Submitted by dcmba on
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I have a new manager who is from Hong Kong. He was hired by our corporate HQ in HK. Great guy as far as I can tell. As his direct, I would really like to have one-on-ones with him but (1) I'm not sure how best to bring up the subject and (2) I don't know what role the cultural differences might play in this. Any suggestions you can offer would be really appreciated.
Thanks,
DCMBA
Requesting One on Ones as the direct
Don't ask for an O3.
Ask for a half hour of his/her time, weekly, to review projects and status. Then review your work with your boss.
You cannot make your boss do an O3 with you.
John
Requesting One on Ones as the direct
Agreed. Asking your boss for an O3 is asking them to give you ten minutes to talk about anything you want - including your cats and other stuff that has nothing to do with work. Ask for the weekly 30 minute meeting and promise to come prepared to present.
Maybe O3's will evolve from this communication organically. Don't try to control your boss, though, or suggest management methods. Lots of bosses interpret that as insubordination.
Requesting One on Ones as the direct
That sounds reasonable. My apologies for not being up to speed, but does the term O3 refer to the full one on one where there are three 10 minute segments? Just not heard that term before.
Thanks,
DCMBA
Requesting One on Ones as the direct
You can't ask your boss for O3s. You can, of course, have them with your own directs (along with the rest of the MT goodies), and if your boss gives you some affirming feedback on something related to them you can point him to the MT site and explain how they helped.
Stephen
Requesting One on Ones as the direct
[quote="dcmba"]That sounds reasonable. My apologies for not being up to speed, but does the term O3 refer to the full one on one where there are three 10 minute segments?
[/quote]
Yes. Great thing about the posters on these forums: they really try to stick to the terms and techniques [i]as defined by Manager-Tools[/i]. So when you see terms like "coaching", "the Feedback Model", and "O3's" you can be pretty sure people are using the terms with an intent to be consistent with what we've heard on the podcasts.
Case in point: in your circumstances, you should indeed ask for time to regularly update your boss. And you can ask in a way that suggests it's in his interest to do so (staying on top of developments, getting a broader perspective on the organization, finding opportunities to delegate more to you, etc). But as the direct, you don't have the authority to impose a structure - like the O3 framework - on your boss.
-Hugh
Requesting One on Ones as the direct
Thanks all for the suggestions. Any thoughts on the cultural differences?
Requesting One on Ones as the direct
[quote="dcmba"]Thanks all for the suggestions. Any thoughts on the cultural differences?[/quote]
What about them? You mentioned the "differences", but not what they were or how they were affecting you.
Requesting One on Ones as the direct
[quote="dcmba"]Thanks all for the suggestions. Any thoughts on the cultural differences?[/quote]
They're probably less of an issue than you think. My boss is national Chinese . I can't beat around the bush about what I'm saying (which is a bad habit anyway) because some of the subtleties of English get lost. This is probably more of a function of English being his third language.
I'm not sure if your boss was brought up in HK under Brit rule, or if he got the full socialist upbringing in mainland China. I think my boss's exposure to both socialist and capitalist systems has actually been a tremendous asset. He shows a lot of sensitivity to customer needs despite having off-the-chart high C traits.
It seems from your post that your boss is a manager from HK, and is now working with your group someplace other than him. If this is his first time away from HK, be patient as he learns the cultural norms of his new operating environment and workplace.