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.

Not-So-Intelligent

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“That makes sense,” Luke said. “It was a little outside our normal behavior, giving nurses the authority to question a doctor about hand washing.”

“That’s the problem with normal,” I replied. “Normal is just repeated behavior regardless of the outcome. It’s the desired outcome we have to pay attention to, not what is normal.”

“I agree,” Luke nodded. “Likely, we would never make that decision without looking at mortality rates. It was only when we asked the nurses, that things became clear.”

“When you examine systems, you have to figure out how that system emerged. Was it designed to produce an outcome, or did it arrive out of repeated behaviors, ingrained as habits, without regard for the outcome?” I stopped. “A not-so-intelligent system makes even competent people (surgeons and nurses) look dumb. Eventually, competent people will overcome a not-so-intelligent system, if you give them permission, better yet, ask them.”

Is It the People or the System?

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“You are saying,” Luke started, “that if I see friction in the system, I should look at the system, rather than trying to fix the people?”

I nodded affirmative. “You can have intelligently designed systems, if you create them. But, most systems emerge as a set of outcomes created by random behavior. Worse. Those random behaviors get repeated and become the norm.”

“But, we have standards,” Luke protested. “This is a hospital. We have to inspect and comply with those standards.

“Tell me,” I prodded. “A few years back, you made a change at your hospital. You had a not-so-intelligent system in your operating theatre that created a problem. Mortality rates in your surgical area were statistically above the norm. Even your doctors scratched their heads trying to figure this out. So, you asked your nursing staff what could be the problem. They recommended that you change your system, to make it more intelligent.”

“I remember,” Luke nodded. “We had to change our system of authority. Often, our surgeons were not washing their hands sufficiently prior to surgery. Of course, in the hospital, the surgeon has the authority for most all decisions. We changed our system to give the nursing staff the authority to question a surgeon related to hand-washing. We brought all the nurses and all the surgeons in the same room to discuss and create this new authority for nurses.”

“What happened?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Mortality statistically came back in line within seven days,” Luke replied.

I nodded. “You didn’t change the people, you changed the system.”

The Friction Inside

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“Two people, working together, are likely very nice individuals apart from each other,” I continued. “As the manager, when you put those two people together, you place them in a system. Most often, that system is not defined and dysfunction emerges.”

“I always hope they can figure it out, the working together part,” Luke nodded. “And, most of the time, these teams get along, but there are always things that create friction.”

“As the manager, you notice these things,” I said.

“In an instant,” Luke agreed. “But even when I point things out, and get nodding agreement from everyone, the instant I leave, they go back to the friction-way of doing things.”

“It’s often a matter of telling, or rather not-telling,” I replied. “You tell, you talk, and they pretend to listen. Your team has difficulty making sense of the friction, until they discover it for themselves. Any parent, faced with the same dilemma usually tries these two things with the same result. They speak louder and with more frequency – if I told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times.”

Luke nodded. He had two children, he was familiar with the parental response of louder and more often.

“There are two things we have to define,” I smiled. “In this working relationship, who is accountable for what? And, in this working relationship, who has the authority to make what decisions? Then stand back and simply ask questions.”

“Questions?” Luke looked at me sideways.

“Questions. The best managers are not those who tell people what to do. The best managers are those who ask the best questions, to help the team make sense of the friction, to help them discover it for themselves.”

The Group I am With

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“And, it’s more complicated than that,” Luke explained.

“You’ve been doing some thinking about this?” I said.

“We have to define the working relationships between people, specifically related to accountability and authority, but people play roles,” he continued. “Some people play more than one role. The role both enables and constrains the person. It defines what they have the authority to do and what not to do. So, when I am working with my team, I have to pay attention not only to the working relationship, but also the role. People are different people depending on who they are with. And, sometimes those people are not physically present. If you want to understand why someone is doing something in particular, you may have to figure out which role and which group they have in their head.”

People System

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I nodded. “So, shifting things around inside your system requires that you be alert to the immediate proximity, but also for unintended consequences in a remote part of the system.”

Luke agreed. “It is easy to see when it is a defined step in the system. We can always move things around. But, I saw something else.”

“Pray tell?” I said.

“We have workflow systems,” he started. “In our workflow we can identify discreet steps that are contained. A step starts here, a step ends there. This step impacts that step and impacts another step way over here. But there is another, more complicated system I have to pay attention to. My people system puts players in proximity that have to work together. Working relationships are like steps in a system. If I change a person out, I change the working relationship. A new relationship emerges that starts from scratch and has to be built around these two questions. In this working relationship, what is the accountability for one person to the other person? And, in this working relationship, who has the authority to make what decisions? So, steps in a workflow are easy. People in a workflow, not so much.”

Unintended Consequences

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“I thought we had it fixed,” Luke shook his head. “We had a problem. We solved the problem. We implemented the fix. But, the fix caused two other problems.”

“It’s always something,” I smiled. “What did you just learn?”

“I learned that the steps in our process are not just a sequence of things one after another. The steps have an order, but each step has an impact on things around it.”

“And?” I asked.

“Two things,” Luke replied. “Each step has an impact on the work flow with what immediately precedes and comes after. But, a step might have an impact on something far away, that you cannot see or that you might not connect.”

“So, how do you most effectively make a change in your system?” I wanted to know.

“Obviously, our attention is riveted to the immediate area, but we also have to widen our picture to include the whole system and have metrics at key points that let us see unintended consequences.”

Meaning to the Words

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“It’s good to have everyone back in the office,” Conrad explained. “It seems convenient to have people video conference, but it just wasn’t the same.”

“If you look at your team as a system, realizing that everything, every person is connected to each other as a system,” I said, “what qualitative difference does it make in your communication system?”

“For sure,” Conrad nodded. “Sending an email is a one-way communication. Even texting loses a non-verbal component.”

“And what about a video conference where the camera is off?” I asked.

“Most definitely. Without the visual, the connection is lost. No confirmation the person is paying attention, has a question, in agreement or out of agreement. Sometimes spoken words don’t convey the whole message.”

“And, is there a difference between video communication and face-to-face communication, in real proximity?” I asked.

Conrad nodded. “Yes. I communicate something very powerful simply by the physical distance between us. Talking in a meeting ten feet away is very different than talking to someone two feet away. Even that physical distance gives meaning to the words we say.”

Earning Trust

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“I want to empower my team members,” Reese explained. “I know you prefer I use the word authority instead of empower, but I can’t give my team the authority to make decisions. I am the one with the authority.”

“And, if that is the way you think, then you will be the same manager with same underperforming team until you grow old and gray,” I nodded.

“But, I don’t trust my team to make the right decision in the crunch of a problem,” Reese protested. “How do I give my team the authority to make the wrong decision when the stakes are so high?”

“Lower the stakes,” I said. “Do not empower someone by giving them a promotion. The risks may be too high, and you, as the manager have to manage the risk. Do not give them a promotion, give them a project, and manage the risk in the project. If you give someone a promotion and they fail, you have a chocolate mess on your hands. If you give someone a project and they fail, you just have a failed project, and you manage the risk in the project.”

Reese was quiet. “And, if they successfully complete a series of projects, my trust will go up. If there is a promotion, it will be an earned promotion.”

It’s the Golfer, Not the Clubs

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“So, you have the best tools, the best machinery that money can buy?” I asked.

“Yes,” Rolo replied. “The very best.”

“And, yet your team still underperforms?” I continued.

“Yes, and we purchase the best in raw materials of highest quality, minimum defects,” Rolo nodded.

“And, yet your team still underperforms?” I asked again. “And, your training. I assume you have the best in training?”

“Of course,” he agreed. “I mean, it’s not like we don’t run into production problems, but when we do, it shuts down the line, everything stops while we figure out the problem. Seems odd that it takes so long because we have a best practice for almost every problem that occurs. We are supposed to know what to do.”

“So, what’s the problem?” I wanted to know.

“I don’t know,” Rolo shook his head. “We have invested in the best of everything for our people.”

“What if you don’t have the right people,” I looked at Rolo squarely. “How do you invest on getting the right people?”

Is It the New Clubs?

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“How’s your golf game?” I asked.

That was Nathan’s favorite question. “My favorite subject,” he replied with some delight. “I got some new golf clubs last week, lots of fun.”

“How was your score with the new clubs?” I wanted to know.

“You had to ask that question,” he looked at me sideways.

“Well?” I pressed.

“Well, probably the worst score I’ve had in the last year,” Nathan admitted.

“Maybe they are just lousy clubs,” I searched for an explanation.

“I know where this is going,” he replied. “If I want to get better at golf, I can either buy new clubs or work on my game. New clubs are nice, but maybe I should spend time working on my game.”