I used to report to a Managing Director at a too-big-to-fail-bank. He was (is) the best manager I have ever seen at any company - and this is saying a lot because as a consultant I move around a lot.
Anyway, Tim had a reputation for being a hardass and keeping people's toes to fire to deliver on time. Say an executive pulled you in on a bombshell that you had to diffuse and that required you to cancel meetings and put in weeks of unscheduled time on the issue. Tim would be in the loop of course and support you throughout the way. But when you finally went to him on Thursday to show what a great job you had done with this unexpected development and how everything will be great in tomorrow's presentation, Tim would simply acknowledge that you did a great job, and then almost immediately would say, "
And you are delivering the xyz project on Tuesday, right?"
"Oh, sh!t Tim, I've been working my butt off on this thing. It has chewed up a lot of hours."
"Yes, I know. And you've done a great job at it too. But you did promise that XYZ would be ready by the end of the month and Tuesday is the end of the month. So I still expect to see it then."
Eventually, Tim and I became good friends, enough that I could speak bluntly with him (and trust me, he cultivated a dry professional aura that made it hard for people to think that was possible). Then I asked him, "What the hell is it with you not understanding that there are only 168 hours in a week and when we put in the time for one project, it has to come out of another one?" His answer was, of course, I understand that. But shit happens all the time. And if I don't keep people accountable to their deadlines, then nothing will get done. My "understanding" in such situations takes the form of not reprimanding anyone for missing the due date b/c they were busy with an unexpected development. But that doesn't mean that they are not accountable for delivering things on time no matter what else is going on.
Tim's methods were unconventional but he delivered 3x the results of everyone else. And ultimately we all liked him for helping us be better than we thought we could be. I learned a lot from him on how to manage and motivate people.
And this brings us back to the discussion on the green deal. Nothing will get done if people believe they can move the goal posts indefinitely and don't feel a sense of urgency. We have already moved the posts several times, so it is time for people to feel the urgency.
But if you have a better plan to mobilize the people to fix the environment, I am all for hearing it. |
