Changing manager's minds
by Miki SaxonLast week I again focused on the culture underwritten by Brad Anderson’s MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy)™. In the comments Diane asked, “What can be done to open the minds of managers?”
Unfortunately, there is really nothing you can do to force a person to change the way they think, but there is much you can do to encourage it. I honestly believe that the fastest way, as well as the most potent force, to encourage change is VSI.
I used to believe that people had to perceive the need for change before they could change, but based on experience I’ve found that if they see benefits to themselves from doing things differently they will start moving in that direction.
The results of this can be almost surreal. One manager with whom I worked was known for making his people come to him constantly to get the information necessary to do the work they were assigned. His attitude/actions resulted in higher-than-normal turnover in his group, but he insisted that he wasn’t doing anything and people could get the information at any time, so there was no correlation.
His boss and I worked out a two-prong approach to change his behavior.
- 20% of his annual bonus was tied to reducing his group’s turnover by 30% (which would bring it in line with the company as a whole); and
- his boss started doing to him as he did to his group by forcing him to come and ask and then dribbling out the information he needed to meet his targets.
Part of the manager’s reaction was straightforward—he grumbled a bit about the retention bonus. But the surreal part was in his reaction to the information plug—nothing, not a word or an action to acknowledge what was going on.
But he did know, because within days of it starting he was giving more complete information to his people. Not all at once and not very graciously, but he did do it and as he loosened his hold on the flow, so did his boss. If he backtracked his boss tightened up and the manager learned that to get he had to give.
At first, his people were cautious, not really trusting the new openness, but after about a month the results started and after six weeks they took off like a rocket—productivity and retention zoomed north, while grumbling and discontent headed south and on into oblivion.
But to this day, the manager claims that nothing has changed, in spite of his people commenting publicly on how differently he was handling assignments, meetings, etc., and certainly not him.
November 20th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
You’ve got to wonder why this manager wasn’t fired or reassigned- it seems to be too much trouble to change someone who doesn’t even acknowledge changing. I guess I have no patience for this type of person.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:05 pm
He wasn’t fired because, believe it or not, he was very much an asset to his company and would have been difficult to replace. Also, believe it or not, everybody liked him except for that one annoying action. Yes, it got to people after awhile and they left, but he was well worth the turn around effort. If it hadn’t been successful he would have been fired, but termination is the last resort of good managers, not the first.
I’ve found that many people, depending on the circumstances, who change don’t like to acknowledge it. When admitting the change is tantamount to saying “I was wrong” you’ll find few people jumping up and down to do it.
The important thing is that he did change. After spending time with him I discovered that information control was a de facto practice of the culture in his two previous companies and that that time span covered his ten years in management, so he knew no other approach and had no reason to trust it when he met it.
July 8th, 2008 at 3:30 am
[…] wrote about this last fall at Leadership Turn. Changing manager’s minds and the comments are a good example of why I don’t believe that mea culpa […]