By Kelly Harman, CEO, The Harman
Group (Published March 20, 2006)
About five years ago, I decided to distill some of the most important
things I'd learned on management and leadership into a few simple
rules. There were some specific things I wanted to say to my staff,
and I struggled to find a way to articulate the type of work environment
I was trying to build, and the expectations I had for anyone who
worked with me. The end result of this exercise was the list you
will see below.
Over the years, the messages in these rules have resonated with
people much more deeply, and traveled much farther than I ever expected.
I truly believe that if you are a manager, and you hold your staff
to these principles, you will become a vibrant, successful and dedicated
organization. As an employee, if you follow these rules, then you
will have no choice but to excel in your performance, and become
a leader yourself.
1. Disagree with me. I come up with ideas all the time; some are
better than others and some are perfectly awful. When I run one
by you, and you don’t think it will work, tell me why. I may
not have looked at the idea from all angles, and I value your input.
I may not agree with you, but I’ll respect your opinion.
2. Question my decisions. If I make a decision that you don’t
agree with or don’t understand, then ask me why I made it.
I’ll take the time to explain my logic. You might still disagree
with me, but at least you’ll understand why I made the decision.
3. Don’t come to me with problems. Don’t run to me
with a problem and expect me to fix it for you. Come to me with
a problem and then tell me how you want to fix it. If it makes sense,
we’ll implement it. If I don’t agree, I’ll tell
you why and then we’ll work together to figure out a better
solution.
4. Tell me you want my job. It’s great to be ambitious. I
want you to covet my job. There is nothing wrong with clearly stating
your goals. How else will anyone know how to help you? I’ll
give you more responsibility if I know what you want – and
if that means you want my job (or a position similar to mine someday)
then my job is to help you get there.
5. Tell me you don’t want your job. You won’t enjoy
true success unless you do something you’re passionate about.
Who wants to spend their working hours in a state of resignation
or boredom? If you want to go to night school and study for a completely
different career, I’ll support you. I’ll still expect
110% from you when you are here, but when I make my long-term plans;
I’ll take into consideration the fact that you may not be
here to help me execute them. But I’ll respect your dreams
and your goals and I will do everything I can to help you achieve
them.
6. Tell me when you don’t know something. Don’t try
and fake your way through something you don’t know. It will
only make me angry. If you’re honest with me, I’ll make
the investment to educate you. After all, I hired you because I
thought you could learn, not because I thought you knew everything
already.
7. Make bad decisions. Congratulations! At least you made one.
I’d rather see you make decisions that turn out wrong and
learn from them than have you expect me to make every decision for
you. I don’t have time. A mistake isn’t stupid unless
you do it twice.
8. Act like you own the company. Before making a decision, spending
a dime, talking to a customer - you get the idea – pretend
you own the company. As the owner, how would you behave? What would
you spend? Knowing it would impact your own bottom line or the success
of your company, would you act the same way or make the same decision?
If the answer is yes, then you are on the right track.
9. Don’t expect me to pay for everything. I will pay for
certain classes, but you need to have some skin in the game too.
Read books, take classes, listen to tapes, what ever it takes. And
don’t just learn what you need to know to do your job today
– learn for the future. Just because you aren’t a manager
now doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take management classes.
Don’t assume that you don’t need accounting courses
because you’re not in the accounting department. Believe me,
accounting and budgets are a big part of any managers job. If you
want advice, come to me and I’ll help you. I’ll suggest
classes, magazines to subscribe to, and books to buy. And - I’ll
remember.
10. Confess. When you make a mistake, tell me immediately. The
sooner I know, the sooner we can deal with it. I’ve gone to
my boss with my heart pounding, my palms sweating, and my voice
shaky to confess a mistake I made. It’s natural to be scared.
What will save you is the fact that I immediately heard about it
from you instead of someone else.
11. Take responsibility when it isn’t your fault. If you
are in charge of a project then ultimate responsibility belongs
to you. I don’t want to hear a long litany of excuses and
explanations of how someone that reports to you failed to do something.
I expect you to take full responsibility for the project. I know
a lot more about what’s going on than you think. And believe
me, it works all the way up the management chain. If a project I’m
in charge of fails because you didn’t do your job, do you
think my client cares? The bottom line is that I am in charge, so
I’m the one who has to take responsibility, and you should
too.
12. Quit your job. If you think of what you’re doing here
as just a job, then quit. Come in on Monday and start your career.
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