From the Ask Tom mailbox:

Question:

How do you teach Strata II to a new manager? I have a problem at work because a peer who is also a manager is failing miserably in his new role and our boss will not help him or train him in any way, shape, or form.

I tell him things when he comes to me for advice for a particular situation but since I am trying to manage my department and people, I cannot spend the time and I do not have the authority to step in and diagnose all the problems and restructure and re-organize since I am a peer. I have instructed him to go to our boss and that did not help a bit.

The morale is getting worse & worse and the boss is ignoring it!

How do you teach Strata II?

Thank you very much for your guidance!

Response:

Your new Strata II manager is in a tough spot. It is not unusual, but it is still a tough spot.

He has been promoted to being in charge of a small number of people. He has a new completely different role that requires a brand new set of tools. Without any baseline experience as a supervisor, his self-confidence will be unstable.

Worse yet, your company will let him twist in the wind without direction. It’s not malicious. Most companies do not know how to work with brand new supervisors to make them successful.

You say you don’t have the time or the authority, but you appear to be willing to help as long as it doesn’t cost you the farm. If you are up for it, we can create a game plan. This is precisely the skill set we teach in our Working Management program (next session – July 24).

Step One is to specifically define the role. Remember, Strata I does the work. Strata II makes sure the work gets done. The core skills are scheduling people, coordinating materials, supplies and equipment, breaking down larger goals into daily work targets, monitoring work progress, checking for accuracy and completeness.

I don’t know what that means in your company, but that is where I would start. The written description to those questions should fit on one page.

The biggest tool for the Strata II manager is the weekly schedule, kept two weeks in advance. The two other important tools are checklists and short meetings (daily and weekly huddle meetings).

Get started on these items and brief us back here with an email.

If you (the rest of you) have a helpful suggestion related to our new Strata II manager, please post a comment below.

Tour de France Update

Stage Seven. Saturday’s Time Trial, as expected, broke the field wide open. The duo of Tom Boonen (BEL-QSI) and Robbie McEwan (AUS-DVL), who dominated the first week of racing predictably fell to 41st and 109th in the stage. Serhiy Gonchar (UKR-TMO) grinding it out in a heavy gear set a blistering pace and never faded, capturing a stage win and the yellow jersey. Team T-Mobile is doing quite well without Jan Ullrich who was scratched from the Tour 24 hours before the start.

Stage Eight. It is rare that a breakaway succeeds, but when it does, it becomes the isolated exception that keeps riders trying to break the rule. The peleton tried to organize for the catch, but it was too late with too much distance. It was an early break at 47km that held to the end (181km). The last three riders in the escape Sylvain Calzati (FRA-A2R), Kjell Carlstrom (FIN-LIQ) and Patrice HALGAND (FRA-C.A) held together until 148km when Calzati make a dash that neither Carlstrom nor Halgand could respond to. With 25km to go, Calzati was 30 seconds ahead. By the end, he had extended his lead to 2:05. It was his first career stage win.

The Tour takes a break on Monday with a relatively flat stage on Tuesday. Look for the sprinters to be back in force. Then we go to the mountains. Floyd Landis (USA-PHO), a former Armstrong teammate now racing for Team Phonak, seems poised to take advantage of his lead.

Overall Standings after Stage Eight

1-HONCHAR, Serhiy -UKR-TMO -34hrs 38min 53sec

2-LANDIS, Floyd -USA-PHO –+1min

3-ROGERS, Michael -AUS-TMO –+1min 8sec

4-SINKEWITZ, Patrik -GER-TMO –+1min 45sec

5-FOTHEN, Marcus -GER-GST –+1min 50sec

6-KLÖDEN, Andréas -GER-TMO –+1min 50sec

7-KARPETS, Vladimir -RUS-CEI –+1min 52sec

8-EVANS, Cadel -AUS-DVL –+1min 52 sec

9-ZABRISKIE, David -USA-CSC –+1min 53sec

10-MENCHOV, Denis -RUS-RAB –+2min

11-KESSLER, Matthias -GER-TMO –+2min 3sec

12-MOREAU, Christophe -FRA-A2R –+2min 7sec

13-SAVOLDELLI, Paolo -ITA-DSC –+2min 10sec

14-MAZZOLENI, Eddy -ITA-TMO –+2min 14sec

15-LANG, Sebastian -GER-GST –+2min 22sec

16-SASTRE, Carlos -ESP-CSC –+2min 27sec

17-HINCAPIE, George -USA-DSC –+2mim 30sec

18-PEREIRO SIO, Oscar -ESP-CEI –+2min 57sec

19-LÖVKVIST, Thomas -SWE-FDJ –+3min 1sec

20-ROUS, Didier -FRA-BTL –+3min 15sec