When I work with executive teams, I uncover obstacles to execution that the team are just not seeing.
They are too close to it. Here’s a common one…
I want to talk about what happens when the GM and the executives don’t share a view of who is capable at the next level down, and what to do about it.
Here’s how this often goes…
I talk to the General Manager and they are concerned that the executives who report to them are stuck in the details and tactics — that they need to step up, think and work more strategically, and delegate better.
Then I talk to the executives and learn that they would LOVE to delegate more, but feel trapped because some of their people are not capable enough. They also feel like they don’t have the ability or support to make changes.
So the GM is thinking that the execs are upgrading talent where necessary, but the exec’s are not making changes to staff because they think there is some reason they can’t or shouldn’t — that they need to work with the people they already have.
Different views of key players
Also, often there is a key player that the exec trusts but the GM doesn’t, so there is lots of questioning or second guessing from above.
Or sometimes it’s that the GM has a “favorite” that the exec sees as not performing, so feels like their hands are tied to do anything about it.
This shoots the whole strategy in the foot.
The work of getting the strategy executed never quite lands in the right place.
Managers know they should delegate, but if they don’t have people capable of delegating to, they will jump in to get the work done personally.
They strain under the workload because they are doing too much of the work personally. They attempt to do their strategic work AND to “cover” for the weaker players on the team.
The strategic stuff takes ultimately takes a back seat to the current, urgent work. And the GM remains frustrated that the execs are still in the weeds.
1. You’re allowed and required. As a manager, accept as a fundamental truth that you should have confidence that you can delegate to every single person on your team and trust the outcome.
2. Get really clear about your players. Answer the following questions for each person:
- What is the risk to the business if this person doesn’t deliver well?
- Will training work?
.
3. Review it! Then (here is the magic), sit down with your boss and review these assessments for every single person on your team.
Get your boss’s opinion about these questions for each person. Talk it out. Get aligned.
Don’t make assumptions that you can’t fire people because your boss likes them, or that you are not allowed.
Don’t make assumptions that your boss does or doesn’t trust someone on your team without asking specifically.
This saves so much time and heart ache.
Get all the opinions and concerns (yours and your boss’s) out on the table and then act. Get a plan.
You and your boss need to be in lock step to make sure that you both trust every single person on your team to be delegated to.
.
It’s your job to build the team that can deliver what the strategy requires.
See Also: Strategy into Action
Don’t let different expectations about who is trusted get in the way. Find out and then build the right team.
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