How to earn respect from your analysts?
Hey guys I’m an associate at IB, got promoted to Associate around 9 months ago or something.
I feel like some of my analysts aren’t respecting me enough. For example when I ask one of the analysts to do sth he just never acknowledges it or replies very late. I sometimes have to @ him in a group chat with seniors in so he will feel the pressure to reply to me and he finally will do it.
Also sometimes some analysts just don’t like to take comments (may think my comments are value add or sth) but then the end product is so bad that my bosses may scream at me if it’s send out. When I send over my comments they are never appreciative, I feel
So my question is, how do you earn respect / manage / work with analysts better so they do what you tell them to do / respect you more as a “senior”?
Generally do you have to keep certain distance from your juniors to let them respect you (avoid being too friendly to them)?
I used to be super soft and friendly to one of my analysts and now he’s not listening to me anymore .
Obviously I’m a junior associate so not an MD but I still want to gradually learn how to properly “manage” and work with employees who are more juniors then you.
Any thoughts welcome
Beat his fucking ass.
edit: whoever MSed, my associate's gonna beat your fucking ass.
Bring it up to your VP/MD on the deal, and put some pressure on them. I always try to respond asap or at least keep my associates up to date with a timeframe on a task. Sounds like either your comments aren’t that value add or that you just got a poor class of analysts. I’m guessing the latter if they can’t even communicate with you. Best of luck with that.
Nope, sorry, but this is terrible advice. While it may sound like good advice on the surface, it ultimately makes you look like a weak manager to your chain of command above you. They may hear you out and they may even tell you, "I'll see what I can do". But what they really mean is, "Are you not empowered as a manager to do something about it? They're your team, you should be handling it". Do not escalate to anyone until you have done everything (and I mean everything) possible to handle the situation yourself.
You sound like a toxic VP. So you’re basically saying that if one of your associates came to you for advice about managing analysts you would consider them “weak.” I bet it’s really fun to work under you lol
You are welcome to believe whatever you want to believe, but the WSO upvotes have spoken on this one.
I assure you that you will never rise above A2 and into management until you start viewing leadership as a learned skill that you have to take the time to develop. And just like any other skill, some will be better than others; so, yes, your managers will see you as weak with that leadership skill.
Oh and I'm an SVP, not a VP, thankyouverymuch!
I’m glad that you like to flex on analysts on WSO
I’m an Associate on the buyside (ignore the username) so still very much at the bottom of the totem pole and don’t have experience managing a group of analysts. But given I’ve had my share of difficulties with certain associates when I started my prior job as an analyst, perhaps I’ll speak to what I thought worked well and really what I’d like to emulate when I start managing folks:
- Tough when it comes to business / friendly otherwise. I think a mixed approach is always effective. I always appreciated associates or VPs that you could shoot the shit when it was a chill work day or at a post work outing. But that doesn’t mean they became pushovers when it came to actual work. Establish boundaries. We’re buds outside business, but when it comes to getting shit done, it needs to get done. Your analysts should realize that. I respected the associate who I could chat with for an hour about the nba playoffs or champions league, but was also the one that warned me that we got a sprint coming and it’s time to lace up and get cranking (I.e. we divide and conquer, you send me your slides, I check your slides and send comments which I expect to be turned)
2 - Minimize multiple turns / acknowledge stupid comments. Part of being a good associate is anticipating potential comments from your VP and tackling them in advance. If you’re able to predict those, let your Analyst know in advance so he doesn’t feel like he’s turning the same shit over 5x. He respects you and the VP respects you. Win-win. Some comments are also just straight retarded (I.e. you’re not going to sell a company or secure a raise for a shitty company just cuz your slides shades of blue are perfectly synchronized and/or you use the Oxford comma). But it’s just like that sometimes. And when you email your analyst, just say something along the lines “this is the stupidest thing but can you go through the deck and check for …” Realized that when associates said that to me, we were really in the trenches together. Your comments don’t necessarily need to be as “value-add” as you think - they just need to minimize repetitions. Willing to bet you that most of the analysts you work with can’t tell / also don’t care how much value you’re adding to the slide as long as they don’t have to receive a barrage of comments from the higher levels that keeps them in the office till 5am versus the disappearing act they were trying to pull at midnight.
3. Set expectations. If you want your analyst to reply within 15 mins of you emailing him, tell him. There’s no point getting frustrated internally. You guys are a team. Work together.
4. Back your team. If you can, push back on tough timelines and stupid requests. Read above, you’re a team. Treat them as such, they’ll treat you the same.
5. Stop being a hardo dick who relishes all nighters. Literally have worked with associates who wear hours worked as a badge of honor, probably did as analysts, and salivate at the prospect of a sprint. Don’t be that person. I have hated those associates with a vengeance. Not only cuz they're big on Facetime and keep piling on unnecessary work but cuz they have a smile on their face all the time - fuck that smile and fuck them.
6. When all else fails, forget the carrot, use the stick. Remind them that your opinion is important cuz you could probably speak the most to their work product. So get their shit together or you will have no problem fucking their annual review and bonus. I’ve personally seen other prima Donna analysts and nothing pleases me more than an associate telling them that they ain’t shit and to get the work done
Don’t lead by fear, that’s for assholes. Nobody wants to work for assholes, how many VPs / MDs who lead this way do you like working for? None is my guess. The job can be shitty enough as it is without having to deal with that. Leading by fear is for people who don’t know how to manage subordinates. Your a new associate, you really aren’t that much more senior to them so don’t operate with the air that you. This is a common issue with new associates. You have to grow into that over your associate years.