Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Basic advice to managers about correcting the course of an endeavor. Be quick and be easy on everyone.

The title of this little management advisory is from author and consultant Jerry Weinberg. He wrote about it in one of his books. I also found mention of this in a blog post by Fadi Stephan.

Stated simply in a negative form:

Don’t overcompensate

One of the first things about being a manager is that,

the manager is the person who looks ahead.

Everyone else on a project is working today on today’s task. Today’s task must be finished before we work on tomorrow’s task. The manager isn’t working on any tasks – that isn’t the manager’s job.

The manager looks ahead and asks questions like:

• What is happening today?
• How will that affect us tomorrow?
• What is coming tomorrow?
• Is what we are doing well today going to be a disaster tomorrow?
• How can I change things today to better prepare us for tomorrow?

The wise manager is acting ahead of tomorrow.

the wise manager is acting early

Now we go back to that overcompensating thing. Poor-performing managers, as a former government employee I saw many of these, make big changes. The organization lurches. People spend half the day drinking coffee and complaining about what is happening. And then some people say,

Oh yeah? The smart SOB, or DOB, wants us to do it that way? I’ll really do it that way!

The next week, the SOB or DOB changes greatly in the other direction to over compensate for last week’s over compensation. The wild fluctuations continue.

Advice? (Of course I have advice.)

1. Look ahead
2. Think
3. Make small changes

How do you do #3?

One person at a time

1. Speak to one person in calm, thoughtful, and positive terms.
2. Repeat step 1.