PITA 048
Topic 1: Tips to coach a coachee on not micromanaging
The goal is to successfully delegate decision-making - creating an environment of both understanding and trust
Understand what’s scaring them and try to address that
How vulnerable is the coachee to their report? Can they say ‘I don’t know’? Can they collaborate instead of micro-managing?
What should they be doing instead of micro-managing? Cause if they’re in the weeds, they’re not doing the other important thing
Manage your decision budget - there’s only so many you can make in a day. Do you want to make the decisions that others can make?
Claire Lew - Don’t be someone else’s worst manager. What was your worst manager experience?
Setting up what good looks like for the report, use the energy towards that instead
What would be a bad manager? Tap into their experience with bad managers, are they acting now like that?
How can you ever be promoted if no one else can do that role?
Tom Dolan - NotCon - Shit, I'm A Manager - Back in 2004 this was me. Sadly the CSS on the blogposts has long since died, so the powerpoint is the best approach.
Asking their direct reports what they need? How they can support them. Not assuming that what they are currently doing is the best way to support.
Topic 2: Finding the right level for leadership between being too prescriptive and clear enough
Repeat: The goal is to successfully delegate decision-making - creating an environment of both understanding and trust
Make sure you have generated a clear understanding of the problem and the north star, the WHY narrative
A mix of top-down and bottom-up goals helps. A standardised template that everyone can contribute to in an async way can be a useful approach.
If the team can’t act on things - they have autonomy - then you can be general. If they don’t, you might need to be prescriptive. Useful as a way to generate a better environment.
Are the “levels” understanding each other probably? Is the way things are communicated clear for the other side. Are the teams ready for this kind of direction? What is stopping them to act on them?
OKRs always fail at first - you need to build on them, iterate your way to success over a few quarters. Introduce them in a small space first, then grow.
Empowered leadership with broad goal-setting techniques does not work on waterfall projects - for example, infrastructure re-platofrming.
Give the context. Lead with context. Does the team get all the context. What would bad look like to establish guardrails.
Did the team go rogue? Or were they not provided with appropriate context?
We are learning this process together.
Autonomy with Accountability
Topic 3: What's your biggest learning from 2023?
Values vs Priorities -people demonstrate their approach by what they spend their time on, and I’m paying a lot more attention on it
Empathy for people I’ve been critical of in the past
Life happens fast, and the unexpected things will come and screw you up. Don’t worry too much about the expected things, as other things will come up!
Engage more with communities - be open, be present, network in a genuine way, and find the way that works for you
When you suspect that you’ve taken the wrong gig, you probably have done so
You can’t get all of your self-value from work. Your life is important. Build the habits to make sure you can survive beyond the next job hunt.
Make concrete proposals. Write things down, get out of only talking about them.
Work collaboratively - especially on research and building understanding
Feel free to define yourself - and tell everyone what it is you do, and what you want/need. IAnd feel free to redefine yourself.
People who care about you and will support you when you experiment, People who won’t do that may not be the ones you want around you.