:
    ● the team’s context,
    ● the needs of your individual
    teammates,
    ● who you are as a leader, and
    ● what the organization needs.

    View Slide

  19. Giving strong direction

    View Slide

  20. Practice affirming
    body language:
    ● Nodding
    ● Eye contact
    ● Leaning in

    View Slide

  21. Practice bottom-lining it.
    ● Start with paragraphs
    ● Narrow to 2 sentences
    ● Narrow to 1 sentence

    View Slide

  22. Strong direction can
    create more fairness.

    View Slide

  23. Roleplay different ways to
    give direction as practice.

    View Slide

  24. Getting out of
    your comfort zone

    View Slide

  25. Knowing our default

    View Slide

  26. Management/
    Leadership Philosophies

    View Slide

  27. “Humans already have the answer(s)
    inside themselves; I help find them.”
    - me

    View Slide

  28. “Optimize for long term
    relationships.”
    - Jason Wong, Senior Director of Engineering

    View Slide

  29. “Strong back, open heart.”
    - Jerry Colonna, who introduced it to...
    - Chad Dickerson, former CEO, now coach

    View Slide

  30. "The strength of the team is each
    individual member. The strength of
    each member is the team."
    - Phil Jackson, former head coach of Chicago Bulls
    - also Jill Wetzler, Head of Engineering

    View Slide

  31. Homework:
    Experiment more with the spectrum.
    Data-gather: what effect does each
    place on the spectrum have on you
    and those around you?

    View Slide

  32. Homework if you want to try out
    more group empowerment:
    Brainstorming Team and Manager
    Expectations Worksheet

    View Slide

  33. Focus on writing down
    expected outcomes
    (rather than behaviors)

    View Slide

  34. Get curious about (and
    prioritize) what your
    teammates’ needs are

    View Slide

  35. Treat team expectation
    docs as living documents!

    View Slide