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.

First 30 Seconds of the Interview

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
I am the HR Director for a large company. Part of my role, is assisting managers in the hiring process. Very frustrating. Most times, these guys will make a hiring decision in the first 30 seconds of the interview. Our revolving door can barely keep track of the spin-outs. How can I get my managers to slow down, to make a decision only after they have asked some better questions?

Response:
Your description is typical of most hiring decisions that I see.

“There is a candidate down the hall interviewing for the supervisor’s decision. Everyone else likes him. Can you go see if you like him, too?”

So, here we are, 30 seconds into the interview and the candidate reminds me of my best drinking buddy from college. I had a half dozen questions that I scribbled on a yellow pad, but couldn’t find the pad before the interview started. I can always tell the candidate about this “great place to work.” If he looks interested, maybe he will take the job.

Can we stop our initial reactions (first impressions) in the interview? NO!!

We are people and cannot stop those first impressions. But first impressions are not sufficient to make a sound hiring decision. The reason most managers rely on those first impressions is that they are totally unprepared to enter the interview room. Most have only a sketchy intuitive understanding of the role and rarely more than six or seven prepared questions.

As an HR professional, part of your role, is to insist on a discipline in the hiring process. The first discipline is the creation of a coherent role description, where the tasks and activities are organized into 5-8 Key Result Areas. The second discipline is the preparation of ten questions for each Key Result Area. Now the Hiring Manager is ready, with 50-80 written prepared questions. For every written question, it is likely the manager will ask two drill-down questions, meaning, during the course of the interview, there will be 150-240 questions asked.

Now, we can have all the first impressions we want, but that first impression will be balanced by 150 pieces of data, specifically related to the role. The quality of your hiring decisions will rise dramatically.
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We are currently taking registrations for our next online program, Hiring Talent. You can find out more information about the program, here.

Hiring Talent – New Online Program

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Pre-registration is now open for our new program – Hiring Talent.

Most of my conversations the past few weeks have been about recruiting. Business volume is picking up (slowly). There is movement in the candidate pool. Most companies are totally unprepared to regenerate their hiring process.

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 participating in online facilitated discussion groups with other participants. This online platform is highly interactive. Participants will be interacting with Tom Foster and other participants as they work through this program. 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? Registration is now open. The program will start following the registration period, in late May or early June.

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
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
Assignment – Create a specific role description

Week Three
Publish and critique role descriptions

Week Four
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.

Motivation Issues and Management Issues

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Wes was turning inward, thinking about his role. “I never really thought about the people system that I’m responsible for. I always thought of recruiting as a necessary evil. We never plan for it. Conducting interviews is always inconvenient. I fill a position as quick as I can, so I can get back to my real work as a manager.”

“And what real work is that?” I asked.

“You know, motivation issues, management issues,” Wes replied.

“Did you ever think that if you focused more on the selection side in your recruiting process, that your issues related to motivation and management might disappear?”
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Next week, we will begin registration for our new online program, Hiring Talent. This interactive program is eight weeks in length and is designed for Hiring Managers, Managers Once Removed and Human Resource Managers. More details next week. -TF

Calibrating the Roles

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From the Ask Tom Mailbag:

Question:
Can you describe the difference between a Stratum II Supervisor and a Stratum III Manager related to their roles and accountabilities?

Response:
Every company and every business model is different, so there will be small differences when you look inside your own company. But let’s look at some generalizations which you can adapt to your specific situation.

Quite often, I use a manufacturing model as an illustration, because most people can identify with these descriptions.

Stratum I – Production, using equipment, tools and machines. The direct output in this Stratum is typically what your customer experiences as your product or service.

Stratum II – Makes sure production gets done. This role is highly engaged in coordinating all of the elements required for production. This includes the scheduling of Production personnel, materials required and machine time (equipment availability or other resource allocation). This role begins by translating customer demand or work orders into specific output targets for production, managing the pace of that production and counting the direct output to make sure production gets done.

Stratum II is also typically responsible for meeting the quality specification in the production process. This may include internal inspection, making measurements to confirm the product or service meets the standard specified by the customer. Where tolerances are critical, additional quality inspections may be performed by an external team, but the resolution for any discrepancy will likely include the participation of the Stratum II Supervisor.

Finally, Stratum II is also responsible for the maintenance of all internal systems, including preventive maintenance on machines, care and storage of tools, inventory and handling of raw materials and finished goods. The most important internal system is often the people system. It is the role of Stratum II to maintain productive relationships with each team member to promote communication about production problems, quality issues, pacing issues and to gather data about the efficiency of the production system.

Stratum III – Creates the system. It is the role of Stratum III to map out the production work flow, to analyze the sequence of steps, to monitor the effectiveness of the systems, and most importantly to change the system design to promote efficiency, profitability. This role includes the replacement of capital equipment through life cycles, managing budgets related to production, introduction of new technology and training programs.

The success of the role at Stratum III requires close collaboration with the Stratum II supervisor, to gather data (counting output, counting discrepancies etc) related to the current production system, and to implement changes to the system going forward. Stratum II is often the valuable conduit to collect input from the production team related to the workability of specific processes and sequences.

A critical role of the Stratum III manager is in the hiring process. Stratum III is responsible for creating the specific roles in the production team, evaluating the necessity and requirements of those roles. In the hiring of production personnel at Stratum I, Stratum III plays the role of the Manager Once Removed (MOR). This role promotes rich conversations with the Stratum II Supervisor (the Hiring Manager) related to the hiring strategy, protocol and selection.

This short description can be adapted to other business models, using Time Span to calibrate the roles. In some business models, production may occur as a result of teams playing Stratum II, III or IV roles. This will require an adjustment of those roles required to make sure production gets done and roles required to create the systems in which people work.

Before You Start Meddling

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This conversation was prompted by Wednesday’s post on Where to Start?

“Before you start meddling with the people around you, your team members, your colleagues, you have to figure out your role,” I nodded. “In the midst of your organization, what is your role?”

“I guess I am the designer of the system,” Ruben floated the trial balloon.

“You guess?” I asked.

“I am the designer of the system!”

“And what are your accountabilities, as the designer of the system?”

“As the designer of the system, it is my accountability to make sure that the output of our work is consistent. That our quality meets the standard that we set, every time,” Ruben explained, gaining more confidence.

“And what is the value to the organization, to create that consistency?”

Steps and Relationships

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“Who I am?” Ruben asked, furrowing his brow.

“Yes, who are you?” I insisted. “What is your role?”

“Well, I’m the manager,” he explained. “My role is to manage. It’s my team that actually does the work. I just manage.”

“If all you do is manage, then I have limited use for you,” I pressed. “If all you do is manage, I can get by with a supervisor. What is your work?”

“Well, when my team gets stuck, I help them get unstuck,” Ruben replied, grabbing for any kind of traction.

“And when you get your team unstuck, what do you do, to keep them from getting stuck in the same way again?”

Ruben hesitated, then thoughtfully arrived at a meaningful conclusion. “I look at what we are doing, how we are doing it, the sequence we do it in and think, is this the best way? We might create our own problems simply by the order of the steps we work in. It’s my job to think about that stuff.”

“What tools do you use to think with?” I prompted.

“I don’t know,” Ruben pondered. “I mean, sometimes, I will draw out a flow chart, so I can see things more clearly, you know, boxes and circles and arrows.”

“And when you finish that flow chart, what is that a picture of?”

“Well, it’s the system that we work in, with all the steps and relationships of those steps.”

“And so, what is your work?” I asked, again.

Grabby Stuff

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
I was in your workshop, about Time Span. Almost overwhelming. I say, almost, because it is grabby stuff. I don’t know if I will see my company the same way, when I go back to work tomorrow. But where do I start?

Response:
The starting place is with yourself, the only person in the world where you have control and authority.

Time Span is grabby, because it resonates with what you feel, as a leader. Time Span is the scientific explanation for what you intuitive observe in the workplace, as a manager. Anthony De Mello calls it Awareness. And this is where you start.

Before you can take action, any form of implementation, take an inventory of where you are. What is your role? Inside your organization, what are your accountabilities?

Before you can effectively evaluate the roles of those around you, you must first discover who you are.

Where a Manager Skips a Layer

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
You have talked about the role of the Manager Once Removed. In our company, that role is not encouraged and in some cases, we have been told that it undermines the authority of the reporting chain. How do you explain this role, where a manager skips a layer in the org chart and interacts with team members two layers below?

Response:
Let’s start with a hidden land mine in your question. Your description of the organization as a reporting chain sets up a dysfunction that inhibits healthy and productive interaction between team members and their managers, one and two layers above.

We Report to Lots of People
We report to people all over the organization. I may be responsible for a project segment on an ad-hoc team. I have to produce a number that is part of a financial report for accounting. I provide feedback to the sales team for available inventory. I report to people all over the organization. But I can have only one manager.

Management as a Value Stream
Managers do not exist so people can report to them. Managers exist to create a value stream for problem solving and decision making to their teams one and two layers below. Every employee is entitled to have a competent manager with the capability to bring value to their problem solving and decision making.

With this understanding, we can now examine how the Manager Once Removed (MOR) can create positive, healthy relationships with their team members one and two layers below. We can actually measure these relationships, using Time Span, to specifically determine the accountability in each of these relationships.

What is the nature of the relationship between the Manager and the Team Member? What are their conversations about? What is the work being done in this relationship? What is the Time Span of the work in this relationship?

Between Stratums I and II, the conversations are all about the work, defined as direct output. What your customer experiences in your product or service, is most often the direct output in this relationship. The conversations between the Manager and the Team Member are about pace and quality. The Time Span of the work is typically short, based on production cycles.

Between Stratums I and III, between the Team Member (I) and the Manager Once Removed (III), the relationship changes, the conversation changes, the Time Span changes. In this necessary relationship, the MOR looks at longer Time Span issues, like efficiencies, sequence of work steps, working conditions, workflow configurations. The MOR also looks at the people system, monitors who might be ready for additional responsibilities, more complex challenges and leadership roles. The Time Span of this work is longer term, based on the growth of the organization and the natural maturity of team members progressing in their roles.

Because LIFE HAPPENS, the Manager at Stratum II will eventually turn over. That manager may be promoted, moved to another department or may re-locate. The Manager Once Removed (III) becomes the Hiring Manager to replace that position. The relationship of the MOR (III) with the Team Members (I) provides the necessary data for the hiring decision. Is there anyone on the team ready to step up or do we have to go outside and recruit?

This managerial web, managers involved in coaching and MORs involved in mentoring, makes for a healthy organization ready for change and challenge.

Timing is Everything

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I just spent some time digesting the latest report from ITR. I have a sinking feeling in my stomach, mixed emotions. On one hand, the recovery is underway, but the next bump in the road is only a scant two years away. I have shared this news recently as a “tapping of the brakes,” but this month’s ITR Report uses the “R” word.

“We see the issues of future higher interest rates; higher taxes; federal, state, and local government deficits; unfunded pension liabilities and inflation (including energy and food) as contributing factors to what we think will be a recession that begins in late 2013 and encompasses all of 2014.”

Driving With Both Feet
And I am only talking about the gas pedal and the brake pedal. Between now and 2013, you have no choice but to charge ahead, as fast as you can prudently go. But keep one foot over the brake pedal. Depending on your industry, and some are still reeling (non-residential construction), be careful about building overhead that you cannot easily get rid of. The good news is that we have some warning and time to position ourselves appropriately.

I encourage you to subscribe to ITR, and pay attention. You can find out more information at this link ITR Trends Report.

Ten Percent Luck

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Tyler thought for a minute. “If we did something wrong, then we have been doing it wrong for some time,” he observed. “That’s the way we have always hired people from the outside.”

“And how is that working out for you?” I asked.

“Ten percent of the time, we get lucky, most of the time we get someone who is okay, and ten percent of the time, we get stung.”

“As you look at your process, who is the first person to touch the resumes on their way to the Hiring Manager?”

“That’s easy,” Tyler replied. “HR.”

“And, you, you’re the Manager Once Removed. You’re the manager of the Hiring Manager. When do you finally see the resumes?”

“Well, right before the Hiring Manager extends the offer, I usually see the last three resumes. Often, I will bring back the strongest candidate for a final interview.”

“And, what would happen, if you turned your system upside down, so you were the first person to review the resumes, to put the slate together, for the Hiring Manager to select from?”

“Now, wait a minute,” Tyler stepped back. “I have enough to do without looking at dozens of resumes.”

“Tyler, what more important thing do you have to do than to focus on building the infrastructure of your team? In fact, the reason you are so busy, is because your hiring process is designed to produce exactly the people you end up with.”