Category Archives: Management

#90 Keep looking (or not?)

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You look far and wide for the right person to fill a role. Then you find the person! He or she turns out to be perfect. He or she has the skills to do the job, and a huge vacuum created by a skill gap has been filled.

Then reality sets in. You discover flaws and weaknesses. Glaring ones. You realize the reason you found this “perfect” person is because the previous employer could not stand their weaknesses and shortcomings. And you realize your nerves can’t take it any more.

Do you have the Hobson’s choice of keeping the person or replacing the person? Before you trap yourself in that line of thinking, ask some other questions:

  • What exactly is the problem? Is it a performance problem? Is it a behavior problem?
  • Is the person not measuring up to the job requirements? Are these your standards or an unbiased, rational set of job requirements?
  • Does the person have the drive and motive to improve?
  • Do they embrace feedback and make the effort to change? Then do they actually change? (Making the effort and not changing gets pretty old, pretty fast).
  • Is the skill that you need to meet business goals hard to find? Is it too much to ask for you to adapt to this person’s style and personality?
  • Does the person have long term potential? This is subjective, but you’ll have to make the call anyway.

Let the answers guide your choice. Please let us know the questions that have worked for you in the comments section of this blog.

Here is a horrifying thought for you. What if you are the person your boss can’t stand, but you don’t get the feedback? What if you are being merely tolerated by your boss, and the answers to the above question did not justify any investment in your career?

What you do will vary for each of you. The most important guidance is: don’t get paranoid, try to get the facts and perceptions before you take any action.

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#89 When internal interfaces fail

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In an earlier post, we looked at internal interfaces. Let’s say you have established the following:

  • A clear definition of inputs and outputs.
  • Who will do what and when.
  • Roles and responsibilities.
  • Service level agreements.

Then something goes wrong… Really, really wrong. Deadlines are not met, quality is poor, communication gaps are sprouting all over the place. With a positive frame of mind, you give your co-workers the benefit of the doubt. You get pressure from your boss and your stakeholder, making the “positive” part more challenging and your resolve to do something before you lose your equanimity.

You are determined not to get distracted by the symptoms: stonewalling, passive aggressiveness, and making but not keeping promises.

When you dig deeper, you find the astounding truth: your internal partner did not have the capabilities to deliver on the promises. You did not dig into and verify capabilities to execute to avoid conflict, now you realize you have merely postponed the conflict.

If the capabilities to execute are strategic, take the conversation to a higher level. If the capabilities are the competence of the individual, leave that to the direct manager of the individual. Continue to apply pressure on business goals and deliverables needed to deliver customer satisfaction.

External interfaces with customers, vendors, partners, and governments follow the same principles, but they are a little more complex, because… well, let me think about that and write it in a future post.

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