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.

Depending on You

“Changes?”

“Yes, changes,” I replied. “Have a meeting and simply ask, what has changed?”

Roselle started to speak, then stopped.

“Why is it important to talk about Change?” I asked.

Roselle laughed. “Because without change, they could come to work and do the same thing they did yesterday.”

“And without change,” I continued her sentence, “if they could come to work and do the same thing they did yesterday, they would not need a manager.”

That hit close to home. Roselle got quiet again.

“Look, Roselle, now more than ever, your company depends on its managers to get through this thing. Your company is depending on you. Your company is depending on you being effective.”

Time Span Appropriate

Ruben was stumped. “You are right. Just because we give Edmund a new title, doesn’t mean he is going to change his ways.”

“Edmund will always be Edmund, and we have to redefine his role. It’s not a matter of giving him new rules not to do this or not to do that. You have already tried that in his role as supervisor. As Lead Technician, what will be his new goals? How will you re-direct him?”

“It sounds obvious,” Ruben replied. “It starts with his job description.”

I nodded affirmative. “This is critical fundamental stuff. It’s the stuff you ignore because it sounds so simple. It’s the stuff you ignore that gets you in trouble. Stuff like setting goals, performance standards and holding people accountable for performance.”

“I think I have a job description around here that might work,” Ruben hoped.

“Why don’t you start from scratch. As the manager, you have time span goals of approximately one year. Your annual plan has stuff in it that you are held accountable to deliver this year, and next year. If you had a supervisor, which Edmund isn’t, you would drive some of those goals down to that level, in time span appropriate chunks. For the time being, you are going to have to step into that role, review those supervisor outputs and determine the time span appropriate goals for your new Lead Technician.”

Ruben was quiet.

“Look, do you want to lose Edmund?” I asked.

“No way,” Ruben replied. “He’s a great technician.”

“Then you have some management work to do.”

Just Because He Has a New Title?

“Our system creates predictability,” Ruben explained. “It creates predictability without stress. It allows us to do our maintenance at the best times, allows us to properly inspect our raw materials, test our setups accurately. Everything runs.”

“What are you going to do with Edmund?” I asked.

“He should never have been promoted to supervisor. He is a great technician, a great operator, our go-to guy. We don’t want to lose Edmund, but he cannot continue as supervisor.”

“What are you going to do with Edmund?” I repeated.

“I am going to assign him to a new role called Lead Technician. He won’t like it, but right now, he won’t quit. The job market is too thin.”

“How are you going to keep him from screwing things up, just because he has a new title?”

Not a Hero

“So, in your mind, Edmund is not a hero?” I prodded.

Ruben shook his head. “No, and what’s maddening is that Edmund, as a supervisor, keeps describing his behavior as results oriented. It’s all about the results, he says. So, maybe he delivers, but there are body bags all over the place.”

“So, notwithstanding the results, how would you describe his effectiveness, as a supervisor? Thumbs up? Or thumbs down?”

Ruben laughed. “You know, that’s it. Effectiveness. If I can judge his effectiveness, it’s thumbs down. A supervisor is not effective when he ignores the metrics, skips steps in the process, then works overtime to save the day when the system breaks down.”

Proud of the Chaos

“How do you involve Edmund in the decision making about solving the problem?” I asked.

“As soon as we have the project specs,” Ruben explained, “when we know the outputs and the deadlines, we call a meeting. Edmund is the supervisor, so once we get into production, he is the one to call the shots. So, he is there, at the meeting. He sees all the elements we see, he just cannot connect them together.”

“And?”

“We have developed a very thorough system that identifies the constraints and keeps them productive. The metrics are easy to follow and the system makes our throughput very predictable. But Edmund fights the system, ignores the system and almost weekly causes a production snafu that could have been prevented.”

“How does he explain the snafu?”

“Usually he manages to jump in and pull the project out of the fire, but not without some overtime and not without putting the project in jeopardy. It’s almost like he is proud of the chaos and being the hero.”

Resistant

“He resists everything,” Ruben explained. “We cover the same solutions to the same problems. At the time, Edmund finally agrees, but I sense, he agrees only because he can’t argue the logic. He goes along with the solution, but two weeks later, the same problem pops up and we start all over again.”

“So, you have to step in and it takes up your time?” I asked.

“Worse than that. It’s almost underhanded. Behind the scenes, it’s like he wants the solution to fail. He doesn’t openly sabotage the new method, and I haven’t caught him bad-mouthing the process. Sometimes, it’s just the way he rolls his eyes in the meeting.”

Give Thanks

“And what do you say, to those who remain?”

“Be kind,” Lydia replied. “For those who remain, be kind. Be kind to those who have to leave. Be kind to those around you.

“Be grateful,” she continued. “Give thanks.”
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Tomorrow, the US celebrates the holiday of Thanksgiving. The holiday commemorates a meal of the harvest. Its origin may have been a meal in 1565 in St. Augustine Florida, or another in 1621, Plymouth Plantation. It is a time when families and friends come together to celebrate and give thanks for the world we live in.

Management Skills Blog will return next Monday, December 1, 2008.

Respect

“It still feels bad,” Lydia explained. “We spent the past ten years building this team, and now, we have to take it apart. I feel bad when I have to tell people they have lost their jobs. I feel bad for the organization. All of our hard work, our capacity, our competence, our place in the market, we have to dismantle.”

“And?” I asked.

“And we have to keep on. At the end of the day, life goes on,” Lydia admitted.

“What do say to those, you have to disconnect?”

“There is nothing to say. There are no words. I can only give them respect. They have a difficult journey ahead, and they face it alone.”

“And what do you say, to those who remain?”

Never When You Need It

Lydia remembered a year ago. “We brought in our Balance Sheets,” she described. “I used to spend time poring over my Income Statement, so understanding the Balance Sheet, I mean, really paying attention to the Balance Sheet, was new to me.”

“Why did we do that?” I asked.

“You said that we could still make a profit and go out of business. That, making a profit was important, but elements on the Balance Sheet could be fatal.”

“So, what did we focus on?”

“Liquidity. Liquidity. Liquidity,” Lydia recited. “Cash, cash flow, accounts receivable, credit.”

“And why did we start working on this two years ago?” I reminded her.

“You said if we got to where we are, now, and needed a Line of Credit, the bank would not give us one. Because banks never give you credit when you need it, they only give you credit when you don’t need it.”

Preparation is Over

“How will you decide?” I asked. “How will you select the person who has to go?”

Lydia shook her head. “I need them all. I put a hiring freeze in January, and we’ve had some normal attrition. But at this point, if another has to go, we lose capacity. If things continue, we lose functionality.”

“How will you decide?” I repeated. “How will you continue? And here is a challenge. How will you work with a smaller team and not lose capacity?”

Lydia smiled, “Have my cake and eat it, too?”

“Face it, Lydia. This is going to be a long contraction in the business landscape. We have been preparing for two years, and now, it’s here,” I reminded her.

“You are right. This is not a bump in the road,” she admitted. “I know we have to be prepared for an extended downturn.”

“What did we work on first?” I asked.