Hack:
Implement a AAU4M in your organization

By Madhusudan Rao - Solution Architect at NTT Data

August 2, 2010 at 4:37am

Moonshots

Embed the ethos of community and citizenship

Increase trust, reduce fear

Build "natural", flexible hierarchies

Summary

AAU4M stands for Agony Aunts & Uncles for Managers.

As the title stands, this will be a virtual group within an organization that will be a help-line for Managers. Modelled on similar lines as a typical Agony Aunt, this will give support to the Managers in their daily work.

Problem

Managers (especially first-timers and juniors) are overwhelmed in their problems in daily lives. They dont know whom to reach out to. They fear going to their Line Managers as they feel it might impact their relationships & eventually appraisals.

How, then, do they get help when they need? It depends on the network of Managers they are aware of. If one does not know a strong Manager, should he suffer because of a weak personal network? No.

The Organization should do its bit by supporting the Managers when they are in need.

Solution

Create a centralized group that consists of proven Senior, experienced Managers
They will be given additional responsibilities to answer queries that will be directed to them by other Managers through a tool.
The submission will happen in anonymous manner so that identity of the Manager will not be revealed (otherwise, there will be a reluctance in the Managers to reveal their problem).
Every week, there will be a rotation of the ownership of resolving queries.
The ones responding to queries should be given a time limit of 2 days to answer.
Further discussion can happen offline if both parties decide to do so.

Practical Impact

Juniors get solutions to their problems on the job
Informal networks are built thanks to the tool
Best Practices can be shared across the organization
Success rates of projects will gradually increase

First Steps

The organization can try a quick experiment by trying this approach in a smaller area of focus - a technology area or a niche skill-set.

Once that is proven, the feedback can be taken and incorporated into the larger implementation of the suggestion across the organization.

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August 2, 2010 at 12:14pm

Matt Shlosberg

Interesting idea... I wonder about the chances of getting the wrong advice though, since there will be one person giving advice at a time. What if you were to take a wider, crowdsourcing approach and ask a large community of managers for advice to a given problem?

This reminds me of the project Google setup called Aardvark. People can submit random questions and get answers from the community.

I guess this may also be similar to discussion boards and Q&A on LinkedIn...

August 2, 2010 at 10:13am

Madhusudan Rao

Thanks Matt. Crowdsourcing approach will have an increased probability of getting the wrong advice, compared to an internal one. Of course, with proper controls in place, the Hack can be tried anywhere.

The Q&A on LinkedIn and discussion boards focus on higher-level queries but what I am hinting here is more specific problems that Managers face in their daily lives. Right now, I don't see a place where they can get help.

August 13, 2010 at 12:00pm

Raj Kumar

Hello Madhusudan,

I had a look at your exchange with Matt cause the idea of your hack appealed to me. When I was a trainee we were quite cynical about godfathers.The fact is they made a difference by exercising an influence and offering insights though often the relationship went beyond that. We wondered how to develop a godfather. Your hack provides an opening to get a senior interested.

However, I differ in my interpretation of the relationship. It is possible that the advice tendered is not the important content. In fact, I expect the expert aunt will refrain from giving direct advice. It rarely helps and accepted blindly makes the recipient dependent. The aunt will serve best by being an expert listener and provoker. I expect the aim will be to get the recipient to stop wallowing and start thinking. In this there will be learning and challenge for the aunt as well.

Regards,

Raj Kumar

August 14, 2010 at 9:50am

Madhusudan Rao

Thanks for your comment Raj.

I agree with your views - it is very important to set the expectations from the Aunt/Uncle on the initiative. There has to be a compensation model created around this additional responsibility. Only then the responses will be more useful to the one who asked.

August 16, 2010 at 3:45am

Vegard Iglebæk

Hi, Madhusudan

I like the intention of your idea: getting different management layers within an organisation to build upon each others' skills and expertise.

However, I would consider a less rigid systemic approach. I believe a lot of management development takes place within a face to face relation that starts out with creating trust. I would suspect it would be hard to convince a selection of senior managers, probably bogged down with too much responsibility as it is, to provide advice within an anonymous setting. If their interest is triggered by a problem presented, they'd like to engage more directly with the person who presented it. That step forward is more easily carried out when there is a platform of trust and face to face contact established in the first place.

Thus, I'd consider putting my energy into establishing arenas for sharing experience (such as mentoring programmes, fairs for sharing best practices on business challenges, etc) rather than building a new system.

Keep up the good work.

Best,

Vegard