Twitter on a phone
On April 18, a The Twitter thread written by Matthew Rechs went viral with (as of April 22, 2022) 6,979 retweets, 1,823 quote tweets, and 56.6k likes.
Rechs is currently a Senior Product Leader at a top 5 technology firm and has worked on Wall Street, for WPP and for Adobe, managing teams of up to 100 people.
His tweet was titled, “11 promises from a manager: a thread.”
When interviewed about why he thinks the topic struck a chord with Twitter users, he said: “I think people are more emotionally involved with their work than they have been before. Their expectations for their well-being and psychological safety have increased. People identify and react to how leaders or employers treat them and expect much more empathy than before.”
When asked how he came up with this list of 11 promises, Rechs said, “A lot of the things on my list come from my failures, what I want to do better, and the stories people have told me. I don’t think I’m necessarily a great manager. My goal is not to say that I’m great or that I’ve got it figured out, but to say that this is how I want to be.”
Here are the 11 promises Rechs tweeted:
1. We will have a weekly 1:1. I will never cancel this appointment, but you can cancel whenever you want. It’s your time.
2. Our 1:1 agenda will be in the invited meeting so that we remember important topics. But you are always free to use the time for whatever you have in mind.
3. When I schedule an appointment with you, I will always say *when I schedule it* what it is for. I will not schedule meetings without an agenda.
4. When I go into your DM I will always say “hello and why”. No suspense, no chatter while you’re wondering what I want.
5. News or announcements that significantly affect you, your work or your team will come from me directly in a 1:1, not revealed in a big meeting.
6. You will get feedback from me when it is fresh. There will be no feedback in your performance review that you are hearing for the first time.
7. I trust you to manage your time. You do not need to clear your AFK or OOO time with me in advance.
8. Your work is done your way. My focus is on results, not the outcome. Once we are clear about where we need to go, how we get there is up to you. If I ever find it necessary to suggest a specific approach, I will give an example
9. A team is stronger when it works together, cares for each other, and cares about each other. Please look left and right for opportunities to help your colleagues. Please ask for help when you need it. No one works alone.
10. I trust you to go above and beyond to talk to my manager or other upper management about anything you think is important. You don’t need to clear it with me, and I won’t be weird about it when you do.
11. I will attribute credit appropriately to you and your team. I will never exaggerate my role or minimize your contribution. I will be especially sure to define the attribute when senior management hears about our achievements.
Rechs continued by tweeting: “If this sounds good to you, please come back and give me what I need most in return: the truth. Give me your feedback, tell me when I’m wrong, and tell me your ideas on how we can do better. If we trust each other, we can learn and grow together. That’s how I want to work with you.”
Rechs said: “I’ve been a terrible manager at times and I’ve had a lot of failures. For a long time I struggled to accept this new view of the workplace. But it works. It really works. whether [companies] want to be successful, they must try to embrace this reality even if it is inconvenient and even if it challenges us.”
Does your manager follow through on these promises or try? Which ones do you wish were more common?
