by Jack Otter
(IGNORED) MANAGEMENT RULE NO. 1
“Don’t select new employees on the basis
of skills that can be learnt relatively quickly;
use qualities that are important and more
permanent in your hiring decisions.”
BEST EMPLOYEE TACTIC
Always Look at the Bigger Picture
The last person I hired was without
question the least qualii ed of all the
applicants I interviewed. On paper.
But what really makes a great employee
isn’t the ability to handle the day-to-day
duties. I needed someone who could
get his head around exactly how we’re
dif erent, who could understand the bigger
goal, then learn what was necessary to nail
it. And guess what? He nails it. Routinely.
Yes, you need to complete all the tasks
your job requires. But that’s just the
start. Every day, think about the bigger
problems facing your unit, your boss,
your company, your industry. Come
up with ways to solve those problems.
I’m not suggesting you pepper your
boss’s boss with ideas for changing
procedures. No-one likes that guy.
Instead, when roadblocks get in the
way of business, come up with a solution
before your boss even knows there’s
an issue and give him that solution
when you alert him to the problem.
(IGNORED) MANAGEMENT RULE NO. 2
“Decentralise decision-making and assign
it to self-managing teams.”
BEST EMPLOYEE TACTIC
Make Every Decision You Can Yourself
This is the classic business practice that
everyone with an MBA knows and no-one
ever follows. The logic is obvious: Small,
nimble teams understand their niches
better than far-removed managers and
can react more quickly to a changing
marketplace. Companies often even
invest in training programs to equip the
teams to make such calls.
But the guys at the top of the corporate
pecking order didn’t get there by letting
other people make decisions, and they’re
sure as hell not going to let go now.
So what can you do about it? First, you
have to become the guy who manages
that team. Don’t have seniority? Fine, just
choose one small project and of er to take
it of the bigger dog’s plate. Be aware that
when you ace it, he’ll probably take credit.
But look on the bright side: By making
him look good, you just became a valuable
ally. Keep it up and eventually you’ll get
the credit you deserve.
Meanwhile, keep track of exactly what
you do and describe each win for your
boss in your next review.
When you do get charge of the team,
what if it turns out to be not much
of a “team” at all? According to my
favourite management guru, Tribal
Leadership author David Logan, groups
are often made up of well-educated,
competitive alpha males. Here’s his
simple approach for turning these
“me i rst” types into team players.
“First, be curious about people’s
motivations — ask lots of questions
and really listen,” he says. Once you
i nd shared motivations, let the other
team members know what you have
in common and use the word ‘we’.
To close the deal, wait for a day when
there’s some cheer in the air and call a few
members of your team into a conference
room. Logan writes the script for you:“If we actually stopped competing with
one another and started working together,
we could land [this goal] in i ve minutes.
Wouldn’t that be cool? In fact, if we land
it for anything, no matter how small,
drinks are on me.”
Notice what happened there. You just
became the leader. Congrats.(IGNORED) MANAGEMENT RULE NO. 3“Share information: Engage in open-book
management because employees need data
to make decisions.”
BEST EMPLOYEE TACTIC
Take Advantage of Areas Where You’re
Smarter Than Your Boss
If you’re 30 or under, you’re basically
a digital native. There’s a good chance
you speak Internet better than the
greybeards running your company.
So even if you hit a dead end trying to
get your managers to share information,
you have access to data your boss’s boss
probably doesn’t even know is out there.
Learn how to use that data to make
decisions. It’ll make your boss look smart
when he includes your spreadsheet in
his next PowerPoint deck and give him
a feeling of safety when he executes
ideas based on that data.
It’ll also shield you if you’re wrong —
you’re better of showing that a failure
was based on good data than admitting
you pulled an idea out of your arse.(IGNORED) MANAGEMENT RULE NO. 4“Don’t answer ‘Why?’ with: ‘Because
that’s the way it’s always been done.’ ”
BEST EMPLOYEE TACTIC
Always Be Ready to
Do Things Dif erently
If you remember only one thing from this
article, let it be this: Never, ever, explain
anything by saying, “That’s the way we’ve
always done it.”
On the contrary, be vigilant for stale
practices and never pass up the chance
to change them. You’ll be amazed at
how many colleagues will say they
hated the old way but never got around
to changing it.
Prove that millennials can improve
things rather than just drive their older
peers crazy and the promotions will
start l owing. ■Be the smartest (money) guy
in the roomExpert personal finance advice from
Jack Otter — free of charge!Consider
leaving Telstra
and Vodafone
■ As soon as
your mobile phone
contract is up,
prepare to pay less.
With pricing turmoil
and lots of upstarts
in the industry,
consider Amaysim,
who offer unlimited
standard calls and
SMS in Australia plus
3GB of data for just
$29.90 per month.
There’s potential to
save lots of cash.
Clean up your
online act
■ Be careful
on Twitter and
Facebook.
Credit-rating
agencies, whichdetermine whether
you’ll get a loan and
how much interest
you’ll pay, are
experimenting
with social media
to evaluate your
financial reliability.
It could hurt you if
too many of your
pals are deadbeats,
or even if words
like drunk appear in
your posts too often.Put a ring on it...
soon!
■ If you’re thinking of
popping the question,
it’s worth knowing
that diamond prices
are falling hard. De
Beers lowered prices
on diamonds 15% last
year and the numbers
just keep falling.