When you are the subject of gossip

I’ve never really been all that keen on spreading nasty gossip about other people.  I’ll complain with the best of them when there’s something that I think doesn’t match up to the values a company or person is meant to stand for, or where there is a promise broken or a lie told.  But I won’t buy into gossip about someone, especially if I’ve never even met them.

However, that doesn’t mean I’ve never been the subject of gossip.  I imagine that most people have been the subject of gossip at some time in their lives.  Sometimes you find out about the gossip; other times you don’t.  I am fortunate enough to have a number of close friends who will tell me what others are saying (although I often wish I didn’t know what this was – is knowledge really power?)

I know that I’m doing this blog anonymously, but I’ll tell you a couple of things about me:  I’m 39, female and single.  This means that, the last two times I have joined organisations, one of the big rumours about me is that I might be a lesbian.  This one amuses me mainly, and I figure that my sex life (or, sadly, lack thereof) isn’t anyone’s business but my own.  Now, I’m not a lesbian.  But it goes to show that people spend their time speculating in ways that make no sense and will give no-one any real satisfaction.  And, let’s face it, this isn’t a particularly damaging rumour in the scheme of things (unless John Cusack or Hugh Jackman were planning to ask me out, but are confused by all those rumours).  Plus, it makes me feel a little like that red-headed chick, Marcia Cross, from Desperate Housewives, who was plagued by similar rumours and complained that, just because she was single and 40, everyone figured she must be a lesbian.  Now she’s married with a baby, so you sure showed them, girlfriend!

However, there are other, nastier rumours that seem to raise their ugly heads, and often it’s hard to know what to do about them when they come to your attention.  In one way, hearing rumours about yourself proves you have a profile: if people you have never met are gossiping about you, or have an opinion about you, then at least people know who you are!

Here are some rumours I’ve heard about myself:

1. I was fired from my last job (untrue!  The truth is that I was offered a role and turned it down, walking away with goodwill and a large pay-out after my old role became redundant).

2. They took months to get rid of me in my old company (untrue!  we agreed that, after my old job was made redundant, I would move to other work in the business while they looked for a suitable alternative role for me)

3. I hold a grudge (untrue!  I tend to always try and see the other person’s side, and am pragmatic about why and how people make decisions.  Those who work closely with me tell me I’m tough but fair; and that I have a lot of compassion)

4. I fired a friend of someone I’ve never met (once again, when I got to the bottom of this bizarre rumour, I found out that the person I supposedly fired had never even worked for me!)

There are plenty of others, and hearing rumours about myself makes me even more sceptical about things I hear about people I don’t know.  I will always try and give someone the benefit of the doubt, and take everything that’s said with a grain of salt.  If someone wants to say something nasty about someone to me, I’ll turn them away.  Life and business is tough enough without having to field opinions that are irrelevant.

Recruiting the Best

One of the things that I’ve been told I do really well is to recruit great people.

Really, any leader who plans to build or maintain a top notch team needs to get recruitment right, pretty much every time.

The most inspirational thing I’ve ever read about recruiting was written by David Ogilvy, the founder of the international advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather.  In his book, Ogilvy on Advertising, he talked about how he used to send his people off to start O&M’s international offices.

He would give each of them one of those Russian Dolls, which open up in the middle and, inside, another doll comes out.  This goes on until you reach the smallest of a number of dolls.

Those people who were curious enough to open up all of the dolls would find a note from Ogilvy that read something like this:

If you hire men smaller than yourself, you will build a company of dwarfs.  If you hire men greater than yourself, you will build a company of giants.

To this day, that quote knocks me off my feet.  I think of it all the time when I am recruiting.

We are all waging the “war for talent”.  In such times, it can be easy to compromise and take second best, simply because the market is tight or you don’t have the time to keep searching for the “right” person.

As I’m becoming a bit of a “specialist” in team turnarounds, I’ve found that recruiting the right people is absolutely critical.  This is particularly so if a team is bruised from its past.  They need to see you hiring people that they respect and who they want to work with.

Here are some rules of thumb that I have followed over the years, and they’ve been the key to my success in finding wonderful people:

1. Listen to your gut instinct.  Someone can look terrific on paper, and even give you the strong impression that you ought to be impressed by them.  However, if your gut tells you there’s something wrong, that’s probably because it is.
2. Wait for the right person.  Sometimes getting someone on board right away is crucial.  Most times, you can get by.  Never, ever hire someone just because you are desperate.  Get a contractor instead while you recruit.  Muddle along.  Outsource it.  Just, whatever you do, don’t sign up that dud!
3. Build a relationship with a recruiter.  If you are in the sort of industry where you use external recruiters or head hunters, pick one and stick to them.  Build a relationship over time, and take the time to help them understand what sort of person you are after.  This will pay off in droves, as they will immediately know if someone is right for you.  They can even get in early on a great hire who they think will fit your culture just because they know you well.  I’ve found this recruitment relationship particularly important because I’ve recently had to rebuild a dreadful external recruitment “brand” – my current team has, historically, been the last place in the legal market that anyone wanted to work.  All because the past leadership was so bad.  Having a great recruiter who could tell our story of renewal in the external marketplace has been crucial to our recently hiring some great people.  Even if we don’t end up hiring everyone our recruiter talks to, our message about the team changing is getting out there in a positive way.
4. Candidate care is critical.  Make sure that any candidates (yes, even the ones who you don’t want to hire) get treated well, and are kept informed.  All along the way.  Keeping a great candidate “warm” while you are interviewing others may be crucial to your not losing them.  Regardless, you want them to think that, even if they missed out on the job, they were treated with respect and professionalism.
5. Hire the person first; the skill set second.  Never hire someone just because they have the skills you need.  Unless they are going to be a good fit for your team, you are better of waiting until the right person comes along.  Plus, more often than not, you can train a smart person with the right attitude.
6. Build a strong referral network.  In a tough recruitment market, it’s no longer possible just to draft a snazzy ad, put it in a prominent place in the newspaper, and expect CV’s to roll in.  Call your contacts in other companies, and ask your staff to refer names to you so you can approach potential candidates (either direct, indirectly through your contact, or via your recruiter).  These sorts of referrals pay dividends big time.
7. Never, ever, ever treat people badly.  Your reputation as a leader is key to keeping, and hiring, the best.  People who leave your organisation will talk.  Make sure they are saying great things.
8. Be prepared to work in the individual candidate’s time frame.  Some candidates are in the market for a flash of an eye.  Once people know they are available, they’re gone.  You might need to make them an offer straight away.  With others (particularly people who you have approached via your networks), they may take a long time to decide whether or not they really want to leave their current job…while you need to be patient.  Giving people this space is a sign of respect, and that (if successful) you’ll be getting someone who is thoughtful and loyal.  Take the time.  Wait for the best.
9. Take careful references.  Once you have picked a candidate, if at all possible, make sure you speak to people they’ve worked directly for in the past.  Ask hard questions about team fit, initiative, attitude, why they left.  Listen for subtle hints of any problems.  Explore gaps or development needs with care.
10. Once they’ve accepted your job, give them a call.  Touch base with them.  Tell them how excited you are that they are coming on board.  Invite them to any “team” events between now and when they join.  Give them your number, and let them know where to turn up on their first day.
11. Make sure their first day feels like a hug from their new team.  A first day is the closest you come to feeling like that new kid in school.  Take the time to welcome your new staff member.  Make sure they are set up with all the technology they need.  That they have a phone number.  Give them pens and paper – hey, show them where the toilets are!  Give them information about their new team and their new company.  Take them to lunch.  Get them off to a great start.
12. If your new person isn’t working out, admit it ASAP.  It will be better for both of you in the long run.  Hopefully, your screening will have weeded out the duds before they joined.  Use their trial period wisely.  If in doubt, see them out.

There’s one other thing that was said to me, by an inspiring CEO who I worked for in my old job.  He was an ex-sportsman, who represented his country in team sports.  He once said to me:

Don’t just build a team of champions; make sure you build a Champion Team.

There’s no point in hiring the best in the market if they are difficult to deal with, they come in only to run their own agenda, or they simply don’t become a real part of the team.

Go ahead: Build your company of giants.

Wearing the fallout of bad news

After I told the Dispute Resolution Team that I gave the role of their Manager role to an external person, and that Mark would be leaving the team at the end of this year, they slept on the news.

And got mad.

As part of my “be seen, and talk to the team, even when they hate you” campaign I went around this morning to see how they were going.

Mark seemed OK.  We met separately and he said he was worried we’d shaft him.  I said we wouldn’t and we’d be fair with him, so he seemed OK.  [Note: Mark is great at making you think things are fine, but he bitches behind your back; I'm not dumb enough to assume I've escaped]

Lisa shot me a look that screamed “I hate you, you fool, for firing my work husband.  How dare you.”

Ivan, a team member who’s been with the Company for over 40 years, and who was out of the office when I made the announcement, gave me the thumbs up - he agreed that giving Mark the role would have been a crap decision.

And, in the DR Team Meeting this morning, Anthony (who is the Acting Manager for the DR Team) asked the DR Team how they were going with the news.

Their reply was to say they wanted a series of questions answered. 

I’ve told the team that I’ll meet with them to address the questions, but I won’t answer any related to why particular individuals missed out on the roles; that’s for one on one feedback with the individual involved.

Here are the questions, with the replies I’d really like to give.  I’ll probably come up with some politically correct responses between now and Wednesday, when I will answer them live, without a net.

1. Why, since all the lawyers wanted Mark to be the manager, did I appoint someone else?

 A: Let me answer your question with another question: when have you ever worked in a place where the managers were chosen by democratic election?

I was brought in to transform the team.  That means I’m the one who gets to appoint the Managers, not you.

Get out of your petty, painful, bitchy, gossipy past and smell the coffee.  Stop loving me when you agree with my decisions, and hating me when you don’t. 

Grow up, and realise this is a fact of corporate life.  I’ve missed out on roles I’ve thought I’d be perfect for, too.  I learned to suck it up.  So should you.

2. How can this decision have been made, when it makes no sense on any criteria?

 A: Sorry that I, and every member of the Legal Management Team, abandoned all sense of logic and sensibility, and appointed someone based on the fact that they were the best person for the job.  We’ll learn from our mistakes next time.

In the meantime, you should alert the CEO so he can fire me for my incompetence.

3. From an admin team perspective, we are disappointed an internal candidate didn’t get the job.

A: Since the admin team is full of slackers who don’t even work the hours that they are paid, I will take that as a compliment. 

4. Why was the role advertised externally?  When the other Legal Manager roles were recruited last year (ie BEFORE I JOINED!), only internal candidates were allowed to apply.  Why not now?

A: Because, dumb as I am, it didn’t take me long to work out that none of the internal people were people I would trust to be on my management team.  The quality of these questions is proof enough that I was right.

Just because some idiot decided to hire only internal people nearly a year ago, before I arrived, doesn’t mean I have to live by their rules. 

I note with interest that you waited until I announced the appointment before you objected to this.  Why didn’t you ask this question when I first advertised the role?  Oh yeah, that’s when you figured you were all so great that one of you would get it. 

Guess what: you were WRONG!

 So there.

Bad News Delivered (Part 1)

Last week, I told you that I was going to have to deliver some bad news.  Bad news about one of the staff in the Dispute Resolution Team, Mark, being made redundant.  And about my appointing an external person as their new manager, instead of one of the internal candidates getting the job.

Well, on Friday I communicated the news.

On Thursday, I sent everyone in the Dispute Resolution Team an email saying I’d meet first with the internal candidates, and then with the whole team to tell them who got the role.  All day Thursday, they were like kids on Christmas eve – busting to know.

Lisa’s meeting

I started with Lisa.  Lisa has been there for a couple of years, and she’s Mark’s “work wife”.  (There was some study or other done, and it turns out that many of us have the equivalent of spouses at work.  No, not to sleep with, but just someone of the opposite sex we have a close connection with in the workplace).

Lisa doesn’t have a leadership bone in her body.  She’s a really good lawyer, and works hard.  Her downside is that she’s too much of a purist, and her advice can certainly do with more commerciality.  And she’s no leader.

Instead, she’s the person likely to listen to everyone else’s opinions before she works out her own.  She’s a little like a lost duckling, who’ll follow the last person who walked by.

Lisa was desperate for Mark to get the Manager role.  In fact, she looked me in the eye and stated with some warning in her nasal, squeaky tone that “we will be very disappointed if one of the internal candidates doesn’t get the role”.  She also thought she’d throw in her opinion that Andrew, a younger lawyer in the team, better not have got the role because he’s just not good enough.

God, I love those moments.

So, I had to tell Lisa that she didn’t get the role because I don’t really see her as a leader.  That she was great at process, and seeing where ways of doing things could be improved, but she didn’t have the energy needed to drive change.

She didn’t like this much, and she thinks I’ve missed the obvious.  However, since no-one is following her, I figured I hadn’t. 

Lisa’s was a tough meeting.

Delivering Bad News

I’ve got a challenge coming up this week.

When I arrived at this job, I found that the Dispute Resolution team (ie mainly litigators) hated their boss. Big time.

Now, this wasn’t without reason. She was pretty much a conniving underhanded type whose story always changed depending on what made her look good to the senior Corporate Loonies. She lied to me quite a few times before I moved her out the door. Seeing her out was my first tough decision here at the Company, but a pretty easy one in the circumstances – too many people had stopped trusting her for me to keep her. Plus, turning a team around is like a game of chess: you need strong opening moves to set yourself up for success later in the game. My only choice was to move her out, and it was a relief to do it.

So, the old manager has long gone, and I have been recruiting to fill her role.

Let me tell you the first couple of rules of team turnarounds:

RULE 1: Underperforming teams are always that way because of poor leadership.

RULE 2: Where there is poor leadership at the top, there are usually one or two people below them who reckon that they deserve their boss’s job. Sometimes, those people DO deserve their boss’s job. But alot of the time they don’t.

Why not?

Because they’ve spent their days, months and sometimes even years bitching and moaning about how terrible life is under their crappy boss and worked themselves into a state where they think they deserve to take their job because (a) they are the loudest, (b) everyone else listens to them, (c) they can see everything that’s wrong with how the team is being led and (d) that makes them the right person to fix it.

Often, they convince some other members of the team of this too.