Leading Geeks

I’ve been thinking recently about different types of leaders.  Or at least of different of types of behaviors that leaders might exhibit.  If I keep thinking about it, this may well turn into a series.  If I stop thinking about it, however, I reserve the right to change topics.

Image via Wikipedia

The first one that I thought I’d tackle is the burned-out geek leader.  Some signs your geek leader is burned out include…

• She can’t remember much.
• She seems to not pay attention to what’s going on unless it’s right in front of her face – she’s detached and unfocused.
• She’s behind in email (well, more behind than usual).
• She becomes obsessed with something that seems relatively insignificant – she has a very one-track mind (seems like a control issue).

I think that pretty much every leadership state has its pros and cons (even this one).

Pros:

• If your manager is burned out, you get to pretty much just do your job.  Unless you’re working on that one thing with which she’s obsessed, she’ll just leave you alone.
• You have a chance to shine by keeping things running while she doesn’t have the mental wherewithal to deal with them.

Cons:

• Getting a substantive answer about anything is pretty much next to impossible.
• If you try to keep things running and fail, you have a very good chance of being thrown under the bus.
• Finding her is tough; she could be crazy in meetings or off hiding.
• You have to continuously hound her in order to get anything done (e.g., my vacation begins tomorrow, can you please approve it now?).
• There’s some chance that she’ll give you short-sighted or distracted answers (“Just do this and leave me alone.”) for which you’ll pay later, either personally or professionally.

I thought I’d give an example of this last point from my life.  As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, I once went through two water disasters in five days (waterfalls in the server room).  We – that is, my team, my boss, and I – were all operating in a state of extreme burn-out.  During a conversation about the damage, my boss told me to get a second replacement Storage Area Network (SAN), and when I questioned the order (saying that I wasn’t sure that insurance would cover it), he snapped at me and told me to just get it.  Fast forward a few months, and it turns out that the insurance company would pay for the first SAN, but not the second.

So what do you do with a burned-out boss? (Full disclosure: this is how I like my team to deal with me when I’m burned out).

• Keep things running.  She will adore you for that.
• Do your best to get answers, but make sure you need the answers before hounding her.  Don’t hound her for an answer that could have waited, and don’t waste her attention.
• If you have a good relationship with her, encourage her to take some time away.  Maybe it seems like working all weekend will make the next week easier, but chances are that working all weekend will only exacerbate the burn-out and make the next week even worse.  Working without a break massively decreases efficiency, especially for folks who are burned out.

What other behaviors characterize a burned out leader?  What are other coping methods that work?

Dear Job Applicants:

Your résumés are driving me nuts.  So nuts that I’ve created a list:

• You don’t tailor your résumé to my job posting.  If my job posting says you have to know marketing and be able to teach, the word “marketing” should actually SHOW UP on your résumé.  If I specify that you have to know how to administer Compellent SANs, guess what I want to see on your résumé ?
• For the love of everything, get someone to proofread your résumé.  I read one today that said, “References can be refurbished upon request.”  Seriously?  Seriously!?!?!?!?!
• I really don’t care about your job responsibilities that much.  Your accomplishments, sure.  Your responsibilities, not really.  I want to know what you did.  Did you manage a network?  Did you manage humans?  Did you manage a budget?  How many?  How much?  How big?  I’m reading to see if you have what it takes to manage my network, humans, and budget.
• Please tell me why you want to do this job.  Especially if it’s an unusual job.  For example, we hire for a role at HubSpot known as “Inbound Marketing Consultant.”  And, honestly, it’s not a job like any other job.  As a result, if I can’t figure out from your résumé or cover letter WHY you want this job, I have to waste time in the interview figuring out two things (below), and I HATE wasting time.
1. Do you have any idea what this job is?
2. Given your understanding of the job, why do you want it?
• Please have some clue what’s on your résumé.  Seriously, people, if you don’t know what’s there and I’ve only spent 30 seconds skimming it, we’re in a world of hurt.
• Please put complete information on your résumé.  I can’t tell you how many interviews I’ve had where people say, “It’s not on my résumé, but…”  Well, then, your résumé isn’t complete, now, is it?

Image courtesy of CharlotWest

Yeah, I know. Your job sucks sometimes. Servers crash, users complain, you are looking to your next job but haven’t quite gotten there yet, etc. Or maybe you’re having some troubles at home, not sleeping, etc.

I promise you that I will do my best, as your manager/leader/director/chief whatsit officer, to make your job better.

I will shift your workload, give you plum projects, take you out for beer, approve tons of personal time, etc.  I will do everything in my power to make you happy and productive, because I know that happy workers are better at their jobs (except lawyers.  No, really–I don’t have the citation on hand, but I read a study in business school that said so.).

But, honestly, I can’t keep you fixed.

I will protect you from politics, and defend you like a mother bear defending her cubs.  I will fight for your requests even if I don’t necessarily completely agree (but do see the merit).  I will joke with you, cry with you, and get angry alongside you.

But, still, I can’t keep you fixed.

As adults in the workplace, sometimes we need to take responsibility for our own happiness.  Should we fight for what we want? Absolutely.  Should we go to our managers with our complaints/problems? Yes.

But it’s not their job to keep us fixed.  It’s our job to fix ourselves.  If I’m going to my manager with a problem, I should also have some ideas of solutions.  Maybe they’re not tenable solutions, but “I’m not going to do that” isn’t a solution–it’s creation of even more problems.

So yeah, jobs suck sometimes. And as a manager, I do my best to keep my team happy.  But as a team member myself, I need to be cognizant that there is mutual responsibility for the fixing.  I can’t keep you fixed, just like my manager can’t keep me fixed.  But together, I think, we can probably do a decent job of getting through the day.

**Note to fellow grammar geeks: I know I switched personal pronouns, but it sounded really cranky when I didn’t…

Photo Courtesy of DaveOnFlickr.