Category Archives: Change

Nude Numbers 28

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Summary

Week 6 of the winter plan. In this update I return to the gym, go back on a controlled-diet, change my running plan because I’m worried my old injury is resurfacing, and see my numbers reflect the fact that I ate like a pig over the holidays. But despite all that, I think I’m still mostly on-track for the winter goals. Fun fun… read on for more.

I’ve also changed my blog to make it easy to see all Nude Numbers updates in one page. Click here to see all 28 updates so far.

Subjective Data

I definitely feel the return of the problem in my foot; not pain yet but the beginning of irritation. Also I’m finishing each week more tired than the week before – even with a rest week.

I missed my spinning and swimming goals this week because my pool was closed on New Year’s Day, and on Saturday my back, shoulders and glutes were still sore so I skipped my morning workout.

This was also my first week back on a calorie-controlled (maintenance) diet plan, which was easier than I expected.

Objective Data

Blue lines == actuals; Gray areas == my target range for that week.

Assessment

The pain in my foot is a little concerning, but thankfully I don’t have to be running a lot right now to meet my later goals in the year. I’m going to adjust my running plan to back off for now, and do more stretching to try to get flexibility in my ankle (which my physical therapist thinks is the root cause of the issue).

I was extremely tired come Saturday this week, even with a rest week. It could also be because this was a high-rep (12) with a highish-weight week (65% of 1-rep-max), so my lifting was really exhausting. Since I need to gain weight, I’m going to keep with the plan for now though.

I’m not worried about the blip in swimming numbers this week – it really was schedule related as my long swim day tends to be on Tuesday and I missed it this week.

You can definitely see the results of the 4-week holiday eating binge in my data (and the mirror). Take a look at the Abdomen measurements to see the jump. Starting New Year’s Day I went back on a calorie-controlled diet, and the weight results reflect that. The first week of a diet switch always brings a big change in scale numbers because of the water loss, so I know I need to keep this up for 3-4 weeks to eliminate real fat and get back in range. Hopefully I’ll start to see my abdomen shrink a little between now and February, but this week was a good start as weight gain leveled off.

Plan

I made a major change to plan this week – my running plans has been pushed back at least 4 weeks (here’s the old version if you care), and I’m going to stick to 1-3 miles a week between now and then, treadmill only, with lots of ankle-stretches. I’m also going to change from 3-sport-brick workouts (swim-spin-run) to 3-day alternating 2-sport workouts (swim-spin, run-swim, spin-run) on the advice of my coach.

My lifting plan for next week is 85% of 1-rep-max, 4-rep, 4-set, 60 second rest, which is harder than it sounds 🙂

And I’m continuing on my measured calorie plan: 2,250 to 2,750 calories a week.

Reminders

My aunt will not be able to run the Dublin marathon in October, so I’m still undecided between New York (November) and Dublin Ireland. If you’re interested in running either with me, let me know. I’m not going to decide until around April. Also, if anyone is interested in doing the Philly Triathlon (June) with me, you’re welcome to join the team!

Presentation Notes

These notes are always presented in SOAP Note format. Click here for all the Nude Numbers posts.

Thanks for reading.

– Art

Growing Individuals: Fire Your Stars

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(4f of 5 in The Rules of Naked Management)

You’re Fired!

In the intro to this section, I laid out my argument for why you should “fire your stars”, but to recap:

“Fire your Stars” means tangibly change the responsibilities of the best performer on your team (and optionally change their title and compensation), even if it means transferring them to another group in the company.

This goes counter to most management advice which says retain your stars at all costs, but I say “Fire your Stars” because:

  1. Without action on your part, your stars will leave anyway.
  2. By “Firing Your Stars”, you can control the timing and circumstances.
  3. Your team becomes more resilient.
  4. Your team’s morale increases.
  5. Your team’s performance reaches a higher level than before.
  6. And damn it, it’s the right thing to do for your Stars anyway.

See the intro if you want the background for why these things happen.

Your Goal

This part of Growing Individuals is deceptively simple. You’ve already identified the top performer on your team (you did it as part of Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is). Now, you need to set the following goal for yourself:

Within 12 months since your last top performer changed responsibilities, you will change the responsibilities of your current top performer.

That’s it. Once every 12 months should give you a maintainable rate of change. You can “Fire more Stars” if you think your organization can handle it, but the minimum is one.

Now hitting this isn’t easy, you have to do lots of things:

  1. Understand and anticipate potential opportunities for your Star within your organization or other organizations.
  2. Pre-sell potential stake holders on the change.
  3. Aggressively make your Star fill any gaps that would preclude success in the new role.
  4. Balance the reality of your organization (probably slow moving) with the expectations of your employee (wants fast change).
  5. Handle unexpected realities, such as another person quitting unexpectedly.

Worse, there is no cookbook to follow for this one either, because each individual is unique, each circumstance is unique, and each set of opportunities is unique. In other words, it’s hard.

But it’s the right place to spend your time growing individuals. It means in reality of the time you spend on “growing individuals”, you spend most time on just your top performer. But that’s ok, because by following the other rules you’ve outsourced most of the rest of the work to the other individuals on your team and as a result they are growing nicely on their own.

For The Unbelievers

Some people will try desperately hard to retain their stars through other means. Usually they resort to compensation or title changes without actual changes in responsibility. I know I have before I figured out to Fire them. I can say with certainty, having tried all combinations of ways to keep stars that “Firing Your Stars” actually leads to the best retention for your company (if not your team). Here’s a quick summary of what I’ve experienced when I had a star who wanted to grow and changed some combination of title, compensation or responsibility.

A black circle represents something changed (for example, on the first entry, I changed nothing, resulting in the Star deciding to leave the company on their own):

One Last Caveat

The key thing about “Firing Your Stars” is making sure your Star has new responsibilities. But it only works if your Star feels that they are genuinely new responsibilities, and that some of her old responsibilities no longer need to be done directly by her.

I’ve tried, and seen many managers try, to spin an increase in responsibilities as a “new job” to an employee and they see through that bullshit immediately.

Here’s the key rule of thumb: if your Star does not perceive the change in responsibilities as a real step forward in their career, then you have not “Fired Your Star”, you’ve pissed them off. Very different.

Managing The Naked Team

Still, I believe if you run a naked team, grow a naked team, and grow individuals, you’ll end up with the strongest of teams you could possibly have. But, as GNP pointed out, it’s a lot of steps to follow. How the hell do you do all this without going crazy? That’s the next topic.

– Art

Nude Numbers 27

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For some reason, the objective data was missing for a few hours. It’s back now.

Summary

Happy New Year everyone! Week 5 of the winter plan was a week off for Christmas. The holidays definitely made me gain weight faster than expected.

Subjective Data

This was a rest week as I was in Oregon for the holidays. I got two runs in, and I felt a slightly familiar sensation of discomfort in my right foot, meaning I need to be slower on my ramp up. Otherwise I enjoyed the rest.

Objective Data

Blue lines == actuals; Gray areas == my target range for that week.

Note: I had no scale in Oregon, so I’m missing weight measurements for those days.

Assessment

Last week was a rest week, and due to some scheduling errors (the error being my inability to read a schedule and see when classes were scheduled) I wasn’t able to get Yoga, spinning or swimming in. Still, I feel I was close enough to plan. I got two fast but short runs in, and the fact that I could feel my foot means I should ramp up running even slower. I’ll adjust targets next week accordingly.

Eating was outta-control for the holidays, but I don’t care 🙂 In the event Eve, Zohn, Eric or Lee read this, the cookies were worth every ounce of weight!!!! Thanks again Eve.

Plan

I’m sticking to the training plan next week, although I’m going to watch the running closely and probably cut one day out of swim-bike-run workouts (because the gym is closed on Tuesday). I expect I’ll slow my running mileage ramp for the rest of the plan.

As I mentioned last week starting January 1st I’m going back on my measured calorie plan: 2,250 to 2,750 calories a week to maintain weight for two to three weeks (i.e. get back in range).

Reminders

My aunt will not be able to run the Dublin marathon in October, so I’m still undecided between New York (November) and Dublin Ireland. If you’re interested in running either with me, let me know. I’m not going to decide until around April. Also, if anyone is interested in doing the Philly Triathlon (June) with me, you’re welcome to join the team!

Presentation Notes

These notes are always presented in SOAP Note format.

Thanks for reading.

– Art

Nude Numbers 26

1 Reply

Summary

Week 4 of the winter plan. I’m gaining weight faster than desired, and will need to cut in the New Year, but for now I’m enjoying the holidays (yes, even fruitcake). Workouts are on track, and swimming in particular is improving slowly but surely.

Subjective Data

I didn’t slack off this week, probably because JK gave me shit for slacking off last week. But wow… was I tired come Saturday evening (when I wrote this). My eating was not good this week – way too much chocolate and cookies for the holidays. But I’ve decided to just go with it and worry about changing eating when the holidays are over (and the temptations much lower).

I returned to running this week with two 2-mile runs. No pain which was good.

Objective Data

Blue lines == actuals; Gray areas == my target range for that week.

Assessment

My exercise regimen is working well. My swimming is getting better, my kick is propelling me forward, and my stroke always starts out smooth. However I tire very quickly which leads to form breaking down once I exceed 100 yards in a row, so now I’ve got to work on increasing yardage. My brick workout (swim-spin-run) on Saturday was brutal; it was essentially the same workout as Tuesday, but at the end of the week I’m just beat. Hopefully that improves as I get closer to March.

My eating is not in control, and in the New Year I’m going to spend a week or two explicitly counting again to make sure I stay in range. Still, my body measurements aren’t too far out of shape, so nothing drastic required (like the all oat-bran and yogurt diet… yuck).

Plan

I’m staying to plan for the next week, which if you look at the gray areas you’ll see is almost a rest week. Woo hoo! That’s because I’ll be in Oregon visiting J’s family for most of the week. I’d like to get one to two runs in, and get a few isometric workouts in without a gym (i.e. pushup/pullup combos), but I’m not going to be bent out of shape if none of that happens. The reality is I’m fatigued enough that a week off now will be welcomed.

I did modify my plan slightly based on revisiting my holiday schedule (I hadn’t realized I’d be away from a gym for so long), but not in a way that I think impacts my chances of hitting targets. If you look closely you’ll notice a slight difference in the weight-training, running and spinning plans for the next 2 weeks from prior week’s plans.

Reminders

My aunt will not be able to run the Dublin marathon in October, so I’m still undecided between New York (November) and Dublin Ireland. If you’re interested in running either with me, let me know. I’m not going to decide until around April. Also, if anyone is interested in doing the Philly Triathlon (June) with me… especially if you’re a medical school student about to graduate, are having a light fourth year and want to be in great shape for your wedding (you know who you are…)… you’re welcome to join the team!

Presentation Notes

These notes are always presented in SOAP Note format.

Thanks for reading.

– Art

Growing Individuals: Crack the Whip

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(4e of 5 in The Rules of Naked Management)

A Coach or a Friend?

I started taking swimming lessons a few weeks ago. I’d started training for my first triathlon and I didn’t know how to swim.

My coach, Gus, is also a friend and I’ve spent a lot of time hanging out with him and his family. We’ve been to soccer games together (“Football” for the more worldly readers). I’ve babysat his kids. I’ve ridden hundreds of miles with him at my side. He’s a very good friend.

This morning I had a typical coaching experience with Gus. I had just finished a 50-yard dash in the pool, my breathing was heavy, and my legs were burning. I wanted nothing more than to rest and catch my breath. I looked up at my friend Gus and said “give me a second”.

But my friend wasn’t there. Instead my coach was, and he just said, “No. Do it again.” And I was off. Dear God, sometimes I hate my coach.

Now here’s the interesting thing: I am a much stronger swimmer today than I was four weeks ago.

Of Carrots… and Sticks

The last two parts of this essay talked about what you need to do to get an employee growing their career:

That’s good, and in reality most of the work that must be done is borne by the employee. So far, as a manager, you haven’t had to sweat, and as I’ve always said, laziness is good.

But all that was carrot. For many people carrots aren’t enough – it’s always easy to “start tomorrow” or “wait until next week”. Sometimes you need a stick to get folks moving.

Coaching

Earlier I cautioned managers to get over themselves and realize there isn’t that much they can do to force someone to grow their career.

Now I’ll modify that slightly: assuming you’ve done the stuff mentioned above, there is one thing you can do: you can be the source of honest feedback on whether progress is being made, and you can reward and punish if progress is made or not made.

To do that, you need to remember you’re not a friend, you’re a coach. And sometimes Coaches need to ‘crack the whip’, or ‘be harsh’ or ‘be demanding’ in order to get the most of their charges(1).

That’s what Gus was doing this morning, and that’s what you need to do too.

The Whip

Now I’m not recommending you keep a whip by your desk (although I’ve known someone who did that). Instead, be serious about managing your employee to complete their small steps, rewarding them when they do, and punishing them when they don’t. Small steps are measurable and are black-and-white: Your employee either scheduled the mentoring lunch or they didn’t. They either signed up for the PMI course or they didn’t. Don’t worry about the larger goal – the employee will track that. Instead, just remember what small thing they said they would do, and hold them to it.

As usual, everyone has a different style with this, but here’s what I like to do. I track the one small step each employee told me they would complete, and when they would complete it by. And then every time I meet them, I ask them for status. EVERY DAMN TIME (Several folks who’ve worked for me will tell you how annoying I am about that(2)).

I make it their #1 goal on their goal list for the quarter. When they miss the step, I tell them I’m disappointed but make them set and tell me another one. And if they consistently miss their small step goals, then I start trying to move them into some other position (or “manage them out”). I reward in reviews those who made their steps; I don’t reward those who missed them – even if the rest of their work was stellar.

In reality, I’ve had a few employees miss their first and second steps, but never more than that. My experience is that your employees get really serious about following through on their career growth goals (or they leave) when you start tracking their small steps closely.

Self-Flagellation

Sometimes you’ll have an employee tell you they think their next small step is to “have my manager talk to Bob in Operations about a transfer to his department.” Yikes! This goes against my principle of laziness: your employee is trying to get you to do something, and if you don’t do it they can claim that you caused them to miss a goal, and if you do it, you could lose them! They’re trying to get you to crack the whip on yourself.

OK, don’t panic!

First, do you think that’s the right next step for them to take? If it isn’t, you’re their manager, and can tell them to pick another step. If this person isn’t a star on your team, you have a duty not to pass him or her on to Bob (and they should NOT be surprised to find this out). You should make your employee aware of where the gaps are and encourage him or her to start fixing them.

But what if you person is a star… well, that’s fine too, because if you’ve been tracking closely, you’re now about to fire your stars…

(which I’ll discuss next week, unless I’m too stuffed from Holiday feasting).

– Art

(1) I do believe coaching is about 50% teaching, 40% motivating and only 10% cracking the whip, but all the earlier stuff I’ve talked about covers the first 90%.

(2) No comment on other things I’m annoying about.