Bootstrap Leadership Blog

In your management career, there will come a time (perhaps several times) when you’re a little unsure of what’s going on below you.  You’re focused on higher level work, crafting strategy, meeting with key customers, etc – but you start to notice that things aren’t running as smoothly as they could on your team or in your department or division.  It’s times like these when you need to roll up your sleeves and get into the details to see if you can help solve problems, break down barriers, or make suggestions for workflow, priorities, etc.  In doing so, here are 3 questions that you’ll want to ask your employees:

1)    What do you think your role is?  Sometimes the friction of execution is due to people being unclear about (or inappropriately tweaking) their role.  In doing so, they’ve thrown the bigger picture all out of whack.   I’ve found a simple way to check on this is to ask people what they think their role is… you might learn that it’s a far cry from what you expected or want it to be.  If you ask this question of enough people, you can start to stitch together possible solutions to the sub-optimal performance or role conflict issues.

2)    How do you spend your time?  This is obviously related to the first question; it can be eye-opening to learn how people really spend their 50-60 hours a week if you just ask.   Are they focused on the right big things?  Is this how you want them spending their time?  What suggestions or direction can you provide that might get them back on track? 

3)    How do you do your work?  This is the hardest question, the one that requires the most time and patience.  I once had a direct report who was taking way too long to create PowerPoint decks (back when PP first came out).  It was only until I asked this very specific question did I learn that she was creating them from scratch every time as opposed to reusing and editing existing slides.  By taking the time to ask “how do you do what you do”? I found a way to help her become more efficient and productive.  The solution was simple, but only by having the detailed conversations did it become apparent.

Sometimes, you have to dig deep to figure out solutions to speed, quality and productivity issues.  Don’t be afraid to walk the halls and get into specific conversations with people about their role, how they spend their time, and how they (literally) do their work.  Consider it a worthy fact-finding mission, one that is well within your area of accountability as the leader.

Let’s pretend you find a genie in a lamp on your way to work Monday morning… when you rub the lamp, the genie will grant you mastery of one leadership skill that you can carry with you for the rest of your career.  Here’s my advice – choose the ability to listen.

Listening is an art, yet very few leaders can claim to be great listeners.  In fact, of all the leadership skills, this is one where we tend to get in our own way.  Because listening is so natural, most of us don’t see the need to get better at it.  Of course, by now you’ve learned all the classic techniques for active listening – lean forward in your chair, maintain eye contact, nod your head, paraphrase what you’re hearing, ask questions, pause before reacting, etc.  But the real issue isn’t whether you’re merely demonstrating the behaviors of active listening.  It’s reflecting, absorbing, and acting on what you’re hearing that will establish your reputation as a great listener.  

Here’s a simple way to think about listening – realize that people only want to tell you one of three things: facts, opinions, or feelings.  Your job is to listen for all three, and interpret the message for meaning and purpose.  Here’s the critical link: Effective listening happens when you are receiving and interpreting the message in the same way that the employee intended it.  So how do you maximize the odds of that happening?

First, do some pre-reflection about the person sending the message.  There has to be something they are thinking, feeling, or wanting you to believe that is worth listening to; in other words, ground your listening in a legitimate reason for listening.  Try this – before you sit down for a 1:1 or walk into a staff meeting, remind yourself why you’re going to listen to each person. What is the context?  Where are they coming from?  What’s been valuable about their messages in the past?  Listening effectively starts with getting yourself ready to listen. 

Second, people vary greatly in their communications style, so understand how each person expresses themselves. Your challenge is to absorb the message and tease out what’s most important.  This is critical - failing to recognize what’s most important is what leads to ineffective listening.  You may have heard what they said, but you missed what they wanted to convey.  This is the classic “crossed wires” feeling that people walk away with sometimes – it’s what produces the “he didn’t hear me” comments.  You can ensure more messages hit their mark by reminding yourself of the three types of information above, and paying close attention to what it is they’re really trying to communicate. 

Finally, once you have absorbed the most important piece of information, act on it.  Part of effective listening is responding appropriately; this tells the person you heard them.  Articulating what you feel is the most important part of their message will take the conversation right to the heart of what matters, and will lead more quickly to agreements or resolutions.  Again, try this – if they’re relaying an opinion, but it seems packed with emotion, ask about the emotion part.  By paying close attention to what’s most important, you can proactively take the conversation where it needs to go.   As a leader, it’s important not to be too passive or use active listening as a crutch; once you feel you’ve identified the most important part of the message, ask about it.  Put it out in the open and deal with it directly.  Put the “active” in active listening by moving on to solutions or a deeper conversation. 

It’s not like you don’t know that you should be listening and paying attention; the issue is that you’re not always doing it.  So try this – practice getting yourself ready to listen by reflecting ahead of time on the person and their communications style.  Next, practice really absorbing what’s most important from their message. Then, act on what you’re hearing.  Work on becoming a better listener – it will change the way people experience your leadership.  

Let’s say you’re sailing along in your leadership role.  Everything’s good, right?  Well, everything except one little thing … your boss.  Somehow your boss, who was an absolute rock of stability, has gone off the rails.  Over the last several months, she’s gone from being a trusted advisor to the CEO to teetering on the brink of irrelevance.  If your boss is seen as ineffective, that’s a problem.  So what do you do about it?

Simply put, you need to ask if you can help, tell her what you’re noticing, and provide some feedback and coaching.  Start by asking about her world in your next 1:1 meeting.  You can do this directly or indirectly – direct questions are as simple as: “how are things between you and the senior team these days”? or “how’s everything going with the CEO?”  Indirectly, you can broach the subject with questions such as: “what’s on your mind today”? Or “what’s keeping you up at night?”  The point is to get her talking about her job, her boss, or the company.  If she doesn’t want to talk about it in this meeting, that’s OK; you’ve established an interest in her well-being, and can come back to these questions next time.  Eventually she may begin to confide in you. 

If she does respond, ask about her emotions, feelings and reactions.  Literally, ask: “how are feeling about that?”  This is a perfectly legitimate question that doesn’t get asked enough “up the chain” (bosses are people, too).  At this point, you may get more than you bargained for, but once you go down this path, stick with it.  You’ve just crossed over into being a confidant or sounding board, and your opportunity to provide feedback is right around the corner. 

This is where you share what you’re noticing about her attitude or behaviors.  Be straightforward, mature and professional, and speak from your own experiences or observations.  Don’t say: “I’ve heard” or “someone told me” – that’s not productive or well grounded.  This has to be what you’ve observed…this is your first-hand feedback.  You might offer: “I’ve noticed lately that you have been upset with Bill” (cite examples) or “I know you didn’t feel fully prepared for that presentation last week” or “it seems to me that the Finance group is ignoring you on this issue – what do you think?”.   Tell her what you’re noticing and feeling – if it’s delivered well, she’ll be interested and want to hear more.  Essentially, you’re creating an opening to share meaningful feedback.  Your responsibility as a leader is to step up and take the direct approach to help her get back on track. 

By taking a genuine interest in her well-being and offering your unfiltered but constructive feedback, you’ll get the issues out on the table.  Then, use your coaching skills to help her work through some solutions.  Ask her: “what options are you considering?” or “how are you going to approach Bill about this?” or “what’s your next move?”   The idea is to start brainstorming with her about ways to turn things around.  Obviously, if you have some thoughts or ideas on how to fix things, this is where you bring them out.  But stay in coaching mode first – ask a lot of questions.  Give her someone to talk to, and guide her to an honest assessment of the situation. 

Giving feedback to the boss isn’t your primary job, but occasionally it’s a necessary part of being a leader.  In a way, telling your boss what you really think might be the best thing you could ever do for her.  Isn’t that what leadership is all about?  Helping others…even if that someone happens to be your boss!