Managing: A Manifesto
This is not another essay about why you need to be a leader, step up and take more responsibility, take on the big new account, or lead the newest project.
That advice is the wrong advice. It’s the advice of the wildly ambitious, the charlatans, and the gurus. It’s the advice of those that think that success equals more responsibility, more work, and a broader scope of influence at all costs. It’s the advice of those addicted to the grind, the myth of meritocracy, and the love of the corporate lords.
That advice is a trap.
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You let the first things be first. Let the flashy leaders lead and burn up. You don’t burn up. You run a tight ship. You step back, look at your current scope of work, and focus on how to make them better. You win where others fail because you have a plan.
You turn the chaos of leadership decision-making into order.
First, you protect and carefully define how your team takes on new work. You are explicit about your criteria. You publish your process. Make it official with an illustration of how it works. Get your boss and your boss’s boss to sign off. Tell them it will make it more efficient and less ambiguous.
The hard part next. You force your boss and your boss’s boss to use the process. No more late emails, no more requests. All customers of your team follow the process. No exceptions.
They balk and push back. You resist the urge to roll over. Instead, you tell them they hired you to manage the team and get the work done. You remind them that they agreed to the process.
You may lose this battle, but you mark the date of the loss. Because they ignored the process, the request will be worse. You let it be worse. Let the quality of your deliverable reflect the quality of the request. You show your boss the consequence of ignoring the process. Give them feedback. Wring your hands over how you wish they had followed the process. Show them how much better following the process can be. You manage up.
Next, you protect the time of your team. Plan the work and publish the plan. Ask your team what they can deliver, and hold them to the deadline. Make the deadlines known to everyone. Someone will be burned by over-commitment. You let them burn. Let the burning teach your team about the pace of the work. And you fall on your sword about the commitment. Take responsibility for overcommitting. This is, after all, your team, your process, your machine. You explain why your team overcommitted and why it will not occur again. This wins you loyalty from customers and your team.
Your only goal is to know the rate of work. You know how long it takes your team to do a task. Once you have mastered this, you will never fail to meet a deadline.
Your goal as a manager is consistency, no surprises. Your goal is to teach your team to create consistency, no surprises. Your goal is to teach your clients to be consistent. You teach your allies to be consistent. If the team is consistent, you succeed.
No one cuts a team that is managed well. No one cuts a team that performs as expected. Everyone trusts and relies on that team. Your team will be uncuttable; you will be invaluable.
Once the machine is consistent, you design new machines, new processes, manage more teams. You lead by taking ambiguity and making it predictable. You lead by succeeding and knowing you will succeed. You know you will succeed because you have ensured it.
Now, the real root of the game: You manage your life, too. You practice what you preach. You know when something is worth doing. You have processes for taking on new goals and new ideas. You pick a target, aim, and follow-through.
You design your deep goals to produce successful outcomes. You have turned yourself into a goal-completing machine.
And now that you have done this, there is no work that you cannot manage, no goals that are beyond your grasp.
