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.

It’s Always Me

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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?”

Painted Into a Corner

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“So, what has to change?” I asked again. The schedule was staring at Miguel. The blank squares were screaming to be filled with someone’s name.

“I know, as the manager, I should be doing other things. But I can’t get to them until I get this schedule done. And no one else can do this schedule,” Miguel fired back.

“And why can’t anyone else do this schedule?”

That was a barn stopper.

Miguel sat back again. “Because.” He stopped. “Because, I haven’t trusted anybody to do it.” He stopped again. “But, if I am going to have a life, and if I am going to run an 18 hour shift with double the headcount, I am going to have to trust someone.”

I let some silence pass. “Look,” I finally said, “I know you have to do the schedule today. Over time, you have painted yourself into a corner. But two weeks from now, someone else needs to be doing that schedule. Who, on your team are you going to trust?”

Not Hiring Another Manager

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Miguel sat back in his chair. “If you’re not going to hire another manager to take over the additional chores, to make sure this place runs the way it’s supposed to, then I have to change some things around here.”

“Miguel, if you had a heart attack (which is the way you are headed, by the way), and the doctor said you could only work two hours per day, and only from your hospital bed, how would you keep this place up and running?”

Miguel almost snorted, stifling a laugh. “There’s no way,” he chided, shaking his head from side to side.

“I know. But if there was a way, how would you do it?”

“Well, first of all, I would have to have eyes and ears in here, watching and monitoring. I would have to get the daily production numbers, to make sure things were okay.” Miguel stopped. He knew this was impossible, but he had started to think.

“And if you had spent your two hours for the day, and your doctor shut off the phone, and there was a problem on the plant floor, what would have to happen?”

“Well, someone would have to make a decision, and the team would have to be trained to handle the most likely problems.”

“So, Miguel. Look down at your desk. What are you working on? Are you working on a person, to help them learn to make decisions? Are you figuring out how to get your team trained to handle a little chaos?”

Miguel looked down at the ballpoint pen, laying across an unfinished work schedule. He looked sad. “No, I can’t get to stuff like that until I get this schedule done.”

Change the Way You Think

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This past week, Management Skills Blog has focused on Delegation Skills. The most powerful leveraged activity, for a manager, is delegation.

Our next Subject Area in Working Leadership Online is Delegation, Leveraging Time Span Capability. There are many reasons managers don’t delegate more effectively. Most are self-imposed limitations created by a poor experience, a parental mindset (if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself), or the fact that most managers don’t have a consistent effective method of delegation and follow-up.

In Delegation, Leveraging Time Span Capability, we will blow those excuses to the wind and introduce a highly effective delegation model. This Subject Area kicks off on May 3, 2010 and lasts for 3 weeks. We are opening 50 Introductory Memberships (free). You can reserve yours now, at the following link, Working Leadership Online Introductory Membership.

Why Are We Doing This?
We know the more participants in the program, the more diverse the feedback will be and the richer the learning environment.

Don’t Miss the Next Subject Area
Delegation, Leveraging Time Span Capability. This powerful model creates new habits, structures accountability and changes the way you think about using delegation.

What Else Do We Know?

  • Our participants have a day job, as a manager.
  • Our participants are really busy.
  • Our participants want to be more effective, now.

This is Real
Working Leadership Online is practical. There are no quizzes or tests. There is no make-work. This is not extra work. The Field Work is real.

At Your Pace
Participants login on their schedule.

Unforgettable
The problem with most training programs is, they stop. After a few classes, it’s over, good luck. Working Leadership Online goes year-round. It changes the way you think about your role as a manager.

How This Works
We reserved a limited number of Introductory Memberships for our friends and family. The only way to guarantee your spot is to follow the link below.

Working Leadership Online Introductory Membership

Here’s Some Feedback
This program is anti-matter to today’s barrage of costly management solutions. The program covered a great deal of critical leadership material that managers can immediately benefit from. -Cathy Darby

Some people live online and I’m not one of them. I’d much rather be in a human presence. Having said that, after Tom’s first response he won me over. His honesty and feedback is invaluable. -Jane Hein

There’s a lot of valuable information in this course that isn’t easily available elsewhere, and the coaching from Tom in addition to accountability for actually carrying out the assignments makes for a solid learning experience. Keep up the good work. The online format makes the course accessible, and makes it easy to put into practice directly in a work environment. -Erik LaBianca

Right Now
Why not take the time, right now, to reserve your Introductory Membership.

Working Leadership Online Introductory Membership

2010 Subject Area Schedule
January 11 – Planning – Your 2010 Business Plan – COMPLETE
February 1 – Goal Setting – The Essence of Time Span – COMPLETE
February 22 – Decision Making – Time Span of Discretion – COMPLETE
March 15 – Managing Time – Managing Yourself – COMPLETE
April 12 – Communication – Mineral Rights Conversation
May 3 – Delegation – Leveraging Time Span Capability
June 1 – Control Systems and Feedback Loops
July 5 -Time Span Inside a Team – Team Problem Solving
August 2 – Coaching – Bringing Value as a Manager
August 30 – Fall Break
September 7 – Coaching Underperformance – Time Span and the Employment Contract
October 4 – Managerial Authorities – Time Span and Accountability
November 1 – Time Span and the Personal Effectiveness Appraisal
November 29 – Bringing Out the Best In People
December 20 – Winter Break

2011 Subject Area Schedule
January 3 – Planning – Your 2011 Business Plan
January 31 – Goal Setting – The Essence of Time Span
February 28 – Decision Making – Time Span of Discretion
March 28 – Spring Break
April 4 – Managing Time – Managing Yourself
May 2 – Communication – Mineral Rights Conversation
June 1 – Delegation – Leveraging Time Span Capability
June 27 – Summer Break
July 5 – Control Systems and Feedback Loops
August 1 – Time Span Inside a Team – Team Problem Solving
September 6 – Coaching – Bringing Value as a Manager
October 3 – Coaching Underperformance – Time Span and the Employment Contract
October 31 – Time Span and the Personal Effectiveness Appraisal
November 28 – Bringing Out the Best in People

Follow this link to get reserve your Introductory Membership. Hope to see you online.

Working Leadership Online Introductory Membership

Longer Process, Double the Headcount

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Miguel was stunned. At some point, he thought I was a nice guy, but now he was not so sure. He was already running a 10 hour staggered shift. We were about to expand to an 18 hour swing shift and expected Miguel to run the whole thing. Welcome to management.

“But I am already working as hard as I can,” Miguel protested. “How can you possibly expect more?”

“I expect more, because you are capable of more,” I replied. Miguel’s face turned blank. He was tired of fighting. He was tired of fighting both shifts, he was tired of fighting me, but mostly he was tired of fighting his own thinking.

“I can’t work this way any longer,” he resigned. “Something has to give. I am already in trouble with my wife. I hardly get to play with my kids. My golf clubs have rust on them.”

“And I want you to manage a longer work process with about double the headcount you have now. What are you going to change?”

Only One Person Responsible

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Miguel looked at me, then back to the schedule on his desk. He put the pen down and let out a sigh.

“But, it’s my responsibility. I feel guilty if I’m not here and something goes wrong.”

“Miguel, you are in charge of this work area, running two shifts on staggered schedules. What if I told you, we were planning to ramp up production in two months, to add another shift to run 18 hours per day? What would you do, then?” Miguel’s eyes got wide. I raised my eyebrows in response. “What are you going to do then?” I repeated.

“Well, I don’t know, you would have to get a different manager for the other shift.”

“Miguel, you are the manager for this work area. Everything that happens here is your responsibility. I will not have another manager so you can blame each other for things going wrong. I want one person to be responsible for the area. That’s you.” I stopped to gauge his reaction.

“Well, how am I going to do that?” Miguel responded.

“That’s what I want to know, how are you going to do that?”

Little Things, Out of Control

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It was 6:30p when I stopped by Miguel’s office. “What’s up?” I asked.

Miguel picked his eyes up, off the paper, holding his place on the schedule with a ballpoint pen. “Just going over tomorrow. It’s going to be another big day. Three special orders to get out the door.”

“Where is everyone, why are you still here?”

“Oh, we shut down at 4:30p. My crew is up with the chickens, tomorrow we start at 6:30a. I run a staggered shift. The first guys get the day started, then we’re full strength by 7:30a. The first wave is off by 3:30p, while the second wave picks up the pieces for the day.”

“Why are you still here?” I repeated.

“Well, there is just a bunch of little things that have to be done each day. We are sort of out of control, huh? This won’t last forever. My schedule is getting better.”

“How long have you felt out of control?”

“Gosh, ever since I became the supervisor, I guess. But it’s going to get better, soon.” Miguel looked optimistic.

I didn’t believe him.

The Just Reward

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“I know I need to delegate more often,” Sharon explained. “But, it just takes that little bit of extra time that I never seem to have. It’s just easier to do it myself.”

“How many hours do you put in each day?” I asked.

“Well, ever since I became a manager, probably ten or eleven. It seems the harder I work, the more work there is to get done.”

“Sharon, do you know the reward for long hours of hard work?” I could see she was going over the obvious answers, dismissing them one at a time. In the end, she had no answer.

“You’re right,” she said, “at this point in my career, I don’t need another plaque to put on the wall. I don’t need to be Employee of the Month, again.”

“The just reward for long hours of hard work is more long hours of hard work.” I stopped. “Is that why you are working so hard?”

Sharon stared, first at me, then the wall behind me, then I think her stare began to burrow into her brain.

“Unless your intention is to work even harder and for longer hours, you have to begin to work differently.”

Don’t Invite an Argument

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“I tell them what to do and all they do is argue,” complained Cheryl.

“How does that sound?” I asked. “Pretend I am running the line. What mistake could I make that needs correction?”

“They always forget to inspect incoming materials for quality. They just dump the parts in the bin. This company hired me to prevent quality errors. It starts by inspecting the incoming plastic parts,” Cheryl explained.

“So, I take a box of incoming plastic parts and I dump them into the bin for assembly, but I don’t check them for quality, first?”

“Exactly,” said Cheryl. “You can’t do that. I personally inspected all the incoming parts from yesterday and now you have them all mixed up. What were you thinking? You will have to pull all the parts out of the bin and re-inspect every one. We have a 20 percent failure rate on finished goods and it’s all your fault.”

“What kind of response do you get?” I queried.

“Oh, they say they never had to inspect parts before I came along, or that they didn’t make the damn parts so it’s not their fault. I can’t seem to get them to take responsibility. They sound like little kids. –I didn’t do it, not my fault.-”

“So, if they sound like little kids, what do you sound like?”

“What do you mean?” Cheryl became quietly curious.

“If they sound like children, do you sound like a parent?”

Cheryl stopped cold. She was ticking the conversation back in her head. “My goodness, I sound like my mother.”

“And when you sound like a critical parent, what kind of response do you invite?” I asked.

“When I sound like a critical parent, I invite them to argue with me?” Cheryl’s question sounded more like an answer.

“So, we have to figure out a way to correct the behavior without inviting an argument.”

Curiousity Doesn’t Kill the Cat

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Cheryl was determined to turn things around with her team. She was hired as a troubleshooter in Quality Control, but finding the problem and fixing the problem are two different things.

“So today, you said you were going to listen?” I asked.

Cheryl nodded “Yes.”

“What position will you be listening from?”

The question caught Cheryl off-guard. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“The way we see the world is often influenced by our position. In fact, you have listened to your team before, but you were listening from a position of judgment, so you didn’t hear what they had to say.” I stopped to let that sink in. “What position will you be listening from today?” I repeated.

“I guess I will try to understand their point of view.”

“Not bad, but not aggressive enough to be effective. What position do you want to be listening from?”

Cheryl was stumped. “Curiosity?” she finally blurted out.

I nodded. “So, when you sit in your meeting today, you will be listening from the position of a curious child?”

Cheryl smiled.

“And curious children always have a lot more fun than stuffy old Quality Control managers,” I said. “And curious children often invent interesting ways to solve problems.”