Page 104 - Make Work Great

Growing Your Crystal

and ask about how they track their progress. Avoid asking them to do
anything differently—as in, “While you’re making that checklist, you
could easily e-mail it to me”—or they’ll become reluctant to share. Be
clear that your only goal is to learn something that you might some-
day share with someone else, perhaps saying, “I don’t want you to do
anything differently, I’d just like to learn what makes you so success-
ful in case I need to coach someone else in the future.” In framing
your discussion this way, you’ll reinforce the importance of visibility
systems and prepare yourself to deal with other employees about how
they might become self-reliant by improving their own systems.

Overtness About Resources if You Are the Manager
If the conversation turns to overtness about resources, remember that
such conversations often begin with something the employee lacks.
Trying to produce output in the absence of needed resources can be
a frustrating, demoralizing experience; different employees will han-
dle it differently. Some may become agitated and approach you with
the basic orientation that you, as their manager, “had better get this
resolved.” Others may internalize the lack of resources as their own
failure and be quick to blame themselves—or be reluctant to raise the
issue at all. But whether your employee is pointing the fi nger at you or
himself, your challenge as manager is to steer the conversation toward
the output required, the specifi c resource needed, and how the two
of you together might obtain it. Don’t fall into the trap of blaming
anyone for the “lack.” Focus instead on solutions: “What additional
resources would you need to deliver your outputs?” Remember too
that there may be an iterative effect here: if the acquisition of a needed
resource is complex or diffi cult enough, getting that resource may
become a project in itself and appear as a new item on someone’s
summary outputs list.

Overtness About Capability if You Are the Manager
Discussing overtness about capability with an employee can be easy
or diffi cult. Much depends on the level of trust between you and on
how you frame the discussion. Are you talking about a gap in your

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