This week we discussed the first part of Chapter 3 (understanding what motivates each person on your team).
- Maybe some of these management styles are correct, but we need to give them space to morph into something new. Some people disagree with these ideas, but they may bear fruit over time.
- Stacy Mullinax presented a talk about groupies, roadies, and rockstars. In his definition, the groupies and roadies are “rockstars” in Kim’s terms.
- On ambition… “Not all artists want to own a gallery; in fact, most don’t.” This is why Geoff doesn’t want to run a company or a group, as there are different skills required to work at that level versus being part of a company or group.
- Jamie would like to own a business so that he could prove ideas on his own because most companies would feel too challenged by his ideas. But he does like working for companies and improving legacy systems and making things better, but you need management buy-in.
- Jameson liked the idea that trajectories change over time. Sometimes superstars need time to stabilize. Don’t put people in permanent boxes.
- Geoff resonates with the gradual growth trajectory right now: force for stability, ambitious outside of work, happy in the current role.
- Use the word “growth” instead of “potential.” You can be low growth and still have high potential for later.
- Challenge your “blink” (gut) reaction about what “stable” means.
- “To be successful at growth management, you need to find out what motivates each person on your team. You also need to learn what each person’s long-term ambitions are, and understand how their current circumstances fit into their motivations and their life goals.” Dennis said this is like Agile — people over process.
- We talked about whether it’s useful for a manager to be able to do the work of those below them. Your reports may not trust you if you don’t understand their work. Also, not every senior wants to mentor juniors.
- The concepts seem straightforward, but not many managers do this (radical candor).
- Dennis said it’s useful for people on the team to know about each others’ goals, because there may be alignment they didn’t know about. Jamie said this implies the team actually wants to know those and be interested in them.
- Steep growth is about rapid change; gradual growth is about stability.
- “Most people shift between a steep growth trajectory and a gradual growth trajectory in different phases of their lives and careers, so it’s important not to put a permanent label on people.”
- “…circumstances that spur one person to do one thing spur another person to do the opposite.” Geoff likes this notion of the whole person. Stuff you have going on at home can shift which category you’re in. Plus, people may make decisions you don’t understand until you get to know them (see fundamental attribution error).
- “There’s nothing wrong with working hard to earn a paycheck that supports the life you want to lead.”
- “Only about five percent of people have a real vocation in life, and they confuse the hell out of the rest of us.” Geoff needed to hear this.
- Jamie talked about “passion” in the words of Avdi Grimm: Are you willing to suffer and die for your profession? Probably not. (See this definition of passion.)
- You have to know how each person derives meaning from their work.
- “Ignore somebody is a terrible way to build a relationship.” We all agreed that we need feedback on how we’re doing. We’ve heard different versions of “hire the right people and then leave them alone.” Dennis talked about absentee management: “Where’s the bus that’s going to run me over?”
- Managers have a tendency to focus on small minutiae instead of bigger things that are important. Jameson said it’s difficult to put a value on testing unless something fails because you didn’t have tests. Unless you put initiatives in terms of dollars, they tend not to care.
- Geoff thought the concept of “…to have a good marriage, marry the right person” wasn’t quite right. You don’t marry someone so they’ll do work for you. You don’t hire someone because you want a relationship with them. However, Jamie said the point is that marriage takes work — feedback, give and take.
- “Managers often devote more time to those who are struggling than to those who are succeeding.” Jameson said this is the easier problem to focus on. “First Break All the Rules” says you should spend time with your high-performers. Ideally you’ll pair high-performers with low-performers so they can improve. Jameson said this works on paper, but some high performers don’t make good mentors. This requires intentional planning and knowing the personalities. Later in the book: “Of course, some people hate teaching and are terrible at it: this role should be an honor, not a requirement.”
- Jamie shared a story about how where a team that finished their work three days early focused on whatever they wanted (instead of helping others or finding other company-related work to do).
- “That which does not grow, rots.” Geoff wishes we could move away from this in our occupational culture. Jameson talked about leveling up in video games — you learn something new until you stabilize, then you learn something else.
- There’s also a pattern of stability and growth in architecture; you need a mix of the two. You’re not growing in all aspects all the time.
- “Life is so much better when people are great at their work and love it. The idea of climbing a corporate ladder is not inspiring to plenty of people. And yet those on a gradual growth trajectory are often referred to pejoratively as ‘B-players,’ or as having ‘capped out.'”
- Jamie liked the concept that all top performers should get top pay.