If you doubt me, ask yourself how many Six Sigma black belts work in your agency, or describe which consultants re-engineered your studio or production departments. Yes, there have been significant increases in financial controls and even some cutbacks, but ad agencies are still notorious for lack of predictable and consistent business processes, spotty project management, and the ability or discipline to forecast and deliver profit and productivity gains reliably.

Never ones to miss a fad, agency executives have embraced a number of new concepts in an attempt to demonstrate to prospective clients and employees how forward-thinking and innovative they really are. These “innovations” are little more than comfortable and convenient illusions that help agency managers sleep at night. But they have had little or no impact on either the chronically broken agency business model or the productivity, creativity, or profitability of agencies. The dream makers, it would seem, need their own illusions, too.

Each of the following concepts has earned widespread conversation and adoption among ad agencies, regardless of their impact on business performance:

Creative Technologists
Like unicorns, these mythical, hard-to-find creatures are part creative, part techie, and part wizard, able to generate tech-savvy ideas that give traditional campaigns a digital face or enable agencies to make applets, apps, widgets, and viral memes that are as cool and shareable as those done by Google or Intel.

What isn’t clear is how these new hybrid players are accepted (or not accepted, as the case may be) by traditionally run and managed agencies who barely understand the need for interaction and engagement, much less complex, two-way digital, mobile, or social technologies. Frequently embedded in creative departments with the idea that they will form a triad with copywriters and art directors, most practitioners are frustrated by the lack of baseline technical knowledge among peers and co-workers, the reluctance to give a digital guy a seat at the ideation table, or the inability to bring digital assets to life in a cost-effective way.

In the last few years, agencies have acquired people with these titles to keep up with first movers and to demonstrate their technology prowess in credentials meetings. The breakout creative executions that have resulted from these hires are concentrated in a handful of agencies and can be counted on one hand.

Project Management
For decade, account guys managed client relationships and projects. As the digital era dawned and technical production became more complicated, agencies added project managers charged with managing timelines, budgets, and project QA. Unfortunately, while many agencies embraced the position in the hope of corralling timelines and budgets, there is no consensus on the job description, the tool set, the degree of authority or responsibility granted or the technical competences required.

People were recruited from traffic departments, fresh out of school, and among failed account guys. Some nag and pester creatives. Others hide behind endless revisions of Excel spreadsheets, hot lists, or MS Project Gantt charts. Still others send out the invitations for and attend every meeting, but contribute only carbon monoxide. To a great extent, agencies faked themselves out.

They added a layer of expense and friction, lengthened the production process, and gained very little either in terms of quality assurance or staff productivity. Now everybody can claim to have project management as a core agency discipline. But very few agencies can quantify their impact on process improvements or staff efficiency in financial value.

Digital Integration
Fifteen years ago, when digital agencies emerged from primordial bits and bytes, technology was new and alien. It had to be carefully scrutinized and considered before being bolted onto agencies. As the Web grew, many people in shops of many sizes and configurations mastered web technologies. Agencies allied with and acquired digital capabilities to reduce competitive pressure and defend brand stewardship, all while grabbing a bigger slice of client retainers.

As consumer behavior shifted toward a digitally centered lifestyle, no agency wants to be left out or appear to be a dinosaur. To compensate, many traditional agencies hired marquee Chief Digital Officers away from digital-only shops and put them out on the conference circuit and on countless pitch teams in search of street cred and new clients.

What they didn’t count on was the culture clash. Ad agencies, with their longstanding Mad Men ways, are the polar opposite of digital shops which tend to be younger, flatter, leaner, and meaner, operating on start-up hours, sensibilities, and business models. Imagine how many of these well-paid digital evangelists found themselves surrounded by entrenched senior management who talked the talk but had no genuine appetite to walk the walk. And even those who do have difficulty framing up and selling digital communications either to their own Account and Creative leadership, or to clients still heavily reliant on TV and print.

The digital revolution is far from over. The lion’s share of media dollars and creative assets still go TV, in spite of massive shifts in media usage and Facebook’s 1 billion members. The next battleground will be mobile and social. And, true to form, agencies are figuring out how to buy or rent these capabilities to remain credible and competitive in the market even while the people who actually know how to do these things are terminally frustrated and defecting out of the advertising industry in large numbers .

This article originally appeared on HBR.org and The Energy Project. It is reprinted here with the kind permission of the author.

For more than a decade now, I’ve struggled to define what fuels the most sustainably productive work environment — not just on behalf of the large corporate clients we serve, but also for my own employees at The Energy Project. Perhaps nothing I’ve uncovered is as important as trust.

Much as employers understandably hunger for one-size-fits-all policies and practices, what motivates human beings remains stubbornly complex, opaque, and difficult to unravel. Perhaps that’s why I felt so viscerally the shortsightedness and futility of Marissa Mayer’s decision to order Yahoo employees who had been working from home to move back to the office, and Hubert Joly’s to do the same at Best Buy.

Here’s the problem: Employees who want to game the system are going to do so inside or outside the office. Supervising them more closely is costly, enervating, and it’s ultimately a losing game. As for highly motivated employees who’ve been working from home, all they’re likely to feel about being called back to the office is resentful — and more inclined to look for new jobs.

At its heart, the problem for Mayer and Joly is lack of trust. For whatever reasons, they’ve lost trust that their employees can make responsible adult decisions for themselves about how to best get their work done and add value to the company. Distrust begets distrust in return. It kills motivation rather than sparking it. Treat employees like children and you increase the odds they’ll act like children. You reap what you sow — for better and for worse.

As an employer, I stay focused on one primary question about each employee: What is going to free, fuel, and inspire this person to bring the best of him or herself to work every day, most sustainably? My goal is to meet those needs in the best ways I can, without undue expense to others.

In the end, I’m much less concerned with where people do their work than with the value they’re able create wherever they happen to do it. The value exchange here is autonomy (grounded in trust) for accountability.

As CEO, I myself work from home for an hour or two in the mornings most days because it’s quiet and free of distractions. I find it’s the best way for me to get writing and other high-focus activities accomplished, and I know that’s true for many other business leaders.

One of the senior members of our team is a 35-year-old woman with three children under the age of nine. She lives 90 minutes from work. I’d love to have her at our offices every day, because I enjoy being able to interact with her around issues as they arise. I also just like having her around as a colleague.

But to make that possible she’d have to invest three withering hours commuting each day — a huge cost, not just in time, but also in energy, for work and for her family. Demanding that she make that trip every day would only prompt progressive fatigue, resentment, and impaired performance.

Instead, we settled from the start on having her come to the office two days a week, which is when we schedule our key meetings. Those days also provide time for spontaneous brainstorming of ideas across the team.

Another one of our team members, a woman with two teenage kids, travels frequently in her role. When she gets back from trips, she typically works from home the next day — both to recover, and to have more time for her family.

Two of our other staffers — one male and one female — work mostly at the office out of personal preference, but also have young kids and work from home on some days when their kids are on vacation, or get sick.

Two younger, married team members recently requested permission to move to Amsterdam for eight months — for no other reason than they wanted to experience another culture. For a moment, I bridled. But since technology makes it possible for them to do their jobs from anywhere, we were able to make it happen. They agreed to work during our regular office hours, and to visit our office for a week every two months. So far it seems to be working seamlessly.

Every one of these people is highly productive. I do have moments when I find myself wishing all of our team members were in the office more, and even wondering what they’re doing when I haven’t heard from them.

When those feelings arise, I take a deep breath and remind myself that my colleagues are adults, capable of making their own decisions about how best to get their work done, and that all good relationships involve some compromise.

It gets back to trust. Give it, and you get it back. In over a decade, no employee has ever chosen to leave our company. The better you meet people’s needs, the better they’ll meet yours.

The common thread here is that people want to know what’s going on and where they stand. Most people want to contribute to a team and feel like they’re doing something useful, if not important. Usually people want to like their bosses and be liked by them in return, even though it doesn’t always work out that way.

This led me to write down my learnings as an operating guide for me. I share it with all my team members because it has more lasting value as a document than as a conversation. Most of those I’ve worked with will tell you that I’m about the straightest shooter they’ve ever met. I mean what I say and I’m consistent over time. I hope this can help you get in touch with your inner manager and make your working life easier and happier.

The Owner’s Manual
The secret to being a great boss is to let your people know who you are, where your coming from, what you expect and how you’ll help them. During most of my career, I had to figure this out myself. Along the way, I began to understand what I expect to do for and to receive from my team members. Here’s what I learned.

Who I am
I am goal oriented. And I believe that to succeed, you find the best players and help them achieve greatness. Your job is to do the best, fastest, smartest job you can do and to protect me from stupidity and surprises. There is only one acceptable outcome: things are done on time, on budget, on brand, and on strategy. I will do whatever it takes to be sure that this is the result of our actions. I expect you to be willing and able to do the same.

I take work seriously, but not too seriously. If you can’t have fun doing what you’re doing, it is not worth it. Life is too short. Being as happy as possible matters to me, I will try to make you as happy as you can be at work.

I have a bias toward action. It’s always easier to apologize than to ask permission. Our job is to take initiative and to be ahead of the market and our clients. I expect you know what we have to do. And do it.

Where I’m Coming From
Focus on the big, important, strategic stuff. Do them first and best. Keep our priorities at the forefront. Keep your eye on our prize. Don’t get sidetracked by all the little, goofy things that come up. Effective players are good time managers.

I am professionally paranoid. I worry that the competition will sneak up on me and eat my lunch. I worry that somebody will out-think me and out anticipate me. I worry that I only see 5 moves ahead. I worry that our organization will be our own worst enemy; that bureaucracy, insularity, process and politics will keep me from reaching my goal and piss me off.

I have no lock on ideas. Ten heads are always better than one. My ideas are not pearls of wisdom, necessarily. Your job is to be an aggressive player in the idea and information game. Come up with new or better stuff, challenge mine, and add to or refine our colleagues’ ideas, information and data. No idea is too wacky.

What I Expect
Let’s anticipate what will happen and plan for it, rather than being surprised when things go they way they usually do. We will know where we are, what we are doing, and how much we are spending at all times. I will keep my eyes open for anomalies and trouble. You must do the same. We cannot afford to be blindsided by events, numbers, timing, or personalities.

When you screw up — and we all screw up — hopefully you’ll learn from your mistakes. If you make the same mistake twice or if you consistently devise new varieties of mistakes, you won’t make the team. Let’s anticipate screw-ups and manage through them.

I know what we have to do. I know how to do it. And I know when it has to be done. If you don’t know or aren’t sure what to do, when to do it, or how to do it, ask me. There is no penalty for asking. There is a huge penalty for not asking and then screwing up.

I have little patience for paperwork and bureaucracy so I expect you to help me by doing it for me and generally making it go away. But, in dealing with systems, procedures, processes, rules, policies, and other official stuff, I expect you to be an honest, concerned, responsible adult. I expect you to protect the company and do the right thing.

What I’ll Do for You
My job is to back you, support you, find resources for you, provide air cover, and get you the credit and rewards you earn.

Everybody has strengths and weaknesses. My hope is that we can encourage and leverage each other’s strengths and compensate or overcome our weaknesses. Along the way, I hope we can learn and grow with and from each other. I also expect us to push each other, to take on stretch goals, and to see if we can do more as a team than any of us could do individually. I promise to help you round out your skills portfolio and to shape assignments that challenge you. And I promise to tell you what I think without artifice or bullshit, and to evaluate your work fairly.

(a)    Rules are rules…period.
(b)    Rules are meant to be broken.
(c)    It depends.
(d)    All of the above.
(e)    None of the above.

While there is no one “right” answer to the above question, the way you respond says a lot about you. The way you think and feel about rules in general will influence the decisions you make and the actions you take in different situations.

Let me tell you about two controversial, thought-provoking, and emotional incidents that occurred in the past week – both of which involved “following the rules” – and see what you think:

Incident #1

While playing softball in Central Park the other night, our manager noticed that one of the players on the other team was wearing baseball cleats with metal spikes which, according to league rules, are not allowed (as someone could potentially get hurt). The player claimed that he didn’t know about this rule, immediately apologized, and went back to the bench to change into his sneakers.

But not so fast! In the opinion of my team’s manager, this opposing player’s blatant and flagrant violation of league rules was too egregious to overlook or forgive. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. And what if he had spiked somebody and they got hurt? To our manager, there was no option but to go strictly by the book and demand that the umpire immediately throw him out of the game.

The fact that it was a minor and inadvertent oversight, that the player apologized for his mistake, that no one got hurt, that a number of the guys on our own team pleaded, “Forget about it, just let him change his shoes and play,” (and that we were already losing 10-2 in the 4th inning) all didn’t seem to matter. According to our manager, “Rules are rules.” No discussion. No debate. No warning. No second chances. One strike and you’re out.

Following the letter of the law, the umpire (sympathetically, apologetically, hesitantly, and incredulously) proceeded to inform the violator that he was sorry but, based on our manager’s demand, there was no choice but to ban him from the rest of the game.

Oh. And in case you were wondering, we went on to lose 20-2 as the angry opposing team, in the spirit of retribution, proceeded to pour it on and make us pay.

Incident #2

Someone posted the following question on a LinkedIn HR discussion group the other day: “I have a team member who is a good worker, but he does not report to the office on time. When I talk to him, he promises to be on time, but that does not last more than 2 or 3 days. Any suggestions?”

The responses came pouring in: “Write him up!”; “Dock his pay”; “Demote him!”; “Put it on his permanent record!”; “Give him a final warning!”; “Show him who’s boss!”; and “Don’t give him any more chances. Fire him immediately. This kind of insubordinate behavior simply cannot be tolerated! He’s got to be made an example of and taught to obey the rules!”

Yup, rules are rules. Or are they?

Let me start by saying that, yes, rules are important. Whether we call them policies, operating procedures, guiding principles, or ground rules, every organization needs to have processes and structure in place or else there would be chaos. Rules enable organizations to be organized. And they let the people within an organization (or a community or society) know what is allowed, and what is expected.

But, reflecting on the two incidents described above, my question is this: might there be times when “The Rules” should be overruled by common sense?

Now, just for clarification, and before instigating any kind of legal backlash, I’m talking about “rules,” not “laws” – which are a separate and more specific (though thematically related) issue. And I’m not talking about safety violations or ethical lapses. I’m talking about situations in which mindlessly and unquestioningly following certain edicts may not necessarily be the best or the right decision.

For example, in the softball incident, did the player on the other team “break the rules?” Yes, officially he did. But two key questions that should be asked are: (1) Was the rule violation intentional or accidental – and does that matter; and (2) how serious a rule violation was it, i.e., was any advantage received or any damage done as a result?

Keeping things in perspective, we’re not talking about a major league player caught taking steroids; we’re talking about a guy playing a fun league game in the park who was discovered to be wearing the wrong kind of shoes.

It was clear and obvious to everyone (including my manager and the umpire) that is was an accidental oversight, there was no intent to deceive, to defraud, or to reap any competitive advantage, and no harm of any kind was done. So, with that being the case, did the punishment (banishment from the game) fit the crime of wearing unsanctioned footwear or might it have been a tad excessive under the circumstances? Was my manager “wrong?” No.  But was he “right”? I’ll let you play umpire and make that call.

And in the second example (good performer comes in late, with 90% of the HR mob demanding immediate and severe punishment), there are again two questions that come to mind: (1) What is the context; and (2) What are the specific details?

What jumped out at me and really pushed me over the edge was that everyone’s calling for this guy’s head without having ANY of the information!

From what we know, has this employee been guilty of breaking the rule of “everyone should get to work ‘on time’?” Apparently so.  But do we know anything else? No, absolutely nothing!

What type of job are we talking about? Is he a salaried or hourly worker? What exactly does “on time” mean anyway? Is he expected to get there at 9:00am and is showing up at 9:05am, or is it 10:05am? Is he “late” once a week or every single day? How long has this been going on? Two weeks, two months, two years? And what is the reason for, and the impact of, his lateness?

Most importantly, before reporting him to HR and putting him on a disciplinary plan (remember, he has been described as a “good worker”), has the employee’s manager actually sat down and spoken to him one-on-one and heart-to-heart to find out what is going on with him – asking and listening, discussing expectations, making him aware of the business impact of the lateness (e.g., on customers, team members, the organization, and on the manager himself), and exploring possible solutions?

Years ago when I worked for one of the TV networks out in L.A., I was a high performer who had always gotten to work on time — until I hit a week of major car problems that resulted in my being about 30-45 minutes late three days in a row. How did my tyrannical boss address this issue? By saying (and I quote): “I don’t know what the hell is going on with you lately, but I’m sick of your marching in here late. If you can’t start getting here on time, you better start looking for another job.” Wow. So, you can see why I may be a little sensitive and overly empathetic when it comes to this particular example.

But the bottom line is that I was really amazed, and incredibly disappointed, to see how many of the LinkedIn discussion responses were about “policy, policy, policy.” Sad to say, but that’s one of the problems with the HR mentality in many companies, and why so many people (sorry to have to say it) hate HR.

As an honorary HR person who works in the learning and development field, I have seen too many Human Resources professionals who have lost sight of the fact that what we do is supposed to be all about engaging PEOPLE and helping them maximize their performance, productivity and potential – and not simply about setting and enforcing THE RULES, and focusing primarily on policies, processes, and procedures.

The first initial of “HR” stands for “Human,” and we need to deal with people more humanely. The root of the word “policy” is the same as that of “police,” so if HR people want to be viewed as something more than just the company police, perhaps companies need to rethink how we view, deal with, and find a gentle balance between the Rules and our People. Sometimes we need to go by the book; other times we need to go by “common sense.” But, unfortunately, as the saying goes, common sense is not always common practice.

And from a management and leadership perspective, this classic saying by legendary management guru Peter Drucker comes to mind: “Management is about doing things right, leadership is about doing the right thing.”

So when it comes to “The Rules” and the Drucker quote, perhaps we need fewer bureaucrats who rule “by the book,” and more people acting as leaders who are willing to make the tough but fair — and right — call, even if it results in some bending of the rules.

For me, as you may have guessed by now, my answer to the initial question about rules is: “it depends.” And among the multiple things that it may depend on, one of the main things is intent and the ability to wisely distinguish between “the spirit of the rule” and “the letter of the law.”

So the big question is: do “The Rules” rule, or do YOU?

*Two book recommendations on re-thinking “the rules”:

First Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
(by Marcus Buckingham)

The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World
(by Chris Guillebeau)

Our newest blogger, Mandy Gresh, is a coach and strategist devoted to helping others hone their plans for their career. Which parts of your current job are the most important for your future? Why is it so important to think like an entrepreneur? And how do you know when it’s time to head out on your own? These are the kinds of questions she’ll be helping us answer….

Becoming a manager is a little like becoming a parent. Although you can do a lot to prep for the job (reading books, observing others, coming up with lots of mental notes, thinking about best practices), it’s not until the day you actually have a staff that you get a clue what it’s really about.

I’m speaking from experience, on the management side at least. At 26 years old I was handed a team in a foreign country, with my manager in New York. The truth is that I was a nightmare to work for: micromanaging, with a very top-down style; only telling people things on a need-to-know basis; keeping track of when people arrived and left…. in other words, the exact person you don’t want to work for.

Later, after years of experience and soliciting feedback about my management style, I was able to develop a few strategies that took me from a monster to a mentor. Today, my advice is still sought by former employees. Here are a few of the things I’ve learned:

1) The best leaders don’t need to shout “I’m the leader!”
Regardless of your rank in the corporate ladder, respect is something you earn. Being placed into a position of authority may make you a manager, but it doesn’t make you a leader: that comes through effort. Earning the respect of your direct reports is just as important as impressing those above you.

2) Schedule one-on-one meetings . . . and keep them.
To avoid becoming a micromanager, schedule weekly meetings with your team to check in on their projects, status, and overall mood. This won’t replace day-to-day communication, but it should save the “What’s the status of xyz?” conversations that can become overbearing. That said, respect the fact that your employees’ time is just as valuable as yours, so keep appointments that you set with them. Just as you look forward to face time with your boss, they (probably!) look forward to face time with you.

3) Respect those with more experience than you.
No matter what your position in the corporate food chain, there’s always a ton to learn. If you’ve been put into a role where you’re managing those with more years of experience than you, then respect that. In my first management role, my direct report had more than 20 years of experience in the travel industry. I had had three years’ experience understanding the company’s workings (and six years’ total working time) — her years in the field obviously trumped my experiences in, well… everything. Through time, I learned to respect and incorporate her knowledge into my decisions, which not only made her feel valuable and more open to hearing my feedback, but also taught me a lot about the industry. Mutual respect for each other’s strengths created a much better working relationship.

4) Ask for feedback, and be humble.
It might seem a bit awkward to ask your direct report for feedback, but as they’re the ones working with you on a day-to-day basis, they probably have the best understanding of your management style. A typical conversation I had would sound something like, “I really enjoy managing people, and it’s something I’d like to do for the long-term in my career. Do you have any feedback or tips you could suggest for me to get better?” The key here isn’t so much in how you frame the question, but in how you make sure to listen to the feedback without getting defensive. I suggest being open to what your staff says, thanking them afterward, and reflecting on their words in private. Obviously, you don’t have to act on everything you hear (e.g., “You’d be a better manager if you let us have all Fridays off….”), but if someone tells you that you’re difficult to approach, think about why that employee feels that way. Valuing employee feedback can benefit everyone.

5) Practice makes perfect.
No one comes out of the gate as the perfect manager. The key is to realize that and be willing to continuously learn. Whether it’s leveraging the experience of those more senior than you, asking for feedback, taking classes, or working through challenges with a mentor or a coach, the best leaders are the ones that understand that improving managerial skills is a never-ending process.

In my last post, I listed nine questions to ask the digital team to help you understand what they do, and why and how they do it. And the first question we got back was, “What if the techs aren’t talking?” Well, hmmm, I thought. I guess that does happen — and I rashly promised a follow-up post, completely breaking my rule about not making a promise for delivery before fully clarifying the specs, by the way.

A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of attending a Hired Guns event to preview and critique various Guns’ SXSW presentations. I was overwhelmed by the positive energy in the room and the level of truly supportive and constructive criticism. These Guns were flat-out awesome stars in the digital field, and there was tons of feedback. I thought, “Wait a second — we techies share plenty!” So what gives? Why were these folks sharing so freely, while there’s still lots of non-digital people out there complaining that their digital teams don’t do the same?

After thinking through situations I’ve seen, it seems to me that this scenario is not specifically an issue with digital teams — it’s more likely a typical corporate or interpersonal issue. So although I’m better equipped to navigate a product flowchart than corporate politics, I can give you the digital point-of-view on a couple of common scenarios:

Silos
Is your digital team the only one keeping to themselves, or is there a “siloed” corporate culture? If everyone else is marking their territory, it’s probably not realistic to expect one group to be the exception. Make your group — make yourself! — more inclusive, sharing, and transparent. Lead by example.

Timing
I’m busier than ever. Are you busier than ever? Yeah, I thought so. If I’m in back-to-back meetings for four hours and someone is waiting by my door, waiting for it to open to ask a question that’s interesting to them but not necessarily urgent, well … maybe I’m not as forthcoming as I could be. Because I just desperately need to check my email and put out some fires. And hit the loo. Also, I probably missed lunch.

Approach
You know the adage that you can say anything if you say it nicely? It’s true. There are some people who ask me why I do certain things in a way that makes me want to grab a cup of tea, pull up a chair, and chatter away. I’m a mom, and I love to mentor. Unfortunately, there are also people who ask why we do certain things in a way that implies that if they don’t understand it, it must not make sense, and we must be missing something. I’ve been eye-rolled. I’ve even been told flat-out “that’s dumb” because, say, I present content differently online than one would in a magazine. Little hint: calling someone dumb does not make them more forthcoming.

Ownership
I’ve seen this a few times: someone grills the digital team for info on what to do in a particular situation, or how to solve a certain problem — and then heads into a meeting, recaps what she just learned, and takes the credit. Now, credit stealing is hardly new. And I’m sure you, dear reader, would never do such a thing. But be aware that if a team’s been burned that way, they’re more likely to keep mum the next time.

Simplicity
By all means, ask people about the nitty-gritty of what they do — and how and why they do it. But please don’t ask a question that you could answer yourself in less time than it takes you to come find me. Because here’s something digital folks like to remind people: you can find stuff out on the Internet.

[Photo: Quinn Dombrowski/flickr]

The toughest thing for a manager to do is to criticize or correct a team member. It’s a charged task, and while it’s necessary, it also pushes all a manager’s buttons. The key to successfully handling this meeting and getting a decent outcome is to leave your baggage and your ego at the door.

Everyone screws up. It’s a natural and expected part of business. Rarely is the screwup a real threat to a job, a business, or a life. Some things are clear mistakes. Someone misses a deadline, or blows a budget. Instructions are not followed. Your guy pisses off an important client or a superior. Somebody acts like a jackass in a meeting. But in many cases, the degree of error or the very existence of an error or misjudgment is in doubt.

Here are four ways to help your teammates correct their course — and to do it while maintaining your sanity.

Take a Personality Cue. Most people run true to their personality type. The hyper guy responds in a hyper way. The casual guy lets it run off his back. The uptight person cries. The skeptic talks back and minimizes. Know the kind of person you’re confronting before you sit down. Factor in how he or she acts and talks. You can predict the likely reaction or response. You probably already have a read on how he’s feeling and what motivates him. Don’t start a session without focusing on your team member’s personality and anticipating how it might go based on your experience.

Remember Learned Behavior. From the time we are children we learn how to take in and mostly ignore criticism. We are masters at resisting behavior modification. Our parents try their best. They threaten, bribe, intimidate, cajole, plead, and promise. It rarely works. We humans have developed complex, often unconscious, ways to protect our egos and deflect negative ideas, feelings, and comments. This becomes baked into our personalities. Most of us are creatures of habit. We think and do things in repeatable patterns. Frame the issue in terms of those patterns to open the conversation in a practical way.

Frame the Angle of Attack. Your posture, volume, word choice, location, and attitude all frame the conversation. Although once in a long while it may make sense to act out and scream obscenities at somebody while waving your fist in his or her face, it’s never the most productive or politically correct approach.

Sit or stand at the same level. Face each other directly. Take an even, matter-of-fact tone. This is business. It’s not personal. Most people know what they did and already feel bad. Don’t fan those flames. There is an implied threat in the situation. Diffuse it. Your job is to coolly and calmly dissect the situation. Do a quick post-mortem. Work to develop a consensus on what went wrong. Then sketch out a future plan to fix things or prevent a recurrence.

Empathize. Your team member’s screwup is your screwup too. Don’t get emotional. Don’t get nervous about how his action will reflect on you. It’s not about you. It’s about you getting somebody else to think or do things differently.

Think of it as a course correction. Approach it by thinking, “We hit a snag; now we’re going to plan B.” And be direct. Avoid telling stories about your previous mistakes. The more time you spend talking about it; the less effective you are. You want to communicate that you are in the same boat. Get across the idea that things need to be different and better and that you both have to work together to fix the problem.

Get agreement on that premise. Then stop. Don’t hold it against somebody. Don’t hound them with it. Don’t bring it up again unless there is a repeat of the problem. You owe your teammates the benefit of the doubt and also the confidence that they will work toward an appropriate fix.

[Photo: Ilya Andriyanov/Shutterstock]

Most first-time managers have specific tasks they need to get accomplished, and often their first job is to change their mindset from “How can I do this?” to “How can I help my team do this?” They must work to change their actions and attitude from that of an individual player to an effective coach and supervisor.

To succeed at this, focus on the three crucial “W’s”:

What. Explain every task to your team succinctly and clearly. Then get your people to play it back to you to ensure that they understand exactly what has to be done. If it’s a group task, lay out who does what and how the pieces and parts come together. Carefully discuss the sequence of actions and point out the dependencies and contingencies. Be sure your team understands each person’s role and how the pieces come together to form a cohesive whole.

Draw the project out, step by step. Don’t assume everyone gets it, because someone won’t. Try to leave hardly any room for interpretation, since there’s always someone willing to shirk or skimp. And as things move forward, keep everyone informed of timelines and the progress to date.

When. You will never succeed as a manager if you can’t meet deadlines and budgets. Finding ways to get more done in less time is a big part of your job. This means understanding your team’s abilities and handing off assignments to those best suited to handle them. It also means that you must know your people well enough to know which kind of motivation works for each person. Some workers thrive with deadlines. Others freak out. You must know who reacts each way and hand out the work to suit them.

Why. You also need to know why the timing is what it is — and be able to explain it to others. If it’s a rush, your people have the right to know why. If it’s complicated, your people need to know all the nuances. If there are serious consequences for good or bad, your team has to know what they are. And if the reason is bogus, it’s your job respond to those who decided on the timeline. You must manage your reports, keep them informed, find ways to motivate them, and keep them as happy as you can.

A vital component of team happiness is knowledge and context. Nobody wants to feel out of the loop or that they are doing the job of a robot. It’s your job as supervisor to clue the team in on what they are doing, where it fits into the bigger picture, why it matters, and how it contributes to the overall company mission.

Everybody craves information and context. It’s your job to create this information, even (or maybe especially) if you work in a close-lipped or dysfunctional firm. Most people work to help their teammates and to please their boss. Be the kind of boss that engenders good will and affection by letting your people know what you know.

Being a front-line, first-time manager is about transforming yourself and relating one-on-one to your team. What, When and Why are the fundamental building blocks of those relationships.

[Photo: Alexander Kaiser/Flickr]

Here are some helpful hints for pulling this off effectively:

1. Do it on short notice! Impromptu meetings disrupt whatever work people were already doing. Everyone loves a surprise, especially in the middle of a busy day. An unplanned two-hour meeting not only shakes up the same old boring routine, it teaches patience, discipline, and time-management skills. Your employees will thank you a thousand times over.

2. If you’re forced to give advance notice of the meeting via a “calendar invite,” keep the subject line vague so that no one will be able to prepare. “Mandatory meeting,” “Catch-up meeting,” or — my personal favorite — “Quick check-in” all suffice nicely. Don’t provide any additional details. “Forgetting” to include the location of the meeting is a good way to delay the start for an extra fifteen minutes while people meander aimlessly through the company hallways, looking into each conference room and interrupting other meetings.

3. Don’t have an agenda! Clarity tends to give people more control of a situation, which is the opposite of what you want. The lack of an agenda allows the conversation to wander in any direction, unleashing what we veterans like to call “creative serendipity,” or “wasted time.” Don’t be one of those overbearing leaders who rein in meetings by suggesting that people “take that discussion offline.”

4. Arrange to be called out of the meeting to “put out a quick fire.” Tell people that you’ll be right back, and ask that they continue without you. Wait a minimum of fifteen minutes before returning — long enough for at least someone to leave. Research shows that some employees will wait in a conference room for up to an hour without direction, but you are the best judge of your employees’ breaking points.

5. When you do return, insist that anyone who left the meeting be tracked down and asked to return. That is typically good for another ten-minute delay. Resume the meeting with, “Okay, let’s back up, recap what we’ve discussed so far, and go from there.” Incessant repetition has been shown to have a calming effect on toddlers, most varieties of houseplants, and lobotomized mental patients. Don’t underestimate its power!

Once you become a pro, you can add your own unique touches — like starting meetings at 5 pm on a Friday, asking a subordinate to write up notes at the end of an especially long meeting, or pulling an all-dayer: “We’re going to stay here until we figure this out!”

Just remember: the most interesting roads are often those that lead absolutely nowhere. Or is that dead-end roads? Whatever.

[Photo: Highways Agency/Flickr]