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Manage Your Relationships
One huge misconception new leaders have about their performance is the idea that your competence, your ability to do your work well, is the primary factor that determines your job satisfaction and longevity. Organizational researchers will tell you that not only is that not true but your ability to do your job isn’t even in the top 5 of most important factors in your tenure. The truth is that there are any number of factors both inside and outside of your organization that can end your time at your job. Your team can mutiny, your board can decide to go in another direction, your customers can revolt or an insecure boss can undermine your employment. The higher you go in any organization, each of these factors must be managed in order to enjoy a long, successful leadership term. George Zimmer, Jim Harbaugh and Rudy Crew are just a few examples of individuals who enjoyed great success and had their time cut short.
George Zimmer, the Founder and former Executive Director for the Men’s Warehouse was unceremoniously dismissed by the senior leadership team he personally assembled. Zimmer founded the company in 1973. Each member of the upper management team was hired and placed specifically for their skill set. He also selected each member of the board of directors. For forty years, he was the face of the organization, we can still hear him saying, “You’re going to like how you look, I guarantee it”. In 2013 his company made $2.48 billion in profits, the same year he was dismissed by his board without any explanation.
Jim Harbaugh took over a San Francisco Forty Niner team that suffered through a 12 year span, 1999 to 2010, with 10 losing seasons. During that time the Forty Niners lost 10 or more games six times. Abysmal. In four seasons as Head Coach, Jim Harbaugh won 49 games, advanced to the National Football Conference Championship game three straight years, won the NFL Coach of the Year award and earned a Superbowl appearance. By all accounts a raging success. By the end of his third season the rumors had already begun swirling about his time coming to an end with the team due to a conflict with General Manager, Trent Baalke. By the end of his fourth season in San Francisco, he was dismissed.
Rudy Crew, the former New York City Schools Chancellor of the nation’s largest school district. Steady increasing performance by students and his ability to transform struggling schools earned him a reputation as a highly competent leader. His opposition to Mayor Rudy Guiliani’s voucher system got Crew “the other Rudy” dismissed from his job. In 2004 Crew was offered the opportunity to lead the nation’s fourth largest school district, Miami-Dade County Schools. His School Improvement Zone, implemented in New York and in Miami Dade was identified as a Top 50 innovation in education. In February 2008 he was named by the American Association of School Administrators, the National Superintendent of the Year. On September 10, 2008, seven months later, the board voted to terminate his contract, ending his time with the district.
Each of these stories demonstrate the fact that tremendous success does not mean you will keep your job, in fact, there isn’t a correlation between performance and tenure at all. The truth is that there are too many other, more important factors to contend with that get in the way of focusing solely on your job performance. It seems counterintuitive that you would receive an important assignment only to find out that keeping it will require you to focus your attention on external influences but that is exactly what you’ll have to do. Managing people at the top of the organization, managing people with the outward facing jobs and especially your boss is what it will take for you to be successful at your job. A closer look at each of the leaders mentioned above will reveal that their downfall came as a result of conflict unrelated to their job. Be it politics, personality, or ego; these are among the factors that interfered with keeping their job. These leaders were excellent at their jobs and it didn’t matter. If you aren’t careful it won’t matter for you either.
Be in tune with what your boss expects from you, ask and follow whatever direction you are given. Talk to your team, listen to what they are saying, solve their problems, celebrate their successes, and do all you can to be fair and impartial. If any number of constituencies in and around your team can get you fired, you should behave as if that is true. Find out who the players are, talk to them, make yourself available and do whatever is necessary to make their lives easier. Once they realize you are concerned with them, they will be less likely to undermine you. When it comes to unions, community groups or any other interested people, be aware and remain open; those people have to power to make it easier for you to get your job done.
Essentially, if you want to take care of yourself and protect your career, the key is being mindful of others in the organization. People above you, those in your charge, individuals who are interested but not involved in day to day operations all need to be managed. As my mentor and friend, Mike McCoy, would say, “Make no enemies”. Everyone is a friend whose support you will need at one time or another so prepare yourself for that day by looking out for them and you will SOAR!
William A. Brown
January 6, 2019
