Case in Point

Bob was an operations executive in a fast-growing company pioneering a new business model in the risk management industry. With no candidates in the local employment marketplace skilled to do new jobs such as counseling consumers when their identity was stolen, he had no choice but to staff his team with bright and hardworking but relatively inexperienced people. His challenge was to get results fast in order to grow the business while also providing lots of development for the newbies on his team.

Enter Maria, a high-potential twenty-something member of Bob’s team. With a true gift for customer service, Maria, who started as the first customer care professional, was promoted to be the manager of the small but growing department of consumer counselors. She was a fast learner and a good judge of people. But she was also tough enough to hold people accountable for results and good at coaching new counselors.

Bob knew he had to help Maria do her current job as well as become prepared for the expansion of her team as the numbers of customers grew rapidly. Bob kept in close touch with her as she started managing people. He used his daily encounters with her to help her quickly tackle increasingly complex challenges, such as interfacing with top executives in order to close sales with new customers. Bob says, “I abhor micromanaging. I do my best to make measurable success criteria as clear as possible to staff. I say, ‘Here’s how I define success. I will not be mad if you use your own judgment or if you do it differently than I would. We’ll talk about it.’”

Bob used clearly defined results to anchor Maria’s learning. Working on skills to fill the gaps was the development plan. In addition to the issue-driven daily encounters that provided great instant learning opportunities, Bob also set aside time for longer weekly one-on-one meetings.

Even with all this support, Maria “lost it” during one stretch task when the sales vice-president promised a customer something Maria knew couldn’t be delivered. She started arguing with the sales VP in front of the customer.

Turning the mistake into a lesson, Bob asked Maria what else she could have done to deal with the situation. This process helped Maria channel her passion for the customer into more politically effective responses.

This example is characteristic of Bob’s development style. He says, “It’s my job to teach my staff how to maintain a professional demeanor when they get upset. They can blow off steam in my office; then we talk about the appropriate way to react. I give them ideas to practice in order to be more professional young managers.” This case demonstrates how Bob “makes every day a development day.” He tucks development right into the work, creates the right stretch, supports that stretch, and nudges development along through his regular on-the-spot coaching.