One of the rules I learned early was actually something I learned from Lee Iacocca, who was one of the direct reports of Henry Ford who then went on to take over as the CEO of Chrysler. He wrote a book about management and one of the things he said, quoting Charlie Beecham was, "If you want to give a man credit, put it in writing. If you want give him hell, do it on the phone."[1] I shortened it to: criticize in private, praise in public. And that stuck with me. Because sometimes the truth-telling, if it's painful, or if it's embarrassing, or somebody would feel like they lost face from it, is better done in private.
I worked for a president of a company once who was really adamant about being on time to meetings. The VP of Marketing came late to a meeting and we were all sitting around the table waiting. He just dressed her down in front of all of us, “do you know you kept us all around this table waiting for you to show up and wasting our time?” And she was visibly embarrassed. And that made the saying real for me. I've never forgotten it.
No senior manager should ever do that unless it's a significant value of the organization that's being put in question. In that case, I agree with Jack Welch, making a public example reinforces the value.[2] Being late to a meeting? I would not consider this among the significant corporate values.
So, I think managers have to take into account the feelings of their team, because that's what builds trust. That's what builds a sense of momentum. And that is what Tom DeMarco talks about when he points to teams "jelling". [3] That is, project teams don't jell unless there's trust, that people feel like they can depend on each other. And trust is something takes effort to build, and is easy and fast to destroy. So I think that's an important insight. And something that we all have to take into account in whatever leadership position we're we find ourselves, whether it's leading a project, leading a team or leading an enterprise. |