Monthly Archives: March 2006

Spend Time on the Front End

2 Replies

“It always seems like I don’t have time to prepare when we are interviewing candidates,” complained Paula. “Even taking the time to write a job description for the open position. I know we are supposed to, I just don’t have the time.”

“Paula, whether you want to or not, you will spend the time,” I replied.

“What do you mean?”

“As the manager, you will either spend the time on the front end creating the job description, defining the necessary skills and behaviors, or you will spend the time on the back end trying to shape the person you hired into a role that you never defined clearly in the first place.

“You get to choose where you want to spend your time, on the front end or the back end.” -TF

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Look Further

Leave a reply

I know this is long, but it is an important question from the Ask Tom mailbag.

Lucinda was impatient. “I have been waiting for a promotion from Project Assistant to Project Manager for some time now. My manager has been putting my promotion off for the past six months. I worked hard, attended workshops, gained the confidence of clients. In my review this past week, my manager again said I needed to wait, that I wasn’t ready. As a Project Assistant, I am already doing all the work of a Project Manager, but get none of the credit.”

“So, what are the reasons that your Manager feels you need to wait?” I asked.

“I don’t know. He just tells me I need to wait, a bit more training, perhaps, but I have been through training.”

“Lucinda, does your company have other Project Managers?”

“Yes.”

“And what kind of projects do they handle?” I was probing. There must be some reason for Lucinda’s manager to hesitate on this promotion.

“Well, they handle larger projects, but they have more experience. But they had to start somewhere when they were young.” Lucinda protested. I smiled as I watched her stand up for herself.

“Lucinda, I want you to do a couple of things. First, I need you to take a longer view of this. I know you want to become a Project Manager in the next three days, but I want you to imagine your career three years from now.” Lucinda nodded. I don’t know if she liked what I had to say, but she nodded. “It is likely that three years from now, you will have been a Project Manager for some time, probably handling larger projects than you handle now. I don’t want you to focus on the next three days. I want you to focus on the next three years and begin to map out a course for the kind of Project Manager you want to be then.

“Next, I want you to spend some time with other Project Managers in your company. You said they all had to start somewhere. Find out how they started. Find out about their first projects. Find out what skills they see as most valuable during their careers. Ask one of them to be your coach.

“Then, go back to your manager and ask his help in mapping out a three year plan to become a Project Manager. Tell him you know you will be promoted, and whenever that is, will be fine, but that you are looking further into the future at what kind of Project Manager you will be in three years. Ask what areas you need to work on, what future skills you need to develop.

“Lucinda, you will get your promotion, maybe in the next three weeks, maybe in the next three months. Look further in the future, that’s where the real payoff is. What kind of Project Manager will you be three years from now?” -TF

The End Around

Leave a reply

Frieda was frustrated. “I sit in a department managers meeting and get called on the carpet for an assignment that I knew nothing about. One of the other managers pulled an end-around and took a project directly to one of my staff members. I am not a mind-reader, how am I supposed to follow-up on a project I know nothing about. I told everyone in the staff meeting that if they want work done in my department, they have to work through me.” Frieda stopped. Calmed a bit. “That didn’t go over real well. Now everyone thinks I am a prima donna.”

“Do you think the other department managers are being malicious?” I asked.

“No, things are just busy. I think they just wanted to get the project done.”

“So, in busy companies, this kind of thing happens. We simply need to get work done and sometimes you may be out of pocket and one of your team members becomes convenient for the project. Don’t take it personally. The question for you is -How can you, as the manager, find out about these projects so you can schedule them appropriately?

“Do you have a weekly staff meeting in your department?”

“Of course, that is when we sit down and take a look at all the projects in-house, get a status and talk about production issues.” Frieda was firm in her response.

“So, I want you to add an agenda item. -What are the projects that have been assigned that we don’t know about? This is actually pretty easy. These would be projects that your team is working on that are not on the project list. The purpose is to capture the project information so your team can respond appropriately. You get back in control and your fellow department managers see you as cooperative and helpful.” -TF

Don’t Set Them Up to Sink

Leave a reply

“I just don’t know if he can do the job,” lamented Morgan. “It always seems to be a throw of the dice.”

“Why should it be a gamble?” I asked. “Why shouldn’t you be absolutely certain if Randy can do the job? He has worked here for two years.”

“Yes, but he has never been a supervisor before. And if we promote him and he can’t do the job, we will be stuck. We will either have to demote him or fire him. And demotion doesn’t work very well.”

“How can you be sure that he can perform all the tasks of a supervisor before you give him a promotion?” I probed. Morgan had a blank stare for a moment, and then he realized it was a leading question.

“You mean I should give him the tasks of a supervisor before I promote him?” Morgan was smiling now.

“Yes, not all at once. If you test him with all the tasks of a supervisor over a six week period and he is successful, you promote him. If he fails, you just stop giving him supervisor stuff.

“A promotion should not be sink or swim in the deep end of the pool. A promotion should be earned during a tightly controlled period of testing.” -TF

Dumb Questions

4 Replies

“I’m not trying to show off,” defended Alex. “I have the answer, it’s quicker, it solves the problem. I know it looks like I am a just being a glory hog, but I call it a touchdown.”

I waited. Alex was in no mood to listen, not even to himself. So, I waited some more. Finally, I spoke.

“Alex, three months ago, did we expect you to have the answers to the biggest decisions on your projects?”

“Absolutely, that’s why I got the promotion.”

“Yes, three months ago, we expected you to be the best, the smartest person in the room. That’s why we promoted you to manager. Do you think this is a different game now?”

“I suppose it is or I wouldn’t be sitting here.”

“Alex, the game is different. Before, we expected you to have all the answers. Now you are a manager. We expect you to have all the questions. Instead of being the smartest person, you may have to be the dumbest person. I want you to ask,

What if? By when? Why did that happen? When do we expect to finish? How come that happened? What is stopping us?

“Just a few simple, dumb questions. It’s a different role you are playing, now.” -TF

The Purpose Behind the Purpose

Leave a reply

“There is another benefit,” I continued. Bob and I had been talking about rotating his team members, having them take turns leading the weekly team meeting.

“This small responsibility tests their leadership skills in a safe environment. It builds the management skill of running a meeting. It prepares them for those occasions when you are traveling and unable to attend. But as they lead the meeting, what else does it do?”

“I am not sure what you mean?” Bob replied.

“At the same time you are training them to become better leaders; you are also training them to become better…?” I stopped. Bob was thinking hard, but it finally came to him.

“Once they are in the hot seat as the leader of the meeting, they get a better understanding of how they can be better participants in the meeting.”

“So, you are using these weekly meetings for two purposes. The first purpose is to communicate the important content of the meeting. The second purpose is to build better leaders and better participants. And that is what I expect out of you, as the manager.” -TF

Test Their Leadership

1 Reply

“I called back into my office to see how the meeting went, and found out that, just because I was out of town, they decided not to have the meeting. There were important items on the agenda, but they cancelled the meeting.” Bob had just returned from three days on the West Coast.

“What if you never came back?” I asked.

“What do you mean, if I never came back?” Bob replied.

“What if you decided to move to Montana and manufacture dental floss? What would your team do without you? How would they have their meeting?”

“Well, I guess, they would have to pick someone to lead the meeting and carry on.”

“Look, this is a regular meeting, right? Happens every week? Agenda very similar from one week to the next? It’s an important meeting, but the structure doesn’t change much.”

“You are right,” confirmed Bob.

“Pick your next strongest person, tell them to prepare the agenda for next week. Tell them they are going to lead the next meeting.”

“But, I will be at the next meeting.”

“Exactly, but you will become a participant. If you want your meetings to occur while you are out of town, you have to start identifying the leadership while you are in town. Each week, pick a new person to lead. Publish a rotation schedule. You will still be there to prompt and assist, but you will begin to test their leadership in a safe environment.” -TF

Play Ball

Leave a reply

I was going through the archives this morning. You can do that, too by visiting the Management Skills Blog website. So far, we have more than 300 articles posted, indexed and categorized. You can search the postings by category or phrase to find exactly what you are looking for.

I noticed this comment by Trudy in response to a post about positive reinforcement.

In other words, plan organize and catch employees doing things right.

Trudy’s comment is so accurate, it is easy to miss the point. Catching people doing things right requires planning and organization. I don’t want to simply catch them as if it were an accident.

I want to catch them as if I am “playing catch.” I want to be at the ready, glove in hand, waiting, anticipating AND even if the ball is off target, make every effort to field the throw. Yes, I want to catch them doing things right. I have my uniform on, hands on my knees. I am poised to move right or left. As a manager, I am ready. Play ball. -TF

Stick Around and Watch

Leave a reply

“But then, as the manager, I have to stick around to see if they actually complete the task,” moaned Shirley. “Why can’t they just do it the way I showed them?”

“Let me get this straight,” I said. “If you tell them about the new procedure, show them the new procedure. Get them to try the new procedure. Then leave. How long will they continue to perform in the new way?”

Shirley shook her head. “60 seconds! That’s it. As soon as I leave, they go back to the way they did it before.”

“Shirley, you are focused on what you do before the new behavior. What could you do differently after the behavior to get a different result?”

“You mean, stick around and watch longer?” she said. It sounded like a question, but it was more of a statement.

“And if you stuck around longer, what else could you do to get a different result?”

“I guess I could correct them if they did it wrong.”

“And if they did it right?” I prompted.

“I could tell them they did it right?” Now, it was a question.

“Yes, and what else?” I asked.

“Ask them to do it again?” The picture began to come into focus for Shirley.

“Yes, ask to see it again. Smile. Ask other people to watch how well it was done. Smile again. Tell her you want her to practice and that you will be back in ten minutes to watch again.

“If you want someone to acquire a new behavior, telling and demonstrating only gets it started. If you want the behavior to be repeated, you have to design rapid fire frequent positive reinforcement after the behavior. Watching, smiling, paying attention, encouraging. What gets reinforced gets repeated.” -TF

It’s New, It’s Wierd

Leave a reply

“I was one of the guys, now I am their manager,” said Jeremy. “I mean, I know what to do, it just feels weird.”

“Tell me about it.” I ask.

“Well, on Friday, we used to always go out for happy hour. Now, I am holding back. Maybe I will show up once a month after work, but I will usually only stay for one beer, then I beg off and hit the road.”

“What’s changed about the relationships?”

Jeremy took his time to respond. “I guess, instead of a friend, the relationship is one of accountability. I mean, it’s okay to be friendly, but sometimes you have to hold the line, sometimes you have to confront, sometimes the conversation is difficult.” He stopped. “And sometimes you feel by yourself.”

“So, who can you hang out with now?”

“Well, now, it’s the other managers in the company. They have all been supportive. It is a different perspective. I’m the new kid on the block.”

“And what about your old team, from when you were a supervisor?”

“They are still under me, but now I work through their new supervisor. That relationship, it’s not accountability anymore, not with me. Now, it’s more like a mentor relationship. It’s a longer view. Instead of me, telling them what to do, I do more observing. Their new supervisor is more concerned with their day to day productivity. I am actually looking for the one that will emerge as the next supervisor in another year.”

“Why do you think all this feels weird?” I ask.

“It’s new,” said Jeremy. “My role is different. I never thought there was this much difference between being a supervisor and being a manager.” -TF