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.

Value From the Outside

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Greetings from Albuquerque, NM. I am here through Friday with Karen King, a Vistage Chair, working with her groups on the research of Elliott Jaques.
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“It’s not industry experience,” Joan shook her head. ” I’ve been here only eight months, a newcomer to this industry. My problem team member has twelve years experience on me.”

“So, what was it the prompted the company to bring you in, as her manager?” I asked.

“I suppose they didn’t want to lose a valuable producer, moving her into management,” Joan guessed.

“Let me ask you, after twelve years, as a producer for this company, do you think there are any techniques she doesn’t know?”

Joan was looking for the trick in the question. “No, she knows the process cold, great relationships with our customers.”

“Then what value do you bring to her work?” I prodded. “Because that is why this company brought you in from the outside. And it is this value that will earn the respect.”

An Intentional Decision

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“Why did the company bring you in from the outside, instead of promoting a 12 year veteran?” I asked. “The two of you are about the same age. And she has more years of specific experience.”

Joan thought for a minute. “You are right. She has more experience, in doing the work, but I don’t think they brought me in to do more work.”

“So, why do you think they brought you into the company? What do you bring to the table, that is different? And what is so different about your role, that they would pass over someone on the inside?”

“I don’t know,” Joan shook her head. “And this was never discussed during the interview process. But it was definitely an intentional decision.”

Does Respect Come With the Territory?

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“Easy to say, difficult to do. Bringing value,” I repeated.

“Not sure what you mean. I think it is a respect issue,” Joan replied. “You think I can gain respect by bringing value. What does that mean?”

“Look, you are new here. You have been with the company since November and her manager for only two months, she has been here for twelve years. She knows her job, what does she need you for? Why would she go to one of your silly meetings, anyway?”

“My meetings are not silly, they’re important,” she protested.

“The meetings are silly to her, until you prove otherwise. Even acknowledging you in the hallway is silly to her, until you prove otherwise, until you earn her respect.”

“But, I was hired in to be her manager, some respect should come with the territory. I know she wanted my job, but the company hired me instead.”

Bringing Value

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“She ignores me, like I am not even there,” Joan complained, “and I am her boss.” Joan joined the company as a manager nine months ago. One of her direct reports was a 12 year veteran with the company.

“What is going on?” I asked.

“I call a meeting of my staff, she doesn’t show. I walk past her in the hallway and she doesn’t acknowledge me. She is focus forward. I have seen personality conflicts before, but this one takes the cake.”

“How do you think you will gain her respect?”

Joan shook her head. “I just want her to be nice. At this point, I have about given up on respect.”

I waited for the pity party to settle.

“It is really very simple,” I replied. “All you have to do is bring value to her thinking and her work. Stimulate her thinking. Help her improve to the next level. You cannot gain respect by giving directives or demanding that she be a nice person. You can only gain respect by bringing value.”

Easy to say, difficult to do. On July 6, we will begin our Coaching Series in Working Leadership Online. Here are the topics.

  • Jul 6 – Coaching – Bringing Value as a Manager
  • Jul 27 – Coaching Underperformance – Time Span and the Employment Contract
  • Aug 17 – Coaching High Performance – Time Span and Highest Capability

Stay tuned next week for a special offer for this series.

Pivot Point

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I just spent the past three days with Phillip Davis of Pure Tungsten talking about branding and marketing issues. I find it interesting that marketing and branding is less about the media channels that you use and more about who you are (as an individual, as an organization).

He talked about the pivot point. The pivot point is not about your product or service, but the essence of what your customer wants from you. If you can discover that essence, you can pivot around that point to provide more effective and different products and services.

What is your pivot point?

And I thought about what our pivot point is. It’s not the blog. It’s not our websites, our Working Leadership program. It is the internal conversations that we all have (with ourselves) about what it means to be a manager.

And when we remember the things that are important, it is never about a special day, but only the slices of moments when we are especially lucid. I think that is our pivot point. The moment of those internal conversations that bring meaning to what we do as managers.

I am curious about your thoughts.

Effectiveness

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“Not if you look closer,” I insisted. “Andre does make decisions, and that is what you are unhappy about. Right now, you don’t see those decisions, and that’s why you have trouble talking to him about his performance. The discretionary part of every job is where effectiveness lives.”

“But Andre is a machine operator. I don’t see what decisions he makes,” Ruben explained.

“When you can see his decisions, you can help him. And you can help him.” I stopped to see Ruben mentally catch up. “When Andre comes on shift, does he make a decision about how much raw material to pull from the rack?”

“Well, yes, but he has a list of what he has to produce for the day, so I don’t see where the decision is,” Ruben resisted.

“Does he pull all the material for the day, or does he only pull part of the material?”

Ruben rolled his eyes, “I don’t know, what does it matter?”

“You don’t know the answer to that question, because that is a decision that Andre has to make. That is part of his discretion. And it has an impact on his productivity. If he has ten units to produce and he only pulls eight sheets, he will have to make another trip with the forklift. And when he makes the extra trip, he has to shut his machine down.

“Or if he has ten units to make and he pulls twelve sheets, then he has to put two sheets back in the rack. And how easy is it to scratch those sheets as they are handled? The decision he makes has an impact on machine time and scrap.

“Andre is effective, not because he shows up on time and wears his safety equipment (he has to do that) but by the decisions he makes. Effectiveness comes from the discretionary part of his role.”

Andre Doesn’t Make Decisions

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“Showing up on time, following procedures and completing assignments are the prescribed duties,” I said. “If Andre can’t deliver those, he can’t be on the team.”

Ruben nodded his head.

“But meeting the prescribed tasks, does not mean he is doing a great job, or even a good job,” I continued. “So let’s talk about the discretionary part of his job, which is the real work.”

“The discretionary part?” Ruben looked puzzled.

I nodded. “The discretionary part. Look, Ruben, what is work?”

“What kind of question is that?” he replied.

“It’s a very important question. You could say that work is showing up on time, following procedures and completing assignments, but that would lead us down the wrong path.” Ruben stared at me, not blinking. “Being effective has to do with the discretionary part of your job.”

“I’m not sure I understand the discretionary part.”

“Discretion has to do with the decisions that Andre has to make.”

“But Andre doesn’t make decisions, he just has to do his job,” Ruben gently replied.

Prescribed Duties

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“He meets the minimum standard, but he is still doing a lousy job?” I repeat.

“Yes, and the frustrating part is, I can’t explain it to him,” Ruben shook his head. “He always comes back and says he is doing the job exactly as I say. And he is, but he is still doing a lousy job.”

“Let’s look at some really obvious stuff,” I started. “I am going to describe some things that are absolutely required, let’s call them the prescribed parts of the job, some really obvious things.

  • Andre has to be at his work station, ready to go at 8:00a each day.
  • He has to wear the proper safety equipment.
  • He has to follow safety standards around the machines and tools.
  • He has to produce the number of units assigned during each week’s production run.

“Well, yes, okay, he does that stuff,” Ruben responded.

“There are some other things, but these are easy to see and you can’t argue with them. If he didn’t show up at 8:00a, and if he didn’t wear his safety equipment, follow procedures and make his production assignments, he couldn’t be on the team?”

“Okay, I’m with you so far.

Minimum Standard

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“I am in a bit of a bind,” Ruben explained. “One of my team members, Andre, is just not being effective. But I can’t explain why. And every time I speak to him about it, my words get twisted.”

“How so,” I asked.

“He is doing the job, just not very well. We talk together about what I expect, and he is doing everything I say. But when I really ask myself, is he is being effective, I have to say –no.”

“But Andre is doing exactly what the job requires?” I press.

“Yes, he is doing exactly what the job requires. It’s like, he meets the minimum standard, but he is still doing a lousy job.”

Four Requirements

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“So, I am accountable for the output of my team, the results. Please tell me what is in the contract. What is each team member responsible for?” Sheila asked.

“With accountability for results clearly fixed with the manager, here is what we need from each member,” I replied. “Here is the contract:

“Each team member is required

  • To do their best.
  • To report to their manager ASAP whenever they see that the project will not meet the results outlined by the manager (behind schedule or failing a quality standard), so that appropriate action can be taken by the manager.
  • To report to their manager ASAP whenever they see that the project will exceed the results outlined by the manager (ahead of schedule or exceeding a quality standard), so that appropriate action can be taken by the manager.
  • To report to their manager whenever circumstances (personal or business) prevent them from doing their best, so that appropriate action can be taken by the manager.

“Sheila, with you, as the manager, assuming accountability for the results of your team and with this contract in place, everything changes.”