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NAVIGATE: MANAGING
THROUGH THE UNKNOWN

Twenty years from now you will more be disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

—Mark Twain

Think of a few of our great navigators. There was Lewis, Clark, and Sacagawea, who navigated their way down the mighty Mississippi River. Then, there was the fearless Jessica Watson, who at the age of 16 became the youngest person to circumnavigate the world—solo, unassisted, and nonstop. Finally, there is Bear Grylls, who navigates the wild, wild, wilderness. We could also mention Ferdinand Magellan and Christopher Columbus, as the foremost examples of the great explorers. What words come to mind when thinking about these great navigators and explorers? Daring, brave, determined, hopeful, stupid?

When you’re “navigating,” there is always an element of unknown. The unknown makes it exciting—yet scary. As a millennial manager, you have to navigate quite a few things—changes in business needs, personality style of your team members, ups and downs of work flow, and much, much more. I am sure you have seen that the workday and workflow are always dynamic and changing. If only you could know exactly what to do all the time!

Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx and the youngest self-made female to join the Forbes Billionaire Club, hit a lot of unknowns as an entrepreneur, and she offers, “Embrace what you don’t know, especially

in the beginning because what you don’t know can become your greatest assets. It ensures that you will be doing things absolutely differently from everyone else.”¹ Although it’s easier said than done, use your first years as a manager to learn and grow as much as you can. Instead of fearing the unknown and skirting away from it, seek it out, run toward it, and embrace it. Business consultant Margaret Wheatley says, “The things we fear most in organizations—fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances—are the primary sources of creativity.” Navigate, learn, and grow as you go.

MAPPING OUT YOUR TIME

Now that you’re a manager with unchartered territory before you, where will you focus your energies? I don’t have a secret formula that determines exactly how much time you should spend focused on your people. For instance, if you have five direct reports, then you should spend

11. 43 hours a week focused on managing them. Unfortunately, there is no secret to success here. I will say that dedicating at least 20 percent of your time to developing and managing your team is a solid baseline. One of the hardest parts about being a millennial manager is that you still have a boss to answer to and individual job responsibilities. It can be easy to crank through your individual work and just hope that your team is doing what it needs to be doing. If you’re particularly busy, you push off your monthly feedback sessions or check-ins with your employees. Navigating your schedule and priorities will take a little practice.

I know that “management” doesn’t fit nicely into a 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM time slot, but try blocking out time for management. It knocks you out of your individual contributor zone and back into the manager mindset. As I mentioned, management takes time, and you will be sacrificing some of the time that you would normally spend working on one of your important projects. As Maya Angelou said, “I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.” You’ve learned a lot from others, gained experiences, and received advice and mentorship, and that prepared you to take the step into management. Now, it’s your turn to share your experience with your team. It’s time to throw a little something back.

Courtney blocks out time for managing because she recognizes that she easily gets caught up in the hustle and bustle of the day. She uses these blocks on her calendar to check the pulse of her team. The processing and questions she is asking go along these lines: How is morale? Is Allison progressing on the goals that she set? Have I given her everything she needs to be successful? I have a meeting coming up with a client; I should have her come along, so she can hold these meetings down the road. How is Nicole doing? I know she was frustrated with a couple technology snafus; I should see how that’s going. Have we done anything as a team lately? Boggle break this week! These reflections help Courtney navigate the often uncertain job of managing.

Courtney also schedules a block of time at the end of each month to chat with her employees. It’s on the calendar, so it’s more likely to happen. It’s a tried-and-true time management tip. If it’s on the calendar, it’s less likely to get squeezed out and pushed until the next day and the next day and the next day.

Although they don’t put it on the calendar, we work with a client that has a team meeting at 9:00 AM every day. Now, the client misses a day every now and then if there are important deadlines to hit, but it’s a time where the entire team gets together to ensure that everyone is on the right track and working on the highest priority items. Since the meeting is at 9:00 AM, everyone has about an hour or so to get settled in and put together their action items for the day.

Navigating your time as a manager isn’t easy. You may find that you get a lot more interruptions and questions throughout the day. Determine how you and your team work best, and see if any adjustments need to be made. As a millennial manager, you likely welcome questions and ideas and maintain an open-door policy. On the flipside, interruptions can be one of the biggest time wasters and productivity killers. Now an interruption is not a “pause amid the sprints” to be sure.

Think about when you’re working on a big project—let’s say a competitive analysis. You’re on a roll! You’re writing, and the ideas are flowing. You do a little research, and then you write to summarize your findings. This is really coming along! You are in the zone. Then someone pops their head in your office, you look up, and the person starts asking you a question. More than likely you will ask to have the question repeated because your mind was so engrossed in what you were doing that it can’t switch to processing the question fast enough.

Your employee wanted to know what should be done about an e-mail from the marketing department. You talk through it for a few minutes, your employee leaves, and you look back at your computer. Do you know that feeling of just staring at your screen for a while thinking, okay, what was I doing, where was I? It takes a little while to get back in. Now imagine if that happens every ten minutes. You can have an “open-door policy” and be very open with information, but you can also encourage your employees to hold some of their questions or try to figure it out on their own. Sometimes, in the name of being helpful, millennial managers are too hands-on. “I want to help my people, and be there when I can,” you say. Absolutely, but helping them sometimes means challenging them to take on a few things themselves.

I know a manager who only checks e-mail three times a day. Now, not everyone can do that, but this manager finds that it keeps her focused on tasks that are most important. Being a manager requires a lot of discipline. Simply think about all of the things that come across your desk that need to be reviewed. Then there are check-ins, follow-up, meetings, feedback sessions, and e-mails, e-mails, e-mails! You have to determine how you get your stuff done and how you review projects in a timely manner, so your employees have the tools and the feedback to do a great job. Although being engaging and helpful is part of being a good leader, that’s only part of it. Organization and time management are a big part as well. “If you have a sense of purpose and a sense of direction, I believe people will follow you.” Just as Margaret Thatcher said, if your employees are going to look up to you, then they want to see a leader who has his stuff together and who models the way.

Now, how can you make sure you stay on top of the day-to-day tasks as well as plan for the future? How do you gain a vision for your team? Navigating is easier if you constantly check in with yourself and your surroundings. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to keep you and your team on track and moving in the right direction:

What’s next? What’s new?

How can we do things better, faster, or bolder?

What hasn’t been working and how can we improve?

If I were a consultant looking in, what would I say we should or shouldn’t be doing?

How do the dots connect?

How can I look at this from another perspective?

How would the CEO view this challenge or opportunity?

What can I immerse myself in to gain better understanding?

Are there any industries or teams that are similar to ours that I can learn from?

How would my customer or end user view this?

These are great reflection points and check-in questions to test your navigating skills and steer clear of troubles.

FINDING YOUR WAY AS A TRANSPARENT LEADER

When the weather gets stormy, sailors look to their captain. When athletes are stuck in a rut, they look to their coach. When students have a problem, they turn to their teacher. In times of turmoil, stress, confusion, or frustration, people turn to their leader. They want to see the reaction of their leader to garner how they should feel about the situation.

Think about the last time you saw a small child fall down. Before the child starts to cry, he will look at mom or dad to see their reaction. Most of the time, if mom and dad are smiling and saying, “You’re okay,” the child understands the cue, picks himself up, and starts running around again. On the other hand, if mom and dad have worried looks on their faces and start sprinting to the child, the child understands that he must be hurt and starts bawling. Same fall—but the child learns the social cues from his parents. As the leader, your employees look to you for cues on how they should act and react. Anne Price, Global Marketing Capabilities Director, said that people will “look to the boss for reaction, and millennials must have the maturity to have a game face.”

This is where maturity, attitude, and transparency come into play. First, as a manager, you now have a larger responsibility to support your senior leaders and your company’s initiatives positively. Before you became manager, you probably didn’t think twice about chatting with coworkers about HR’s new benefits policy and how you think it kind of stinks. At team happy hours, you would have partaken in light-hearted yet pointed humor about your crazy client. Now that you’re a manager, you have to be careful about how you’re acting and being perceived. I know millennials might have a tough time here. It’s not that you have to be someone you’re not or that you can’t have fun anymore. Your perspective simply changes a little. You have your team, but you’re also on the management team, so you have to represent those views and perspectives as well. If you don’t agree with some decisions of upper management, you have to be careful with how that comes off. As a millennial manager, I know you want to stay true to both of your teams. Maybe it sounds something like this.

I wanted to talk to everyone about our new HR policy. I know if you’re like me, you were a little surprised with the changes. I, too, was taken aback at first. But I also wanted to share what my manager told me, and it makes a lot of sense. As we all know, these last two quarters have been slow. One of the biggest things that I took away is that the company has to make some cuts and, instead of having to lay off anyone, they’re pulling back some of our benefits. Now, I know it’s still hard to swallow, but our senior leaders considered quite a few options, and I think we can all agree that we can’t afford to have less people around here.

This doesn’t change the fact that the new policy stinks a little, but as the manager, you can clue your team into how it connects to the big picture. I think you would agree that in this scenario, you are still being incredibly transparent.

When talking with millennial managers, we heard both sides about this idea of transparency and leading the way as manager. Your generation appreciates transparency, but sometimes a tough or resilient mindset is needed even when the prospects look bleak. I am reminded of one of my favorite people—Winston Churchill. At the time of the battle of France in World War II, the circumstances were grim. London was getting bombed every night. Did Churchill feel worry, anxiety, and sadness in his heart? There is no doubt. Did he reveal that to his country? No. Did he sugar-coat anything? No. He said it was going to be hard and that there would be a lot of fighting. He had to instill hope and encourage a relentless strength and heartfelt, patriotic pride. He sent out inspiring messages day after day. In one of his most famous speeches, Churchill said,

We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

Do you have chills? That’s leadership. That’s inspirational. That’s navigating the environment and delivering what your people need. There is an ambitious transparency that encompasses this speech. As a leader, sometimes you have to rise above your own fears or concerns and be the person that your people need you to be. In England, they needed their leader to tell them that they could make it through all the fighting. They needed someone to say that they would survive.

Now, I’m not comparing your company to a battleground or a world war. Hopefully, you don’t see too many comparisons in your work environment. This is a great—an extraordinary—example of the type of leader you need to be when you’re leading your team through a tough situation.

Let’s take a closer look at this “ambitious transparency.” Maybe your transparency focuses on “what is to be” rather than what currently is. You can be incredibly direct and upfront with your team but still focus on a more uplifting angle. Jason Houze, a millennial manager at Energy BBDO, admits that if a situation is unclear or unknown, he is upfront with his team. In these instances, Houze says, “My approach is that I am 100 percent transparent. A lot of times I say ‘I don’t know the right answer, but we’ll find the right answer.’ I don’t lead them down any rabbit holes of inefficient work, which really helps. That way they don’t waste time trying to figure it out on their own.” Houze is transparent as he navigates an unknown situation, but he leads with confidence by saying, “We will find the right answer.”

TAKING THE HELM AND INSTILLING HOPE

A great example of a leader who navigated through tough times is the former CEO of Southwest Airlines, Herb Kelleher. In the early 1970s, Southwest was struggling to meet payroll and Kelleher had a tough decision to make.² Should he lay off employees or find another way to cut costs? Kelleher found another way; he sold a plane to get the cash that was needed to keep the company where it needed to be and to avoid firing people. He made a statement to his people and let them know the gravity of the situation. Now, not all leaders and companies can do that. Honestly, great leaders and great companies have to let people go, but how is it communicated? How does the leader help the remaining employees adjust and transition smoothly?

During the economic downfall of 2008, JB Training Solutions coached a lot of leaders and companies on how to “keep up morale in a down economy.” We advised managers on how to pilot the storm and navigate through tough times. In this training, I talked a lot about communication and transparency as a leader and when to know what angle to strike. In Kelleher’s case, he was very transparent with his employees, and he let them know about the tough decisions he was facing. He also let them know that he specifically chose to protect jobs and people. This type of transparency yields a great sense of loyalty and appreciation.

In Churchill’s case, raw transparency probably wasn’t the way to go. Everyone knew the cold, hard realities, and what they needed was hope and inspiration. Churchill could have briefed them on the behind-the-scenes negotiations, considerations, and wartime tactics, but that wasn’t what they needed to hear. They wanted to know that although it would be tough, it would get better. Neither Churchill nor Kelleher read a book about what to do in those exact situations. They couldn’t even google it. They had to own the circumstances, navigate the situation, and communicate a targeted message. You can see how the themes of CONNECT are starting to connect.

Now I know what you’re thinking. World wars, layoffs, bankrupt companies—isn’t that a little extreme for advising a first-time manager? If I know anything about millennials, it is that you have the resolve to change the face of leadership and chart a new course for the way business—and therefore our world—works. Although you’re just on the first step and you may have a small team, I have no doubt that you’re headed for greatness. As a millennial manager, you have that within you.

Part of navigating is instilling hope. People want to believe. They want to contribute to a cause bigger than themselves. Millennials especially want to have challenging and meaningful work. Work isn’t just work. They want to make a difference on their team, at their company, and in the world.

How can you communicate messages that instill hope and connect your team to the big picture? Instill hope and inspiration—that you will reach your quarterly goals, that you will land that new client, that you will make a difference in the lives of your customers. This doesn’t have to be about noble and lofty speeches. This can be about your attitude and your actions. You can be that extraordinary leader in ordinary circumstances. I will continue to share extraordinary examples and then ground these examples in tangible management techniques that you can use in the field.

DISCOVERING DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION STYLES

You are learning as you go. You navigate your schedule to make time for management responsibilities, and you navigate both bright and bleak situations to determine your level or angle of transparency. The next big task as navigator is getting to know the personality and communication styles of each member of your team and adjusting your management style accordingly. Abraham Maslow, author of The Theory of Human Motivation, wrote, “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”³ As a millennial manager, you’re up for this challenge of adaptability.

You’re accustomed to changing, adapting, gaining new skills, and understanding different perspectives, and this attribute gives you a leg up when it comes to working with different members of a team. Alexandra Levit, author of They Don’t Teach Corporate in College, asked a millennial manager, “How would you describe your management style?” The manager responded, “I don’t have one management style. I don’t like having one style—it varies by the individual. It is all customized.” This is an insightful quote and reveals that “adjusting your style” may come a little easier for your generation.

For older generations framed within the hierarchy, they sometimes think it is up to subordinates to adapt to their style. The boss is the boss, and he’s not changing his style for some “underling.” It’s not that extreme, but I definitely hear inklings of this perspective in my management workshops. Some Xers and boomers get a little ruffled when I say they should alter their style for their employees. “No one did that for me!” they think. Well, they are starting to see that if their end goal is a more productive and high-achieving team, then they may need to change their perspective a little bit.

There will be more and more millennials entering the workforce, and the dynamic of work and management is changing. If Xers and boomers want to thrive in this new workplace, then they need to be open to these shifting perspectives. In the book, Mastering People Management, a 60-something worker reflected, “We wanted what they want. We just felt we couldn’t ask. Herein lies the truth: what young workers want isn’t so different from what everyone else wants. However, young workers are asking for it.”⁴

When it comes to customizing and adjusting your management style, your generation gets this idea right away. You live in a world of customization. You can buy any product customized for your tastes or personality. Courtney remembers when her first, fire-red Cingular cell phone was considered a little wild. The choices were black, silver, blue, or RED! Now you can get purple spotted cow covers, bejeweled covers, and camouflage covers.

Millennial managers get it. Everyone is different and wants different things, so it absolutely makes sense that different people excel under different management styles. To be straightforward with the skeptical Xers and boomers, I say that it’s not the sole responsibility of the manager to adapt her style and cater to her direct reports. It really should be a meeting in the middle. Remember how I said Courtney and I are nearly complete opposites? Well, we meet in the middle. She adapts her style a little, and I adapt my style a little.

Let’s talk specifically about how you can adjust your style as a manager. First, you have to get to know your employees and understand how they like to work, communicate, and act. If you are managing employees with various experience levels—some millennials, Xers, and boomers—you need to look even deeper than the generalizations of their generation. Although we talked about how individuals in each generation typically act, you still have to get to know each employee. Even though many boomers prefer to communicate face-to-face, I know a lot of tech-savvy boomers who don’t mind just e-mailing or texting. I know millennials who prefer to work independently, and Xers who enjoy collaborating on projects. You simply can’t put someone in a box because of their age. As a manager, you should do your due diligence to get to know each employee individually.

I deliver a workshop on pinpointing behavioral styles in the workplace, and it’s one of the most enlightening sessions for managers. If you’ve ever taken a Myers–Briggs personality test, a DISC profile, or Insights, then you’re familiar with this idea of falling into one of four quadrants when it comes to personality style. No educational book or program is complete without a quadrant analysis!

The fundamental principle of all the models asserts that there are four types of personalities—expressive, analytical, social, and driven. Any good team has representation from each quadrant. Even if you think about television shows, you must have each type of personality to hold it all together.

Think about Seinfeld. Kramer is the expressive, light-your-hair-on-fire, burst-into-rooms, big personality. Then there is analyzing George who knows all the best bathroom locations in the city and ponders why bald men can’t get more women. Elaine is the driven, assertive personality who can never find a guy handsome enough, smart enough, or rich enough. Finally, Jerry is the social, amiable one who brings the entire group together. The dynamic of the four personalities makes the show work. While each character is funny in his or her own right, it’s the four working in concert that leads to a hilarious show.

It’s the same thing with the characters in The Simpsons, Sex in the City, and Friends. In fact, you can take almost any show or movie with an ensemble cast of at least four and find this dynamic. In Friends, Phoebe and Joey are the expressive, slightly off-kilter ones. Ross is the analyzing scientist who likes to be right and know the details. Monica is the driven, assertive, and no-nonsense friend who makes the plans and the menu—well in advance. Finally, Rachel and Chandler are the social, amiable ones who help bring the group together.

Just like these television shows, successful companies and teams have a diverse group of personality and communication styles. What if you had a team of nothing but expressive Phoebes? The members would talk and talk and talk about the project (and a variety of other topics), but when it came down to doing the work, they would want to skip a few steps and jump to presenting it. The presentation of the project might be dynamic and engaging, but you could blow holes in the research and strategic plan. On the flipside, if you have a team of analyzing Rosses, the members would spend the majority of their time gathering data and trying to determine the right answer. They would run out of time and put together an algorithm to decide who had to present the material. Their presentation would be pretty lifeless—just like their bored audience. In both of these cases, major fail!

Although the analyzing type might butt heads with the expressive personality—the fact is, they need each other, and they’re a great complement—IF they can learn to work together. Just like with the four generations, when it comes to understanding behavioral styles, it’s important to note that no one is better or worse—they’re just different.

ADJUSTING YOUR MANAGEMENT APPROACH

What is a great way to get to know your employees and their styles? Talk to them. Talking about communication styles upfront helps you and your employees get on the same page right away—without suffering through as many “learn as you go” challenges. You could even formulate a few fun and easy questions for your team to answer. Recognizing that people adapt to different styles at home, at work, and in different situations, it’s nice to know what they prefer or how they feel they excel.

Here are a few questions to share with your team. You can answer them first and then have a dialogue with each individual about their answers. See how it plays out in day-to-day situations.

Make sure you tell your employees that there are no right or wrong answers. This isn’t a test! You want them to be honest and forthright. (You don’t want them to think the question about “obeying the rules” is a trap!) Finally, these should be answered from how you think you are at work.

1. Would you prefer to do 15 things adequately or 9 things perfectly?

2. In meetings, do you like it when other topics come up even if it means running long?

3. With business issues, is it usually obvious to you what should be done?

4. Is it easy to tell when you are disturbed, pleased, disappointed, or excited at work?

5. Do you feel that rules, policies, and procedures should be followed with few exceptions?

6. When the scope of work expands unexpectedly or deadlines are shortened, do you feel more anxious or more annoyed?

7. Do you take pride in your organizational skills and getting things done on time?

8. Do you tend to take charge in groups, or are you less forceful?

9. Do you talk more than you listen? Or do you prefer to ask questions?

10. Do you tend to be more restless and impatient, or do you take things as they come?

11. Are you comfortable taking risks, or do you like to stick to the plan?

12. Do you form opinions, or do you like to hear what others have to say first?

The answers to these questions will give you insight into how your employees work and how they view work. There is no right, wrong, or better way. Isn’t it nice if you have some people on your team who like to take risks and some who like to stick to the plan? That will ensure that any risky decision that is implemented has been thought through completely. Don’t you think it would make for a less intense meeting if you have some people who are forceful and some who don’t mind sitting back a little? You must have talkers and listeners—take it from a guy who loves to talk! There can’t be too many of us.

A good team has diverse people who have different ways of thinking and operating; you need to understand these idiosyncrasies to get the most out of your team. Nelson Mandela speaks to this point, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”⁵

You can never underestimate how you communicate information and treat your employees. When talking with one direct report of a millennial manager, she said that she likes that her manager “just gets me.” If you speak on the individual’s terms and in a person’s language, you’re going to get more buy-in.

Follow the Business Golden Rule

Do you know the golden rule that you were taught while growing up? “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Although the root of this rule is noble, it breaks down when it comes to the workplace and management. People need to be managed differently based on their experience level, attitude, motivation level, and personality style. The business golden rule is to “Do unto others as they would have you do unto them”.

Let’s see how this plays out in the workforce. Everyone responds to conflict and pressure differently. If your workplace is reflective of the majority, then you often find yourself in the midst of conflict and pressure. If you have a tight deadline and you need an employee to put together an analysis quickly, you need to think about the individual’s style, experience, and motivation level when communicating this responsibility. Maybe you know that Muriel is a regulator who thrives in a fast-paced environment and who just loves getting things done and scratching things off her to-do list. For Muriel, this assignment is perfect! When delivering it, you need to communicate the urgency and the importance, and she is on it. This is where she thrives!

On the other hand, if you’re giving this assignment to Joe, you may need to change your approach. Joe is all about relationship building, helping people, and connecting them with the answers. For Joe, you tell him how this urgent assignment will impact the team and provide the insight that the team needs to make decisions that will benefit Joe’s clients. Maybe you can even have Joe present his findings since he loves presenting and connecting with the group. Same assignment, two different people, and two different approaches.

Furthermore, maybe you know that Shanna only has a couple months of experience and that she likes structure. At this point, she has a high energy level, but her confidence and experience level are low. When she’s working on a new project, you might set up more structure for her. Maybe you have a few check points, and you give her a lot of positive feedback to boost her confidence. On the other hand, you may have Richard who is a high achiever and go-getter, and he seems to like working on his own. Maybe you give him more autonomy with the project with only one review point. You know he is inspired by achievement, so you recognize his good work publicly at the next meeting.

Understanding your team and adjusting your style accordingly goes a long way in building a productive team. As a millennial manager, you should really thrive in this area. When we talked to senior leaders, they commended you and felt that you were very open to different styles and ways of doing things. Furthermore, one millennial manager we spoke to said, “I try to find out what someone likes doing, so I can give them more of that.”

In addition, when we talked about “unifying your team,” you should also be aware of the dynamic on your team and how everyone is working together. In the words of Albert Einstein, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Help your team members see their strengths and different personalities and how they too can adapt their styles to make their working relationships more productive and fun. Remember, no one is better or worse—they’re just different.

Navigate your team toward success. Make and take time to manage, and work your way through new situations as a transparent and hopeful leader. Understand the different personalities on your team, and adjust your style to “do unto others as they would have you do unto them.” Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos and author of Delivering Happiness, says, “Be true to yourself. If you follow that principle, a lot of decisions are actually pretty easy.” Navigate the unknown, and learn and grow as you go.