People management

People Management

The more the time passes by, the more interesting People Management topics become to me.

If I am to choose 4 key success factors that I have learnt from the best managers I have ever had, they are the following:

1. Walk the talk
2. Get rid of rotten apples, no remorse
3. Get good employees out of comfort zone
4. Give real time feedback

Walk the talk

No-brainer. You cannot ask for what you do not even do. 

Starting by little things:

• Be punctual to meetings, starting and ending them on time.
• Save costs to company: optimize travel costs, be diligent choosing providers, do not miss use company assets
• Be self-demanding, criticize yourself
• Meet your commitments 

You MUST be a role model.

Get rid of rotten apples

Here I am not talking about low performers. A low performer can be the right person in the wrong place.

I mean the other way around; the wrong person in any place. 

Let's avoid being naive or too politically correct; there are bad, negative, toxic persons.

Here the approach must be 100% logic, no empathy. What do you choose, the rotten one or the majority of good ones?

Is not only a matter of getting rid of a rotten apple; if not managed on time, it will ruin the whole basket.

Hence, no remorse, the sooner, the better; through out the rotten apple and save the good, delicious ones from getting corrupted.

Get good employees out of comfort zone

You must look at yourself as a ice skating trainer. 

You know it will be painful, you know they will even hate you...but they will do a "triple axel", getting to be the best possible version of themselves.

You will make them better professionals and eventually, better persons, proud of themselves, fearless.

It is simple: force them to do new things, to test the unknown. But at the same time support them, let them know that there is a safety net.

Give real time feedback

Direct, honest, immediate feedback is what all of us deserve.

It is the only way to get better at what we do good as well as the only way to realize and fix what we are not good at.

If anyone gives you feedback, even not very nice one, is because he cares. In terms of feedback, no news is bad news, means that the person in front of you doesn't care. 

And here we come back to point #1 "walk the talk": if you do not care, why should your employees do?!