Johanna Rothman @johannarothman www.jrothman.com Lead and Serve Others: Focus on the Team, Not Individuals

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Think back to your “best” and “worst” managers. What do you remember? 2

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman People remember how they felt. That’s the power of leadership. (Good or bad) 3

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Excellent leadership means serving the team, not only individuals 4

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman The Case for Flow Ef fi ciency • Fastest way to create outcomes • Much reduced delays • Increased team learning • Makes agility easier 5

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman How can you switch the focus from individual to team? 6

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman You create an environment where all people can lead 7

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Lewin’s Equation: B= f (P,E) • Each person’s Behavior is a function of the Person and their Environment • Most performance “problems” arise from the environment • Environment: • How the team works • Psychological safety for mistakes, concerns, challenges • How people use their virtual and physical locations • How much trust the team members offer each other. • How organization policies and procedures help/hurt the team perform their work. 8

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Environment is all about culture 9

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Culture Creates Teams (or Not) 10

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Our Agenda 1. De fi ne the value the team provides. 2. Team-based leadership. 3. Regular one-on-ones. 4. Create an environment where everyone can succeed. 11

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 1. De fi ne the Team’s Value • What value does the team offer the organization? • Start with product or service • De fi ne the overarching goal that aligns with that product or service (outcomes) • Move from only individual goals to partly team-based goals and compensation 12

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman What’s the Overarching Team Goal? • What outcomes does the team need to provide? • Avoid outputs, such as interim milestone complete by date • Focus on what customers achieve with the product/service (outcome) • Customers can by • I no longer advocate OKRs, but those might work for you • Avoid individual goals that cascade down from something else. 13

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Coalesce Around Goal • Learn together ( fl ow ef fi ciency) • Technical excellence • The more the team checks itself as they proceed, the faster they can fi nish • Technical excellence makes everything much easier • How can the team create small experiments and learn from them? 14

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 2. Team-Based Leadership • Team learns how to offer feedback and coaching to each other • Promotes psychological safety • You “teach” feedback and coaching • Meta feedback • Meta coaching • Offer “labs” during work hours: • How to offer feedback and coaching 15

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman People Need Frequent Feedback • Feedback is about observable behavior • Peer-to-peer feedback: • Create an opening • Describe behavior or results • State the impact • Make a request 16

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Coaching and Meta-Coaching • Not just teaching, offering options with support • You create an environment in which everyone coaches everyone else • Not in fl icting help on others 17

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman What Kind of a Team Do You Lead & Serve? 18

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 3. Regular One-on-Ones • Every week or two, depending on the kind of work you do • Once a month is too long • Build trusting relationships • Learn what each person wants/ needs • Check in on career development • Listen for bad news 19

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Make Regular One-on-One Time Sacrosanct (You will have to protect your schedule) 20

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman From Manager-Led One-on-Ones to Person-Led • First Structure: • Greeting • Review your action items for the person. • Ask for obstacles, etc. • Ask if they want help, feedback, coaching • Placeholder for career development • What do they want to discuss? • Action item review • Second Structure: • From Greeting to a Checkin • Other person takes the responsibility to create an agenda • Include: • Obstacles • Help, feedback, coaching • Career development • Action item review 21

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Minimal One-on-One Structure • Check-in • Do you need anything? (Not just from you, anything at all.) • Is anything getting in your way? • What can I, as your manager, do to help? 22

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Ask Other Person to Set the Agenda • When the other person sets the agenda, you share the power • Power with, not power over (Mary Parker Follett) 23

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Regular One-on-Ones Allow You To… • Offer reinforcing feedback often • Early warning signals of larger problems • See the team’s system/environment • Avoid performance reviews • Which don’t work anyway • Evaluations are about managing money, not performance 24

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Change-Focused vs. Reinforcing Feedback • Make it a point to offer reinforcing feedback at least every week: • Something people do right/well • Supports other people • Offer change-focused feedback when it’s behaviors they can change • I am always going to be blunt and direct. I can learn to choose words that people can hear 25

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 4. Create an Environment Where All People Succeed • Collaboration over cooperation • Weed out non-jellers or people who can’t do the work • Hire for people who can work as part of a team • Suf fi cient cultural fi t (see the culture slide) not necessarily comfort • Hire for diversity of thought and experience • Reinforcing feedback • Drucker calls this the “harmonious whole” 26

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman “The Culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate.” — Steve Gruenert and Todd Whitaker, School Culture Rewired, ch.3 (2015) 27

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Back/Support Your Team (Especially to Others) • “The buck stops here” • Take the ultimate responsibility • Why managing yourself is so necessary 28

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 7 Principles 1. Clarify your purpose (you, team, organization). 2. Build empathy with the people who do the work. 3. Build a safe environment. 4. Seek outcomes and optimize for the overarching goal. 5. Encourage experiments and learning. 6. Catch people succeeding. 7. Exercise your value-based integrity. 29

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Move From Individual Theory to Team Practice • Experiment • Apply • Engage • Realize results • Choose where you will experiment and learn more • Practice new behaviors fi rst. (Beliefs arise from behaviors.) 30

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Culture Drives Behaviors • How does your environment create behaviors? • We often behave to maximize our rewards or minimize punishment • What does your organization reward? • Individual work (resource ef fi ciency) where every individual is busy • Team-based work ( fl ow ef fi ciency) where the team focuses on the work 31

© 2022 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Let’s Stay in Touch • Pragmatic Manager: • www.jrothman.com/ pragmaticmanager • Please link with me on LinkedIn • Modern Management Made Easy: https://www.jrothman.com/mmme 32