Managing in the Age of Uncertainty
Don't be a corporate suit
No one wants to work for a corporate suit.
In last week’s newsletter, we learned the process for manager excellence at ServiceNow starts with “Grow Yourself.” At the heart of what ServiceNow’s Stefani Okamoto shared is recognizing the unique nature of every manager — each person — to manage in their own way.
“Grow Yourself” meant something completely different to the boomer generation. Boomer managers were encouraged to become “general managers” — where managers and leaders tried to learn something about every aspect of a business, regardless of how a brain was wired. That’s why so many boomer managers rotated from one role to another trying to become, literally, a “generalist” about the business.
The corporate generalist is what inspired the phrase “corporate suit,” meaning a certain conformity to a certain way of thinking.
It was all possible because the corporate ladder was alway there, a place to move up, sideways and, sometimes, out and onward.
It was good to be a “suit” in the boomer era. It’s the exact opposite of what the next generation of top talent looks for in a manager today.
My research into the future of managing found that millennials and gen-z look for managers who are true to themselves. We have all heard about being authentic; in a manager context, the next gen want to work for managers who share the unique way they think and make decisions — not unlike what we learned from Stefani at ServiceNow.
What I call the “Manager Mindset” is one of the Six Drivers of Consistency from my research. As you read about a manager’s mindset, think about yourself. What kind of decision-maker are you? How self-aware are you of your behaviors? Do you know your strengths and weaknesses? Want kind of feedback have you heard?
[Think you know yourself? Readers of this newsletter have access to a free 360 assessment experience with the Self-Aware Leader, one of the partners on The Culture Platform — compare how you see yourself and how your team does (normally $99). Beware: we capture verbatim statements; you may hear some real feedback.]
Why Your Mindset Matters to People
Millennials and gen-z don’t have time to reverse-engineer your brain and the way it makes decisions about the team.
As a reminder, the number one reason this generation of talent leaves a team is the lack of opportunity to advance a career. The time on your team is only a chapter in a career story for millennials and gen-z. They know the corporate ladder isn’t there for them. They are betting on their manager to advance their careers.
That’s why people really care about the way a manager is wired; it helps the team anticipate the way their manager approaches budgeting and performance management. Your best people want to shine on your dashboard of responsibilities, but they know the way you think as a decision-maker will influence who gets recognized and rewarded.
If you like facts, they want to know it. If you like to listen about problems by talking directly to customers, they want to know it. If you have a gameplan when you have to make a trade-off decision, they want to know it.
In short, the best people aren’t interested in a standard answer, from a standard playbook, from a corporate suit — because everyone knows that a “suit” is a pejorative descriptor of someone who doesn’t tell people the truth.
What Expectations People Have for a Manager
Managers become managers — and later leaders — because they’re effective decision-makers. The next gen simply wants you to share the way you make decisions about the team.
The easiest way to share your mindset is to put it into the lens of how you get things done. For example, tell your people how you do the following:
What steps do you take to be informed first-hand about your team’s performance?
What steps do you take to get to know your people?
What steps do you take to gather data about your responsibilities?
What steps do you take to advocate for your team?
What steps do you take when you have to make a tough choice?
Tough, trade-off decisions are the most difficult part of being a manager. It’s where the rubber meets the road in how consistent someone is as a manager.
Consider how you would answer these questions:
When did you make a difficult trade-off decision with your budgeting? Why was it difficult? What did you learn about yourself as a decision maker?
When did you make a difficult trade-off decision with rewards and recognition? Why was it difficult? What did you learn about yourself as a decision maker?
How It Helps Connect Career Dots in the Age of Uncertainty
I’ve found that the more you tell your people about the way you think and make decisions, the more you build a sense of trust and fairness on the team. The best people want a predictable manager. It also shows you are human, first and foremost.
It’s also an opportunity to make sure you surround yourself with people who actually think differently from you — which your people will see. It gives the people on your team permission to be the best of themselves, which increases their conviction they have the right role on the right team.
The more people know your approach decisions that affect them, the more it reduces “noise in the system” and keeps the team from speculating what’s next — which can only increase the sense of uncertainty in an era defined already by uncertainty.
Manager Thought of the Week
“Ambiguity, adaptability and authenticity define the leader’s role today — it’s why self-awareness matters so much.”
What Loretta Stagnitto, creator of the Self-Aware Leader assessment, told me about the importance of self-awareness in an unpredictable world. Amen to self-awareness. We’ve all worked for managers who didn’t recognize their weaknesses because they had no idea they existed.
Know a Champion for Manager Excellence?
If your company has a “champion for manager excellence” (like Stefani Okamoto of ServiceNow) ! I’d love to meet and interview them.
In Summary: Principles of Managing in the Age of Uncertainty
I left Cisco to answer this question with research and evidence: What does the manager of the future look like? What are millennials and gen-z seeking in a manager? Which behaviors, tactics, skills or processes matter? What’s it going to take to attract and keep the best people over the next decade? In short, how to be a great manager.
Based on this research, the core philosophy of this newsletter is rooted in one idea: successful managers in this moment in time, for this generation of talent, need to be “career dot-connectors.” The next-gen doesn’t expect to spend their entire career on your team — that’s an idea boomers grew up with. A job on your team is like a chapter in a career story to the current generation. If you want the best people on your team, you have to connect the dots between roles on the team and the career opportunities of the people working on the team.
What is the“Age of Uncertainty”? If the industrial age was about taking predictable steps up the ladder, the age of uncertainty is about finding or discovering the path of a career without any predictable steps, without an obvious ladder — it’s why being a career dot-connector will differentiate you as a manager.
How to be a Great Manager in the Age of Uncertainty: Be a Career Dot Connector is available on Amazon.
What kind of manager are you? Take my free self-assessment and learn about yourself.
No one wants to work for a corporate suit. Period!