Coaching in analogies #25: The boss’s user manual
Any new product you bring into your life needs to answer a basic question: how do I get this thing, or this collection of pieces of a thing, to do what I bought it to do? It could be a vacuum cleaner, a bag of frozen vegetables or a dining room table.
There’s always a user guide. Instructions for assembly, instructions for use, maybe even instructions for how long to wait before you’ll know the thing is working.
I believe new bosses should be like vacuum cleaners or frozen vegetables. They should also come with a user guide.
Imagine if your onboarding materials for a new role included a one-pager about your manager that spelled out things like:
What sorts of decisions are completely for you? When do they want to be consulted, informed or have the final say?
When and how often would they like to hear from you?
When will you be meeting on a regular basis?
What’s the best way to get their attention in a hurry?
What are their major triggers or dislikes?
Real talk here for a minute: most bosses probably don’t do this. If you’re the boss, you can start with your next hire. If you’re not the boss, you can ask the questions and assemble your own user guide.
I once figured out that a long-ago boss was terrible at email. He could never seem to get on top of it, so it wasn’t an effective way to seek his input on anything meaningful. So I learned that the best way to catch him was a quick text message followed by an actual conversation. I had to learn this the hard way, but it wasn’t a big deal.
For a later role, I asked my leader a series of questions directly on my very first day. In response, I learned that he had no expectations about my whereabouts or the actual hours I’d work on any given day. And that he’d be happy to provide feedback at any time, but didn’t need to hear from me at any given interval.
It was a wonderful relationship that started out right. Kind of like a well-assembled dining room table that can last for years.
Coaching prompts:
When leading others, what’s most important for them to know about how you work?
Which mysteries about your leader, if you resolved them, would help you be more effective in your own role?
Image: Julia Silge on Flickr