A Piece of Advice Rarely Given to New Managers
My dad was a DIY guy through and through.
Being a sparky, he took pride in working with his hands. The benefits from this take-matters-in-your-own-hands approach were massive. But every now and then things got tedious.
For one, there was always some sort of unfinished project on the go.
One of those was the restoration of our 1987 Renault 9 TSE.
For bunches of months our Sundays were spent covered in engine oil tweaking some new part. But each time we thought we’d cracked the code something would come up.
Carburetor issues - sure. Starer motor - got you. Door handles – let’s get on it next week.
A niggly quirk was the lack of wheel alignment.
What it meant was, as soon as you went over 80km/h the whole body of the car shook like we were breaking new land speeds. Every bolt felt like it was rattling. The noise was deafening.
Looking back on it now, that was my first lesson in management. Alignment.
The Discovery
The story of my dad’s Renault 9 holds relevance today because of this one discovery I made, years into my role as a manager.
Your team is going to put in tremendous effort, regardless of your direction. The opportunity you have as a manager is to make sure the wheels are aligned and working together for a smoother journey towards a clear target.
Amongst the hay bales of advice for new managers this is probably the one piece of advice I wish I’d had starting out. It’s an idea I’ve found so central to managing teams that I kick myself for not recognising it earlier.
The image below illustrates it well.
Misalignment And Turbulence
Consider you’re working with a team of four.
Each wheel on the images represents a team member and you – the manager – represent the steering wheel.
On all images, the five of you are clear on the destination you’re going. But on the two LHS images there’s an ever so slight misalignment in the direction each wheel is pulling. At low speed – workload, pressure, demands – the misalignment is barely noticeable. But as speed increases the whole vehicle begins to shudder.
You grip the wheel tighter to maintain control, but the whole thing is a grind. You’re travelling towards your destination, but each tyre gets burned out quicker and nobody knows why.
Unless you have a natural knack for recognising how teams work, you wouldn’t notice each wheel is working against each other.
The RHS vehicle is different. The four wheels are aligned.
Steering is easy, and as speed increases the goal remains simply to keep your eye on the ball. You’re able to tap into the full potential of the team.
Clarity is The Definition of Vision. Alignment is The Focus of Energy
Once you recognise the value of alignment – and the banana skins that emerge without it – it becomes nearly impossible to unsee misalignment where it’s present.
Earlier this year I described the value of clarity and alignment in my essay introducing the Productivity Tripod. I defined it like this:
Clarity is the vision of where we want to go. The higher the definition of that vision, the more engaging it is. Alignment is the practice of focussing our energy where it’s needed to get us to that vision.
Notice I didn’t talk about “communicating” or motivating” or “setting a good example.”
The focus on alignment is by itself so powerful, it encompasses and absorbs all the pieces of advice above.
By focussing on aligning the team, you have no choice but to seek clarity yourself and communicate clearly. As creatures who like simplicity we’re motivated by a clear and aligned path. By aligning your actions with a clear vision you are setting a good example.
More often than not, the path we follow isn’t the best, but the clearest and most aligned.
Big Potential and Becoming A Superstar
Most of us go through our working lives grinding.
We enjoy many facets of our work, but we can’t quite figure out why it feels so hard. We grip the wheel harder when really what we need is a bit of axle alignment.
And if you’re part of a team and you feel like you’re grinding and loosing direction, Shawn Achor offers these words -
“You can become a superstar; you just can’t be one alone. What you need is a star system: a constellation of positive, authentic influencers who support each other, reinforce each other, and make each other better.”
Alignment can be improved at all levels.
My advice is focus on that. You could be pleasantly surprised.
Footnotes
Sparky - for those outside of the UK, this is an informal way of saying electrician. It’s often used in an endearing rather than derogatory way.
The quote from Shawn Achor is from his book Big Potential. I highly recommend it for anyone working in a team.
Lastly, this short essay isn’t directed towards any of my current or previous managers or colleagues. It’s very much a piece of advice I wish I’d had as a manager starting out, that I hope others in their early stages of management find valuable.
