The Best Defense is a Good Offense

10/27/10

What a messy NFL season huh?  There is no team that is dominating, and there certainly aren’t many teams that are living up to expectations.  Cowboys; Jets; Giants; Colts; Patriots (the list goes on and on) are all underperforming.

Speaking of not performing to expectations – I had occasion last week to provide some guidance and counsel to a friend of mine.  He described a situation where his manager had prepared a performance summary and “ambushed” him with it.  My friend went on the offensive – and provided more detail, context, and background to the manager.  His manager seemingly capitulated for the most part, and even indicated they would not file the review as it had been prepared.  And they all lived happily ever after right??  Not so fast.

I told him – this has all the earmarks of a “leave alone – whack!”  What is a “leave alone – whack!” he asked.  Weak managers (and there are far too many weak managers in the corporate world) all too often rely on the “leave alone – whack!” methodology.  They sit in isolation, occasionally taking feedback from those who may have other axes to grind, and come to conclusions based on at best superficial, and often incorrect, observations.  They don’t possess the courage to confront situations as they occur, and when they conduct the “ambush” – they are quick to smooth over ruffled feathers or even retreat all together – only to come along with a “whack!” at a later point in time (chances are – when it’s too late for the “whackee” to do anything about the disparagement that has occurred).

And while my friend demonstrated good offensive technique in the meeting – the offense needs to continue in order to avoid the “whack” from the weak manager.  How does one do that?  You need to manage the manager.  You should:

·         Memorialize the “ambush” meeting in detail, making sure to specify the outcomes;

·         Confirm with the manager that the initial performance note will not be filed as a performance review;

·         Establish with the manager that you want to be made aware, immediately, of any situations where he or she believes you have not performed to expectations; and

·         Start to keep your own file

And here’s the best part – today, because of the pervasiveness of e-mail, you can do this in a seemingly informal way – yet all the while create a very effective paper trail.

So you see – a good offense isn’t just about one play or one set of downs – it needs to be sustained over the course of the whole game – until you are winning handily.

 

(see “A Million and One Ways to be One-in-a-Million”; Chapter 6 – Give My Regards to Broadway and Chapter 3 – Luke, Use the Force)