Always wipe your bum!

“What comes around goes around” is a phrase commonly used when preaching to others about ethical behaviour or by those that believe that there is a levelling force out there that cares enough to ensure that things work out evenly in the end. Other phrases like “You are what you eat”, “You will reap what you sow” or “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” are also symbolic of phrases embracing karma.

I am a keen believer that as a role model (Manager/Leader) in team management you need to practice what you preach. During the team management phases of my career, my style has generally been a hands-on approach. This enables me to utilise my technical and leadership qualities on a daily basis from within the bosom of the team. I have never sought my own luxury office or other status symbol as an indication of my position. My positioning amongst the team would mean I am always available to talk through ideas or issues. I most certainly will be there to encourage, assist and develop the teams skills. If I ever needed privacy I could always track down a meeting room, shelter in the local café or work from home for an afternoon.

The purpose of this article is not to discuss the merits of positioning yourself as a manager or a leader within your development team, or is it to debate the benefits of the hands-on versus hands-off management and leadership philosophies. Each of these items are environment specific and so in depth that they are best served with full discussion in a future article.

I want to discuss the aspects of being a role model for your team and how your behaviour affects others around you.

I have worked with many different people over the years all with interesting quirks and features and every single one of them has in some way or another left their mark on me, not physically but by influencing my views as a ‘software development professional’ and helping me cast my expectations of the working community in general.

Some I speak of as visionaries and ahead of the curve, I value many others as trusted colleagues whose integrity has shaped my beliefs of honesty and transparency, there are the characters who make you laugh/cry or cringe, even before they speak. Then there are the odd four or five that if I were to write down my true opinion would land me in court fighting a defamation hearing, the blog would be censored as the article degenerates with unprintable language that even Kevin ‘Bloody’ Wilson would find objectionable.

Many managers fail to understand that you are judged on more than just your innovations or effectiveness, and you can guarantee more than death and taxes, your staff and colleagues will eloquently appraise you behind your back, if you are lucky to your face also. Managing upwards or sideways is only half the issue and this is where your political skills shine if you are that way inclined. Having a team that is 100% focused behind you is the harder half of the equation to implement successfully, and it is this half that is often overlooked by a manager on the path of change glory.

To put this into context I once read a couple of short quotes that I believe summarises the management challenge quite succinctly.

“Bulls**it can get you to the top of the corporate ladder, but it’s not good enough to keep you there”.

“When a monkey at the top of the tree looks down they see smiling faces. When you are below and look up, you only see a**eholes.”

As a manager you will be remembered for what you do wrong or badly as much as you do good. Actually, a sack full of positive memories can often be overshadowed by one or two bad decisions whether by misjudgement or deliberately/deviously thought out. The fact that this perception is fair or not is open for debate.

On a personal level I owe as much to the four or five people I’d rather not mention (All ex colleagues) as I do to those that have provided the motivation and broadened my thinking.

Quite often I have seen people behave in a manner that inspires me to make that mental note of “I wouldn’t do it that way” or “When I am in that position I wouldn’t do that”.

• Ever had a manager who bullies staff or chastises staff in front of others?
• Ever had a manager that values process and technology over the people aspects of running a team?
• Ever had a manager who seeks opinion but never listens and ignores all input?
• Ever had a manager who promises a review and then waited months or years for it to materialise?
• Ever had a manager breeze though a company with change havoc only to move on without seeing the job through.

Many of these are management lessons on page one of the manual and combine communication and basic human needs. Anyone who has ever taken the time to read material related to Maslow's triangle will understand my point here. I have seen all of these incidents above over the years with varying results, and once again the negative memories override any goodwill previously earned.

Last week I witnessed another of those moments (albeit small) when a direct line manager at my firm failed to stand up and be counted during a leaving speech of a long serving colleague who now reported to them. I was aware of a few differences in opinion between the two people that led to the resignation in the first place, but I felt that this could have been a time of reconciliation.

So whilst most were expecting the usual speech from the line manager I was shocked to see the manager hiding in the wings, quite literally, and instead it was left for other managers to make the ‘Sorry to see you leave speech’. The employee did their speech afterwards and kept it civil and in my view edged the overall contest on points.

I will try and look for the positives out of all this even though I was disappointed enough to blog this today. I am not saying that as a manager or leader you have to be whiter than white. There are occasions when you have to make decisions people won't like. In other situations in sports management I might suggest that pleasantries are not high on the agenda. But I am saying that it is important to consider every factor of your role and day. It is often the little things that undo a manager.

So, another mark has been etched into my mind and I have learnt that it is more important to front up rather than avoid those awkward moments. After all, the negatives may build up and may invoke a re-greasing of the corporate ladder.

So, if you believe in karma please remember, you never know who is sitting on the rung just above or below you or whether they harbour plans to move ahead, so always wipe your bum.

Thanks for reading.
Lee.