Learn how to overcome some of the most difficult-to-solve "people issues” in tech doc teams. Presented by: Barry Saiff - Founder and CEO, Saiff Solutions, Inc.

2. Your Host
Scott Abel aka “The Content Wrangler”
Internationally recognized content strategist
Helps organizations deliver the right content to the
right audience, anywhere, anytime, on any device
Featured presenter at content industry events
Serves on the faculty of the University of California,
Berkeley, School of Information.

3. Your Speaker
Barry Saiff
33 years in technical documentation
Led content development teams at
Symantec, Oracle, IBM, and GE
Founded Saiff Solutions in 2011
Provides technical writing services to large
enterprises in Australia, Japan, Canada,
US

4.  Getting to Know You
 Manager’s Toolkit: You’ve Got to Have CHARM
 Management: A Sacred Trust (The Soft Skills)- CARVE! THRIVE!
 Keys to Success: Motivation (SLAP!), Feedback
 Managing Up: Intrapreneurship
 Awareness, Bias, Culture: You, Your Organization, The World
 People Issues with Upper Management: Intrapreneurship
AGENDA

5. What are Your Interests/Experiences in
Managing Technical Writers?
• Managing a team of writers?
• Leading a team, without management authority?
• Managing outsourced or offshore writers?
• Hiring? Firing?
• Working for a good manager?
• Working for a not-so-good manager?
• What else?
Have you experienced:

6. When facing any difficult situation,
start with:
Curiosity and
Humility, proceed with
Awareness,
Respect, and
Mastery
Manager’s Toolkit: CHARM

7. Management is a sacred trust. As a manager, at
any level, you have the power to:
• Destroy careers
• Destroy jobs
• Destroy morale
• Destroy the enterprise

8. Management is a sacred trust. As a manager, at
any level, you have the power to:
• Build careers
• Achieve miracles
• Treat people fairly
• Develop lifelong relationships of trust

9. Management is a sacred trust. As a manager, at
any level, you have the power to:
• Turn lives around
• Empower people to be more effective and
productive
• Enable people to learn things that make
them more successful
• Turn the enterprise around

11. Caring
• The enterprise
• The results
• The people
• The process
The fundamental way of being of a manager is caring.
A manager cares about:

12. Caring: A New Idea?
Have you ever thought
about management in
terms of caring?
Yes? No?

13. Access
Have you ever had difficulties or
stress at work because your
manager had no time for you?
Yes? No?
Your people need regular access to you, and
you need access to your management.

14. Being Respectful of Yourself
Expand the realm of what you consider
yourself responsible for.
Do not accept being treated with less
than full respect.
Give yourself a break.
You will make mistakes, in fact, you
must make some mistakes in order to
learn how to improve.
BALANCE Infographics: 7 Elements of Respect

15. Vision
Without vision, management is damaging. Be
inspired, and you will inspire others.
Keep the mission, vision, and values of the
organization alive, in everyone.
Make sure people understand how their work
forwards the whole.
Are you clear about the mission or
the vision of your organization?
Yes? No?

16. Expect Excellence
Dr. Wayne Dyer was well known
for the idea, based on extensive
research, that we create what
we expect.
Be aware of your expectations.
Choose them wisely.

17. TRUST
Caring – Trust = Micromanagement
Trust is the currency of business success.
Without trust, nothing is possible.
You must calibrate trust for each person/situation.
What do you trust me for? Do you trust me to do my job well?
Would you trust me to protect your daughter from harm?
These are very different questions.

18. TRUST
Team (We are all on the same one.)
Relationships based upon
Understanding,
Sensitivity, and
Tolerance
Calibrate your level of trust in each person
wisely. Believe in people.

19. Being
Question for managers: Who am I being?
Get clear on who you are, as leader. For example:
I am an authentic, caring, challenging, dedicated mentor.
What is yours? (Feel free to steal from mine.)
To get clear on your statement:
• Notice, ask for feedback
• Envision (Whom do you aspire to be like?)
Get training: Never stop learning about yourself.
Highly recommended: http://www.landmarkworldwide.com

21. Empower Excellence: Integrity
• How might I be the source of the problem?
• Learn from failures and successes.
• Hold yourself accountable for the results of
your team, and for your impact on their self-
image & performance.
• Model behaviors and attitudes you want to
develop.
• Work at least as hard, and smart, as your staff.

22. CHARM, CARVE, THRIVE Review
CHARM:
Curiosity, Humility, Awareness,
Respect, and Mastery
CARVE:
Caring, Access, Respect,
Vision, and Expect Excellence
THRIVE:
Training, Heard, Respect,
Integrity, Vision, and Empower

24. Motivation: A, M, P, T, AF
Three Key Factors for Motivation:
1. Autonomy
2. Mastery
3. Purpose
Great 11-minute video on motivation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuF
Two Orientations of Motivation:
• Toward (things you want)
• Away from (things you don’t want)

25. Feedback
Frequent! Accurate! Clear! Specific!
Do not fail to tell someone that they made a
mistake.
Do not fail to praise someone, often.
Do have regular one-on-one meetings with each
person.
Do not fail to provide formal
performance reviews at least annually.
Remember CHARM! CARVE! THRIVE!

26. Intrapreneurship: Speak Management’s Language
Changing a process or a tool can be expensive.
Understand upper management’s priorities.
Present a business case.
• http://saiffsolutions.com/home/tech-comm-intrapreneurship-5-key-
approaches-infographic
• https://www.slideshare.net/SaiffSolutionsInc/content-leadership-forum-how-
to-be-an-effective-tech-comm-intrapreneur
• https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/9273/271827

27. Managers in a Changing World
Localization of products and
supporting documentation
requires cultural awareness.
Managers are at the interfaces:
Between company strategy and employees.
Between team members in many locations.
Between past practices and future possibilities.

28. Managing Cross-Cultural Teams
Three Key Success Factors:
1. Mix cultures and locations.
Having a mix of cultures in one
location makes a huge difference.
2. Ensure editing, quality control,
and inclusion.
Make all writers have the
advantages they need to succeed.

29. Managing Cross-Cultural Teams
A key success factor for Saiff Solutions:
Our writers in the Philippines work with
American, Canadian, Indian, and Filipino
editors and managers (local and remote).
Our editors each have at least 10 years of
technical writing/editing experience.

30. Managing Cross-Cultural Teams
3. Embrace differences by increasing your awareness!
Understanding cultural differences – between countries, professions,
departments, companies – is crucial to your success. Consider:
• How do these people learn best?
• How do they typically handle conflict?
• What does “Yes” mean to them?

31. Managing Cross-Cultural Teams
Learn to listen newly: hear what
you are missing.
Management entails awesome responsibility and
awesome opportunity. Both are magnified by a
mixture of cultures.
Many Americans, Japanese, and others regularly
raise their voices, or interpret silence as a sign of
agreement and support.
They may hide from you the impact of how you are being.

32. Seek Out The Strengths
Many Asians are socialized to defer to authority figures and foreigners. They may be
unwilling to say “no” or disagree with you, to ask questions or ask for help, especially if
you (even unknowingly) raise your voice or exhibit frustration or anger.
To be successful, you need to be sensitive. You need to be willing to change. You
need to give up the idea that your culture is better. All cultures have strengths and
weaknesses.

33. Asking Questions
Why aren’t they asking enough questions?
How do you* respond to questions that seem
pointless? Stupid?
Are you* open to people who think differently?
Are all questions welcome? Really?
Why aren’t they asking enough questions?
What does respect mean to you? To them?
*Anyone in authority

34. Respect
Respect in the Philippines (and some other Asian cultures):
• Defer to authority/role, age, whiteness, experience, wealth.
• Be quiet. Appear attentive. Agree. Do what you are told.
• Do not challenge or question authority. Support leaders.
Respect in the USA (and many non-Asian cultures):
• Tell the truth, respectfully. Do not withhold key information.
• Ask questions, appropriately. Contribute. Speak up.
• Do what you say you will. Do not lie. Support the team.

35. Conflict/Culture Clash
Some Common US approaches to conflict:
• Discuss. Argue. Raise voices. Blame. Apologize. Resolve/Not.
• Challenge. Brainstorm together. Resolve/Not.
Some Common Filipino approaches to conflict:
• Avoid. Work around. Await opportunity to resolve.
Some Common Filipino responses to US approaches:
• Withdraw. Resent. Sabotage. Leave.
Some Common US responses to Filipino approaches:
• Give up on the Asians. Blame. Assume stupidity/incompetence.

36. Management Style
Management in Asia is frequently “Command and Control:”
• Management as supervision
• Intensely hierarchical
• “The manager always knows best”
This management style does not encourage:
• Collaboration
• Asking questions
• Prioritizing quality over deference to authority
All over the world, people frequently leave jobs because of their managers. This
may also explain why they don’t ask questions.

37. In Summary: Things Are Not Always What
They Seem
Mistakes
...could be due to incompetence. But also think about:
• The clarity of your expectations
• Your communication style
• Your openness to questions
• Differences in display of respect
• All the “authorities” involved and the above issues for each of them

38. Can We Help You?
What are your greatest challenges?
 Staff changes
 Resources/capacity/constraints
 Team/personnel
 Bureaucracy/management support
 Cross-cultural/geographic issues
 Other?
If Saiff Solutions could assist you in
overcoming your challenges, would you
be interested in a free consultation?
 Yes, please contact me directly.
 Not right now, possibly later
 No, thank you.