CHAPTER
5

Mandate Dissection

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In your quiver of management skills, you've got a couple of powerful arrows. There's the annual review where you take the time to really explain, in detail, what a given employee needs to do to grow. That's huge. That can be life changing. That's a big arrow. How about the layoff? That's when you get asked who stays and who goes. You're going to lose some sleep when you've got to pull the bow back on that one.

Then there's the mandate. The mandate is when you gather the team together and calmly say, "This is the way it is." No Q&A. No collaboration. It's your dictate handed down from on high.

Most folks have learned to despise the mandate.

Rewind a few years back. I'm at my prior gig and we've just hired a new VP who I really liked. This guy was sharp, experienced, had a litany of name brand companies on his resume, and he could tell a joke. Sold. Hired.