👋 I am so glad you are here at $COMPANY and I am looking forward to us working together. I like to provide this manager readme ahead of time as kind of an operating manual so you can understand how I operate and what to expect. This isn’t exhaustive, but hopefully we’ll fill in the gaps as we work together.
My Values
- Be Transparent - Unless there is a need for confidentiality I am completely open and transparent. I always strive to make data, information, and other items that impact my decision making out in the open and visiible.
- Have a System - Everything has a system through which it operates. It is important to discover those systems and make them explicit as much as possible.
- Be Empathetic - I strive to stay highly attuned to what motivates people and be understanding of their perspective.
- Act with Intent - Be intentional to achieve desired results when it sometimes feels there’s too much to do.
- Think Critically - Don’t be content with doing things because “that is how it has always been done.” Always question the status quo, break down cargo cults and silos.
- Kaizen - I am a big fan of continuous improvement through constant learning and adapting.
1-1s
For me our 1-1s will be the most critical meeting we have. This will be a time for us to connect and build our relationship. I have some ground rules for how these typically run.
- I am always on time, I don’t move 1-1s unless there is an emergency (or we are out of office).
- Once per week,
- Not a status update, we will do that elsewhere.
- Come with whatever topics you want to talk about.
- We’ll keep our notes in a shared document (this will vary based on $COMPANY practices)
I like to keep 1-1s awkward to keep it interesting, and productive.
Feedback
I am a big believer that successful, happy teams operate thanks to a solid feedback loop. This is how I deliver feedback:
- Praise in public, critical feedback in private
- Straight and to the point, I like to care personally but challenge directly
- I stive to give feedback that is timely, beneficial and useful.
Performance Reviews
$COMPANY runs performance reviews on a cycle of ___. We will default to the process for these here. However I will keep you appraised of your performance good and bad on a regular basis so you can act on feedback. The way I see it, a performance review should simply be the culmination of what we have already discussed frequently. I will do my best to give you actionable feedback, provide examples and give you my full sport. My primary concern is to see you succeed.
Nuance and Errata
- I am Hard of Hearing - I wear hearing aids, I have been hard of hearing since birth. I got by for the longest time by reading lips and as a result you may notice that I will focus on one’s lips when they are talkin. I might mishear sometimes, so you might notice I occasionally reflect a question back before answring to ensure I heard it right. Please feel free to speak up if you think I have misheard you.
- Keep Me Accountable - I tend to have a heightened sense of shared responsibility if my team holds me accountable. You can help me here by being quick to give me feedback, whatever it may be.