Managing to Change the World

by Alison Green

  Firsthand observation also helps you serve as a resource to your staff members as they consider changing the plan to reflect how things are playing out in the real world. Ideally, you would conduct observations like these with your staff member at your side, so that both of you have the same facts about how things are unfolding. Following these observations, you should debrief with your staff to share your impressions and make sure that there is agreement about any changes going forward. In the ballot initiative campaign, the executive director sat down with his head of regional operations so they could debrief the calls, acknowledge what wasn’t working as expected, and generate solutions.

  KEEP THE MONKEY ON YOUR STAFFER’S BACK

  Once you’ve delegated a responsibility, make sure you keep the ownership for the project squarely with the staff member. Authors William Oncken Jr. and Donald Wass suggest thinking of each project or task as a monkey someone is carrying around on her back. When you assign a project to a staffer, you’re handing over the monkey. But often that staffer will find ways to return the monkey to your back. For instance, if you see that a phone bank script isn’t working well, don’t “take the monkey back” by rewriting the script. Rather, after you talk with your staffer about the elements that need changing, she should do the rewrite so that the monkey stays on your staffer’s back and doesn’t hop back to yours.

  Commonly, taking back the monkey happens in response to a seemingly legitimate question. Rather than suggesting solutions yourself, try to get the staff member to propose solutions herself. “What do you think?” is a great question to use in ensuring you don’t inadvertently take on monkeys you have delegated.

  For a more complete explanation of how to ensure that staff members do not pass the buck back to their managers, see William Oncken Jr. and Donald Wass, “Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?” Harvard Business Review, November–December 1999.

  Step 3: Create Accountability and Learning

  We recently met with a frustrated manager who had delegated the task of writing an important memo to one of his staff members. He had set expectations appropriately, made sure the staff member understood them, and reviewed a draft along the way to make sure it was on track. The end product, though, was missing a crucial ingredient, and the manager’s reaction was typical: “This just shows that you can’t delegate anything and expect it to get done right!”

  Although we shared his frustration, we reminded him that there was one more piece to the delegation process he needed to pursue: creating accountability. He needed to go back to the author of the letter and in a direct and assertive but not hostile way, share his reaction to it (see Chapter Ten). By doing this, the manager would get the product he wanted; perhaps more important, he would set himself up for better results the next time by sending a clear message that slipshod work was not acceptable.

  Creating accountability at the end of a process is the first step in setting expectations for the next iteration of the delegation cycle. Fundamentally the message is, “I mean what I say.” Of course, this goes for rewarding positive outcomes as well. When staff members have done a good job and produced the desired results, managers should recognize their effort and celebrate their success, so staff members know that doing things well matters.

  In addition to reinforcing responsibilities, the accountability stage can produce lessons for the future. Even when a project has gone well, both you and your staffer have likely learned from the experience and seen parts of it that could be done differently next time to get even better results. A write-up of these lessons, even as a quick bulleted list, can be an invaluable resource the next time you conduct a similar project. One small step that can make a large difference in producing lessons and accountability is to schedule or, better yet, have your staff member schedule a brief reflection meeting for the end of a project and to get it on the calendar right from the start so it doesn’t feel punitive when you suggest it at the end.

  DON’T PUNISH THE WHOLE CLASS

  We occasionally see managers who are trying to hold a group accountable for the actions of individuals. When you’re trying to make clear that you mean what you say, you’ll be much more effective if you deliver that message to one person at a time. For instance, if three of your staffers miss a deadline you’ve set, you’ll create a culture of accountability more quickly by going to each of the three individually (even if it’s sending each an identical e-mail, customized just with their name) than by talking to the whole group to stress the importance of deadlines.

  THE VALUE OF DEBRIEFING

  Harvard Business School researchers found that among a group of surgeons learning a new operating technique, those who discussed each case in detail and debriefed with team members after procedures managed to halve their operating time. Those who didn’t discuss and debrief hardly improved their time at all. (Atul Gawande, “The Learning Curve,” The New Yorker, January 28, 2002.)

  Step 4: Adapt to Fit the Context

  When assigning work to staffers, you should apply the three steps in the delegation cycle above, but how you apply them will vary depending on the person to whom you’re delegating (the who) and the nature of the project (the what).

  When it comes to the who, consider your staff members’ skill and will.

  Skill

  You will likely learn from experience who is best at turning around a high-quality written assignment and who is a superstar at building connections with an external constituent (these are rarely the same person). Yet when you assess skill level, don’t automatically assume that stellar employees need little guidance, since even the best employees have areas where they need closer management. You might have an otherwise outstanding worker who has trouble meeting deadlines, so you might ensure she creates a timeline with built-in room on the front end for unexpected delays. Or you might have someone who hates putting plans in writing but always delivers high-quality work on time. With that person, you might waive your normal expectation of a written plan and instead agree verbally on a path forward.

  A subset of skill is the person’s experience in your organization. You may have just hired a master fundraiser, but because the person is new to your organization, you want to work with her more closely on early projects than you would on the same projects three months from now.

  Will

  Considering will means assessing what people like and dislike. Your program manager’s well-known hatred for doing budgets should lead you to take a more hands-on approach, because it’s reasonable to think she might be inclined to put the work off or put less energy into it than into work she loves. (Of course, if she does an otherwise excellent job as a program manager, it might be reasonable to find someone else to handle those budgets, since you’ll likely get better results by assigning that work to someone with more enthusiasm for numbers.)

  Beyond the who, you need to consider the what—the nature of the task and how difficult and important it is.

  Difficulty

  Obviously the more difficult the assignment is, the more time you’ll want to spend discussing it on the front end and checking in as the work progresses. And conversely, relatively easy, straightforward tasks will require less of your oversight. For instance, if you are asking your experienced advocacy coordinator to create letter-to-the-editor templates for activists to use, you might simply talk about the topics you want to cover and show her templates that have been used in the past. But if the same person has been assigned to devise and implement a plan for a new initiative to establish local chapters, you’ll want to talk in depth at the outset about the goals, process, and potential pitfalls; check in regularly to give advice as the plan develops; and stay in very close contact as the implementation begins.

  Importance

  How important is the assignment? What are the potential ramifications of success or failure? For instance, if your organization’s most important ally in the Senate is speaking at your conference, you would want to be more actively engaged in ensuring tha
t everything goes smoothly than you would be in supervising the setup for your management team’s monthly meeting. (See Figure 2.2.)

  FIGURE 2.2. Hands-On or Hands-Off? Determining Your Approach

  After weighing all of these factors, decide on a general approach. Should you take a highly hands-on approach, be moderately hands-on, or be fairly hands-off? If your consideration of these factors leads you to determine that a hands-on approach is called for, it can be helpful to let your employee know this. You might tell her, “I’m going to be checking in pretty closely since this is the first time you’ve done this and we really can’t afford to have any delays in getting these out to our funders.”

  MANAGING SIDEWAYS

  What about overseeing a project or delegating work when you don’t have authority over the people involved? Actually, the same principles still apply:

  Determine how hands-on you need to be based on the nature of the project and what you know about the people involved.

  Agree on clear outcomes, constraints, resources, and prioritization.

  Check in during the course of the work.

  Structure learning and even an opportunity for group accountability at the end.

  If you feel awkward about managing a peer on a project, remember that the key is to be transparent about why you’re taking this approach. For instance, you might explain, “There’s potential for us to end up on different pages once we go off and start working on this, so why don’t we check in next week and make sure our heads are still in the same place?”

  We’ve thrown a lot at you, but after going through a couple of rounds of the delegation cycle to get the hang of it, including debriefing how the process went, much of what we have addressed here will become second nature. And once the principles of agreeing on expectations, staying engaged, and creating accountability are in place, your team will produce stronger work products with a lot more efficiency, helping you get the results you need.

  KEY POINTS

  Remember the basic rule: guide more and do less.

  Guiding well means setting clear expectations, staying engaged enough to ensure that corrections are made along the way, and creating accountability and learning on the back end.

  In setting expectations, remember the five W’s and an H: Who should be involved?

  What does success look like?

  When is the project due?

  Where might the staff member go for resources?

  Why does this work matter?

  And a little bit of how you should approach the work.

  A simple repeat-back of expectations from your staff member can do wonders to avoid miscommunication.

  The most common way managers fail at delegating is by not staying engaged to monitor progress. If you don’t get a sense of how the work is proceeding once you’ve assigned it, you will almost always experience a serious implementation gap.

  When a project ends, you and your staff should reflect on results, draw lessons learned, and create accountability. You need your staff to understand that you mean what you say.

  How you apply all of these points will depend on the context. Consider the skill and will of your staffer as well as the difficulty and importance of the assignment, and adapt your approach accordingly.

  Additional Reading

  S. R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change (New York: Free Press, 2004).

  A. Gawande, “The Learning Curve,” The New Yorker, January 28, 2002.

  William Oncken Jr. and Donald Wass, “Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?” Harvard Business Review, Nov.–Dec. 1999, pp. 2–7.

  “Situational Leadership Theory,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situational_leadership_theory and http://12manage.com/methods_blanchard_situational_leadership.html.

  TOOL 2.1

  DELEGATION WORKSHEET

  I am assigning ______________ the responsibility of ______________________________________.

  Agree on Expectations

  1. WHAT does success look like on this assignment?

  ____________________________________________________________

  2. WHEN is the project due? How does this fit with other priorities?

  ____________________________________________________________

  3. WHERE might the staff member go for resources?

  ____________________________________________________________

  4. WHY does this work matter, and why is this staff person the one to make it happen?

  ____________________________________________________________

  5. WHO else should be involved? The MOCHA for this project is: Manager: _________________________ Helper:________________________

  Owner:____________________________________ Approver:________________________

  Consulted:______________________________

  6. Tips on HOW to do it (if any):______________________

  ____________________________________________________________

  7. How will you make sure you and your staffer are aligned on key points and next steps?

  Verbal or written repeat-back Project plan Other _____________________

  Stay Engaged

  1. What specific products or activities (for example, outlines, data, rehearsals) will you want to review or see in action to monitor progress?

  ____________________________________________________________

  ____________________________________________________________

  Create Accountability and Learning

  1. When and how will you debrief how things went? Can you schedule that now?

  ____________________________________________________________

  Adapt Your Approach

  1. Given the difficulty and importance of the task and my staff member’s will and skill for this task, my approach should generally be (circle one): Very hands-on

  Moderately hands-on

  Relatively hands-off

  TOOL 2.2

  SAMPLE PROJECT PLAN

  Project: Host a panel on new climate change initiatives, raising our profile among groups working on environmental issues

  Dates: October 20, 2011–January 15, 2012

  This project will be a success if:

  We land four star speakers (major players) with a range of perspectives

  At least 80% of invitees attend, including reps from significant allies and at least three newcomer groups

  90% are “highly satisfied” with the event

  85% sign up to join our mailing list

  Smooth execution of all logistics (on time, all speakers briefed, enough food and drink, no technical issues)

  1 We adapted this model from the DARCI decision-making model taught in some programs: Decider, Accountable, Responsible, Consulted, Informed.

  CHAPTER 3

  MANAGING BROAD RESPONSIBILITIES

  Roles and Goals

  In Chapter One we talked about how to set expectations, stay engaged, and create accountability to successfully delegate specific tasks or projects to your staff. For many managers, delegating even discrete projects will represent an important start to getting better results.

  In the long run, though, managers will generate the kinds of results they need to, and free themselves up to take on the pieces that only they can do, only when they assign not just specific tasks but broad responsibilities to the people around them. Otherwise they’ll find that they are still carrying the real weight of all the work, even if they’re delegating specific tasks.

  Jerry learned this lesson from Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach For America. Like many other founders, when Wendy started the organization, she was on the hook for everything: she drove the fundraising, made sure the recruitment and training efforts were successful, oversaw the design of marketing materials, and on and on. She had people to help with each piece, but the real energy was coming from her and too much of the weight of responsibility was falling on her shoulders. Not surprisingly, this was e
xhausting for Wendy and, as she tells it, demoralizing for her staff.

  Wendy came to realize that to better distribute the weight of ensuring Teach For America’s success, she needed to have people truly in charge of each area of the organization and responsible for its progress. She needed a head of fundraising who would lie awake at night until she was sure the revenue would come in, she needed a head of programs to ensure that recruitment and training were top-notch, and she needed a head of communications to oversee marketing efforts.

  As she set about doing this, Wendy made sure that staff roles were clear in each area and that each person had specific goals for what he or she would accomplish. Having staff members with well-defined roles and, in particular, clear, measurable goals became a key part of how Teach For America operated. To this day, they are an essential part of the organization’s success.

  In this chapter, we’ll talk about how you can do what Wendy did: use roles and goals to distribute the responsibility across your team. We’ll start by looking at how you can craft meaningful roles so that it’s clear what each staff member is responsible for. Then we’ll look at how you can use goals to describe what performing that role well will look like over a particular period of time. In doing so, you’ll learn to hand off broad responsibilities so others can help drive significant pieces of your team or organization forward.

  As you read this chapter, keep in mind that at their core, roles and goals are simply delegation writ more broadly. Instead of delegating a project or task, you’re delegating broad responsibility but still using the same principles we set out in Chapter Two: setting expectations, engaging along the way, creating accountability and learning, and adapting all of these pieces to fit the context.