When bluffs and tantrums backfire

There are times when you meet a stranger and your exchange turns out to be less than pleasant. This can happen anywhere, like in a department store, a parking lot, a party or even on the street. The next day, when you walk into office, imagine your shock when he/she is introduced as a colleague who joined your office; or worse, your new manager! It isn’t entirely fictional, I happen to have heard of a couple of cases from the ‘victims’ themselves.

Another possibility is when a bluff/excuse you successfully pulled off once turns around and bites you at a totally inconvenient time. For instance, a Software Engineer had excused himself from a particular assignment away from his hometown saying he had to take care of his mother, who wasn’t in the best of health. Barely a few hours later, when an onsite assignment came up in the UK, the same person expressed interest.

A brief conversation took place soon after:

HR: Are you sure, don’t you want to stay back and take care of your mother?

SE: That’s ok, my sister is there at home. She can manage.

And believe me, this was a true story, narrated to me that same afternoon by the HR manager involved. Don’t ask me which company!

It is surprising how things turn around as fast as they do. And of course, I am not trying to preach you into a life of 100% honesty where every lie you tell needs to be accounted for. Just make sure you have nothing to be ashamed of.

You may be right. But as a manager, your job doesn’t end there

Do you remember the first time you became a manager? Or at least, do you have some expectation of what it will feel like when you do become one?

Suddenly, you are responsible for the actions of a lot of people. Your job is expanded from "get your job done" to "get your job done, ensure your team members do the same, co-ordinate all those jobs and deliver the result expected". Of course, that is putting it mildly!

They say the problem with most managers lies in the fact that they do not communicate well enough. When there is a conflict or a disagreement, chances are one party will be right in his/her observation. When a member of your team is right, his/her duty is to inform the manager and possibly show him/her how. The decision is then left to the manager. But when a manager is right, his/her duty doesn't end there. In addition to informing team members, they have to be convinced that this is the path to take and ensure that everyone is on board. Just knowing you are right does not add any value in the big picture.

The key here is to over-communicate. One cannot sit back and assume things will be agreed upon and followed by everyone on the team just because he/she was told to. It takes a lot of cohesion and understanding for a team to reach that level of maturity. That could tend to infinity (call upon those math memories). Until then, lack of adequate communication by a manager is the perfect excuse for employees to slack off!

Who is to blame if the client doesn't understand you?

At a recent client visit to our offshore center, a senior executive at the client side had a very far reaching suggestion to make for the business: To develop a common language, to describe the workload in terms of a tangible unit, which can be understood by both the client as well as the service provider

Let us consider a parallel example. Say you need to get your car fixed, and you take it to a garage. The mechanic studies it thoroughly and tells you the following problems:

1.       The engine needs some work

2.       The tyres need to be realigned

3.       The air filters need to be cleaned

4.       Etc

5.       Etc

At the end of a 10 minute long list, you nod your head and politely ask your mechanic, “So you think I can pick it up tomorrow?”. Expect a blank stare from him and at times, an expletive to follow depending on how exasperating you have been. The problem there is a lack of this common language. And of course, the mechanic is assuming that you know enough about cars to know how long each of these tasks would take to be completed.

And so, to cut a long story short, it is all about setting the right expectations…and a common language just makes that easier. Do you have one with your customers? Perhaps it is time to take the lead and work on one.

It would be unintelligent on the part of a mechanic to expect a customer to know what exactly his car needs. At the end of the day, a customer would want one thing – his car must run well, and should not have any problems. It is up to the mechanic to convert this need into the equivalent list of tasks. This is very much similar to how a team of software engineers translates a client’s business requirements into a list of technical requirements.

For this same reason, a customer cannot be blamed for wishing that his car be delivered in perfect condition at the shortest time possible. He just doesn’t know what is involved! It is up to the mechanic to explain to him that it may take more time – within reasonable limits. But the key is to have clarity in the expectations set. A customer doesn’t necessarily expect the mechanic to deliver the car in 5 minutes. But he would expect the mechanic’s expertise to be good enough so he can make a reliable estimate of the time to be taken and thereby set a clear expectation.

Similarly, when a client talks demands a particular deliverable be delivered within, say X number of days, the team can always inform him/her if that is not a realistic schedule. But this must be conveyed at the earliest point of time possible and not at the eleventh hour, so there are no unnecessary expectations. And of course, there might be technical experts on the client side who could blow the whistle if your schedule is too lax – so beware of that.