The Managers Way

How do you teach people to be great managers? How do you teach people to teach other managers? One way I’m trying to do it is codify my experience and instincts into principles, values and tenets. What follows is a mix of stuff picked up from my time at Amazon, Facebook and, most of all, Intercom. If this stuff resonates, we’re hiring managers. DM me on Twitter or LinkedIn if you’d like to learn more.

Why we do this job

Our job as a manager is to sustainably deliver the most value in the shortest time by bringing out the best in our people.

If we’re not confident that we’ve brought out the best in our people then we’ve potentially left value or speed on the table.

The key difference between the mission of a manager and an individual contributor is the “by bringing out the best in our people” bit.

As current or potential managers, we believe that in the long term we will enjoy our work more and have more impact by spending a lot of our time doing things that help grow and bring out the best in our people. More so than we would if we focused most of our time on individual contributor work.

How we behave

• Display Empathy and Awareness; Assume Good Intent
• Be Kind
• Be Optimistic and Enthusiastic; Emit Positive Energy
• Be Ambitious, Determined; Hold High Standards
• Ask good Questions, Make good Decisions

What we do

Get and Set Context. Create Focus. Drive Impact. Cultivate Growth.

Get and Set Context

• Ensure that you are talking to the right people at the right time about the right things such that you have enough information to do your job well.
• Ensure that you are talking to the right people at the right time about the right things such that others have enough information to do their jobs well.
• Ensure that you are using all other relevant forms of communication to push out useful information pertaining to your team at appropriate intervals.
• Communicate as much context as often as you can and connect the work of your team and each individual to the big picture.
• Provide information people need to do their jobs efficiently and effectively.
• Help teams and people digest and make sense of change so we can move fast.

Create Focus

• Be responsible for enabling your team to have a bold Mission, Vision, Values, Strategy, Roadmap and Goals.
• Help each person on your team concentrate on the few things that matter, rather than the many things that can distract us along the way.
• Ensure clarity on expectations and set the bar high.
• Establish goals at regular intervals that make sense for your team.
• Evaluate progress and provide regular feedback.

Drive Impact

• Be accountable for getting things done in a timely way.
• Coach and guide people to great results.
• Grow autonomy within your team. Support bold moves and give more responsibility rather than less.
• Build trust and confidence; lead by example, hold yourself and your team accountable to meeting their commitments.

Cultivate Growth

• Do what it takes to be a great manager to each person on your team, knowing that it’s likely that each person needs something different from you, so ask them, regularly.
• See it as a priority to grow the impact and enable the progression of the people on your team.
• Foster an environment of continuous coaching, feedback, insights, and development all around you.
• Be honest, candid, thoughtful and empathetic when giving feedback. Err on the side of caution, role play with a peer any feedback that you’re not sure will land well.

How will we know we’re succeeding?

1. Our teams will deliver great things in short periods of time.
2. Our team, as a unit, will be healthy and have clarity on the things that matter (eg team mission, vision, values, strategy, goals, metrics for success).
3. Our team will have a healthy culture. Trust and respect will exist between team mates. Healthy debate will ebb and flow. Decisions can be made that everyone commits to. Accountability exists and there is an attention to results.
4. The people in our team, and others we interact with, will trust and respect us.
5. The people in our team will be as happy as they reasonably can be.
6. The people in our team will be developing and growing.
7. Other teams who interact with us and/or depend on us will trust and respect our team.