Author Archives: Tom Foster

About Tom Foster

Tom Foster spends most of his time talking with managers and business owners. The conversations are about business lives and personal lives, goals, objectives and measuring performance. In short, transforming groups of people into teams working together. Sometimes we make great strides understanding this management stuff, other times it’s measured in very short inches. But in all of this conversation, there are things that we learn. This blog is that part of the conversation I can share. Often, the names are changed to protect the guilty, but this is real life inside of real companies.

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“I found a new management technique,” beamed Mackenzie.

“I’ll bite,” I smiled. “What is it?”

“Fix it,” she replied. “Whenever someone comes to me with a problem, I should just say “Fix it!'”

“Okay, that does shift accountability in the direction of the team member, but it doesn’t give them much to work with.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Mackenzie shot back. “It’s up to them to figure it out.”

“Take this piece of paper and this pencil,” I said. “Draw a picture.”

“Draw a picture of what?” Mackenzie was puzzled.

“Exactly. You are going to sputter around and finally come up with something without any shape or form related to the instruction. It’s not what I had in mind.” I paused.

“But if I said draw something that is round, gave you just enough structure, your efforts would be faster and on point. I will still get plenty of alternative variation. Round like a ball or round like a coin? As big as a planet or as small as a marble? Smooth surface or textured surface? Hard like a rock or pliable like a balloon?”

“So, ‘fix it’ isn’t helpful?” she relented.

“You want the team to solve the problem, but they will solve it faster and generate more alternatives if you give them a structure –
What is the problem?
What is the cause of the problem?
What are the alternative solutions?
What is the best solution?”

An Investment

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“You would think,” Ella ranted, “for what we pay these people, they could do a better job.”

“What are you seeing,” I asked.

“I rent behavior,” she replied. “I need something done, they show up, they do it, they go home. I rent behavior.”

“That’s one way to look at it,” I nodded.

“Isn’t that the bottom line?” she was curious.

“When you invest in a stock, or a company, you invest, thinking that in due time, that investment will grow and provide a return many times over. What if you understood that your investment in people, through their compensation and your managerial attention was an investment that in due time would grow and provide a return many times over? Would that change how you thought about your team? Would that change how you recruited people onto your team? Would that change how you oriented and trained them?”

Any Foothold

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Ellie was stumped. “So, all I have to do is think of my team as competent and that’s it?”

“It cannot be a made-up competence,” I chuckled. “This is not think-positive-thoughts day. Your team is good at something connected to contribution. And, if you cannot identify it, ask the team.”

“What if all they come up with is they show up to work on time?” she frowned.

“Then start there. Look for any foothold. Showing up to work on time creates synchronicity, contributes to a positive dependence on each other. That’s not such a bad starting place.”

Assumptions and Blame

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“I’m done with the drama,” Ellie protested. “I try to promote a positive atmosphere around here, but all I get is bullying and backstabbing.”

“Oh, really?” I asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “Everyone seems to scatter for cover when something goes wrong, blaming other people, scooting out from under any accountability.”

“Are you sure this isn’t an isolated incident?” I wanted to know.

“No, this is more like a constant mental state of the team,” Ellie explained. “People position themselves so they always have an out, denying they have any responsibility. The air of blame is so thick you can cut it. You can feel it in the quiet whispers, the general tone of water-cooler talk.”

“I assume this is not organic evolution,” I smiled. “How did things get this way?”

“It started with our continuous improvement process. We were looking for things to improve on. We made a list, or rather I made a list. No one else could come up with anything.”

“Oh, so you’re the culprit,” my smile turned to a grin.

“Don’t lay this at my feet,” Ellie protested. “It’s the team that can’t get their act together.”

“And, you are their manager,” I nodded. “You describe the team as a group of incompetent players. And incompetence always seeks out blame. Competent people are in the game to get better. So, which do you have? Incompetence or competence?”

Ellie sat in silence before she finally spoke. “I knew you were going to pin this on me. You think my team’s behavior is influenced by the way I see them. As competent or incompetent.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “Our assumptions, the way we see the world drives behavior. If you see your team as incompetent, you will drive blaming behavior. If you see your team as competent, you will drive improvement. So, you better find out what they are good at.”

Industry Knowledge

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“We just made a great hire,” Evelyn announced. “We have been trying to recruit this guy for the past two years. Finally, he’s on our side.”

“So, what is so attractive, that you think he would make a good fit for the organization?” I asked.

“He is the break-out king,” she replied. “Every time we go to a conference in our industry, he is always one of the break-out leaders. His industry knowledge is top flight. On the lecture circuit, he is absolutely solid.”

“Given a problem to solve?” I squinted.

“He knows the answer before you even state the problem,” Evelyn was quick to respond.

I nodded in some agreement. “You told me that things in your industry were rapidly changing. What used to be, isn’t necessarily so, going forward. How open is your candidate to new ideas? Just curious.”

“That’s the thing,” she started. “He is so far ahead of the curve, he already knows what moves we should make.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he says so. Before you can even get halfway through explaining the problem, he can clearly state the solution.”

“What if he doesn’t understand the problem?” I smiled. “What if he solves the wrong problem? What if his solution worked somewhere else, but doesn’t work here? What if his solution is correct, but he can’t enroll people to execute? What if his solution works for the current problem, but creates unintended consequences later in time? There are some other things I want to learn about this person, his methodology and the frame from which he sees the world. It is wonderful to know everything, but that usually only works as a history lesson.”

Choices Already Made?

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“I don’t think my team is ready,” Ellis warned me.

“How so?” I asked.

“This new project landed in our queue this week with an impossible deadline,” he explained, hoping his explanation would let him off the hook.

“And?”

“I told the team that we could either choose to be successful in this project or we could choose not, it was up to them.”

“Do you think the team can suddenly decide success, or is success, or failure, determined by the decisions and choices that have already been made?”

What is Possible?

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“I just finished the org chart for my team,” Kayden announced, holding up a piece of paper with circles and arrows.

“I see that,” I replied. “Why do you think an org chart is important? It’s only a small team, 18 production people and two supervisors, then there is you.”

“You said it was important, remember?” Kayden was quick to respond.

I nodded. “Yes, I did. But, do you remember why?”

“So people will know who to report to,” he followed my nod.

“So, you think you were made manager so people could report to you?” I asked.

“Well, it does sound a little arrogant.”

“What is organizational structure?” I pressed. “I mean, we draw boxes on a page and connect them with lines. What does it all mean?”

“The lines connect people that work together,” Kayden floated.

“So, what? They work together. What do the lines mean? Look at your chart. Most of the lines are vertical and are connected to a supervisor or connected to you? What do the lines mean?”

“It’s the way we define the working relationships between people,” Kayden finally stammered.

“Now, we are getting somewhere. An org chart defines the working relationships between people. And, we have to forge the kind of relationships that move the company forward, with respect to these two things – Accountability and Authority. In every working relationship, who is accountable for what? And, in every working relationship, who has the authority to make decisions? The right working relationships determine what can be done, what is possible. The not-right working relationships lead us into counter-productive activity and thwart what is possible. That’s why an org chart helps us understand those working relationships.”

Getting Better

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“Tell me, Lorraine,” I continued. “Do you expect this team member to get better, in terms of skill, over time?”

“Yes, I do,” she snapped. “Absolutely. As the team gets more experience, each of them should get better, become more competent.”

“And, is that in their role description?” I asked.

“Well, no,” she replied. “Our job descriptions tell them what they are supposed to do, not that they should get better at doing it.”

“So, in the role description, you don’t have a Key Area called Professional Development that talks about learning skills, becoming more competent and demonstrating increasing proficiency?”

Activity vs Accomplishment

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I almost walked past her office, but I saw Lorraine with a pensive look through the doorway. “Well?” I said.

“How did you know to stop by?” she replied.

“Dumb luck,” I nodded. “What’s up?”

“I just finished a 1-1 with one of my team members, and I’m frustrated,” Lorraine began. “He has been on the bubble for the past three months, and he knows it. He’s been paying particular attention to all the tasks, and I will admit, he shows up every day, on time, doing exactly what we told him to do, but he is accomplishing almost nothing.”

“And, I assume he had a job descripton,” I chuckled, knowing the answer to my next question. “It was a series of tasks and activities, but little discussion on expectations, objectives or outputs?”

Lorraine looked at me with a furrowed brow. “Yes, maybe that’s the point. In our 1-1, he described how he was doing everything we told him to do, but we never described the output, more specifically, what we expect.”

“Not unusual,” I said. “Most jobs are described as activities, not accomplishments. So, irrespective of the output, most people think that doing a good job is doing the activities. Few roles are described in terms of accomplishment. And, I further assume that, during your 1-1, there was no discussion of accomplishment. And, that’s why you are frustrated.”

Evidence of Potential

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Jody’s face was red. Not an embarrasing red, but one of anger. “I just sat through my quarterly review and my manager gave me some feedback that I find difficult to take,” she said.

“Tell me more,” I replied.

“The last two people I hired are underperforming. And, they’ve both been here for six weeks, so we are finished with orientation, finished with initial training, they know what time to show up for work and where the coffee machine is. But, they aren’t cutting it.”

“And, you are in the hot seat, I suppose?”

“Yes, and I don’t know how to defend my hiring decision. Both candidates came highly recommended, had a ton of experience and showed a lot of promise in the interview,” she explained.

“The recommendations came from whom?” I wanted to know.

“One was a former boss who wrote a glowing letter, but at the same time, was the one who made the decision to terminate. The other was a technical consultant, and, yes, was a friend of the candidate we hired. I had high hopes for both of them.”

“And what do you know now that you didn’t know six weeks ago?” I asked.

“Experience doesn’t mean much. Just because someone performed brilliantly in one place, doesn’t mean they will do so somewhere else. It’s a different company, with a different team, different customers and a different service mix. And, just because I can see potential doesn’t mean the potential is real, it just means I had my fingers crossed.”

“I know most managers want prospective candidates with potential, to grow and develop, to take increasing accountability. And, most managers have their fingers crossed. You know my bias, that I will never hire anyone without evidence of skill, disposition or character. So, if you want to hire someone with potential, what does evidence of potential look like? Two clues, interview for error rate and deadlines.”