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.

Visual Insights to Make Your Moves

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“Okay,” Roger continued. “I have seventeen salespeople and I charted each one. First, I made a judgment, based on my expectations in the role, and taking into account all the factors I know they are up against in the market, observing their behavior, watching their habits, getting feedback from the people they encounter. The judgment was simple. I judged whether they were as effective as someone in the top half of the role or the bottom half, and then in that half, whether they were in the top, middle or bottom.”

“I see you drew a picture,” I nodded. “Horizontal lines across the page, representing the six bands of effectiveness, and then a small circle for each of your salespeople.”

“Visually, it makes it easy to see the difference in effectiveness,” Roger explained. “And yet, there is enough detail to cover the nuances. Six grades of effectiveness is enough to let me see my sales team as a whole, where I have strength and where I have weakness.”

“As a manager, does this analysis give you insights on what moves to make?”

Six Bands of Effectiveness

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“How do you tell?” Roger asked. “When we had to make decisions to lay people off, gosh, eighteen months ago, we thought we were choosing to keep our best people. Maybe, it’s just harder now. But some of the people we kept are not making the grade.”

“How do you explain their underperformance?” I pressed.

“Bottom line, I think they were successful, before, because things were easy. We made sales because people called us. No one had to knock on doors, ask for appointments, do needs analysis. My salespeople are clamoring for more leads, but they squander the leads we give them.”

“So, when you look at your team, how do you rate their effectiveness?”

“You mean, on a scale from 1-10, or A-B-C?”

“Think about it this way. Given what you expect in their role, are they operating as well as someone in the top half of the role or the bottom half of the role?”

“Well, each person is different,” Roger replied.

“Good. So, you can make that judgment for each of your salespeople?”

“Yes, absolutely. When you put it like that, it’s easy to see.”

“And then, in that half, are they as effective as someone in the top, middle or bottom of that half?”

“Again,” Roger was thinking. “I could do that for each salesperson.”

“So, you could make a judgment, as a manager, for the top half or bottom half, and then in that half, the top, middle or bottom. That creates six bands of effectiveness related to your salespeople.”

Your Customer Doesn’t Buy Your Product

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Find a market need big enough.
Build a product or service to meet it.
Then produce it faster, better and cheaper than your competitor.

This is my mantra for this L-shaped recovery. And you will never fight your way out, of your current dilemma, with the same thinking that got you where you are now. Yes, it’s a recovery, just not a robust recovery.

One of my favorite thinkers is Victor Cheng. Read more about Re-Inventing Your Products.

Missing a Deadline – the Difference Between an Excuse and a Reason

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“He always has an excuse,” Rachel continued. “Every time I attempt to hold him accountable, whether it is to meet a deadline or turn in the work complete, he always has an excuse. Sometimes, I think he spends more time creating the excuse than completing the project.”

“Which excuses are the ones that you believe?” I ask.

“What do you mean. Sometimes they are excuses, sometimes they are reasons.”

“So, there is a difference between an excuse and a reason?”

“Well, sometimes there are circumstances beyond his control. Sometimes there are very real reasons for missing a deadline.”

“And those are the one you believe?”

“That’s not the point,” Rachel pushed back. “The question is, how can I hold someone accountable who ALWAYS has a legitimate reason for failure?”

“Rachel, the excuse you accept as a reason, is the one that you believe in the most. The more you, as a manager, believe in the excuse, the more it becomes a legitimate reason. It’s a puddle YOU jumped in off the high diving board. Does it matter whether its an excuse or a legitimate reason? You are still in the same place, with a missed deadline. At that point, what really matters, certainly not the excuse?”

“What matters is getting the project finished,” she flatly stated. “I need to know what the next action is, to get the project finished.”

“Then, if you are listening to excuses, or reasons for failure, you are listening for the wrong thing. You are asking the wrong question. If I tell you a project will be late, do you care why?”

“No, I want to know what it will take to deliver the project on time, in spite of the reason.”

“That’s a much better question. So, get off the high diving board. Don’t ask WHY? Ask, what’s your next action.”

How Surprise Impacts Trust

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“What do you mean – No surprises?” Rachel quizzed. “My team member must know that this conversation is coming. Everyone is constantly correcting his mistakes, making him do re-work.”

“So, you want to keep him guessing? You see, surprise works both ways. As his manager, you are surprised when he underperforms, fails to meet a deadline or turns in work with mistakes. What happens to your trust, when you, as a manager, are Surprised?”

“The trust level goes down,” Rachel replied. “It’s at the point now, where there is almost no trust at all.”

“So, as the manager, you are surprised when your team member fails to meet a deadline, and your team member is going to be surprised when you have an accountability conversation with him?”

Rachel nodded, silently, her eyes darting back in her brain. Finally, she spoke. “And we don’t trust each other. So, how do I prevent surprises when I go into this accountability conversation?”

“Pretty simple, really. No surprises, no ambushes. When you schedule the conversation, tell him the subject of the conversation will be about his current performance on the Phoenix project and the improvements we need going forward.”

The blood was draining from Rachel’s face. The truth does that, sometimes.

Three Groundrules for the Accountability Conversation

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“I’m not looking forward to this conversation,” Rachel confided. “I have been dreading this for weeks.”

“So, you have been putting this off?” I answered (with a question).

She nodded. “I hate dealing with misbehavior. I would prefer to drop a few hints and hope they get the message.”

“So, hope is your strategy?”

Rachel chuckled, in pain. “I want to do this right. This conversation is treacherous. As the manager, if I screw this up, it could make matters worse.”

“How about three ground-rules?” I asked.

“Okay, I’m all in,” she replied.

“Now, if your purpose is to simply fire someone, cut them off at the knees, you don’t need this. But if your objective is for the team member to correct the behavior, put the performance back on track, then start here.

Three Groundrules credit to Pat Murray

  • No surprises
  • Re-visit the deal
  • Be slow to understand

No Surprises
The purpose of this conversation is to re-place the team member on stable ground so that corrective adjustments can be built. People have difficulty coping when the rug has been pulled from underneath.

Revisit the Deal
There was always a deal. Sometimes people forget the deal and that’s why their behavior gets out of whack.

Be Slow to Understand
Managers often jump to conclusions without the facts, trying to solve the problem before they understand the problem. Be slow to understand.

The next Subject Area in our Working Leadership Online program is Coaching Underperformance – Time Span and the Employee Contract. We have a few open slots available if you would like a Free Introductory Membership. We kick off on September 7. Wait, that’s today!

Why Do People Work?

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Next Monday is Labor Day in the US. And I wonder, why do people work? Elliott Jaques is very specific in his response.

“People want work in which they can have the opportunity to exercise their full potential capability, to spread their wings widely, to receive a fair compensation for that work and to be recognized and understood as not needing artificial carrot and stick treatment on order to get on with that work.

By work, I mean an organism’s use of judgment in making the decisions necessary to reach a goal. Goal directed work is a basic feature of all life.

All humans need to do work that not only benefits oneself, but is, at the same time, of value to others.

It may be noted that, not only do millions gain work opportunities by becoming engaged in employment, but need something on the order of 40 hours per week of such engagement. That is what explains the fact that the employment work week, which came down to 40 hours during the first half of the twentieth century, has gone no lower. Any smaller number of hours is not sufficiently fulfilling. Indeed, people who work on their own, routinely spend many more than 40 hours per week.”

Elliott Jaques – Social Power and the CEO

Undercurrents Will Surface

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“The economic news is disturbing,” Morgan explained.

I nodded in agreement. “So, what are the actual impacts to your business and your market? The world is not ending, it is shifting. You think you are dancing on bullets. You have to find the rhythm in the dance.”

“I know, I know,” Morgan shook his head. “But, this recession has lasted so long. My people are tired. My customers are tired.”

“Then stop whining and figure it out. Get rid of the long face. Search for your advantage. Your competitors are suffering, just like you. In this market, in the midst of this chaos, there is opportunity. New undercurrents will surface. Are you watching them?”

The Peter Principle

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
When I hear about the concept of Time Span, I am reminded about the Peter Principle. Any connection?

Response:
This is an easy one. The book The Peter Principle is an amusing description of Time Span Capability and what happens to someone when we have mis-match in a role. I have written more about that at the following link.

The Peter Principle

Let me know if you have more questions.