Onboarding Leaders

Will onboarding a leader require a different/additional/modified focus compared to onboarding any other employee?

I don’t think so. If onboarding were to be defined both as onboarding (into role) and induction (into company), then these will be required to be focused on for any new employee including a new leader.

But HR might need to play a more involved role in onboarding leaders.

In case of IC employees or managers, there are enough systems and informal feedback mechanisms in place for employee to understand how s/he is inducting into company. HR will check in on health of induction – but it is mostly periodic check ins.

In case of leaders, feedback may not come in diluted from below hierarchy. Secondly there may not be many role models leader can refer to – leadership positions may be lonely positions J. So leader does need a frame of comparison (with other successful leaders –present/previous) and a way of getting feedback (in a non –threatening space).

These 2 are specific ways in which HR can play a required more involved role in onboarding leaders.

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Sourav

Exceptions!

´Exceptions´ are multi-headed monsters that all of us detest or love (depending on whether we benefit from it or not) but none of us can avoid in our work lives. 

We create processes and quality systems and focus on their reliability but sooner or later an exception always does come up. 

A few manifestations of exceptions I’ve come across:

• Management by Exception: I used to work at a factory at a point of time. I found some managers managing only exceptions. They used to find exceptions only through excel sheet trackers or when a workmen raised a hue and cry.  If there was no escalation, everything was running ok and the manager was doing his job.

• Setting Precedent or Going Against Established Precedents:  A boss says ´Should I make an exception for you? Well! I can but then I would be setting a precedent that I might have to follow for others or go against a precedent already in place.´

• Policies for Exceptions: A boss says ´What´s policy for making exceptions? J I can´t act without a policy.´

• Feedback by Exception: This is another manifestation of management by exception. A boss says ´If an exception gets bubbled up to me; my reportee is not doing his job. He obviously would get dinged in performance appraisal for this. ´ Reportee responds ´Well! I´ll ensure you hear of no exceptions/escalations.´

I feel dilemma around exceptions comes from our discomfort with feeling ´we are standing out´ and with anything/one that ´stands out´.

Decision to be taken always is ´what´s correct response here?´.  Response to processes should be ´how will these aid me? ´ and not ´how will these replace me?´.

Exceptions can never be eliminated because our processes/policies/excel sheet trackers would only be for a specific set of general circumstances. Whenever a unique circumstance arises, an exception might be required.

What has been your experience with exceptions?

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Sourav

Feedback

What role does feedback play in Performance Management?  To answer this question, we´l l have to first answer a more fundamental question ´How does a manager arrive at a proposed rating for an employee?´

A Manager relies on his own judgment & employee´s self assessment– that´s what I have been used to seeing for a long time.

But in new context, I find that a manager additionally relies heavily on feedback received from others. There even is a feedback framework in place – employees use a feedback tool to request feedback and to give feedback.  Tool sees heavy 2 way traffic.  

So why do I see this change?

I think 2 primary reasons are:

·         Ecosystem -  I frequently hear here word ecosystem being used to describe number & variety of stakeholders one works with.  The circle of interaction and influence is not only within your team and teams/leaders you support. It is a matrix structure. Number of stakeholders potentially impacted is fairly higher than in a functional role based setup.

·         Manager´s role description– Most Managers here have a healthy mix of People Management and Individual contributor responsibilities. A Manager is accountable for his own performance and his team´s performance. Hence need for a Manager to balance his time.

Given these 2 realities, a feedback tool seems relevant to provide a manager more holistic visibility about his reportee´s performance.

Would such a tool be relevant for setups where above mentioned 2 realities are not so prevalent?

Manager´s judgment is paramount. But feedback is necessary to enable manager to take a better decision. So a feedback tool may not be necessary, but a feedback framework – on how employees request, give, & receive feedback – does make sense for all setups.

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Sourav

So! What Exactly Is Different?

What is different? You have been here for sometime. How do you experience this place differently?

These are questions i have been frequently asked over last few months. 

At times I have wondered ´things maybe different but why is that important´.

When I had come in here I was clear that what´s I experience differently would just be classified as something that is different. 

I joined here with a mindset ´What´s different would be classified as something that´s just different. I won´t put a ´like´ or ´dislike´ tag against it´.  

Have I been successful in living up to my initial thoughts?  Well, Yes and No! It has not been a trouble free journey. But overall I do think I have been comfortable with non-judgmental hat I have chosen to worn.

But then experience has been different in parts.   What have these perceived ´differences´ been?

Initially, obvious ´visible´ differences struck me - Dress people wear to work, absence of formal work timings, preference for emails over phones, focus on punctuality (meetings starting/stopping on time- well, not always!), usage of quite succinct and sometimes unique terms (program manager, rhythm, decks, etc), prevalence of ´lunch meetings´, etc. 

Over last few months, I´ve had deeper realizations and insights. Am I done yet? I am not sure whether I can be ever done. I feel I am peeling off layers of an onion. I´ve peeled off a few layers. It has taken me sometime to do so. I´ve seen some visuals but then I realize those visuals itself might change tomorrow. There are a number of layers yet to be peeled.

Here are some visuals/realizations/insights I have had till now:

• Quarter Focus - I do perceive urgency in meetings and at work to meet metrics for current quarter.  This  quarter focus seems to be a double edged sword. It  does seem to keep everyone on their toes but most of focus of work is current quarter.  What in our work are we doing today for the long term (even the next quarter)? Balancing my daily work around areas that have immediate impact and areas that have slightly longer term impact does seem to be a ´tension´ I have to manage. Do I see everyone around me focusing on or being able to manage the same? Well! Yes and No!

• Metrics, Scorecards – I do perceive a focus on meeting scorecards (mostly quantitative). This focus is prevalent in HR areas too, including ones traditionally considered ´soft´ and not amenable to quantitative measurement. The principle ´what gets measured gets done´ certainly does hold true here. But there are times I observe a seeming neglect on what might be important but is not a part of the scorecard (probably because it is too behavioral/soft to be quantitatively scored).  I have perceived this organization as one that runs on scorecards.  I see challenge as ´Can we make these scorecards more encompassing? Can important qualitative metrics, that measure subtle and soft HR areas be included in scorecards too?´ I do sense we have distance to travel in this area.

• Listening and Expressing-  I sometimes observe an impatience to express oneself.  But when everyone wants to express, who listens?  I smile to myself when I hear the oft made statement ´I´ve heard you but…´.  I am tempted to ask in return ´What have you heard…?´ J.  I wonder whether the ´quarter focus´ leads to this phenomenon.  I like listening and I express in my own way.

• Disagreements and Feedback – Sometimes I realize that someone is disagreeing with me but is not saying so in so many words. The first few times I experienced something like this, I was left feeling confused. Over a period of time I have started sensing when someone is possibly disagreeing with me, even if s/he was not expressing so. I wonder whether our focus on being Respectful to each other gets probably misperceived by some as not expressing disagreements with each other. I also see this manifested in some groups where there is an aversion to having ´crucial conversations´, disagreeing, and providing critical feedback. Does it mean that individuals are not provided feedback? Sooner or later they are given feedback. Are they taken by surprise in such cases? Yes!  Do they like such a surprise? No! What has my response been? Well, when I have disagreed I have put my point forth. But I have tried to be respectful to the other person too. We can be respectful while disagreeing too.

• Confidence – I sense there is importance attached with projecting ´confidence´.  I find pockets where employees are mature to understand the implication of such a focus. I find other pockets where employees seem to misunderstand focus. In these pockets projecting confidence seems to be equated to not being perceived wrong and need to have immediate answers/solution to any situation. I remember something I had heard a long time back ´The 3 most difficult things to say in an organization are I don´t know, I am sorry, and I need help´.

• Channels of Communication – I initially perceived that it this was an email driven organization.  But then over a period of time I have observed subtle nuances too. I quite often hear ´I´ve heard about you …´. There are times when people come back and say ´Give me a call if you want to talk … ´So emails do work but I also perceive the need for ´high-contextual´ means of communication.  I sometimes wonder ´what is comfort of some of our employees with low contextual means of communication?´ This does seem to be an area of focus. Additionally I do perceive unsaid rules about who gets talked to and for what.  So yes, need for both ´high context´ and ´low context´ means of communication seems to co-exist here.

• Rhythm – I have talked about this before too.  I like the delineation of what´s in rhythm of business and what´s not. It provides a relevant yardstick to remind us whether we are working enough in taking the business to next level.  But are we fully understanding and utilizing this delineation? I think we could do more.

• Multiple Cultures/Group Norms – Is there a common overarching culture here? I perceive various sub-cultures across different businesses even within same geography.  Meeting norms (when do meetings get called and for what,  what gets discussed in meetings, what´s pre-work expected before meetings), email norms (what kind of emails with larger group get exchanged,  what gets responded to, speed of response), inter-personal norms (how frequently do people talk to each other and for what, what gets acknowledged/recognized, etc) seems to vary a bit across teams.  I am reminded of onions again. There are different onions. In many ways they are same but in some ways (maybe taste, smell, or looks) they are a bit different from each other.

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Sourav

Feedback on a Situation!

Something happened post Focussed Group Discussion (FGD) i was facilitating yesterday that has stayed with me.

I was discussing with the 'People Manager' concerned about what had been the major themes that had come out of the FGD.

I was telling the manager concerned what the group felt about how we could better structure/use in-person interactions (individual discussions between the manager and reportee's). I shared 'What they wanted more/less/started/stopped during these discussions?'.

Initial reaction of manager concerned was defensiveness. At one point, s/he expressed 'This is an unfair demand from me!'

His/her reaction made me aware of something i had forgot to make him/her aware about. My discussion with team was about 'what needed to change in the situation?' and was not about 'what the manager needed to do differently?'.

The subsequent question obviously is 'If these are the changes we want, who needs to do what differently? What would you need to do differently?'

Once i made manager aware that the focus of the discussion was on the situation and not the person, i sensed s/he became more receptive to looking at the feedback objectively.

I realize that the next conversation i need to have with his/her group would be around 'What does each stakeholder -manager and employee - needs to do what differently to achieve changes envisaged in individual conversations?'

Feedback is difficult to accept if we view it as 'feedback on us'. Feedback is easier to accept, if we view it as 'feedback on a situation in which we are one of the parties involved' - probably it is also a more constructive way to look at a situation.

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Sourav

Pedagogy and Andragogy

I, at times, land up for my dance classes early. I listen to songs on my Ipod, finish warming up and centering, and am raring to go but there still is some time left before I get in. What do I do?

For the lack of anything better to do, I sometimes peep in and observe what’s happening in class.

I find the Kid’s classes intriguing and amazing. There is only one adult in the room –the instructor. S/he is trying to teach around 30 kids in age bracket of 3-7 years how to dance. I observe the instructor animated, patient, and trying everything under the Sun to teach. I observe the kids doing what they want to do – some listen closely to the instructor and follow her/his instructions, others take a fancy for few particular steps and just keep on doing those steps, some others are looking around for their mummy, and then there are others who seem to be lost in their own world.

While I was observing one such class, Jim and Aparna (2 instructors- names changed to maintain anonymity J ) walked up to me and asked “What are you observing?” I looked at them and asked ‘Do you guys instruct kid’s batches too?’ They nodded.

Aparna said ‘They are the toughest batches to instruct in. I usually am mentally fatigued by the end of such a class. You just don’t know what holds their attention. You might have had a brilliant class today. You try the same thing tomorrow and it fails. You have to improvise from class to class.‘

Jim added ‘I have realized that words have limited impact on these kids. Illustration helps because then they start imitating you. What I do before each class is to figure out what I want the kids to imitate today. I go ahead and demonstrate/illustrate those in class and that seems to work. It is also necessary to make the class fun and play like. Kids love to play!’

We were about 10 minutes into our conversation when a senior colleague from office dropped in. He had come there to pick up his daughters who were there in the kid’s batch. In sometime Jim and Aparna left, and we 2 colleagues started discussing ‘Do adults learn differently and if yes, how?’’.

What do you think? How do adults learn differently from the way children do?

Yes, Malcolm Knowles does talk about andragogy (adult learning) and he does mention that adults learn when it makes sense for them, in the way they want to, and prefer to learn experientially.

But what does our own experience say about the way adults learn. How consequently should instructors change their style?. I have a few observations to make:

• Control is a key word for adults. One corollary of this is ‘We want to know why we are doing something’ which would translate to ‘We want to know how learning would have relevance for us’. Relevance is usually sometime in the near future. For the instructor, this means, the necessity to sensitize adult learners to how learning’s have relevance to their context and how they can use leanings in their work/lives.
• Adults do tend to be judgmental, usually rejecting what doesn’t fit in their world views. Judgment is usually a ‘parental’ characteristic. It is important for an adult to be in ‘adult, rational state of mind’ during the learning process. An instructor has a role to play in making a learner consider new/different ideas.
• It is also necessary to maintain ‘curiosity’ during the learning process – the fun of discovering something new and knowing that something interesting might be up for grabs at the next turn. Curiosity is a ‘free child’ characteristic. This combination of ‘curiosity’ and ‘adult state of mind’ is difficult to simultaneously maintain for adults but necessary for effective learning.
• The part about ‘What holds their attention’ is common for both kids and adults. If a kid is not attentive, s/he would show it. If an adult is not attentive, s/he may still fake attentiveness. I think it’s necessary for instructors to be keyed on whether the group at large is being attentive but if some individuals are not being attentive then the instructor should focus on those who are being attentive and have an offline discussion with the ‘inattentive individuals’.
• All of us require feedback. Feedback tells us whether we are on the right track and gives us the confidence to go ahead. Maybe as adults we prefer primary feedback – we try out something for ourselves and see whether it works. That’s where the emphasis on experiential learning for adults might come from. But that doesn’t mean children don’t need feedback. It is just that they might be okay if a teacher/instructor were to tell them whether they are on the right track or not. As an instructor, we have to figure out ways for adults to get primary feedback during the learning process. ‘I learn something, try it out, see for myself if it works or not, and make changes accordingly.’ Experiential learning is important for adults.

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Sourav

Can You Show me the Way?

A few months back a colleague had shared an article on health status of Developmental processes in different companies.

The article laid out a framework for a robust developmental process – evaluation, feedback, and planning. It subsequently elaborated on what the study had found about the existence/effectiveness of these sub-processes in different companies.

While most companies seem to do a good job of evaluation, lesser number of companies focus on providing feedback to their employees on the basis of evaluation. A miniscule number of companies focus on providing adequate developmental opportunities and on the effective usage of these opportunities, on the basis of the evaluation shared.

Is this framework complete? Does it cover all important aspects required to ensure effectiveness of developmental processes?

I think it does but it doesn’t flesh out some important aspects of the Developmental Planning and Execution phase. The presence/absence of these aspects can ensure the success or failure of the process.

Firstly, individual ownership for his/her own development. If i am not interested in my development, the efforts of others on my development would not result in any progress.

Secondly, I might know that I need to develop but how do I go about doing it? If I were to look back at the times I have developed/not developed can I pinpoint the reasons for it? This certainly is not an easy task.

There is a risk that a developmental planning discussion degenerates into one blind asking the another blind to draw the way out for him. The intention of both the parties (even though positive) would not fructify into results.

Hence an evidence generating procedure (evaluation and feedback is one manifestation of it), developmental opportunities (identification and deployment), individual ownership, trust in the relationship, and a shared understanding of how an individual develops (and this understanding has to be at the individual level) seems to be the crux of the matter when it comes to Developmental processes.

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Sourav