These apply to software product companies in Bangalore. Things may be different elsewhere.
1)Give feedback early: nothing is more important for a manager than performance management. Do not delay thinking that the problem will go away, that things will improve, or that you need an appropriate context or time for giving feedback. Start by stating what you observed, give your interpretation of it, then ask for change. Continuous feedback creates a context that will allow you to take more serious action if required without coming as a shock to the employee. Also, the longer you suppress feedback, the more angry you are going to be.
2)Do not get swayed by strong responses to feedback: Some employees are very emotional. Some may also use this as a manipulative device. Hopefully , early feedback will reduce this over-reaction.
3)Reviews/goal setting: Set performance criteria early. Don't wait till two months before the review. What is written in the review ? The common culture of doing reviews in Bangalore appears to be to give the tough feedback verbally, but put only nice things down on paper. If you do not want to follow this, let the team know beforehand.
4)Work hours: Try to set goals that are to be met in reasonable time. Do not try to control the work hours of people. Control the expected output.
5)Compensation: Expect people to discuss their raises. For small teams, different % hikes can become an issue. Do reward the high achiever more than average. But if you think you can get away by giving an average performance (meets) rating a raise lower than what you gave to the rest , you are wrong. It will be noticed.
6)Team vs Upper management: This is a fine balance, and the most likely issue that a first time manager, focused on project management and the team, can ignore. It is the team that makes you who you are, take care t listen to their asks, provided they are genuine. Yet overall company guidelines should be adhered to- too much divergence will create a problem. Be careful of your communications with upper management. Too much transparency about your team members can be used against you. Keep the intended action you want in mind, and give feedback that guides upper management to take that intended action. At the same time, the other extreme is to run a little empire where you get away with what you want,keeping management in the dark. That's typical of Bangalore, but not very professional.
7)Hiring/team building: Do not hire people just because they are like you. Hire people with different strengths. Ruthlessly search facebook, Orkut, the web- whatever resources you can find to profile the person if they make it past the phone screen. You may find useful information.
8)Perception is everything. Don't every forget that when you go in to a manager's meeting.
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