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When it comes to operating at a startup, with shoestring budgets and small headcount, folks frequently lean on the KISS principle. From your MVP to your GTM motion, keeping it simple often wins the day.
But when we turn our attention to management, advice tends to get much more complicated. From hosting 1:1s and team meetings, delivering performance reviews, or setting OKRs, there are dozens of balls in the air for managers to keep a close eye on. And sometimes, juggling all these balls isn’t even enough. There’s pressure to bring a unique flair and pizzazz, making it all look easy with your own management style.
In the first line of his new book, titled “When They Win, You Win,” Russ Laraway puts the problem much more succinctly: “Managers are failing everywhere, and no one is helping.”
When he sat down to write his new book, he gave himself quite the uphill battle to climb — wading through the cacophony of opinions, frameworks and advice out there and cutting through the noise to what actually works. “Instead of just more opinions, we need a simpler leadership approach that measurably and predictably delivers more engaged employees and better business results,” he says.
In the spirit of simplicity, Laraway removes the fluff and gets to the nuts and bolts of sharp management with what he calls the “Big 3”:
- Direction: Good managers ensure that every member of their team understands exactly what is expected and when it is expected.
- Coaching: Good managers coach their people toward both short- and long-term success, helping them understand what they should continue to do and how they can improve.
- Career: Good managers invest in their people’s careers in a way that considers their long-term goals and aspirations, beyond the four walls of the current company.
Read on for his research-backed tips and clear systems for implementing each of the Big 3 into your own management repertoire, charting a smoother path to management success.
If you’d prefer to listen to Laraway’s lessons, head over to our podcast In Depth and pop in your headphones.
Thanks, as always for reading (or listening!) and sharing.
-The Review team
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