Tuesday, March 3, 2015

A Contributing Member on a Winning Team

The most common and critical business relationship is between an employee and their boss. While leadership responsibilities certainly make the boss primarily responsible for that relationship, every employee needs to have ongoing conversations with the boss in five key areas (based on The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins). If the boss isn’t initiating the discussions the employee must take the initiative.

1 – Be clear on the situation. There are vastly different implications whether you are in a start-up situation; turn around; realignment; or sustaining momentum of recent success. Besides knowing where you are at the moment, it helps clarify the contribution you are expected to make to the team.

2 – Articulate and understand expectations. Following naturally out of understanding the situation; defining what is expected, by when, and how will help both parties establish a deeper understanding of what they each will give to and get from their work together. An important element of expectations is defining how performance is evaluated and measured for compensation changes.

3 – Figure out a style of working together. There are many different ways for a boss and employee to work together. Rather than taking a trial and error approach to finding what will work for both parties, it is far better to have a deliberate conversation and agree on a style. Elements of style include communication, feedback, progress updates, questions, and problems. For example, will we meet at planned intervals or as needed; in person or by phone or e-mail; one on one or at team meetings; written reports or verbal updates.

4 – Agree on resources available. Resources include budgets, equipment, time, people and facilities. A clear understanding of what you have or don’t have available to do the job is a critical component to defining and meeting expectations.

5 – Develop a plan for accelerating success and ongoing professional development. Everyone has something more they could learn and skills to add or develop. Beginning a dialog about these at the start establishes development and professional growth an inherent job element and a mutual recognition of current strengths and opportunities.

The best time to have the first round of these conversations is during the interview process. When open discussions in these five areas are ongoing natural interactions between the leader and the employee, success is more likely and both people will feel like contributing players on a winning team.