WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW CAN KILL YOUR CAREER

Mike, the manager of a software group, looked anything but pleased that his people had just completed a new product release and had done so on time, a first for the company. Mike's obvious depression in spite of his group's success surprised a co-worker who stopped by to congratulate him.

"I'm tired, and I don't have the energy to continue driving my people to produce," Mike told his co-worker. "I hate this job. I know it's a cliché, but I would like the job a lot better if it weren't for the people I have to work with."

Most vice presidents, directors, or managers charged with delivering products or services have to do it through their people. To achieve their own work-related goals, they must, like Mike, rely to a large degree on others--team or project leaders, middle managers, department heads, or similar counterparts, depending on the levels that exist within the organizational structure.

That kind of dependency can be both rewarding and frustrating. When directors, front-line managers, and work groups perform together as a team, productivity grows. Problems are solved on the spot. Products reach their markets. Customers are satisfied, and their loyalty is assured.

On the other hand, the potential for ineffective communication, roadblocks, disconnects, missed opportunities, and myriad other situations can take on frightening proportions. And when these problems arise, as they inevitably do, the success of the organization is threatened. In turn, the top-level person pays with lost image and increased stress. The tendency to look for someone to blame is natural--but nonproductive on all fronts. Instead, a knowledgeable response coupled with the right skills will fuel the drive toward solutions. This kind of positive response gets the job done for all concerned.

Developing Your Managerial Skill Set

Many successful top-level managers have learned the skills that allow them to produce effectively through others. But for those who are struggling, the best news is that specific skills do exist; they can be isolated, described, and understood. With practice, they can be mastered and applied in every work-related interaction to bring about a positive and productive outcome.

If you manage the work of groups or teams, chances are you possess some of the skills that successful managers have mastered. You have learned something about attaining organizational goals through the coordination and work of your people, and that knowledge is at least partially responsible for your accomplishments. Or you may be facing breakdowns and feel discouraged and confused. Another possibility is that you are new to management, having been recently promoted, and recognize that you have a lot to learn. Whatever the case, you're now ready to take what you know and move ahead.

If you are running into serious breakdowns or if things have changed dramatically, you are probably aware that you need further learning. But those of you who have experienced some success or been recently promoted may not be aware that the very skills that resulted in your success or promotion are not necessarily the skills you need to continue to succeed in your present position. What you know right now is necessary, yet not sufficient. Why? Because the demands made on you are changing more rapidly than ever before. All evidence supports the notion that technology and competition will interact to continue to accelerate change. All managers face this issue. Those of you who have been recently promoted, in addition to the above, now face the challenge of managing people who are on the level you've left behind. Once your peers, these people may now be your direct reports.

As you take on more management responsibility, you have many new areas to address. You must find your way through organizational politics, secure and maintain resources, make decisions on operational or technical implementations, and overcome any cultural inertia affecting change initiatives. And what about your vision for the future? Did you remember to bring one with you?

We all talk about getting our ducks in a row. But as you move to higher levels of responsibility, keeping track of all the ducks and getting them into marching order can be daunting.

"Managing in" and "Managing Up"

As if keeping track of your ducks weren't enough, you've also got to be good at balancing precious time between what we call "managing in" and "managing up." Managing in involves supporting your direct reports efforts to produce and at the same time developing ways to dramatically improve their competence to produce. Thes are prime responsibilities for your new level of leadership. You must also establish a system that allows your people and those who report to them to experience satisfaction, sustain high morale, and gain a feeling of well-being. If you don't, some recruiter will whisk your best people away to another company.

Managing up involves working with your boss to ensure that you know his or her strategic intentions, that you understand the factors critical to your success, and that your objectives are aligned with your boss's goals. Managing up includes developing relationships and understanding corporate politics so you can protect and support your people. It can also mean getting ahead by virtue of "the people you know," schmoozing or getting close to people at the top of the organization, and even misrepresenting or failing to report problems to your boss. Managing up may leave little room for considering the needs, concerns, and productivity of the people you manage.

As consultants, we have worked with scores of individuals in management, from every department of Fortune 500 companies. We have witnessed managers who managed up brilliantly, who were rarely in their offices or around their reporting managers, and who quite frankly did not intend to busy themselves with their people. Getting a moment with them was "beyond difficult," complained manager after manager. When these middle-level managers were fortunate enough to get some time with their boss, they left the meeting with less energy than when they went in. Their issues and concerns had not been addressed, and they were left to decide for themselves what course of action to take.

As you can imagine--or may have experienced, if you have worked for this type of individual--satisfaction and morale fell at all levels. Sometimes a hero showed up among the middle-level managers, someone who could maintain productivity despite the lack of direction and coaching from the leader. But too often this did not happen.

If you are the type who has determined, for whatever reason, that you will spend the bulk of your time managing up, then this book is not for you. Instead get the book Schmoozing For Idiots. If, on the other hand, you intend to grow your people and enhance their competencies, then we have something you can use. Managers just like you have learned the distinctions and practical methods we offer. And by applying them, they have increased their people's productivity, satisfaction, morale, and well-being.

The Warning

We are writing these articles to share what we learned in our work with middle and upper-level managers. Many of the VPs, directors, and managers we worked with had no clue that they might need to learn something new to succeed at their present level. In some cases, they simply didn't know what they didn't know. In other situations, they explained that to ask for support would portray them as "not knowing their job" or would demean them in some way. This is not unusual in a society that reinforces "being certain" and "looking good." But if you are determined to build a learning organization--one that encourages its people to think, innovate, grow, and produce--then top-level people must model that vision by becoming the first to open themselves to the trials and tribulations of the learning process.

We have observed that some managers unconsciously assume that the set of skills that led to their promotions will suffice. Operating from this assumption and from the erroneous belief that their best intentions, hard work, and high intelligence will "get them there," they proceed to make decisions and take action. Why do so many of these "well-intentioned, bright, hard-working" people who have been promoted into high-level positions end up being demoted or fired? We have seen this scenario played out again and again, in some companies as often as every two to three years.

Alert! We interrupt this communication so that you can get back to doing "real work". Next month you'll learn what happened to a manager named John in our next letter.