By John Featherstone
Objective: Keep your effective managers.
Concepts
- Keeping good people requires that they be managed well.
- Don’t take motivation for granted. Apply liberally and watch him/her perform!
Action Steps
- Be forthright with your comments, yet show some sensitivity to his/her desire for change.
- Become a “brutal” delegator. Load him/her up, set priorities, and recognize the results.
- Give authority commensurate with the responsibility. Your goal is to give him/her “free rein” as a manager once you are comfortable with his/her demonstrated management skills. The manager then needs minimal supervision.
- Put a large part of his/her compensation into the bonus. Pay for results you can both measure.
- Develop the winner. Share with him/her the ways to expand skills. Show him/her how. Recognize the fact that some managers require more attention than others.
- Look at results together. Set or change priorities when needed. Encourage ideas for change to produce results. Cover the hot topics weekly.
- Recognize his/her results and the contributions.
- Top-notch managers will insist that they be managed. This includes coaching and performance evaluations.
- Keep him/her aware of company plans and priorities, and his/her role in their success.
- If he/she is producing TOP results for you, PAY HIM/HER WELL (top wages in the area)!
- Once the new manager is performing to your expectations, consider other rewards in addition to the pat on the back. Recognition is very important, but sharing the wealth has proven to be immensely successful for many small companies, as well as large ones.
- Recognize that some turnover in key positions can be good for your company. A winner brings in a different experiences and perspective, plus new methods for improvements and innovation. The key is to keep the turnover at a manageable level. Rapid growth generally offers challenges and opportunity for the really good managers. Slow or no growth will make holding these winners difficult without extraordinary means of motivation. When one of your best managers announces his departure, be sure to make the departure a pleasant one, however great the loss. You may well want to hire him/her back in the future.
Resolving Inappropriate Placements
This is a difficult part of the job for most CEOs, and frequently is avoided until the cost of having the wrong person in the job is no longer tolerable. The effective CEO will monitor the new person frequently, and will have a developing picture of his/her competence. Within 60 days, the CEO will know if the new manager is effective, unless a blind eye has been turned to conduct and performance.
As problems develop, discussion and coaching (needed by all new managers) generally will return the new person to the path of progress. Document each discussion carefully. Your notes will be valuable for reviews or termination. When it becomes apparent the new manager is resisting coaching and fights change, or simply is not doing the job, it is time for a change. The longer the termination is put off, the costlier the mistake becomes. ACT PROMPTLY!
If the CEO has coached the new manager suitably, termination will not come as a surprise, but may well be a relief for the new manager, who generally knows he/she is not making the grade. Before terminating the manager, give careful thought about the effect the firing will have on him/her and his/her family. Review briefly the problems, or weaknesses, that developed, the consequences, your discussions about the need to improve, and an example or two of how this has not happened. Do not argue the points. Take him/her off the job immediately. Provide him/her with a telephone and a computer, if needed, plus some paid time to find a new job. Make the package subject to him/her displaying professional conduct at all times, and not influencing other employees. It is always better to have a witness present at termination. Document the event in writing. Do not discuss the termination with others in the business, or make comments about the reasons.
All managers who hire have experienced failures. There may be a reluctance to face up to the failure because it is hard on the ego, and then the “whole world will know” and the horrible cost becomes apparent. For the benefit of the company and the manager to be released, it is difficult but much better to face reality, and get on with a qualified replacement.
Be sure to learn from the failure. Review the notes of your interview, the test results, and your evaluation of the candidate. Identify what questions should have uncovered the weaknesses and change your approach on the replacement. If you have learned from this experience, you will:
Hire the Right Person the Next Time.
Excerpt from “Start Hiring Winners” by John Featherstone (Author House, 2011). All rights reserved. For more about the book visit http://www.amazon.com/Start-Hiring-Winners-John-Featherstone/dp/1456734318.
John Featherstone is a consultant to small business and a former five-year volunteer with SCORE, mentoring and training small business owners and employees. His business consultations include an eight-year project with a distillery in El Salvador. As a division vice president/general manager for a privately held confectionery company, Featherstone managed a growth rate of 50 percent annually for seven consecutive years. He also has owned, operated, and sold three small businesses. Over 25 years, he has field-tested and perfected his Start Hiring Winners system.
