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.

Management is a Contact Sport

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
I have a manager who wants to work from home. Have you ever seen any statistics about productivity of people working from home? Does it work? Or is something lost?

Response:
The first two words from the mouth of any good consultant are, “It depends.”

Working from home works for some people, for some it doesn’t. The problem with most studies, designed or cited, is they are biased to provide a great article in a magazine about alternative methods of productivity.

One of the most powerful time management tools has to do with getting uninterrupted time for work that requires focus. Working from home can provide that time.

But what is the work of a manager? A manager is that person in the organization held accountable for the output of the team. The most important work of a manager is assembling the team, assigning the roles (and tasks in those roles), coaching behaviors, setting the context for the team and measuring output. Management is a contact sport.

Steve Jobs, designing his building, placed all the restrooms in the front part of the building, so that at least for some portion of the day, people were forced to intermingle. He knew that collaboration was paramount, people being in the same space, talking with each other, out of their cubicles. Building cooperation, team culture and team spirit is difficult to do from home. This is not a rah-rah concept. Team spirit is not the goal, but team spirit is required to gain collaboration, innovation, adaptation, awareness.

Individual output of anything truly great, is a myth. The real work of a manager is coordinating all that individual direct output into organizational throughput. Management is a contact sport. Tough to do from home.

Don’t Interpret

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“I still think it is a valid question,” Raymond remained adamant. “I want to know where they think they will be in five years. I think I can interpret a lot from that.”

“Raymond, I don’t want you to interpret anything in the interview process. The likelihood that you will misinterpret the response is too high for that to be a valuable question. It will give you minimal insight and introduce confusion into the interview process. You will make a hiring decision based on something you are trying to interpret. Your interpretation is likely to be wrong and it will tend to color the rest of the interview.”

Raymond’s face betrayed his stomach. He remained defensive. He had hung so many interviews on that one famous question.

“Raymond, you end up relying on your gut feeling, because you have not established anything else in the interview process on which to base your decision. It is no wonder you are not satisfied with the candidates you have hired in the past.”

Spot the Pattern

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Raymond still looked puzzled. I think I had him talked out of playing amateur psychologist when interviewing candidates, but asking him to play to his strength as a manager was still fuzzy.

“Look, Raymond. As a manager, you can spot positive behavior and negative behavior on the shop floor. As a manager, you are an expert in positive and negative behavior. That’s the key. All you have to do is ask questions about situations in their prior work experience.

  • What was the task?
  • What was the action they took (their behavior)?
  • What was the result?

The actions they took will tell you how they will behave when they come to work for you.”

Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. All you have to do is find out what it was.

Amateur Psychology

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“How many of you took a psychology course in high school or college?” I asked. A few hands went up. “And how many of you have a degree in psychology?” Most of the hands go down, still leaving one in the air. “And are you certified by the state to practice either as a psychotherapist or a psychoanalyst?” The single hand dropped.

We were talking about hiring and the tendency of the manager to try to climb inside the head of the candidate to discover motivations and intentions. “Stop trying to play psychologist! You are not qualified to do it,” I said, looking straight at Raymond.

“But, I think it is a valid question,” snapped Raymond. “I just want to see where their head is at.”

“That’s the problem. You are not trained to make that kind of psychological evaluation. Listen,” I continued, with another question, “How many of you, as a manager, can spot positive behavior out on the floor?” The hands were tentative, but every hand in the room went up. “And how many of you can spot negative behavior out on the floor?” All the hands rose higher. “And how long does it take for you to spot it?”

“Immediately, on the spot, right away,” came the replies.

“Here it is, then. Stop trying to play amateur psychologist, you are not qualified. Play to your strength. You can spot positive and negative behavior in an instant because you are a manager. Play to your strength as a manager.

Understanding Value for the Work

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“I understand that it would be helpful to know about Julio’s value system,” Nelson pushed back. “But what am I supposed to ask him. Are you honest? Do you have integrity?”

“My guess is that he would say, yes. Yes and no questions seldom give us much information that’s really useful. And remember, this would be most helpful if it’s about the work he is doing.”

Nelson was still puzzled. “I am supposed to ask him how he values the work?”

“He won’t understand the question if you ask it that way. Try these questions.

  • Before we ship this product to the customer, what is the most important thing we have to remember?
  • When the customer receives this product, what is the most important thing they look for?
  • When we show up at the customer’s location, what do you think the customer expects from us?
  • Before we leave a customer location, what is the most important thing we have to remember?
  • When you look around at your team mates, thinking about their work, what do you find most helpful to you?
  • What do you look for in a new person joining the team?

“All these questions will give you insight into Julio’s value system related to the work.”

Increase Your Leverage Ratio

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“I don’t understand. Delegation saves time,” Julio puzzled.

“Yes, but let’s change the leverage point,” I replied. “Instead of thinking about the benefits to you, as a manager, what are the benefits to the person you delegate to?”

Julio was thinking. He nodded. “Well, they will be able to take on more responsibility?”

“Okay, but how does that benefit the team member?”

“They may learn something new. Gain a new skill. Try something they have never tried before. It might lay the groundwork for a promotion.”

“And if they are successful at this new skill, how much time will that save you?” I asked.

Julio sat back. Chuckling. “If they really learn it, could save me a hundred hours.”

“And that’s the leverage I am talking about. You work for one hour, get a hundred hours of productivity.”

Delegation Chump Change

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“Every manager first thinks of delegation as a Time Management tool,” I said. “And it is powerful, but not if you think about it in terms of Time Management.”

Julio nodded that he was listening but I could see the skepticism in his eyes.

“You think you can save an hour here or there, but that is chump change compared to the leverage available. Julio, tell me, what are the major benefits to you, as a manager, when you are able to effectively delegate?”

“Okay,” Julio started. “If I can delegate, I can spend more time working on more important things. I can get more done. I may be able to get enough done to take off a little early, maybe take a full half-hour for lunch. I would have time to start on projects that have been sitting on the back burner. I would have more time for coaching and planning.”

“And that’s the problem.” I countered.

Julio looked at me sideways.

Delegation Leverage

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Julio continued to resist. “The biggest problem with delegation is that it takes too long to explain what I want done. In less time, I can finish the project myself and I don’t have to worry about any loose ends dangling.”

“What is the purpose for delegation?” I asked. “Why am I so insistent that you should delegate more often?”

“That’s easy. Delegation is all about Time Management. But, that’s not my experience. I spend a half hour explaining something that takes me fifteen minutes to do. How is that Time Management?”

“What kind of leverage are you trying to get when you delegate?”

“Well, if I can unload something that takes me an hour to do, then that saves an hour,” he explained. “But if it takes me a half hour to explain, or review the work, then that leverage is 2 to 1.”

“That’s a good start, but you should be looking to gain more leverage. You should be able to work for one hour and get five hours productivity. A better target would be to work for one hour and get ten hours productivity.”

Julio looked puzzled.

Back In My Lap

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“I don’t know,” Julio replied. “I try to delegate as often as I can, but it always ends up, back in my lap.”

“Does it seem like you delegate things to your team on Monday and then your team delegates back to you on Wednesday?” I asked.

“I never thought about it that way, but you’re right. It’s almost like reverse delegation. They get stuck with a problem, come to me for help and before you know it, they are out the door with their project on my desk.”

“How does that happen?” I pressed.

Faster to Do It Myself

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“I know I need to delegate more often, and I try, but I gotta tell you, I am not happy with some of the results,” Julio explained. “It takes longer to delegate than to do it myself. And half the time, I have to come back in, take over the project and begin again. It’s frustrating.”

“And what else?” I asked.

“You want me to go on?” he replied.

I nodded.

“I don’t trust them. I have a great team, but they let me down too often. We have a mission critical project and I try to get some help and it’s always me having to save the day.”

“Why do you think that happens?”