The Manager - 135 - Clean Slate
Monday 19th April 2021 - Clean Slate
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Hi,
I hope you are all okay and well.
It’s crazy busy here as we prep for moving to a new house. After spending an insane number of hours filling in legal documents for the sale and purchase, I’m reminded just how important good communication skills are in any industry. Solicitors, estate agents, council etc - they could all do with the communication workshop :)
Clean Slate
As a manager there will come a time when you take on someone else’s direct report. Maybe a transfer, or a job move, or for some other re-org reason.
I’ve talked before about the need to keep copious notes about feedback, one2ones and performance.
These notes, although created by yourself, belong to the organisation. They are a HR record of sorts, they are measures of performance, they are for the benefit of you and the direct. If there are performance issues, grievances, disciplinary actions or misconstrued conduct, you’ll be glad you have these notes.
These notes should move with the direct report - as in, they should be stored securely in your HR approved system and be passed to the new manager.
But, when you take on a new direct, you should disregard those notes as much as possible. Instead, start with a clean slate. Start from scratch. Build your own notes to complement.
Why?
Well, we all see what we want to see and hear what we want to hear. As such, it’s important you aren’t influenced and biased by another manager. Start fresh. Make up your own mind based on studying their behaviours and work output as objectively as you can. Build up your own understanding.
This gives everyone a fair chance, a clean slate and a fresh perspective. Take copious notes. Trust me, if something goes happens that requires legal/HR/performance interventions, you’ll be glad you kept records.
Keep notes, study, observe, delegate, give feedback and store the notes safely. When you take on a new direct, give them the best chance of excelling under your supervision as you can. In my experience this calls for you to avoid the previous managers notes. Instead, focus on starting fresh with a clean slate.
Until next time.
Rob..
Interesting articles
1. What does it take to be a manager in the current climate? A new set of skills and experiences? Or better behaviours?
2. Enjoyed this - learning the respond, not react. We could all do with this skills I suspect :)
3. Distributed work and the levels of autonomy. Still comes back to effective management.
4. Enjoyed this a lot - did the futurists of the past get things right? Buckminster Fuller, Isaac Asimov et al
5. If you've ever wondered what a "people strategy" is - here's some insights.....
Video
This week I published a video and post on how I use a children's puzzle to explain Business Agility to leaders and managers.
Read the post : https://cultivatedmanagement.com/releasingpuzzle/
Watch the video : https://youtu.be/_f3X_6wWeXg
Book of the week
Art and Fear is a wonderful book that really has brought me plenty of joy and inspiration.
It's a book about why making art is so hard and why we must simply keep practicing and creating.
It's full of wisdom and stories about why art matters to people and how to overcome the resistance and naysayers.
If you make art (writing, videos, music, painting, drawing etc) - this is a wonderful book if you've ever wondered why you bother :)
Art and Fear
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Thanks
Rob..