Getting The Best Out of People Working For You
In my years working as a business co-founder, I am proud to say that in our tiny little bubble, I have managed to attract a few “potential” talents, and over time turned them into great candidates.
Not to sound cliche, but I still remember a quote by Andrew Carnegie, the king of steel, from Dale Carnegie’s book.
“Men are developed the same way gold is mined. When gold is mined, several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold; but one doesn’t go into the mine looking for dirt-one goes in looking for the gold.”
Andrew Carnegie
At the time when I was running our business, I couldn’t afford to bring in “top talent”, so I had to make my own. I stuck to Saudi students (in Japan) from the community around me. My only requirement was to show up on time. If the person keeps showing up, then there is a lot that can be done to build from there.
So how to get the best out of people working for you?
Three frameworks have to be considered.
“ You” (employer/manager), “ them”, and the “ interaction” between you both.
*The “interaction” part is practical advice, but also read the others to understand the underlying mindset.
Let’s start with “you”.
YOU
You have to absolutely believe that every person has the ability to become their best self if they:
A. Believe that themselves and take action.
B. Given an environment where they are encouraged to be that.
Constantly think about where they fit
Relative to them, you see a bigger picture. Meaning that you have the foresight to estimate where can they fit. Or what can they become good at if they keep doing X. Surprisingly, many people don’t even give a thought about the people working for them.
Close your eyes and try to remember a time when someone looked at you and said “I believe you can do X” or “you are very good at Y”. As a fan, you have to know what they are good at.
Clarity about their work & growth expectations
As much as possible, be clear about why they are doing this certain work or project. What kind of areas can they become better at by doing this work?
Them
They have to show up every day and have the mentality to learn more. The more the merrier, but they don’t have to have except such a positive attitude.
Interactions
Now to the practical stuff. My routine is divided into the following.
The power of 1-on-1 Their role and responsibility. Constant feedback
What has gone good, which has gone bad? Aside from the 1on1, this is after you finish each task, especially in the beginning phase. Just be straight forward about it. Praise what they did right, and explain WHY do you think it was done right, and what it shows. Also, explain where you think they could improve, and how can they do that. Give them an example of what you would have done if you were doing the task.
That being said, there are 3 very, very very very important things to keep in mind:
A) Always open the feedback conversation by explaining that there is nothing personal. We are going to talk about the work that has been done. This makes both parties look at things objectively.
B) I like to start by making the person who did the task explain the task. And I also ask them to analyze it on the spot. I these questions What do you think of the results? (Or what do you think of the design…etc) What problems did you run into? How did you solve them? What do you think you could have done better? What do you think needs improvements?
C) THEN, after I get all of that feedback from them, THEN AND ONLY THEN, do I start to give my feedback. If the thing that we are talking about concludes a few potential ways to execute, I explain that there are few ways to do it too.
Feedback is a very sensitive part of any conversation. Not all people like to hear other people shredding their work for them. So it is important to build confidence and look at things objectively. If the person doesn’t have analytical thinking, this is a good place to make it a habit for them to analyze their work and learn how to spot areas of improvement themselves.
One last side note.
Some (a lot of?) people fear that if they teach what they have to other people, that they’ll take their jobs. There is a job-security thing going on in their head. This type of attitude destroys organizations and doesn’t build a good career in the long term. For me, when I share my knowledge and thoughts with my team, first and foremost, that person becomes better at their job. They learn a new skill. They are happy, their boss (me) is happy, the organization is happy. What more? I built trust with them because now they know I have their best interest at heart. What about taking your job? Your homework is to let other people learn how to do your job so that you spend your time learning other new things and rise up your career ladder.
One last LAST note.
I like to work with the conventional wisdom of “always hire people who are smarter than you”. I just assume that everyone is smarter than me in some way. Sometimes they just don’t know it, and this is where I start the journey with them to find their potential, and discover what area are they smarter than most people in, and build on that.
Cover photo by Esteban Lopez on Unsplash
Originally published at https://mutaz.blog on May 23, 2020.
