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.

Letter from China

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
I’m from China and manager of our sales department. The global financial crisis is hitting everyone in the world and China is not an exception. Among my staff, some people fear being laid off with little enthusiasm to work while others are even more negative about the future.

My question is how we can motivate people and how to relieve them from their worries, and rebuild hope for the future, though no one can predict what will happen.

Response:
The value most often cited for effective leadership is honesty. We seek leaders with integrity. These should be your guiding lights.

Unfortunately, you may not know what the honest answer is, so your response may sound hollow. When, in fact, you may not know what the future holds for your team or for your company.

What do we know? We know that this economic crisis will pass and that the world will get along. Life, goes on. In this case, not quickly. My advisors (Ecotrends.org) tell us not to look for relief until the summer of 2010, and even then, we may only see the first signs of spring.

That means things are going to be tough and uncertain.

In all of this however, there will still be opportunity. And that opportunity will only come to those organizations that are aggressive in finding and capitalizing on those opportunities. Even if the world’s economy is reduced by 40 percent, there is still 60 percent left. The question, for your team, is which group they want to be in, the 40 percent or the 60 percent. It is really a choice.

Time for Family and Friends

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Today caught up with me. Running hard, just like you.

It has been a wild year, but then we knew it would turn out this way. Maybe we didn’t believe it, in our hearts until the past couple of months, but we knew it would turn out this way. We worked hard to prepare, get our balance sheets in order, wean off debt, and say goodbye to some of our favorite people. It was those last goodbyes that were the most difficult, those we hoped we could keep, but couldn’t after all.

And some companies are still growing, traditionally counter cyclical to economic circumstances. This will still be a time of change.

Some of what we know will no longer be valid. Some solutions will no longer fit the new problems. It will require our brightest mind and sharpest execution. And it will always come down to this.

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

To help, we have created a new management program called Working Leadership Online. It will start at the end of January. You can find out more about by following this link.

But, now it is time to rest and enjoy the holidays with family and friends. Management Skills Blog will return on January 5, 2009. And now this story, first published here in 2005.
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As Matthew looked across the manufacturing floor, the machines stood silent, the shipping dock was clear. Outside, the service vans were neatly parked in a row. Though he was the solitary figure, Matthew shouted across the empty space.

“Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night.”

He reached for the switch and the mercury vapors went dark. He slid out the door and locked it behind.

Work Expands

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“The point of the vacation exercise is not to pretend that every week is the week before vacation, but to look at the difference between that week and any other week,” I explained.

“That’s good news, because if I worked as hard every week as I do the week before vacation, I would go nuts. It’s bad enough the way it is. Almost makes going on vacation not worth the all the trouble,” Marissa replied.

“So, what is different about that week from any other week,” I asked.

“Well, I have to get more stuff done, so I just do whatever it takes. Some days I work longer, but mostly I prioritize and delegate. And you are right, some things simply become unimportant, so they don’t get done at all.”

“So, you have just learned about Parkinson’s Law. Work expands (or contracts) to the time allotted.”
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Working Leadership Online kicks off with Open Registration on January 26. Pre-register now to receive a $50 credit. www.workingleadership.com

Some Things Don’t Get Done

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“Have you ever noticed that the week before you go on vacation is the week from hell?” I asked.

Marissa nodded.

“Why is it the week from hell?”

“There is always so much to do that I can never get it all done.”

“Think about what else is different about that week,” I prodded.

Marissa smiled, “That’s the one week that I actually sit down and plan everything out. I delegate all kinds of things that I never delegate, and there are some things that I know that just won’t get done. That’s the hardest part.”

“Do those things ever get done, like when you come back?”

“Now, that I think about, no. Those things never get done. The only things that get done are the really important things,” she replied.

“Those things that are necessary.”

Only Necessary

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“To figure out what to eliminate, you have to figure out what is necessary,” I continued.

“That’s going to be tough. Just because our headcount is lower doesn’t mean that we can relax our standards. Everything still has to get done,” Marissa resisted.

“Everything?” I nudged.

It had not occurred to Marissa to examine the things in a typical workday to determine what is truly necessary.

“I suppose, we could,” Marissa stopped. Deciding necessity was more difficult than she thought. She was used to the routine, and eliminating unnecessary steps was throwing her off-balance.

“Marissa, I want you to try this. The project we talked about at the Monday meeting, you said, would take a week to complete. I want that project completed and emailed to me by this Wednesday instead.”

“No way,” she protested. “Impossible.”

“Yes, possible. And what’s more, if you are forced to complete the project by Wednesday, I guarantee, you will drop out everything that is not necessary. This is more than just an exercise, this a new way of looking at productivity.”

Work Harder, Not Smarter

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“My team is now down to three people,” Marissa explained. ” I hope that was my last reduction in force. I don’t know how we are going to get everything done.”

“How are you going to get everything done?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I guess we will just have to work harder.”

“Work harder, not smarter, that’s the ticket,” I replied.

Marissa smiled and nodded. “You are right, our work volume is down. But when you lose people, there are some things you still have to do.”

“Do you? How are you going to get everything done?”

“I guess there are some things we are NOT going to do.”

“The first step to higher productivity is to eliminate things that are not necessary. How are you going to make that decision?”

What Should Be Rejected?

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As of right now, the Big 3 bailout bill is stalled. It appeared for a moment yesterday that it might make it. World markets are reacting to this delay.

As we work our way through this recession, will some fundamentals about the auto industry be significantly different in another 18 months? Here is the biggest question. Will there be some fundamental changes in your industry, in your market during the next 18 months?

Your biggest challenge is not to get small and hunker down. Your biggest challenge will be to understand how your company will be significantly different. The decisions you make, will be different.

The world is looking at itself. It is looking at its largest industries and asking this question. Is the way these companies are organized to do business, something that should be preserved or something that should be rejected, to make way for something new?

How will you make those decisions for yourself? How is your company organized to do business? What should be preserved? What should be rejected to make way for something new?

Working Leadership Online is not another old, tired leadership program. Working Leadership Online is about you, leading in this new world. It starts in January with our first project assignment on February 2, 2009. To find out more, visit www.workingleadership.com.

Your Market Won’t Allow It

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In the past few months, you made decisions you never thought you would make. And, you will have more problems to solve and more decisions to make. We are closer to the beginning of this recession than we are to the end.

This will be the test for management. Yet, I am calm about the decisions you will make. The market will not allow you to make bad decisions. There will be quick and irreversible punishment for bad decisions. Those who make bad decisions will not be around to tell their story.

But, the worst of your decisions are not made when times are bad. The worst of your decisions are made when times are good. It’s just that now, you may have to pay for those bad decisions.

Yesterday, we announced a new online program specifically designed to help management get through the next two years, to create a foundation to take advantage of the recovery (summer of 2010). This program will help managers solve problems and make decisions about your organization. The first project field work will be assigned February 2. If you want more information about this program, or how it works, you can follow this link, www.workingleadership.com, or email me directly.

Keep Your Wits About You

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I want to step out from behind the story for a couple of days here.

We have been preparing for this recession for the past two years. You knew this in your head, but now the pain is real. This pain can turn a room full of reasonably intelligent people into a group of blithering idiots, watching television, shaking their heads, and wondering what to do next.

We can react, like pulling away from a hot stove. Or we can imagine a sequence of cause and effect. Some right moves are completely counter-intuitive.

If you can keep your wits about you while all others are losing theirs, and blaming you. . . . The world will be yours and everything in it. –Kipling.

We have been working hard to create a learning platform to help managers keep their wits about them. This online program begins in earnest February 2, 2009.

We will explain more over the next couple of days. If you want to know more now, or if you would like to pre-register, you can visit www.workingleadership.com.

Trial and Error?

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“I don’t like to think about it,” Roselle explained, “but I keep thinking that maybe I’m the next one to get a pink slip.”

“I know, in these times, it is tempting for a company to save overhead costs, to lop off heavier management salaries. And some companies have no other choice,” I replied. “But in times like these, we will see more volatile change than normal, and there will be more management decisions to make in response to that change. Management decisions cannot be made without a manager.”

“I don’t know about that. I have seen some boneheaded people making decisions in my day.”

“Of course you have. Sometimes we leave the wrong decisions to the wrong people. Some people make decisions through trial and error (in front of the customer). Some people are able to tap into their experience, or the experience of other people to see if we have ever solved that problem before. But I have to tell you, some problems you see today, have NOT been solved before. Those problems will require analysis, to get to the root cause before a decision can be made. It is those problems and those decisions which require a competent manager.”