Thoughts on management

Remember you are the boss. You are the one employees will be proud of. You embody the reasons people work for your company. People will start off respecting you for the position you hold. Don’t minimize your position or act like their buddy.

Set standards that are fair and understandable. Remember that “fair” is a standard that evolves over time. People need to be reminded of this. You may give someone extra time off or the ability to work from home to meet a personal crisis. Make sure you can apply the standard to everyone in the same situation – but have them understand that they may not need this flexibility for years. Fight the temptation to do too much for one person (even if their situation deserves it) if you cannot do the same for others when they are in need.

Thank three people for something every day. Leave a voice mail for them on your way home from work if you don’t see them before leave.

Thank at least one person at every staff meeting.

At least once a month tell your boss that someone that works for you did a great job and encourage him or her to send a note to that person.

Get to know the people below your direct reports.

Have an extended management staff meeting (your direct reports and the supervisors/managers that report to them each quarter. Start to know them and work with them directly when appropriate. Your bench can be as important as your starters when crunch time comes.

When someone does something worth remembering, write it down and put it in their
1 x 1 file. This will enable you to provide positive feedback, and also is very helpful at review time (it is hard to remember what people had done 10 months earlier). Do the same with areas that need improvement.

Know that every decision you make will be reviewed ad nauseum among all your employees. Get used to this.

Listen twice as much (or more) as you talk. You can never learn when your mouth is engaged.

You do not run a democracy. Voting is a poor way to make important decisions (although can be very useful for minor decisions where the outcome is not really important).

Always solicit input – but make decisions that you are comfortable with. Expect you will have to justify every decision to the President. Just thinking that way will help steer you in the right direction.

Set performance standards that are easy to understand, controllable by the employee and easy to measure.

Have every person in your organization develop a list of 4 process improvements (one a quarter) they will own and implement in the coming year. If you do this consistently, you will improve hundreds of processes each year. Hold people accountable for meeting these goals. Your job here is to clear obstacles – not do the work.

Be known as an astute financial manager. Spend less money than you can.

When doing compensation increases, review total comp with the employee before getting to their raise. This includes current salary, benefit load, 401K contributions, training and development, bonuses, options and other forms of comp. Someone who makes $60K may be surprised to learn that it costs the company a $100K to pay them that. It helps put it all in perspective.

Find a way to benchmark efficiency (ex. Total payroll divided by total claims processed). Keep track of this and improve. It is helpful to have several measures to work against. Have your people understand these measures and set goals to improve results.

Try to visit people in their offices whenever possible.

The first few times you have to have a discipline conversation, write the whole thing out. Answer the main questions (what was done, why is was inappropriate, corrections needed now, actions required going forward, time line to check back with that ee and confirm that good progress is being made). Writing it out really clarifies your thinking.

Don’t soften the blow when having a performance related discussion. Nothing is worse than leaving an ee unsure of what he/she did wrong and what is needed to correct it. Deliver the news straight up and concisely. Then ask if there are questions. Make sure they really understand how their action impacts the company negatively (remember – this is not personal, invoking the company makes it more of a third person discussion). . End on a positive note (I want us to move beyond this situation…).

Performance plans should all build toward a goal. If you want to save $1,000,000 – then every single person from the admin to you needs to have this in his or her annual plan. Make every person accountable for results – in writing.

Be totally focused during 1 x1’s. Don’t take phone calls, eat, talk to others, read or do anything except listen and take notes. Nothing screams respect and understanding more than a focused boss.

Learn to recognize when you are jealous of your ee’s and deal with it before you open your mouth. Moving from an individual contributor to manager can be one of he most frustrating transitions there is. Things may seem to move slowly, other people may not perform as well as you did. Be patient with this transition and learn to gain satisfaction from your ee's success as well as your own.

Find a peer or two in other companies (non-competitors) that you can ask questions of. Go to a professional conference with just this goal in mind.

Prepare an agenda with action items when you meet with your boss. Send pre-work on issues that are larger or complicated.

Remember that every employee is hired to generate profit for the company. There is no other reason to hire or keep someone. Get everyone to understand how his or her role contributes to profitability.

People work for people – not for a company. Your people work for you. Make an environment where they can see the positive results and they will stay and flourish. Take the time to explain how comp increases, stock price increases, bonus checks and other recognition items are directly connected to their results.

Every situation has a solution. Make sure you know what it is before you act.

Remember that success is not guaranteed, hard work is no substitute for good thinking, acting impulsively will always come back to bite you and everyone is watching and evaluating you all the time.