Do you have a management Rhythm?
One of the first questions I ask leaders in initial Coaching conversations is, “How often do you meet with your direct reports?” It is often met with a few moments of puzzled silence… and then typically, “Oh, we talk every day!” The HARDEST thing about coaching is not letting your judgment enter into the conversation. As I’m a terrible poker player. I have at least learned to back up and ask a better question: “What is your approach to management?”… which helps me deduce the same thing… do they use the Rhythm method?
It’s a cheap reference, but you smiled, didn’t you? Or I hope you did, because honestly, if you don’t approach your management with humor …and Rhythm, your outcomes will be… My father had a lot of impact on me and nothing more than this phrase: “Reduced to Practice” – have you completed something well enough for others to duplicate it? Not everything needs engineering discipline, but I have found that establishing a regular Rhythm for meetings is one of the lowest cost, highest return activities any leader can do. And science backs it up.
What gives you more “air time?”
Chess Records was the Mecca for southern artists who had migrated to Chicago. It was so successful that the Chess brothers started a subsidiary … wait for it … Checker Records. Bo Diddley’s first recording was so different in its sound that it immediately went to number one on the R&B charts. Though difficult to characterize at the time, many stories put Bo as the “first rock and roll” act signed by the Chess brothers. With that success, he was spotted by Ed Sullivan and asked to play on his show in November of 1955.
Backstage, Bo was warming up singing Sixteen Tons, and the stagehands thought he should play that in his set. He readily said yes. And on the cue cards, it listed “Bo Diddley,” so, reading that as a title and not his name, he went ahead and played that song also — doubling his time on stage and making Ed furious. Bo’s extra time produced – Rock and Roll… in 1955 BEFORE Buddy Holly, the Beatles, etc.
Here is the ACTUAL show from 1955, and then another one I found from 1965, which is even more fun. Watch as he descends the risers, and watch for Norma Jean Wofford – dancing, singing, in heels… while ripping up her guitar part 😉 The same commenter said, “…this video is the definition of gangster/badass to this day.” Finding this stuff is another part of management Rhythm – doing it daily requires me to learn something new.
How does it help your “Band?”
The state of the art in Performance Management has moved away from the yearly Performance Review, but not like MOST people think.. Leading-edge adopters like Accenture, the FAA, and Johns Hopkins realized that what was needed was MORE conversations, not fewer. The recommended cadence is at LEAST every 2 weeks, focusing on what happened in the past couple of weeks and what’s projected for the next few weeks. Thirty minutes is enough, and I will talk about Status Reporting later in the week, which makes those conversations better, deeper, and more rewarding for everyone.
People need regular, Rhythmic, predictable, and, most of all, PREPARED feedback on how they are doing. The MOST important thing to focus on is what is going WELL. Again, science helps us: find SIX things they are doing well with for each one they are not. BARE minimum, make it a 3-1 ratio. But, if you‘re like most, it is more like 1-3, and this happens when you haven’t thought about what you are doing.
The B side to “Bo Diddley” is a song that did fairly well for him also, but it has been re-recorded by many artists you know—The Yardbirds (here with Jeff Beck) and The Rolling Stones, just to name a few. It also triggered a monster hit for Muddy Waters – Mannish Boy, also recorded by many white artists, a pattern you will see all week. For today, what is your management, Rhythm … and are you doing your best to take responsibility for helping you and your team to step up? Written by Bo … and a call to action for leaders of all genders to step up and own it… I’m A Man.
