# Richard McLean's Manager Readme

**Chief of Staff at Elsevier**

# Motivation for this document

Hi, I'm Richard. I'm home-based, working in a team that is dispersed across the world, and when I joined I was thinking about how to quickly introduce myself and help people at work get to know me.

So, inspired by [others](https://medium.com/@mcleanonline/helping-other-people-get-to-know-you-aa2dbff5c0f8), I decided to write a user manual. The idea is to help people understand me as a person - how I approach work, my preferences around how I work, why I get up in the morning, and some of my quirks.

Also, for anyone thinking of joining Elsevier Technology, it might give them a bit of insight and perhaps even make them curious and want to follow up with me.

It's a way:

o to introduce myself as a person

o to give you some insight into my role

o to give you some insight into how I work

o to help you get to know me more generally

o to answer some likely questions.

This isn't some grand statement of intent or any such thing.

**Disclaimer:**  
 **Please don't read this in any way as applying to anyone else at Elsevier or in any way as trying to represent Elsevier.**

That wouldn't be cool.   
 This is just a personal thing about me.

This might be weird!

But I believe teams work effectively when you get to know your colleagues as people. Obviously we'll learn more about each other as we work together. In the meantime, this is the quickest way I've found to share a few things about me and about how I work, particularly in a dispersed global team. If you fancy sharing something similar about yourself, I'd be interested to read it. Or we can talk.

# My role

My official job title is 'Director of Technology Excellence & Performance' in Research Technology at Elsevier.

What does that mean?

Well, in reality, I'm chief of staff to our CTO. I'm here to support him and to help him and the rest of the research tech leadership team - and by extension the whole of the research technology organisation - to be excellent and to perform at the highest level.

Our teams deliver value to our customers.

I am here to help our teams be excellent, to remove blockers, and to join the dots between what we do and the wider Elsevier strategy and priorities.

My role on the leadership team is to help the team meet our objectives. I am often in a coordinating role. This will only work if you contribute. If I do something that looks or feels to you like it doesn't add value to the team, please let me know directly. You'll be doing me a favour, and you could save us both some unnecessary work.

My work can be divided into 3 buckets:

o tactical: here and now

o in-year: helping drive our priorities and objectives for the year

o strategic: strategy and planning for the next 3-5 years

All of my work is cross-cutting across the whole of research technology.

# Things I value

- Making things better for people: Delivering outcomes 
- Adding value: If I can't see how something adds value or contributes to something, I struggle to find it worthwhile
- Purpose: I need to know the 'why' behind a piece of work, or I find it hard to engage in
- Autonomy: space to deliver
- I'm not impressed by busyness
- Positivity: I need regular contact with positive people who are up for doing stuff to make things better
- Help: I've learnt that I'm not always good at asking for help, although I'm trying to get better
- Openness: I like to work openly and share ideas, I like to learn from others

# Openness

My diary is open in Outlook and accessible so anyone can see my availability and what I'm doing. I am happy for you to book things in my diary if I am free.

I will be as open as possible about what's going on with our team, department, and the company.

The nature of my role means I may know some sensitive HR/financial information that I can't share.

You can ask me anything.  I'll always give you an answer.  Rarely, I might say that I can't share that piece of information.  I'll never lie.

# Where I work

I'm based at home, but I'm really flexible.

I travel as needed for work. I'm used to this - I was home-based in my previous organisation too.

My nearest offices are in London: Alphabeta, London Wall, 2 Finsbury Avenue. I've been to our offices in Oxford and Amsterdam. I hope to visit our other offices soon.

I often do different types of work in work places.

If I'm trying to focus on solo work, or I'm on a call, I like to work in a quiet environment.

When I'm at home, I do a lot of skype calls. I also sometimes put aside a chunk of time to work on a single thing.

When I'm in an office, I often move around. When I'm in an office, I like to meet people, and I book in as many face-to-face meetings as possible. I love collaborative idea sessions and workshops. I get a lot of energy from such things, although I might need some quiet time by myself afterwards to digest, reflect, or just turn off and recharge my batteries. I don't need my own allocated desk space, I'm happy floating. I love walking meetings, but I don't often remember this to think to suggest it.

# When I work

I don't have a fixed work pattern, I've never worked 9 to 5.

I sometimes get up early and start work early, I sometimes work late. I try not to work at weekends and to do different things instead. I hate the idea of clock watching, I've never sustained time-recording. I don't like a presenteeism culture. I've been most motivated when a boss once told me:  
"Richard I don't care when you work, or where you work.  
I'll judge you on outcomes and results."

I try to apply that same approach when I manage people.

# Communicating with me

Feel free to contact me on whatever channel works best for you.

Although I'm based at home, I am easy to contact and generally quick to respond during weekdays.

Let's talk: Asynchronous comms are great. But I often find a short call with someone and talking about an issue/question quicker and more effective.

When using skype, I prefer video to voice or text.

I am happy to be contacted at anytime. If it's an evening or at the weekend, I might wait to respond, unless it's urgent.

My calendar might look full, but if you need to talk to me, forget that.  
 I will make time for you.

# People might misunderstand me when...

...I'm quiet.

I can be introverted and keep my thoughts to myself. People sometimes find me hard to read. People might think I'm not engaged, or think that I don't want to say what's on my mind.

I'm actually very open, although sometimes I need someone else to help me open up in a social setting. If you're not sure what I'm thinking, just ask. 4 powerful words can normally do this: "What do you think?"

Also, I can get really stuck into work and forget to play.  
 If I'm being too serious, please call me out on this.

# I joined Research Tech in Elsevier because...

I was excited to join a global team. I'd led distributed teams across the UK, but I'd not worked in a team across different countries, time zones and cultures.

I wanted to test my skills in a corporate set up. I'd done similar roles in different parts of the public sector - it's interesting to adapt to the private sector.

I wanted to be in an organisation that is committed to agile working. I knew this would stretch and challenge me. At Research Tech we [define, design and develop products](http://svpg.com/inspired-how-to-create-products-customers-love/), and we operate a scaled agile model that is similar to Spotify's [framework](http://blog.crisp.se/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/SpotifyScaling.pdf).

I'm excited to be working in an organisation that uses cutting-edge technology to deliver value for people making scientific discoveries.

# Some random bits and pieces about me

- I've a PhD in French literature
- I've played football at Anfield (home of my team Liverpool FC)
- I've climbed Kilimanjaro
- [I love music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGA3CZr2VQs) 
- I carve spoons
- Coffee in the morning, mint tea in the afternoon- never English tea for me, thanks