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.

Dotted Lines Create Confusion

Dotted lines create confusion, not only in the mind of the team member or manager playing a role, but in the minds of all the collateral players. The dotted line is simply short-hand for confusion. It creates ambiguity and kills accountability.

And yet, in the real world, we have cross-functional accountability. Rather than use a dotted line, use a real line and define the accountability. You see, in the real world, we report to people all over the organization, but depending on the cross-functional role, the defined expectations are different.

Elliott Jaques specifically defined seven cross-functional roles and further defined the accountabilities in each. Over the next few days, we will take these roles one-by-one.

Advisor

“Thanks for coming to the meeting today on the ABC project. Paul, Robert, both of you will be working on this project. Paul, you are the Project Leader. The outcome of this project will clearly be your accountability, you, as the manager are accountable for the direct output of your team. This means, all problems that need to be solved, decisions to be made will be on your shoulders.

“Robert, you will be on this team in the role of an advisor. You will bring your technical expertise to the project. You will have access to Paul to explain the technical mechanics of what is happening inside the project.

“Paul, if Robert calls a meeting with you, you can be assured it will contain important data you will need to make some of your decisions.

“Robert, understand, that your role will only be that of an Advisor. All decisions, priorities and the accountability for the project will be on Paul.”

Having an Advisor on a project can be extremely valuable. The role of the Advisor is very clear, as is the role for the Project Leader. No dotted lines, not two people in charge of the same project, but clear accountability.

Tomorrow, we will explore another cross functional relationship from the list.

  • Advisor
  • Audit
  • Coordinative
  • Monitoring
  • Prescribe
  • Service Getting
  • Collateral

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Our next online program – Hiring Talent is scheduled to kick off August 1, 2011. If you would like to find out more about the program or pre-register, follow this link.

The Dotted Line

I don’t talk much about Cross Functional relationships. It’s advanced stuff. But when it rears its ugly head, it’s a mess. Cross Functional relationships are, most often, defined in the organization by a dotted line. Dotted lines create ambiguity. Ambiguity kills accountability. Get rid of the dotted lines on your organization chart. They are killing you.

In Cross Functional relationships, two managers, most often in roles at the SAME Stratum, work together, but neither is the manager of the other. In this example, YOU are the manager, so it is your problem to define their working relationship. And you cannot define their working relationship with a dotted line.

Most organizations don’t know how to define this relationship, so it is often left undefined and that is where the trouble starts. It looks like a personality conflict or a breakdown in communication, but it is a structural problem because YOU did not properly define the relationship.

Elliott Jaques (Requisite Organization) specifically defines these Cross Functional relationships so we can get on with the work. This replaces your dotted lines.

Cross Functional Relationships

  • Prescribing relationship
  • Audit relationship
  • Coordinating relationship
  • Monitoring relationship
  • Service getting relationship
  • Advisory relationship
  • Collateral relationship

On the face of it, defining these relationships, up front, resolves the dotted line, resolves the ambiguity and creates accountability.

Who can call who into a meeting?
Who can instruct who to do something?
In a disagreement, who decides?

Over the next few days, I will talk about each of these relationships and the clear accountability between the people in a Cross Functional relationship.
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Our next online program – Hiring Talent is scheduled to kick off August 1, 2011. If you would like to find out more about the program or pre-register, follow this link.

Waiting Until the Last Minute

Joyce had her thinking cap on. Her dissatisfaction with Phillip was not from a lack of performance, but from a lack of capability.

“I want you to begin to think about capability in terms of Time Span,” I prompted.

“You’re right,” she replied. “Phillip seems to stay away from, or procrastinate on all the projects that take time to plan out and work on. And then, it’s like he jams on the accelerator. He even told me that he works better under pressure, that last minute deadlines focus him better. I am beginning to think that he waits until the last minutes because that is the only time frame he thinks about.”

“Give me an example,” I asked.

“Remember, I found him hidden away in the warehouse, rearranging all the shelves himself. It’s really a bigger project than that. We are trying to move the high turning items to bins up front and slower moving items to bins in the back. But it’s going to take some time to review, which items need to be moved, how to retag them, how to planagram the whole thing. We started talking about this two months ago with a deadline coming due next week. So, only now, Phillip gets stuck in the warehouse doing things himself. And the result is likely to be more of a mess than a help.”

“Is it a matter of skill, planning skills?” I ventured.

“No, I don’t think so. It is a matter of capability,” Joyce said with some certainty.

“Then how are we going to measure that capability?”
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Our next online program – Hiring Talent is scheduled to kick off August 1, 2011. If you would like to find out more about the program or pre-register, follow this link.

If All Spokes Lead to the Manager

Sharon was finally proud of someone else. It took three years since her promotion to let go. Tonight, her lead technician walked across the stage to accept the honor that Sharon had coveted for so long, and it was okay.

The VIP Project had been awarded to Sharon’s department two and a half years ago. Everyone realized this would be a landmark project for company. But there were problems.

Six months in, the difficulties began to bottleneck, the discrepancy reports began to pile up on Sharon’s desk. Working twelve hour days, she could not solve all the problems that rose to the surface. With timeline charts turning from green to red, Sharon was called on the carpet at more than one project-oversight meeting.

It was late on a Friday, somewhat depressed, Sharon came to a realization that changed everything. She had placed herself as the pivot point in the project. She had wanted hands-on control, all spokes led to her. Nothing occurred without her approval and involvement. Why?

Sharon wanted the credit. Sharon wanted to walk across the stage. Sharon wanted to be the hero. Sharon was the problem. It was only when she thought about spreading responsibilities to her team that she emerged from her funk. It was only when she imagined, that one of her team would walk across the stage, instead of her, that she became truly effective as a manager.

Tonight was the night.
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Our next online program – Hiring Talent is scheduled to kick off August 1, 2011. If you would like to find out more about the program or pre-register, follow this link.

Values Inside the Work

“You can either try to get people on board with your culture, or you can build the culture that people want to get on board with. Which is it going to be?” I asked.

Since Miguel called this meeting, everyone was looking at him. The silence was working its discomfort. I broke the group into teams of two. Erica’s team was the first out of the gate.

“I don’t think you can talk people into it. The culture has to make personal sense and they have to believe it is really true. People can smell a pig no matter how much lipstick is on it.”

“What do you mean, it has to make personal sense?”

“I mean the values of the company have to be close to the values of the person. If there is a conflict, either the company has to change or the person has to go find another company.”

“Do you think culture comes from values?” I continued to probe.

Erica wasn’t sure where this was going, but she had already stuck her neck out. “I think culture is the collected values of every person who is a member of the group. The collected values govern the behavior of the group. It sets the expectation, creates the environment in which we work.”

“So, would you agree that the first conscious step toward a positive culture is to actively collect the values of each member of the group?” I stopped. “A little scary, perhaps. Until we collect the values, we can get away with ambiguity. Once we collect the values, there is no place to hide.”
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Our next online program – Hiring Talent is scheduled to kick off August 1, 2011. If you would like to find out more about the program or pre-register, follow this link.

Next Group – Hiring Talent Online

We are gathering the next group for our online program Hiring Talent, kicks off August 1, 2011. As the economy (slowly) recovers, your next hires are critical. This is not a time to be casual about the hiring process. Mistakes are too expensive and our margins are too thin.

Purpose of this program – to train managers and HR specialists in the discipline of conducting more effective interviews in the context of a managed recruiting process.

How long is the program? This program will take eight weeks.

How do people participate in the program? This is an online program conducted by Tom Foster. Participants will be responsible for online assignments and participate in online facilitated discussion groups with other participants. This online platform is highly interactive. Participants will interact with Tom Foster and other participants as they work through this program.

Next program starts August 1, 2011. Pre-register Now.

Who should participate? This program is designed for Stratum III and Stratum IV managers and HR managers who play active roles in the recruiting process for their organizations.

What is the cost? The program investment is $699 per participant.

When is the program scheduled? Pre-registration is now open. The program is scheduled to kick-off August 1, 2011.
How much time is required to participate in this program? Participants should reserve approximately 2 hours per week. This program is designed so participants can complete their assignments on their own schedule anytime during each week’s assignment period.

Pre-register Now.

Week One

  • Orientation

Week Two – Role Descriptions – It’s All About the Work

  • What we are up against
  • Specific challenges in the process
  • Problems in the process
  • Defining the overall process
  • Introduction to the Role Description
  • Organizing the Role Description
  • Defining Tasks
  • Defining Goals
  • Identifying Time Span

Week Three

  • Publish and critique role descriptions

Week Four – Interviewing for Future Behavior

  • Creating effective interview questions
  • General characteristics of effective questions
  • How to develop effective questions
  • How to interview for attitudes and non-behavioral elements
  • How to interview for Time Span
  • Assignment – Create a battery of interview questions for the specific role description

Week Five

  • Publish and critique battery of interview questions

Week Six

  • Organizing the interview process
  • Taking Notes during the process
  • Telephone Screening
  • Conducting the telephone interview
  • Conducting the face-to-face interview
  • Working with an interview team
  • Compiling the interview data into a Decision Matrix
  • Background Checks, Reference Checks
  • Behavioral Assessments
  • Drug Testing
  • Assignment – Conduct a face-to-face interview

Week Seven

  • Publish and critique results of interview process

Week Eight

  • Using Profile Assessments

Registration
Pre-registration is now open for this program. No payment is due at this time.

Fact Check

From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
Yesterday, (Fictitious Snapshot), you objected to asking the interview question, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” I think it is a perfectly valid question. It gives me an idea how far the person can think out into the future (Time Span) and what kind of a planner they are. Both of these things are important qualities of a manager.

Response:
Important qualities, I agree. It is still a terrible question.

Any future-based question opens the interview to speculation. Given the question, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” the candidate begins to guess what the interviewer wants to hear. It might indicate the candidate’s ability to mind-read. ANY response to this question is something the candidate makes up, either contrived or on the spot. It has NO basis in fact and cannot be fact-checked. Because it is a hypothetical question, it requires the interviewer to make some interpretation on what the response means. Any response from a candidate that requires interpretation is an indicator of a poor interview question.

But how far a person thinks into the future and their ability to plan are still valid qualities for managers. What are some better questions?

  • Tell me about a time when you had to put a plan together?
  • What was the project?
  • What was the length of the project (Time Span)?
  • How did you create the plan, in a meeting, by yourself?
  • Step me through the plan, what were the steps in the plan?
  • Give me another example?
  • Tell me about a project, the longest (Time Span) project you have worked on?

All of these questions are simply looking for facts (which can be fact-checked). These facts are evidence (I like hard evidence as opposed to speculation) of those behaviors I look for in a manager. If I get enough examples, I can see a pattern that will allow me to pinpoint the candidate’s planning ability (capability).
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Our next online program – Hiring Talent is scheduled to kick off August 1, 2011. If you would like to find out more about the program or pre-register, follow this link.

Fictitious Snapshot

“You don’t like the interview question?” Christopher asked, shifting in his chair. He had a list of questions to ask for an interview later that day. At the top of the list, “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

“Chris, every question, you ask, has to have a purpose in the interview,” I replied. “What specific piece of data are you trying to collect with that question?”

“I think it is important to find out where they are headed in life.”

“Chris, tell me again, what’s the role?”

“Project Manager.”

“How long are your typical projects?”

“Four to six weeks.”

“Chris, tell me how a fictitious, five-year-future snapshot will predict success as a Project Manager, working on projects that last four to six weeks?” The silence hung heavy. “Let’s change two things about your approach to questions. Instead of the future, ask about the past. Instead of a hypothetical, ask about a fact.” The quality of the responses to those questions will increase dramatically.
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Our next online program – Hiring Talent is scheduled to kick off August 1, 2011. If you would like to find out more about the program or pre-register, follow this link.

Revenue Up, Profit Down?

“The reason we called you in,” Derrick explained, “is that we have a margin problem. We’re just not as profitable as we should be.”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“Easy!” he said. “Revenue is up and profit is down.”

“How do you think that happened?”

Derrick took a moment. “We’re a bit stymied. Every time we figure out the problem, and think we have it fixed, at the end of the month, the numbers tell the same story. Revenues up. Profit down.”

“I tell you what I would like to see. Could you get me a copy of your org chart?”

“Our org chart?” Derrick looked at me like I was from Mars. “I said we have a profit problem, why do you want to see our org chart?”

“Derrick, you’ve looked all over, trying to discover what is wrong. Your problem is not a what. Your problem is a who.”

Fear and Hesitation

“When we finish the project, the new territory should be ours,” Lucy started. “The competitors will think twice about ignoring our expertise. The client should have a new-found respect for us.”

“Not bad, for starters,” I responded. “Try something different. Pretend the project is already finished. Close your eyes and visualize that we are one day beyond the closing date. Now open your eyes and describe it again.”

It took Lucy a moment to sink in. I could see her eyes blink hard as she moved into the future. “We have finished the project and the new territory is ours. The competitors cannot ignore our expertise in this marketplace. The client has a new-found respect for us.”

“What is different when you talk like that?”

“When I put myself in the future, all the problems that get in the way and slow us down are gone. All of the hurdles have vanished.”

The power of visualization, to a real time in the future, works to conquer more than problems. It conquers the fear and hesitation of moving forward.