In my first job out of college I had a handful of direct reports. They were fresh out of college too. I had one year more of experience than they did [and it felt like a lot at the time 😂].
I struggled in one area. I couldn’t get them to turn in accurate monthly reports on time. Every month I ended up cleaning up their numbers myself, making sure the math added up before it went out the door.
I complained to my boss, an entrepreneur who’d hired a handful of kids to run around Guatemala supporting entrepreneurs. How he responded has stuck with me.
Look at yourself first, he said. Have you set them up for success? Do they understand what you’re asking of them? Do they see the value in what they’re doing? Have you been clear enough about the expectations, and how to meet them?
We were working within a brand new database that tracked entrepreneur sales, and it was wonky in ways that are funny in hindsight. If three entrepreneurs worked a campaign together, you had to divide sales by three and land on a whole number. This never happened cleanly. Management was loose. This was before iPhones. We all had the kind of phone where you pressed a number one, two or three times to get the right letter to appear in a text. To call people you had to buy a card and ‘recharge’ your phone with more minutes. And, you paid by the hour at an internet café to check email.
So there were plenty of factors working against us, and no, I hadn’t looked at myself first. I’d assumed each of them could operate with the same amount of information I needed. I hadn’t made sure they understood what I was asking for or whether they were equipped to deliver.
I think about his questions more than almost anything else from that job. Before I blame someone else for how something went, I ask myself first: did I set this up to work?
I held that question with me through my consulting career. Was I delivering information in the way the recipient needed to hear it? Was I asking questions in a way that would elicit the information I needed? Did my client have enough information to make the decision I was asking them to make?
And now, as I dive into coaching, I don’t ask myself the question anymore. I don’t need to, because it’s simply how I operate. I read the person in front of me first and then decide the best way to communicate so that my message is clear.
P.S. I promise this newsletter isn’t turning into stories of my life in Guatemala, but recently I’ve been reflecting on the experiences that have shaped the work I’m doing today. I’d love to hear about the things that have shaped your work life. If you hit reply, the message comes straight to my inbox.
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