This week we finished Chapter 7 (team).
Formatting note: I’m trying to strike a balance of codifying the useful tips the book covers, but we as a group skip because we don’t have anything noteworthy. Sentences in italics are those where we spent time discussing; non-italics represents elements worth sharing but without discussion in the group.
Firing
- “When people feel that kind of fear, they start to avoid taking risks. They learn less, they grow less, they become less than they could be. This is the opposite of personal growth management.”
- “Don’t wait too long.” … “If you identify a problem early, you give the person time to address it.” … “Tolerating bad work is unfair to the people doing excellent work.”
- “Don’t make the decision unilaterally.” Jameson liked this approach as well. How can you walk into a situtation with all the knowledge necessary to make this kind of call by yourself? One scenario for this kind of firing is around poor planning on your part as a manager (e.g., you hired too many people for an initiative).
- “Give a damn”
- “Follow up” … “Often, I’m the last person they want to hear from, and so if I don’t hear back I don’t push it, and I don’t blame them.” Geoff wondered what the response rate was for this practice, as he’s never heard of it. Maybe this is a Silicon Valley thing where you’ll end up working with them again — don’t burn bridges. Jameson said it likely depends on the reason behind the firing, and how amicable things were when they left. Houston said this practice also resonates with “care personally.”
- “Remember, the reason you have to fire them is not that they suck. It’s not even that they suck at this job. It’s that this job — the job you gave them — sucks for them.” Houston likes how framing makes a difference and assumes good intent.
Promotions
- “That’s not to say that Google’s system is perfect. It tends to reward people who do the most visible projects rather than those who make important breakthroughs behind the scenes.” If your bosses are worth their salt, they’ll appreciate this work and make sure it gets appropriately rewarded and made visible.
- Jameson said people understand revenue more than they do cost-savings. Top-line growth (increased revenue) is not the same as bottom-line growth (profit).
- We talked about equity, equality, and justice. A 3% raise is equitable, but it’s not necessarily fair.
- Steps:
- Prepare.
- Manage the time carefully, and don’t let arguments go on too long.
- Get enough sleep the day before, exercise that morning, and eat a good breakfast.
- When it’s all done, acknowledge how hard these conversations are.
Reward Your Rock Stars
- “Avoid promotion/status obsession”
- “What about public praise? Yes, by all means, praise in public. But think carefully about what you are praising.”
- “Say ‘thank-you'”
- “Gurus” (i.e., acknowledge people in their areas of expertise)
- “Public presentations” (i.e., let people demonstrate what they know publicly). Jamie said if you make a big deal of promotions, it’s the status change (not the actual work) that gets noticed.
- Jameson appreciates having rock stars on his team; he doesn’t have to worry about as much.
Avoid Absentee Management and Micromanagement
- The book has a chart with three columns — absentee management, partnership, and micromanagement. The rows are examples of those styles. Geoff shared this with his HR team at Lirio. It has concrete examples of what the different styles look like, and there are things you can measure and talk about.
- Jamie recognizes that his personality leans toward deliberation and debate to find a solution, but some people get put off by this and will withdraw. Some people feel that when you ask “why,” they take it as a challenge.
- What some people would consider partnering, others might consider absentee. For example, meeting every two weeks 1:1 may not be frequent enough; some would find that too hands-on.