change Archives — Leadership Q&A

Basics

Why is my manager so focused on quick wins?

November 19, 2018 by Brian Goodman No Comments

Man with jet pack ready to sprint to a "quick win"

READING TIME: 4 MIN

Q: Why is my manager so focused on quick wins?

A:

Establish possibilities.
Build momentum.
Encourage people.

Quick wins are a common recipe for managers leading change. They establish evidence that something new is possible. When quick wins align with a longer-term strategy, they build a chain of momentum. They are both continued evidence that the change is at hand and they encourage people to keep going and join in. If your manager is focused on quick wins, they are likely navigating the team through innovative programs, projects, process, technology or organization.

Now, as with anything new, not everyone is going to want to be the early adopter. That means you might not be part of the team making the change and that might feel a little awkward. After all, we all want recognition for what we do, and a shiny new object might get all the visibility.

3 Ways Inexperienced Leaders Misuse Quick Wins

Feigning Progress

One of the behaviors immature leaders will exhibit is using quick wins to feign progress when the real work is missing expectations. You can tell this is what’s happening when the quick win does not actually align meaningfully with the more strategic work. It often feels like duplicative work or throw away.

Creating First Mover Advantage

Another reason less effective leaders push for quick wins is for internal “first mover advantage” where showing existing work is evidence of ownership. So, the idea here is that if they can show they are already engaged then they should either own the mission or at least have a seat at the table. You can tell this is the case when they are producing slideware far in advance of any real work. Another indicator is if the work being executed is awkwardly including only slightly related past deliverables as if to show a longer history.

Building The Brand of a Change Agent

Finally, quick wins can become the favorite strategy of opportunistic and tactical leaders. They champion speed of execution to take on the brand of a change agent, but never actually deliver on anything strategic. They run from win to win with superficial connection to strategic priorities or initiatives. You can tell this is happening when the team’s work has high churn in topic and priority. Another indicator is that the volume of accomplishment list is long but is shallower on impact and value.

These last three uses of quick wins are not all bad, even if they nod to icky company politics. There is something to be said for effectively managing expectations using frequent deliverables, proving expertise where the leadership and team are passionate and erring on the side of progress and not perfection. Avoid the less virtuous behavior aspects and quick wins offer these advantages.

Next steps: Actions that change everything

Link quick win activity to strategic themes, programs, projects or initiatives. Avoid gratuitous delivery.
Use quick wins to demonstrate what is possible, create momentum and encourage. This is about creating clarity, support and permission.
Use quick wins to show interest in new work in a minimal risk and high impact way. Think prototype vs. product. Think value vs. variety.
If you are great at innovation and not as interested in production, get good at building process and teams to transition the initiative from fast mover to steady state. This all about ensuring your work burns brightly vs. flash in the pan.
If you are the type that is less excited by the quick win drum beat, consider managing the work using an agile method. Agile methodologies are all about reducing work to actionable steps to show progress, reduce failures to delivery and increase delivering something of value. Suddenly, the quick win is simply the outcome of a sprint from a strategic body of work vs. a special project.

Three tools for all leaders

READ

The Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers

by Geoffrey A. Moore

READ

Agility Shift: Creating Agile and Effective Leaders, Teams, and Organizations

by Pamela Meyer

READ

The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter, Updated and Expanded

by Michael D. Watkins

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Communication, Development

How can I make the most of my manager’s feedback?

November 5, 2018 by Brian Goodman 1 Comment

READING TIME: 5 MIN

Q: How can I make the most of my manager's feedback?

“I recently had a performance review with my manager and it didn’t feel particularly useful. I could tell he received some feedback and was just repeating it. I argued my points and yeah now what?! I get that I own 50% of the communication problem, so what should I be doing to better receive feedback?”

A:

People fear judgement

Somewhere the information you need to do better is hiding

People are scared of feedback, because of their relationship with judgement. No one likes being judged. Oddly enough we are more willing to judge ourselves, and often harshly. We dislike the rejection feedback typically takes. Sure, not all feedback is negative, but we all have things to work on, so somewhere the information you need to do better is hiding.

Forget what you may have been told

This is why we are told to lace feedback with positive observations. The hope is that some how people won’t feel as bad with the real feedback, because it isn’t all bad news. These old school techniques help deliver the message, and the problem remains. The person hearing the feedback is not open to receiving, because it feels disingenuous.

Seeking out feedback

Poorly delivered feedback has zero staying power.

More experienced and expert individuals tend to have the courage to seek out and receive feedback. Unfortunately, most people are not effective at delivering constructive feedback. Whether it be content or delivery, not being able to deliver meaningful feedback is fatal for a leader. The cynical employee can easily push off all criticism because they know challenging conversations are hard, that they have evidence to contradict and rationalize. Poorly delivered feedback has zero staying power

Getting better at receiving feedback

So, how do we get better at receiving feedback?

People do not provide feedback enough. Feedback should happen so often that no one is ever surprised finding out too late. Receiving feedback gets better as you learn how to thoughtfully give it.
When we provide feedback, we don’t spend the time to consider the individual’s a) response b) context c) next steps. There is a level of empathy needed to consider not just the message, but how the content will be and should be received.

If someone feels the need to provide feedback, take the opportunity to process it. We can always decide to discard it later, but if we don’t hear it and process it, we won’t know if there is something there to work on.

Three steps to better reception

Listen. We are all too quick to respond with the reasons why we care the way we are. As if we may lose the opportunity to defend ourselves. So, listen to what is being said to effectively make sense of the feedback.
Process. Active listening means you need to be able to repeat what you heard in your own words, to verify and communicate your understanding. Ask yourself: What is being said? Can you repeat back in your own words what was said? Are there specific examples that can help you synthesize a pattern of understanding the content and the impact it is having?
Evaluate. No one expects change to happen upon awareness. At least not unless it’s a severe issue needing immediate change, such as in the cases of violations of code of conduct, safety or law. Assuming we are working with typical feedback, the kind intended to make us better, it needs to be sorted and evaluated.

First, is it true? If it is true, then what needs to change to address the feedback? Behavior, skill or experience. A plan of action is required to make any meaningful change.

Example Feedback

Sometimes you make people feel stupid in the way you speak, look and write. Even if you are right about something, or if they are not as capable, you need to find a way to manage yourself in a way to be less destructive of others.

Example Action

For every meeting, begin by writing a simple intention at the top of your notes.

People remember how you make them feel. Meet everyone with compassion and kindness.

For some this may read too “out there,” but honestly, intention matters. Consistently set the kind of intention you want and you will change the behavior.