The Cure for Tweak-Boss
Don’t come around – after the job is done – with your pearls of wisdom! If you know the best way to do it, either do it yourself, or explain how you want it done – before it’s done.
“You could have…,” demotivates.
Bosses want:
- Initiative. Go do your best. Don’t keep asking questions. Tweaking at the end allows initiative.
- Learning. It’s OK to stumble along, as long as you’re learning. They don’t want to explain everything.
- Improvement. Performance was acceptable this time. They want improvement next time.
We could always improve. But, why bother doing your best, when your best is never good enough?
Suggestions before:
Successful leaders own their performance.
One of my colleagues is better than me at support and compassion, another is better at planning. I need their voice in my performance. But, I don’t enjoy their tweaks after the fact, even though I benefit from them.
Leverage the strengths of others before you execute, not after.
I go to my compassionate colleague to gain his “tweaks” before I have tough conversations. When appropriate, I invite him to join.
I go to my checklist colleague to gain his “tweaks” before I execute a plan. I explain the goal and solicit his suggestions.
- Explain goals.
- Lay out plans.
- Ask for suggestions.
Seek input before, not after. Don’t wait for your tweak-boss to come to you with improvements on past performance.
Proactive incompetence:
Tap the strengths of others before you begin, not after.
Don’t flaunt your weaknesses; leverage the strengths of others.
- Prepare thoroughly.
- Don’t expect others to do your work for you.
- Lay out your goal and plan. Seek input.
- Integrate their suggestions, when they make sense to you.
- Proactively seek feedback after projects are completed. Maintain control of your performance.
How might leaders tap the strengths of teammates before projects begin?
What prevents leaders from exercising proactive incompetence?
I need to fix this!!!
Kind Regards, Roslyn
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🙂
Pretty straight forward!!! Engage your teammates in the planning as well as the execution of the addressing the situation at hand.
Thanks John. I find it deceptively simple.
Boy, this post gave me flashbacks! One agency head I worked for would frequently proclaim, “I’m not a micromanager. Run your division like you own it!” but then you never knew when his attention would focus on your area and he would second guess (maybe even overturn) your every action and decision for the past month, before moving on to some other unit or division. It might then be months before his attention returned to you. If you raised the issue of “Why didn’t you tell me a month ago that you wanted it done that way?” he would accuse you of being too “emotionally invested” in your own decision. I finally told him, “You ARE a micromanager, you just have a short attention span.” He left the organization about eight years before I retired, but I don’t think he ever realized how soul-sapping his management style was. Great post and solid suggestions to avoid being “that guy.”
Thanks Jim. The term soul-sapping grips me.
Your story is so helpful. “You ARE a micromanager, you just have a short attention span,” nails it. Thanks again for sharing your story.
Thanks for this Dan, I really appreciate it. When I consciously tap the strengths of others, I test my hypothesis / motivation and listen to their language so that I can use it in my narrative when working further down the line. I would place this in “preparing thoroughly” but I think of it as “testing”.
Excellent post. I have nothing to add that would materially improve it.
Thank you for your thought leadership and persistence in posting regularlly.
PROACTIVE INCOMPETENCE!!!! ‘Nuff said.
I don’t usually have the problem of tweaking myself, but I’m always frustrated when my supervisor comes along and keeps tweaking my work until there is nothing left. I’m glad to know that what I struggle with actually has a name and a solution.