Table of Contents

• Celebrations and Reflections

• Things I’m Working On: Short-Term, High Impact Eng …

• Getting Clear on Roles and Responsibilities

  • Where should this person be focusing their attenti …

  • What is the level of decision-making?

  • What is the level of priority and doneness?

  • This is not one and done

• 1% Solutions

• What I’m Reading

Celebrations and Reflections

I turned three! Or rather- my consultancy did, on Friday.

While the exact date of birth is debatable, I choose to celebrate my consultancy’s anniversary on March 28th as it was the day that I announced it on social media and it also was my mom’s birthday (for whom I named my consultancy).  It felt appropriate. And when you are your own boss, there is no one else to tell me differently.

I sometimes talk about a business’s development as though it was a child growing up-- for example, I often work with orgs who are in their middle school years.  So I asked my good friend, chatGPT, to describe a threenager.

It shared:

A “threenager” is a playful term used to describe a 3-year-old child who behaves with the attitude, mood swings, and sassiness typically associated with a teenager.

Think: tiny human, big emotions.

Yup, that mostly describes where I’m at (just swap human for business…it works). I love the portfolio nature of my work- fractional, consulting, coaching, facilitating, strategic advising- and the ability to be part Mary Poppins, part Olivia Pope. And thank you all for following along!

(Also, I was going to get this out earlier but HAVE YOU SEEN BOOKER’S SPEECH?! As of this writing he’s on hour 18.)

Things I’m Working On: Short-Term, High Impact Engagements

In addition to my fractional and consulting work, I’ve taken on shorter term work designed to boost capacity within teams. Think short term, high-impact (and can be more cost effective than hiring a consultant). And if you are interested in learning more, just reply to this email!

• Onboarding Sprints- For new leaders (or leaders new to a role) to help them plan out their first 90 days and beyond. We can leverage GallupStrengths or DiSc to help you focus on what you do well and how to leverage this as you handle your next challenge.

• Leadership facilitations- I’ve been leading facilitations for managers (truly, my first love in the talent space) to equip them with frameworks and tools, as well as develop their decision-making to ensure they are choosing the right tool. Mid and senior level leaders really crave a space to learn and get better- it’s so much fun seeing them apply ideas and sharing excitedly what’s working.

• Strategic planning- These packages can range from shorter term, more focused areas (like designing a new role) to bigger picture thinking (revamping recruitment or mapping out our professional development, or upskilling our org). I’ve worked on all-day strategy session or multi-day half-day sessions.

• Audits- Before diving into revising or executing, having an external pair of (experienced) eyes to review a process or aspect of your culture can go a long way in helping your team chart a course forward. Like strategic planning, these can be either narrow (e.g. an engagement survey or policy review) or broad (recruitment processes or ability to retain key staff)

Getting Clear on Roles and Responsibilities

I will say this- clarity is a shared state between manager and teammate. Why? Because we are communicating from our perspective and sometimes our assumptions– and the other person is listening through theirs- and clarity is not achieved until we align both. Furthermore, it’s not an end state. Work shifts, new teammates join, circumstances change. Even once you feel you’ve achieved clarity, it requires maintenance to ensure both parties are seeing and understanding these shifts the same way.

Also? Clarity on roles and responsibilities increases engagement, reduced burnout and increases retention.

In one of my facilitations, I shared the three questions below with leaders in a consultancy space. They each had teammates they are looking to grow, teammates who want promotions they are not quite ready for, and new teammates from a merger. The framework below was helpful for all three groups- and I’d add, can be helpful in writing new job descriptions as well.

Where should this person be focusing their attention?

While general workflows are clear, I find that managers are often looking at results while teammates are sometimes looking at what they did and how hard they worked. If you don’t share a language on how you are talking about the work, there is a disconnect.

When I worked in K-12 and focused on teacher development, I referred to this as input versus output. Are you asking someone to do something or complete a task, or achieve a specific outcome? Some examples:

• a program manager or ops manager updates student records versus ensuring that student records are consistently up to date

• a recruiter needs to be make X cold calls a day versus increasing applications Y%

• a teacher writes out exemplar answers versus being able to define what excellent looks like in order to set a high bar or to better backwards plan.

Here is why this is important. First, you are defining what matters. Second, the exercise helps you to better coach the person. If the focus is on inputs, be sure to explain how the input informs the output. If you care about the output, monitoring the input can help you to better coach.

What is the level of decision-making?

The next level of confusion comes when we are not clear on a person’s decision making. These levels have been often cited and are not mine, but are super helpful.

• Level 1- Direct Supervision- This is “do as I say.” That being said, I’d be clear on outcomes desired so that the teammate knows when to raise their hand to raise questions and not run off a hill.

• Level 2- General Supervision- This is where the person researches and report back. The leader gives guidelines and expectations but then expects the person to use their judgment.

• Level 3- Limited Supervision- The teammate researches and recommends a course of action. Leaders still define outcomes and shares parameters, and regularly checks in on progress.

• Level 4- Minimal Supervision- The teammates decides and informs. They have complete ownership. The teammate updates the leader on progress but the leader does not get into the details.

• Level 5- Complete Delegation- This is where the person fully owns all aspects of the work, from goal setting to execution.

I’ve found that these levels don’t stay static- sometimes a situation is volatile. Sometimes a teammate is doing work they know in a context they don’t. Use these as a shared language rather than a hierarchy to follow.

What is the level of priority and doneness?

This is especially important in a fast moving organization, and even more so when teammates are used to being high performing. Sometimes things need to be done very well with little wiggle room for error. Sometimes, we can get a C+ on something o move on. Which is which? Yes, you can use Eisenhower’s matrix, but I find the grading system’s supports alignment a bit better and thus helpful for folks struggling with this.

This is not one and done

Again, clarity is not an end state. Some teams operate like bowling teams, some like baseball and some like basketball. The speed and frequency of your review and communication should match the speed of your team.

How are you monitoring team dynamics and success? How are you building in rhythms to ensure there is communication and adjustment along the way? I’d love to hear your ideas and questions.

1% Solutions

• Monitor your market to identify potential talent. Recruiters can sometimes be so heads down they are not able to look up to see opportunity. States like Pennsylvania, New York and Minnesota have exemplified this by calling out to federal workers (example here) Layoffs and disruptions in markets can provide opportunities for other organizations

• Share an evaluation audit with managers and add this to your next check-in- It is April— meaning that we are about three months out from your last performance review. How are folks doing? How do you know? Have you shared that with them? Take the time to do a feedback audit and then follow up with folks accordingly. If folks are making great progress or are consistently doing well- tell them! And if the needle isn’t moving, get curious as a first step. And also, please talk to your HR Business Partner for ideas on how to engage in this conversation with the person you are supporting (If you don’t have one and need one, feel free to email me)

What I’m Reading

• Workplace expert Adam Grant says everyone should be considered for a promotion unless they explicitly ‘opt out’- Brief article (with audio version as well) that outlines how considering everyone for a potential promotion can reduce the bias of who raises their hands and who is concerned about seeming entitled or pushy. I’d suggest also quarterly step backs of all of your direct reports in addition.

• Pitch Decks- Ok, you may be wondering HOW this applies to you. But we all have to communicate ideas to folks whose buy-in we need- and sometimes those ideas are complex, and the audience is not. familiar with the complexity. I found this article from Crunchbase (via the Techstars LinkedIn newsletter) SUPER helpful in explaining HOW to do so. The advice transcends industry. Other plus: this can be shared with direct reports and teams to help equip and empower them as well.

• Over 40% of Managers Say There Mental Health Declined On the Job- Despite managers being crucial to operations (Deloitte), over a third feel ill prepared and many feeling the crunch of being a middle manager o their mental health.