I'd like to share the following story from the trenches, in the hopes that it helps others. I run the department of a family office's investment vehicle, and previously I was in PE.
Those whom I feel are top performers do 3 related things: they are proactive, they take ownership, and they work collaboratively.
We just had a freshman intern depart.
He was awesome - and I would contrast him to the 3rd year analyst we have who is not doing well.
I recently gave them both a PPT to do, with the analyst in charge, and the intern to support.
Intern: proactively took time overnight to draw out draft slides on paper before doing work Analyst; did "research" online for a week, didn't provide a draft paper outline or mock slides even when requested, and only turned in her attempt at finished slides which missed the mark entirely
Intern: built out aesthetic slides, and showed progress report Analyst: built slides with inconsistent format, wordy and not punchy
Intern: continuous progress update on the work, and ownership of the final product Analyst: no ownership of final product, only does those specific slides when requested, and then says "I've saved the slide to the shared drive." Me: "you're responsible to turn in a finished deck. Take ownership."
Finally -why I suck as a manager.
I'm having trouble communicating my thoughts, and in motivating my analyst.
I'm trying not to micromanage, but at the same time, the work I'm getting back is crap.
So since ownership of the department's performance is mine,
I need to own up to that and find a way to improve this problem.
Hope my sharing the above helps though.
You shouldn't really have to motivate people. Be inspiring but don't go out of your way to motivate because it means your team is weak. Fire that analyst.
That has occurred to me.
But I follow Jocko Wilnick's motto on extreme ownership.
If I lead the team, and things are going wrong, it's my fault.
That said, it sure was easier to work with that intern, as opposed to the analyst. And she's 25 and the intern was just 19, and the analyst has so much more experience. Why can't I get her motivated and get her to get on the ball?
Have you discussed any of this at all informally with her?
Yes, we have regular discussions.
I think she's a nice person, and I want to see her succeed. Plus she just had a bad breakup with her fiancee. I'm not heartless. But the problem is, as much as I like her as a person, her performance sucks. I suspect my predecessors running the group ignored her/failed to train her. And she comes from mainland China, where just showing up, staying late, and being loyal count, but merit / performance does not. I don't care about face-time.
I care about getting s**t done and delivering our work products, and hopefully capturing some revenue. So I'm trying to help her develop and grow.
We'll see how this unfolds. That said, the contrast between her and even this super-young intern is so dramatic.
Sometimes a kick up the backside is what is needed!
It's difficult to do so if the colleague is female. One does not want to be seen as an office bully. If I am seen as beating up on a little girl, how will that help my career? So I have to be really sensitive about this. If it was some dude - ideally a big tough guy - I could be more frank - even critical. But you don't want to be that guy who is seen as beating up on a girl, man. Bad optics.
How has she made it to 3rd year being poor?
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