Do Your People Know What You Want?

What if your people knew exactly what to expect from you? What if they understood your style, the objectives that drive you, and the things you value the most?

Most of us never give our people a window into these answers, and they have to learn what we expect largely through trial and error. I can’t begin to tell you the number of times I heard someone say, “I guess I’ll just keep going until she tells me I’ve done something wrong!”

Not a very effective way to lead your team… there’s a huge performance premium to be placed on clarity… and a leadership user manual can only increase clarity

Even though I consider communication to be one of my personal strengths, when I first came across the concept of the Leadership User Manual last year, I immediately saw its potential for improving team culture. I was actually a little cranky that I hadn’t come across the concept sooner – it would have made such a difference to the teams I led.

Like a team charter, it lays out the ground rules, and establishes your expectations – which could save years of trial and error, as your people attempt to interpret what you’re thinking, and what you might need from them at any given point.

There are definitely pros and cons. On the upside:

1. It’s a great way to establish principles, and seek agreement on them
2. It provides a referenceable record of your direction, which can be used at the center of any discussion with an individual who works for you
3. It can provide a level of consistency
4. It can extend the reach of your code of conduct, and make it more relatable
5. And it can serve to keep you honest, as you’re more conscious of adhering to the principles you’ve laid out for your team

But, there are also some downside risks:

1. It creates an expectation that people will adapt to your preferred style, which may prevent you from molding your leadership style to most effectively lead them
2. Your leadership user manual will be necessary, but not sufficient – it may give you a false sense of security about how much work there still remains to lead your team to exceptional performance
3. With consistency, comes predictability… if you are overly predictable, people will begin to make assumptions, and not challenge as actively as they should
4. And often there’s a gap between how we think,m and how we behave – this is a credibility killer!

I think the pros outweigh the cons, so please have a think about how you might develop your own leadership user manual… Try to put into words things like:

1. Your personal style
2. Your overarching leadership philosophy 
3. How your team can get the best out of you
4. What things you find difficult to tolerate
5. How to best communicate with you
6. How they can be be wildly successful under your leadership

… and try to explain as clearly as possible

1. What people tend to misunderstand about you, and
2. To finish the sentence, “You won’t enjoy working for me if…”