“But what if I consider all those things, materials, conditions and the competence of my team, and I set the deadline, and we still miss it. Maybe the team didn’t work hard enough?” Torrey floated.
“That may be possible, but I rarely find that is the case,” I replied. “Let me ask you this question. Is your team doing their best?”
Torrey sat back. “Well, I guess so.”
“What do you mean, you guess? It is your responsibility to know precisely whether your team is doing their best.”
“Yes, I know. That’s why we put in a bonus program, so that if the project meets the deadline, then the team gets a bonus.”
“So, you are still telling me that you, as the Manager are not able to judge whether your team is doing their best. You have replaced yourself with a phony bonus program, withholding compensation because you cannot make that judgment.”
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Hi Tom,
Are we back to this bonus thing, agian? I will say, that was an eye opener for me and our management team. Is this heading in the same direction?
Greg
Hi, Greg,
No, we have talked about bonuses enough. The focus in this series is about the accountabilities of a manager. The mention of bonus here is just an example of how managers try to wriggle out of their accountabilities.