Right people on the bus
Reflections:
We now move from the inner circle of inside-out leadership, where the first four traits are character based- they define who Mary is, to the middle circle where the traits refer to what she does to lead those around her.
I appreciate that, early in your career, you may feel that some of these middle circle traits are less relevant to you. You will probably not yet be line-managing teams of people. I would like to suggest, however, that they absolutely are relevant now, for two reasons:
Firstly, you many not be line-managing larger teams now, but as your career progresses you may well do in the future. Equipping yourself with these principles now will stand you in good stead for that day. These principles of effectiveness are timeless.
Secondly, they apply even if you line-manage a single person, or if you lead teams of volunteers, or even in your work with colleagues, or on project teams.
I’d like to share with you just three principles for effective people management. They may be relevant already, they certainly will be as your career develops, so keep them close to you! They are all from ‘Good to Great’ and summarise Jim Collins’ study of leading teams in great organisations:
- If in doubt don’t recruit
- when you know you have a people issue, act
- put your best people on your biggest opportunities
A final thought- getting the right people on the bus and leading them effectively is far from easy. Indeed I believe it’s up there with the most difficult things any leader has to do. Having difficult conversations is particularly challenging. But you cannot avoid them. Mary does not enjoy difficult conversations, but she knows she cannot avoid them. It takes courage, resolve, and the determination to always do the right thing in the right way.
Capability & Attitude Matrix
Mary recognises that in any team, it is not just the results her people deliver that matter, it is also their attitude.
This is a really significant change of emphasis from that which so often exists in organisations. Traditionally, we have measured people by how capable they are, by the results they deliver. There is a second imperative however – people also behave in the right way. When this breakthrough in thinking occurs, it can result in a radically different approach to how we recruit, lead and develop our people.
Mary plots this by using the very simple matrix. The vertical axis represents how effective they are in their current role – the results they are delivering. The horizontal axis is about their behaviours and attitude.
Each axis is numbered 0-10. Using her understanding of each individual person, based on a combination of evidence and intuition, she can then place each of her people on the matrix using this scoring system.
For example, a person delivering steady, if unspectacular results but who has a positive impact on the rest of the team, might score 6 on the vertical axis and 8 on the horizontal axis. Conversely, someone who delivers good results consistently, but who has a poor attitude which can spread negative energy might be an 8 and a 2. You could do this for your team now. Be as honest as you can in your scoring. You may well end up with a matrix with people dotted in many different places as in the illustration.
You can now divide the matrix into four quadrants by drawing vertical and horizontal lines along the number 5. People in each quadrant present different challenges. Those in the top right quadrant are up there with you on the journey – they are potential drivers and need nurturing and developing to unlock their potential. The problem is, we too often ignore these people because we are dealing with issues elsewhere. We ignore them at our peril because if we do so, at best we are failing to unleash their full potential, at worse we leave ourselves open to them being poached by other organisations.
Those in the bottom right quadrant, above average in attitude but below average in capability and results, need individual action plans to build their capability. Those in the bottom left need individual plans too, but here, significant improvement in both areas in necessary if they are to remain on the bus.
It is those top left quadrant people who present the biggest challenge, delivering results for you but with a below average, often poor attitude. When I present this material, I get lots of knowing nods. Most of us have these people in our teams and organisations. They are often long servers. All too often we ignore the issues, because “it’s only Fred, he’s always been like that”, but every day they are draining energy from those around them.
Mary understands you cannot ignore the behaviour and attitude issues – they will not go away. She knows they are not easy to tackle, particularly if they have been ignored for years, but she will address them, always with determination, always fairly, and always treating everyone as an individual.
Where organisations do not accept that how someone behaves is as equally important as the results they deliver, it can lead to transformational change in the way people are recruited and managed and can be built into recruitment and management systems.
