PRep Talk:
Managing Managers
From Permanent Equity’s Ops Desk
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Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
First, some things about
People
Each of us is born with a distinct set of gifts and talents.
Despite those differences, we are all equally valuable in a broad sense.
But certain gifts and talents will be more valuable in the context of your firm or business.
Because of these differences, every one of us is completely unique. there are no universal solutions.
Therefore, Personality tools – Enneagram, MBTI, Strengths Finder, DiSC, and more – offer single lenses, but never the full picture.
Therein lies both the beauty and the complication of working with people.
People are unpredictable.
we expect them to behave like we do.
But they don’t.
Process and structure (decreased autonomy) offer the most effective way to predictable behavior.
The healthiest (but less effective) way is to create a culture. It’s way harder.
Caring about people makes business short-term harder and long-term better.
Not caring about people makes business short-term easier and long-term worse.
Managers
Next, some things about
Management is the first and only job that is not a trade.
Because of this, management is a different career.
Management is wide, not deep.
the deeper you go, the more you’re taking your eye off something else.
distinguish between managers and principals.
Managing
Managers
Finally, some things about
It’s hard to manage managers with misaligned incentives.
“drink from the same straw.” Make it as similar as possible — even slight differences can lead to tough conversations.
Incentivize on things they can control and only those. The higher on the org chart, the lower on the income sheet.
Ego is not your friend as a manager of managers. If the relationship is important, save your chips for items of strategic importance.
DON’T GIVE FEEDBACK BASED ON OUTCOMES, GIVE FEEDBACK BASED ON INPUTS:
Hypothesis — how they thought about the problem
Process — how they chose which steps to take
Execution — how each step was performed
Analysis — how they interpreted the result
Managers are like you — they like their own ideas. it’s worth the extra time to make your case rather than force the issue.
Leadership is lonely. The best working relationships involve listening a lot. If this gets inverted, you’re not managing, you’re directing.
You set the stage. Culture is:
1) what leadership actually does
2) what leadership tolerates (including underperformance).
True management is an inversion. We should be doing everything we can to make their jobs easier. So ask how you can help, and follow through when they give you something.
