Overcome 4 tricky situations as a leader
Promotion unreadiness; Getting ICs to drive value; Managing leaders of leaders; & Overcoming PMF in a big company
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Leaders face both tricky personnel challenges and difficult product situations that impact their team members.
Today, I cover reader questions about both types of situations:
“I have a subordinate who insists on being promoted urgently. I don’t think they are ready yet, but I want to communicate effectively and gently so I don’t lose them.” — Director of Product Marketing
“What do you wish your ICs knew about how best to deliver value?” — Senior Data Analyst
“I am new to managing leaders of leaders. How do I build a highly effective team and get good team signals?” — VP of Growth
“What’s the best way to help your team maintain focus when we’re struggling to find PMF (product market fit) in a large company?” — Product Management Lead
This is a tough question, which means it is a good question.
If you have a question for me, submit it in the form at the end of this article—I look forward to reading through them.
1. “I have a subordinate who insists on being promoted urgently. I don’t think they are ready yet, but I want to communicate effectively and gently so I don’t lose them.” — Director of Product Marketing
I recently covered situations like this in a Career Talk class I gave about communicating difficult messages (video recording). The key to this type of communication is to keep the delivery personally warm and supportive while the message is professionally firm and clear. You want to make the expectations and boundaries clear but communicate those expectations in a way that conveys your care and support for the individual.
In the specific instance that this question describes, I want the reader to first be aware of where they stand with this team member. The truth is that they are already at risk of losing their team member because they are not doing what the employee wants (giving them the promotion). So, telling them the truth about their readiness is shifting the risk from them being frustrated with your inaction to them potentially disagreeing with your assessment.
These are different types of risk, but the position this manager is currently in is not risk-free.
With that in mind, here is my advice for the manager on how to have this discussion:
Pick a good, calm time. Don’t try to have this discussion when tensions are high or time is short. Block off time on the calendar where you both can focus on the conversation, relax, and have a productive discussion. Extra stress or a time crunch will only increase the likelihood that the employee makes a decision based on their personal frustration.
Bring examples. Do your homework so that your reasoning for not promoting the employee is data-driven and doesn’t just reflect your opinion. Bring or offer 360 feedback if you can.
Offer to help them close the gaps. Once you have clearly communicated why this person is not ready for promotion, offer to help them address the opportunities for improvement. This may mean connecting them with mentors, sending them to classes, providing more frequent feedback, or any other type of guidance. The important part here is to show them that if they do stay with your team you will help them get where they want to go.
Align incentives. Set clear expectations for what they need to do to succeed, but also make clear that you want them to succeed. Point out to them that it is in your best interest to have a more senior, more capable person on your team, so you are incentivized to help them get there.
Offer to let them reflect on it and follow up. This conversation will likely be frustrating and thought-provoking for this person. Understand that they may not want to make any decisions at that moment, or even feel ready to respond to your feedback. Tell them that your door is open to continue discussing this, and that they can take time to organize their thoughts and feelings.
The last thing you want to do is back them into a corner, because this will make it all the more likely that they leave.
As you have this conversation or conversations with your employee, keep in mind that nothing you do can make them stay. Even if you were to promote them, that is no guarantee that they will stick around.
The only thing you can do is communicate clearly, demonstrate your support, and then stick to your word about helping them get the promotion they want. If you do that and they still choose to leave, you will know you did everything you could.
FYI—If you are the direct report in this case and want to be on the promotion fastrack, start with The Magic Loop then learn How to Manage Your Promotion Process and then effectively Make the case for your promotion with this document framework.
2. “What do you wish your ICs knew about how best to deliver value?” — Senior Data Analyst
As leaders, if there is something we want our reports to know, it is our job to communicate it. In my experience, the most important thing for everyone on a team to understand is where value comes from. So, as leaders, it is our job to make sure our team understands why they are doing the work they do and how it contributes to the value we are trying to create for the customer and the company.
One recommendation I have for leaders who want to communicate the value of their team’s work but don’t know where to start is Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why (here’s my full book list).
Once your team understands how they are creating value, the second most important thing for them to understand is how to prioritize. When the source of the team’s value is clear, they will have a clear goal to work towards. However, there will always be competing priorities and multiple potential paths towards this goal. Teaching your team what paths to prioritize and why is the next essential management task. Below is a clip that outlines the priorities matrix.
The final element that you want to teach your ICs is how to clear blockages themselves and take ownership, but also when to ask for help and collaborate. Essentially, knowing when to do each of these boils down to good judgment. Good judgment is hard to teach, but it can be learned through experience and feedback, and you as the manager can accelerate it by explaining your guidelines and your own decision-making processes.
This is what I wish all ICs (and managers) “knew,” but knowing is only half the battle.
Once these things are understood, they will also need to have the skill and drive to put their knowledge into practice. As a manager, you should also help your team develop their skills and stay motivated.
3. “I am new to managing leaders of leaders. How do I build a highly effective team and get good team signals?” — VP of Growth
I cover this situation in-depth in my class ‘Stuck at Senior Manager: Breaking Through to Executive’ (I am building a bonus module on Leading AI Adoption for the April cohort).
However, the quick version of the answer boils down to developing your leaders so that they can develop their team members. The only way to have an overall great team is to build good leaders who then build good team members. As the senior leader, you are meant to develop the system as a whole, starting with those directly below you.