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.

Goals Don’t Stay the Same

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Krista had a sheepish look on her face when I asked to see her list of goals for the next three months.

“I don’t really have a list,” she said. “I mean, I know what I am supposed to do. I keep it in my head.”

“Then how do you organize your list, if you don’t have it written down? How do you share your goals with other people? How do you change and update them? Most importantly, how do you make decisions about goals?”

“Well, when I started this job, my manager explained things to me. I had a job description and I signed off on it. Is that what you mean?”

“How long ago was that?” I asked.

“About two and half years ago,” she replied.

“Your customers have changed, your market has changed, technology has changed, regulations in your industry have changed, your team has changed. Do mean that your goals have NOT changed in two and half years?”
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No Unimportant Goal

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“I think I need some tips on Time Management,” explained Krista. “I mean, I know I have to set priorities and stuff, but sometimes the day just gets out of hand. I keep my team busy, but you know what they say. The harder we work the behinder we get.”

“How do you make decisions on what to do next, or what to leave behind, what to make faster and what to double-check?” I asked.

“I don’t know. It seems like any ball we drop comes back to haunt us.”

“Indeed,” I replied. “In the grand scheme, it all has to get done. No goal can be cast aside.

“So, how do you decide?” Krista insisted.

“Let me see your list of goals for the next three months. You are a manager. You certainly have a list?” -TF
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This program is anti-matter to today’s barage of costly management solutions. The program covered a great deal of critical leadership material that managers can immediately benefit from. -Cathy Darby

Working Leadership Online. Register Now.
Feb 2 – Goal Setting and Time Span (2 weeks)
Feb 16 – Delegation (2 weeks)
Mar 2 – Planning (2 weeks)
Mar 16 – Decision Making (2 weeks)
Mar 30 – Control Systems and Feedback Loops (2 weeks)
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Some Goals Are Noble

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I want to step outside the stories for a couple of days and talk about a few things we are doing here. Management Skills Blog is in its fifth year with more than 1000 posts talking about issues faced by managers.

Over the years we have been working on an interactive platform that kicks off today. Those of you from my workshops know about the research of Elliott Jaques. His concepts of Requisite Organization will be the cornerstone of this new platform. Today, a group jumps in with both feet.

We start with Goals. Everything we do, as a person, is goal directed behavior. Our daily lives are filled with “what by whens.” Sometimes we are aware of our goals, sometimes our goals are so routine that we don’t even notice. Yet our days are full of goals.

Some goals are noble, some not so noble. Some goals are driven by needs, some driven by desire, some driven by avoidance.

And there are times, plenty of times, when we are most definitely aware of our goals. We think about them, share them with others, change them, write them down and achieve them. Everything we do starts with a goal.
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Working Leadership Online kicks off today. Register Now.
Feb 2 – Goal Setting and Time Span (2 weeks)
Feb 16 – Delegation (2 weeks)
Mar 2 – Planning (2 weeks)
Mar 16 – Decision Making (2 weeks)
Mar 30 – Control Systems and Feedback Loops (2 weeks)
We have 8 week subscriptions and annual subscriptions.

Uncertainty of Events

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Torrey took a long breath. “So, I am responsible for the output of my team members?”

“That is what I will hold you accountable for,” I replied.

“Even if they get sick, or a machine breaks down, or materials are late,” Torrey was looking for a way out.

I nodded my head. “Torrey, the reason we selected you for this project, is that you have been successful on other projects, six months in length. I expect you to manage the uncertainty of events that could happen and will happen during a project of this Time Span. I expect you to make contingency plans, schedule redundancy where it’s appropriate, inspect for quality, anticipate schedule changes, vacations and prevent accidents. I don’t expect you to make excuses. I expect you to anticipate, modify, readjust and meet the deadline.” -TF
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Working Leadership Online kicks off next Monday. Register Now.
Feb 2 – Goal Setting and Time Span (2 weeks)
Feb 16 – Delegation (2 weeks)
Mar 2 – Planning (2 weeks)
Mar 16 – Decision Making (2 weeks)
Mar 30 – Control Systems and Feedback Loops (2 weeks)
We have 8 week subscriptions and annual subscriptions.

Heading Off Excuses

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“Don’t you think you are being a little hard on me?” Torrey floated.

“Not at all. I am just heading off the excuses I expect to hear when your team doesn’t meet your goal,” I replied.

“My goal. But it’s not really my goal,” Torrey protested. “It’s the team’s goal.”

“No, the project goal is your goal. It is you, the Manager, that I hold accountable for the project goal. Regarding your team, I only expect them to do their best.”

“But, but,” Torrey sputtered.

“But, what? You signed off on the project budget, based on the resources and the schedule. You signed off on the Goal, the What by When. I will judge your effectiveness, to manage the project resources and the schedule along the Time Span of this project.”
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Working Leadership Online kicks off next Monday. Register Now.
Feb 2 – Goal Setting and Time Span (2 weeks)
Feb 16 – Delegation (2 weeks)
Mar 2 – Planning (2 weeks)
Mar 16 – Decision Making (2 weeks)
Mar 30 – Control Systems and Feedback Loops (2 weeks)
We have 8 week subscriptions and annual subscriptions.

Replacing a Manager’s Judgment

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“But what if I consider all those things, materials, conditions and the competence of my team, and I set the deadline, and we still miss it. Maybe the team didn’t work hard enough?” Torrey floated.

“That may be possible, but I rarely find that is the case,” I replied. “Let me ask you this question. Is your team doing their best?”

Torrey sat back. “Well, I guess so.”

“What do you mean, you guess? It is your responsibility to know precisely whether your team is doing their best.”

“Yes, I know. That’s why we put in a bonus program, so that if the project meets the deadline, then the team gets a bonus.”

“So, you are still telling me that you, as the Manager are not able to judge whether your team is doing their best. You have replaced yourself with a phony bonus program, withholding compensation because you cannot make that judgment.”
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Working Leadership Online kicks off next Monday. Register Now.
Feb 2 – Goal Setting and Time Span (2 weeks)
Feb 16 – Delegation (2 weeks)
Mar 2 – Planning (2 weeks)
Mar 16 – Decision Making (2 weeks)
Mar 30 – Control Systems and Feedback Loops (2 weeks)
We have 8 week subscriptions and annual subscriptions.

Judgment of the Manager

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“So, I get to set the deadline?” Torrey continued.

“Yes, that is one of the judgments a Manager has to make,” I replied. “As the Manager, you have the inside track on the context of the project, the importance of its schedule, the resources that have been budgeted, the quality of the raw materials, the facts of the working conditions, and the competence of the team. Only you have all these elements to consider.

“And that is why I hold you accountable for the progress of the project. I rely on your independent discretionary judgment to make that decision. Yes, you get to set the deadline.”
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Working Leadership Online kicks off next Monday. Register Now.
Feb 2 – Goal Setting and Time Span (2 weeks)
Feb 16 – Delegation (2 weeks)
Mar 2 – Planning (2 weeks)
Mar 16 – Decision Making (2 weeks)
Mar 30 – Control Systems and Feedback Loops (2 weeks)
We have 8 week subscriptions and annual subscriptions.

Misunderstandings, Project Delays and Overruns

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Today begins the Orientation for our Working Leadership Online program. Those who have registered will receive their program codes later today. Next Monday, we will begin our first subject area on Setting Goals and Time Span.

We will continue registration throughout this week, so if you have an interest, please follow this link.

Setting Goals seems so elementary, it would be easy to overlook. Perhaps that is why so few goals get written down. And it wasn’t until my understanding of Elliott Jaques research on Time Span that I began to see Setting Goals in a new light.

A goal is simply a What by When. For some reason, we always seem to focus on the What without understanding the importance of by When.

It is this lack of focus on by When that causes misunderstandings, missed priorities, project delays and overruns. This lack of focus causes procrastination and our inability to manage the complexity involved in longer Time Span tasks.

“Who decides the by When of a task?” asked Torrey.

“The Manager,” I replied.

“But what if my team tells me they cannot meet the deadline?”

“It is the responsibility of the team to tell you that. And the sooner they are able to tell you, the sooner you, as the Manager can make the adjustment.”

“You mean, move the deadline?”

“No. If the deadline is important (not arbitrary), then you, as the Manager, must make adjustments. And these are decisions that only you can make. You might bring in more manpower, allocate more machine time, authorize overtime. None of those decisions can be made by your team. Only you, as the Manager, have that authority.”
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Feb 2 – Goal Setting and Time Span (2 weeks)
Feb 16 – Delegation (2 weeks)
Mar 2 – Planning (2 weeks)
Mar 16 – Decision Making (2 weeks)
Mar 30 – Control Systems and Feedback Loops (2 weeks)
We have 8 week subscriptions and annual subscriptions.

Cycle Time

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“You said there were four elements in the goal that I had to look at,” Denise reminded. “I have to look at the quantity required, the quality standard, the resources I have and what else?”

“What else is missing?” I replied. “And this element may be the most important element.”

Denise looked up and to the left.

“How long does it take for one cycle to go through your system?” I asked.

“Time,” she nodded. “Time span. How could I forget about time span?”
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Limited Resources

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“There are four elements to every goal,” I explained. “You correctly identified two of those elements, the quantity required and the quality standard. But there are two more elements.”

Denise looked up, eyes open.

“You may have to add or modify steps in your system based on the resources that you have available.”

Denise looked down at the picture of her system. Her pencil went to circle number seven. “Yep,” she said. “Here we have to move some of the finished pieces to a temporary storage bin because, sometimes, we don’t have enough people to do the next step.”

“So, because of the limit in your resources, you have added a temporary storage step in your system?”

“Yes, and you know, it’s only because the machine that produces step number six can produce about ten times the parts that we actually need running through our system.”

“How do you know it’s ten times the part you need?” I asked.

“All I have to do is look at the goal,” Denise smiled.
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Working Leadership Online is open for registration. Orientation starts next Monday.