What Great Leaders DO Differently
This is the Support Site for the program titled "What Great Leaders DO Differently" I conducted at the Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sheriff’s Office on October 10 and 11, 2007. This was a single day program, delivered twice.
If you participated in the programs, you can purchase my Working Supervisor’s Support Kit for the special price of $29.99 as long as you order on or before October 26, 2007. After that date, the regular price of $39.99 will apply.
You can get a copy of the basic handout for the program here.
You can get a copy of the slides for the program here.
Objectives
Leave here with tools that will help you do a better job as a supervisor.
Leave here with a framework to improve your work as a supervisor.
Program Outline
I think discussions of the difference between "leadership" and "management" and who's what are a complete waste of time. They distract us from the more important task which is improving your skills at getting results.
I make no pretense of knowing everything about what works for every supervisor. But I have the experience of concentrating on this work for over a quarter century, trying things out, reading the research and doing some of my own. I offer my best ideas of what will work.
Try it. If it works for you, great. If it works for you with modifications, let me know what you did so I can share it with others. If something doesn't work. Don't do it.
There are thousands of things you can do to be a lousy supervisor. But all great supervisors seem to do the same things. This program is about those things. Here's what I think is your job as a supervisor.
You use what you say and do to influence the behavior and performance of the people who work for you. Behavior is what you say and do. Performance is the measurable result of work.
You have two goals. You must accomplish the mission through the group and you must care for your people.
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Your boss, your peers, and your subordinates judge your work. Great supervisors get rave reviews from all three. You should also judge your own work and seek feedback: the breakfast of champions.
You also have to function in three time frames. You must get today's job done. You must make sure tomorrow's job will get done. And you must handle critical incidents when they happen.
One of the most important things you can do is create an environment where people can do great work. In class we did an exercise to analyze what that was. I've been doing that exercise in class for a couple of decades. Here's are the things that people mention most.
People want to do interesting and important work with people they like. They want to be clear about what you expect from them and they want your expectations to be reasonable. They want frequent and usable feedback so they know how they're doing.
People want to be treated fairly. That means that the consequences of performance and behavior match up with the performance and behavior. They also want you to be consistent in how you deal with them and others.
People also want the maximum control possible over their work life. They don't mind earning your trust, but they want the freedom to do things they've shown ability and willingness to handle.
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Before you can affect supervisory situations, you have to analyze them. Here's a framework for analyzing behavior and performance in a way that will increase the odds that you'll get the best results. Start by reviewing the work to be done.
There are two kinds of things that we expect of people. We expect them to act in accordance with the values and norms of the organization, the situation and society. These are mostly behaviors. People should show up on time, ready for work. They should treat their co-workers with helpful respect.
Then there are things that we assign to people. These are tasks or jobs or assignments and are mostly performance items because we can measure results.
There are usually no more than six or seven core tasks for each job. You need to know what the core tasks are, how you measure performance on those tasks, and how ready your people are to perform them.
If you have an ideal subordinate, you can give him or her any assignment, with minimum instruction, and expect the subordinate to perform expertly and energetically. If you have a brand new subordinate, he or she may have all the energy and drive in the world, but you have to give lots of direction because they're still learning the job.
You may have a senior subordinate who's retired without putting in papers. He or she knows how to do everything, but isn't willing to dive in and work.
Obviously, you can't treat all these people the same way. Check out the diagram below.
You keep control of what your new subordinate does until he or she is ready for more freedom. As he or she develops you grant more freedom until they make almost all the key decisions about how to handle any assignment. With your malcontent, you take away freedom unless they change their ways.
There are four basic supervisory styles that you use based on your analysis of the situation. At the far left, you tell the subordinate just about everything. Moving right, you discuss things with them, but make most of the decisions. Farther right, you discuss with them but give them the freedom to make decisions. At the far right, with an ideal subordinate, you delegate the task.
To figure out which style to use, you must answer two questions. Can they do the job? Will they do the job energetically and well?
Do they have the ability to do what you want? Do they have the knowledge, skills and ability to handle the work? The level of ability will help you choose a style.
If they don't know how to do the job, you don't have a supervision problem. You have a training problem. If they don't have the time or resources to do the job, you don't have a supervision problem. You have a resource problem.
Will they do what you want? Will they pitch in enthusiastically? Usually people are willing to do just about any job. The malcontents don't put effort into most of the jobs. You can't grant more freedom than Ability or Willingness will sustain.
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A Supervisory Interview is my term for a conversation you have with someone who works for you with an objective that relates to their behavior or performance. There are five basic kinds.
The Official Performance Appraisal follows the rules and uses the forms of your organization. It should be a re-cap of what's gone on in the period and a look ahead. There should be no surprises for either you or your subordinate. There won't be if you do your work all period long.
Routine Supervisory Interviews are short and informal. "Informal" means they're not documented. Great supervisors do dozens of them a day to make small corrections so big corrections are rarely needed.
There are two D interviews. Development Interviews are sessions where you work with a subordinate on improving some aspect of performance. Discipline Interviews are with subordinates who are not behaving or performing as they should and who are candidates for discipline or termination. These interviews are long. You must prepare for them and document them.
The bridge between Routine Interviews and the D Interviews is the Transition Interview. With Discipline situations it involves telling your subordinate that you've noticed their behavior or performance, that it's not acceptable, and that you will need to document it and work to correct it. With Development situation it involves telling your subordinate that they need to work on a particular thing to develop and inviting them to allow you to work with them and document their progress.
When you're planning for a Supervisory Interview, imagine what your final agreement will be like. Consider five things.
Behavior or Performance. What is it now? How will your subordinate agree to change it?
Timing. When do you expect the change to start and be complete?
Measurement. How will you both know if the subordinate has changed as agreed? Remember that not all measurement involves counting. You can measure using your professional judgment, but you need to state that clearly and tell your subordinate what will affect your evaluation.
Consequences. What happens if the subordinate changes as agreed? What happens if he or she does not?
Control. How much freedom will you allow?
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Once you've had your Supervisory Interview, your subordinate will either do what you've agreed or not. What you do next depends on what's happened.
They may do as agreed, or even more. They may try, but come up short. Or they may not try and come up short. At that point, you analyze the situation again and take action.
Remember that Discipline and Development situations take lots of concentrated time and preparation. One of the reasons is a third "D," Documentation.
You document behavior and performance, including your Supervisory Interviews, so that you can explain the reasons for your decisions to another party. Do it well, because you may have to do the explaining in a hostile environment.
Document only behavior and performance. Do not mention or consider things like attitude and motivation which cannot be observed. Follow the Joe Friday Rule: "just the facts." Leave the adjectives at home.
Write your documentation as close in time to the behavior, performance, or interview as possible. Right away is best. The longer the gap between the event and your documentation, the more subject you are to challenge.
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There are many lists out there of "traits" of leadership and "characteristics of great leaders." Those lists are fun to read, but they're not very helpful.
It may be intellectually satisfying to know that great leaders "motivate people." But unless you know what they say and do to make that happen, it's not helpful to you.
I've been researching great leaders, especially great front line supervisors for almost forty years. In that time, I've noticed that there are a million ways to be lousy supervisor. But the great ones do pretty much the same things.
Here's my list of the nine things that great supervisors do. Some of their less successful peers do some of these things. Great supervisors do them all.
Great supervisors accomplish the mission and care for their people. Great supervisors deal with today, tomorrow and critical incidents. Great supervisors get rave reviews from their bosses, their peers and their subordinates. Here's what they do to get those results.
Great supervisors show up a lot. Everything good flows from this.
Great supervisors use every contact with a subordinate as an opportunity to coach, counsel, correct and encourage.
Great supervisors adapt their behavior to their subordinates and to the situation.
Great supervisors work hard to be understood. They develop their ability to give good instructions. They check for understanding. They check to see if understanding translates into behavior or performance.
Great supervisors manage the consequences of behavior and performance. They use positive consequences to encourage people to change or to continue working and improving. They praise more than their peers. They use negative consequences to get people to stop doing things.
Great supervisors set the example. They pay attention to what they do, what they say, how they spend their time and what they praise because they know that their subordinates are taking cues from them.
Great supervisors rehearse mentally. They play "what-if" about work and supervisory situations. They imagine what might happen and work out how they'll respond.
Great supervisors critique their own supervisory performance. They seek and use feedback.
Great supervisors get the laundry done. "Laundry" is all the little things that have to be done to keep things moving. You can let them slip for a day, but you can't let them go too long. Great supervisors not only do meaningful evaluations, they also get their reports in on time.
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