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Being a Responsive Manager

These days, I hear a lot of people talking about making responsive websites. I started wondering whether there was some way we could also have responsive managers !! Do they teach this in the MBA Colleges ? Or even in the Corporate World ? What would being responsive mean ? Is there a way a manager can learn to become responsive ? Many such questions !! I thought I would share my thoughts here.

Unresponsive people drive me crazy - sending an eMail to someone and then waiting days to hear anything back, is at the top of my list. I have to admit that this happens to me also. Yet, I replay withing 4 - 5 days, even in such situations. What is horribly sickening is not hearing anything at all.

A simple question I ask, in job interviews, is “Do you consider yourself a responsive person ?” For me, this is a must-have-attribute. Naturally, everyone says, “yes.” But the way they answer, the speed and the conviction, is obviously the answer to my question.

This makes realize that, I had never took the time and effort to define this for anyone who worked for me. I assumed there was one single standard and everyone knew it. Is that so ? I came to my own sad conclusion that it means different things to different people.

I had to ask myself - Do I need to demonstrate the same level of responsiveness to everyone ? Does everyone else, I interact with, need  to demonstrate the same level of responsiveness toward me ? This helped me clarify my expectations.

Here are four top-level actions that will help you get a comparative yardstick of your expectations with the expectations of others.
  1. Decide how responsive you are going to be - If you need to segment your contacts, do it. Define your inner circle, who need greater responsiveness. Acquaintances may need a lower level of responsiveness. What about responsiveness to complete strangers, to office colleagues you don't know very well. You need to have a different standard for each.
  2. Decide how responsive others need you to be - When you get a new customer, work for a new boss, or have a strategic tie-up with a partner, please ask them to clarify their expectations, in terms of  how quickly do they need you to respond ? Does it need to be immediate ? Within a few hours ? Within 24 hours ? In a couple of days ? Ask them to be specific. This is an unsaid contract.
  3. Decide and Tell how responsive you want others to be - Take initiative to clarify this with your direct reportees, business associates, even vendors. It will result in less frustration for both of you. This also provides the needed framework for accountability in all interactions and projects.
  4. Decide to be Proactive (if and when you can’t respond in a timely manner) - If the other person has to follow-up, it’s a good sign your expectations are mismatched. Don't wait for them to ask again, contact them before they contact you. A simple message like “I just wanted to inform that I received your eMail. Since I am traveling this week, I will be able to respond only by the weekend."
Question : How responsive do you need to be for the various people in your life ? How responsive do you need them to be ?



Comments

  1. Unknown22 October 2017 at 04:58

    A good article. Focus could also be given as SLA with intera dept.w.r.to customer SLA which must have measure to monitor&control

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown22 October 2017 at 05:03

    A very important aspect of our day to day life..being responsive! Yet we are disappointed by many! Well written!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown22 October 2017 at 05:35

    A very good article Dr. Segmentation of contacts is good idea. As per my thinking responsiveness is based on priority and it changes evry time.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Aakanksha23 October 2017 at 05:30

    A very good article - succinct and relevant. Responsiveness is decidedly the need of the hour given the pace at which business, and the world in general, operates. That said, it is important to not be too accommodating in terms of adhering to others' expectations of responsiveness (reference to #2) so as to avoid the setting of unreasonable expectations. This situation is especially likely in any service format role. In this case, besides fuelling an image of poor performance, it could also lead to employee burnout in pursuit of unattainable response times. Adherence to standards set at per #1 and #3 should take care of this.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Devpriya Dey31 October 2017 at 10:20

    But how many managers in real time do we see as responsive irrespective of any gender.
    It is said that a manager can make or break a career which is true indeed.

    ReplyDelete

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