Monthly Archives: March 2006

Slowly or Quickly

From the Ask Tom Mailbag.

In response to Wednesday’s post Slow Down to Go Fast.

Question
So, how do you slow down if corporate says you also need to keep the numbers up? They say we need to retrain all these people on the new system, but we catch hell when we don’t meet last year’s numbers for today. It seems like they’re asking the impossible. Do they know they’re asking the impossible, but just don’t care? Morale is really being destroyed because of the stress of needing to train and also keep productivity up. Most of the staff wants to quit now. How do we turn this mess around?

Response
Any change in your system will cause the numbers to drop temporarily. So it really doesn’t matter whether you slow down to train or push people into a new system without training. The numbers will still suffer. No amount of yelling, pushing, manipulation will drive the numbers up. The only thing that will drive competence is PRACTICE. Your staff can practice slowly on a system they do not understand. Or they can practice quickly in a training environment.

You choose.

You will get little understanding from your manager until the numbers improve. They can improve quickly through training, or they can improve slowly while your people beat their heads against the wall. -TF

What She Did Well

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” said Charlie. “You are going to lose eight hours of production today.” The plan was to rotate eight operators off-line for one hour each. In that one hour, Charlie was going to coach the operator to perform data entry in real-time with a customer on the line. The current method was to take notes on paper and, later, enter the order into the computer. It was a delayed process that created mistakes and missing information.

Charlie was coaching the operators, I was coaching Charlie. Actually, I was training Charlie. Our first subject was Sonja.

“Good morning, Sonja,” I took the lead. “You have completed the training for the real-time data entry and then we throw you back on-line with real customers. I don’t know if that is fair, so today, we have you off-line for an hour. We will do the same work, but the customer won’t be real. In fact, I am going to be your customer, so if you need to stop and slow down, all you have to do is smile and we will slow down.

“Since, I am the customer, Charlie will be your coach. Every time Charlie sees something he really likes, he is going to stop you and tell you about the element you did well. Ready?” Sonja smiled.

“You smiled,” I said. “So, let’s take it slow. You have your phone script, let’s start at the top.”

Sonja started through the script. Twenty seconds in, I stopped her.

“Charlie, we just finished the first few seconds of the call. What were the elements that Sonja did well?” Charlie stared at me, intently. Though I had briefed him before we got started, he was still focusing on mistakes. In the first twenty seconds, Sonja had made no mistakes, so Charlie didn’t know what to say.

“Charlie, in the first few seconds, did Sonja stick exactly to the script?” Charlie nodded. “Then, tell Sonja what positive element she accomplished by sticking to the script.”

So, Charlie talked about consistency. And we went on, stopping every few seconds, so Charlie could make a positive comment about Sonja’s performance. The first call took 15 minutes. The second call took 12 minutes. The third took 8 minutes. The fourth took 7. Then 6 minutes. The last two calls hit our target at 4 minutes, and then we had coffee. -TF

Slow Down to Go Fast

“Look, Mr. Foster. We have a certain amount of work that has to be done around here and I can’t just sit by and watch these guys go so slow. They just don’t get it. I have been working with them for eight months.” Charlie stopped. He shook his head. He had been trying to get his telephone operators to go paperless. It wasn’t working.

“Did you know that you are a really good phone operator?” I asked.

“I know. I did it for six years before I came over to work here. I am the best. I just wish there was ten of me. This is a busy place.” Charlie seemed off the defensive, now.

“Why do you think the coaching is failing?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s not the coaching,” said Charlie. “It’s the training. We just have so much work to do that we don’t have time to coach. It’s fast paced. These guys just can’t keep up. And the turnover is killing me.”

“Charlie, what happens when a race car driver takes a curve too fast?”

“What?” said Charlie, off guard. He wanted to talk about operator through-put and I was talking about race cars.

“Let’s say there is a straight-away coming up, where we can really blow it out, but we have to negotiate a turn first. What happens if the driver takes the turn too fast?”

“Well, he’s going to hit the wall.” Charlie responded.

“Charlie, sometimes, you have to slow down to go fast.” I waited to let that sink in. “Charlie, tomorrow I want you to schedule one operator per hour to be off the phones and back into coaching. See you at 8:00 sharp.” -TF

Move Over, I’ll Drive

“Move over, let me take the console. Why don’t you just watch me?” This is the ultimate in micro-managing. Charlie, the Manager, observing a mistake, simply took the project back under wing and proceeded to do the work himself.

Of course, for the past twelve minutes, Charlie had berated the Team Member for not being fast enough, taking things out of sequence and ultimately falling back to the old way of doing things.

As a Manager, Charlie had been working with Crystal’s training program. The training was designed to get telephone operators to record data in real time on the computer, rather than using paper in a two-step delayed process. In fact, Charlie got the job as the Manager because he had used this real-time process at another company. He was the best telephone operator on their crew. When he came here he picked out the software, but had been unsuccessful in getting the operators to use it. Eight months later, they were still writing paper tickets and entering the data later. If they remembered.

Charlie’s behavior, as a Manager, demonstrated the subtle difference in dealing with mistakes by a micro-manager and a coach. As a micro-manager, Charlie focused on the task and the method (mistakes). The more he focused on the task and the mistakes, the more he drove the operators back to the paper system they were comfortable with.

I let Charlie be a telephone operator for another eight minutes (he was really very good) before I pulled him aside. Tomorrow, listen in to our conversation. -TF

Micro-Managing, oh boy!

“I wonder what the difference is between coaching and micro-managing. At what point do we provide too much instruction, and hinder the employee’s initiative and autonomy?” responded Brittany.

Coaching and micro-managing focus on two different things. To the casual observer, they may appear similar in manager behavior, but there is a powerful distinction.

Micro-managing is task and method focused. The Manager attempts to get a task completed according to a specific method. The focus is on the task.

Coaching is method and development focused. Task completion is secondary to behavior acquisition and competence in the method. The focus is on the Team Member.

The difference between micro-managing and coaching is purpose and purpose will determine two completely different outcomes. This purpose will drive subtle, yet powerful differences in Manager behavior. This subtle difference will define the poor Manager from the great Manager.

Tomorrow, we will talk about coaching skills through mistakes to see the difference between micro-managing and coaching. -TF

Training Before, Coaching After

Crystal was puzzled. I had thrown her for a loop. We had been talking about her training program for inbound phone operators. The training wasn’t working, but she was looking in the wrong place.

The skill was simple. Enter the data into the computer during the phone call, not after the call. They had the software in place, the training program was clear, with exercises, repetition and interaction.

The problem was after the training. Following the training, the operators were literally abandoned. They had been introduced to the skill, even performed the skill two or three times during the training, but afterwards, NOTHING. Only one day later, all the operators had abandoned the new process and were back to taking notes on paper during the call.

“Crystal, I want you to develop some practice sessions following the training. Create some scripts based on the ones used in training. Then have the operators practice, practice, practice.

“And you are going to have to take off your training hat and put on your coaching hat. Your training is only intended to get this process started. Before you let them go, you have to bring them to a level of competence. Competence comes through practice and coaching. Training comes before the behavior. Coaching comes after the behavior. That is where you will find traction.” -TF

Training vs. Coaching

“Take a look at this training program,” said Crystal. “We have been over it a hundred times, tweaked it here and there, but quite frankly, it’s not working.”

“What happens when you do the training?” I asked.

“Everyone seems upbeat, like they understand. We even do classroom exercises, but it doesn’t seem to stick. Two weeks later, they are back to doing it the old way, with all kinds of excuses.”

“How much coaching do you do after the initial training?”

“Well, anyone who seems to be having trouble, we write them up and they go back to the next training.” Crystal was visibly upset as she described what happened. “Sooner, or later, they all get written up and so they all end up back in the training. We have had this software in place for eight months and they are still writing the orders on paper and putting the information into the computer later. Sometimes the paper gets lost or it takes them a day or two to catch up. We wanted real-time order entry, but we are nowhere close.”

“But there is no real coaching except for sending people back to the beginning?”

“Yes, and every time we go round, the push-back gets stronger. They seem to hate the training,” Crystal said, shaking her head.

“By golly, I think you have found your difficulty,” I replied.

“What do you mean?” Crystal was puzzled.

“I don’t think there is anything wrong with your training. We need to focus on the time following the training. Let’s spend some time looking at the behaviors that follow the training. I think that is where you will find your answers.” -TF

How Well Should It Be Done?

We were kicking around the new job description for a Project Manager. Howard was holding a copy of the current description. Current should be taken with a grain of salt. It was created three years ago and was little more than a starting place.

“Okay,” I started. “It says here that one of the responsibilities is scheduling.

The Project Manager is in charge of scheduling materials, equipment and personnel for the project.

“Remember our two questions? How well should it be done and by when?” I paused. The looks around the table were puzzling. I would have to dig deeper.

“Is part of scheduling actually publishing a written schedule?” I asked, finally getting nods of agreement.

“How far in advance should the schedule go?”

Matthew raised his hand. “At least a week.” He looked around to see if he was right. No one challenged him.

“Okay, by when should this schedule be published?”

Henry jumped in first. “By Friday, the week before, so on Monday, we know what is going on.”

“What time on Friday?”

“By 5:00 o’clock.” Henry replied.

I smiled. “Why not give yourself some time on Friday to review the Project Manager’s schedule to make sure it will fly?” Henry thought a minute, then slowly his head nodded.

By Friday at noon, the Project Manager will publish a written schedule detailing the materials, equipment and personnel requirements for each day of the following week.

“Is that better than the Project Manager is in charge of scheduling?” -TF

What Do We Pay You to Do?

We were convened. I looked directly across the table at Matthew. “Just exactly, what is it that you think we pay you to do around here?”

“What?” Matthew had a puzzled look on his face. He had been paying attention, but this question caught him off guard. No one had ever asked him that question.

“It’s a fair question,” I repeated, “what do you think we pay you to do around here?” Matthew started to stammer out something, but I stopped him. I looked around the group. “Look, I am picking on Matthew to make a point. We are here today to create a job description for the open position of Project Manager. This is important work. If we fail to clearly set the expectations for this position, it is no wonder the last person fell short.”

Howard looked up. “But we have this old job description. It lists out all the stuff he is supposed to do.”

“That’s why most traditional job descriptions don’t work. They are just a list of tasks. In addition to what is supposed to be done, I want to ask two critical questions.

How well should it be done?

When should it be done?

“I want to create very clear performance standards that we can measure and I want to communicate that up front in the job description. Now, we have a good start because we have a list of tasks and responsibilities. We just have to answer those two questions about each.” -TF

People, Not Our Greatest Asset

I had a couple of minutes in the lobby, so I was looking at all the teamwork posters on the wall.

Our people are our most important asset!!

For the first time, it struck me as odd. I was working with the management team to find a new Senior Project Manager. The last one didn’t work out so well and by the time they figured it out, they almost lost their biggest customer. I had been having difficulty getting them to spend the right amount of time on the job description, defining the management skills necessary for this position. The last guy had the technical skills, but none of the management skills.

As I entered the conference room, I asked the management team if they agreed with the poster in the lobby. Being politically correct, they were quite enthusiastic in their support.

I reminded them of Collins book Good to Great and asked them again, “Are our people our greatest asset?”

This team has been around me for a while, so they know when I ask a question a second time, their first response may need some rethinking. As I looked around the table, I could see the wheels churning. Finally, someone took a stab at it.

“Our people may not be our greatest asset. The right people are our greatest asset. The wrong person may be our biggest liability.”

“Good,” I replied. “Sometimes it takes a bad hire for us to realize how important this up-front work is. So, let’s get to work. What are the skills, knowledge and behaviors necessary for success in this position?” -TF