[Lawn Lad]

I recently listened to several books on CD by Marcus Buckingham. Personally I'm most fond of 'Now, discover your strengths', but I also enjoyed 'The one thing you need to know... (about management, leadership and personal effectiveness). One other title that covers a similar topic is 'First break all the rules'. Listening to them all within several months of each other has made it difficult to recall the finer points of each separate from the other, but taken in whole I very much like his thoughts and opinions on management.

I'm curious if others have read or listened to his books? What do you think?

I like his discussion about focusing on your strengths rather than your weaknesses. As a society we tend to focus on fixing our problems rather than working to recognize our strengths and putting them to work. He provides a framework in which I can think more strategically about talent, skills, and knowledge.

It has helped me to think about the frequency and manner in which I meet with my employees. The dreaded 'annual' review should be taking on a new look which is in process already.

I realized that I'm not a good or even great manager, it's not a talent of mine. I lack the 'coaching talent' that Buckingham talks about. It doesn't mean that I don't have to manage or can abdicate the responsibility to someone else, but I recognize that I'm not an expert at it, may not enjoy it and need to be good enough at it so that it doesn't hinder my operations. I have to therefore have a system or some processes in place to be more effective and so that as a business owner my lack of management skills don't detract from my other talents.

Buckingham used the example of Tiger Woods being excellent and driving and putting, but his chipping game from the bunkers was on the lower end of the PGA tour stats. Tiger didn't focus on his weakness to the point that he tried to make it a strength, which would have been a waste of energy, but just enough so that his bunker game didn't rob him of the opportunity of winning.

So I've been doing a little introspective reflection and realize that I need to improve my personal management of my people. I have been leaving them wanting, searching for more information and answers. I've not shared my vision as I should have. I'm talking with my guys more regularly as a group to share the company vision, reflecting on why we have our goals and what we're trying to accomplish as a company.

In conjunction with group conversations I've decided that quarterly I'll meet with my managers/foreman and have regular conversations for feedback (both ways), with my goal that the managers/foreman will take this same approach with their direct reports on the crew (we'll work through the details of how to do this as we gain experience ourselves). I've decided to implement a few of the questions that Buckingham uses as examples in his book (there were some others, but I don't recall them - I have to listen again to the tape).

The questions I'm asking now include....
1) What as the best thing that happened to you at work in the last 90 days?
2) What is the worst thing that has happened to you at work in the last 90 days?
3) What do you believe your role to be in the company? How do you see it evolving, if at all, in the future?
4) Do you have the necessary tools/knowledge/equipment to do your job?
5) What would you change about your current position if you could?

I then close it up with an opportunity to talk about anything else that's on their mind that we haven't covered in this meeting or in our weekly meetings? Anything they just want to share with me that's important to them?

I've enjoyed these conversations, I'm learning so much about their thoughts and ideas that it's making my head spin a little. Keeping them to 45 minutes, no more than 60, has been a challenge. But I suspect as we talk more frequently and follow a similar format we can keep the meetings short, sweet and to the point.

I'm looking to find out what they need from me and what's going to make them successful in their job so they have the opportunity to be satisfied about what they're doing at work. I'm having to realize that I'm not able to solve all the problems right away, but this also gives us a forum to talk about the goals we have for fixing some of these problems.

It's funny, even though we talk every day, and discuss a little more strategy in a weekly basis, we haven't really talked about these things that are more pertinent to their personal goals, satisfaction and their reflections about the company. As I'm working to implement this with my employees and discovered the power of these conversations... I stopped to ask myself about my home life. With the hustle and bustle of daily life I talk with my wife every day, but I had to stop and think in a similar vein about our personal life and how often do we ask these kinds of probing questions in a matter of fact manner?

How do others handle their conversations/reviews and so forth with your people? What kind of insights have you gained? What format, forum and/or stage do you use? Are you formal, informal? How do you communicate expectations to them?

Do you have any recommendations on other authors that you have found useful information?

[Stonehenge]

The "First Break All The Rules" title sounds familiar - I may have read that awhile ago, while working for another company.

A book I recommend (though the title seems off-putting to some) is "Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun". The book puts the needs of people in leadership and subordinate roles in an unusual perspective that I think resonates with the types of people we often have working with us.

I'm glad you're taking the time to do these reviews. I've tried it in fits and starts, but it never seems to stick. I run out of time to prepare, they often seem disinterested, maybe other reasons too. But it never seems to get traction.

You must be approaching it differently than I am, as it sounds like conversation flows pretty freely.

[Lawn Lad]

I'm approaching the 'conversations' openly, letting them know what I want to accomplish. I ask the opene ended questions and they talk. I then ask follow up, probing quesitons about specifics if necessary. I sometimes take notes during the meeting, but afterwards I always type up a summary of the notes, using the questions as the template, trying to keep it to no more than a one page summary. I then give the summary to the guy to read/review and ask him if I caught the major themes of our discussion.

I will answer questions and provide direction if they are asking for it, but I'm basically looking for open ended feedback, so I'm not giving them specific feedback on their performance, as this comes in little ways during daily stuff. I don't want to sit down formally and have an us vs them type approach.

As Marcus Buckingham says, as a manager, if you can't find four hours each year (1 hr per quarter) to talk with your people then he says you shouldn't be in managment. Like anything else you make the commitment. I didn't used to find the time either, I'm simpmly committing to make it happen. Ask me at the end of the year how successful I was at and we'll see. I'm trying to form a new habit, and by not making the process painful, but rather enjoyable from what I'm learning, it should make it easier.