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.

Predictable Shifting

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Eleven people sat around the table. Alicia, in her role as Division Manager, the two Project Leaders and the rest of the team. It was a big project.

“I want to thank you for inviting me to this team meeting,” I began. “I know most of you from other projects over the past few years. It’s good to see familiar faces.

“And I also want to thank each of you for your participation today. The Phoenix Project is important to this company and you are all well aware of its delays.

“The purpose of the meeting today is to resolve those delays caused by the project’s leadership.” I stopped to gauge the response. There was predictable shifting in the chairs. Everyone was very uncomfortable.

Whenever I see that much discomfort, I know we are dealing with a real issue. –TF

Opening the Bag

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Alicia assembled the team. I was invited to sit in and ask a few questions. Her two project leaders had been squabbling about the pace of the project, but it appeared to be more of a power struggle than a project issue.

I had Alicia announce the purpose of the meeting in an email invitation so everyone knew the subject area. No one would be blindsided walking into the meeting.

Agenda. Leadership Issues related to the Phoenix Project. The purpose of this meeting is to resolve the project delays caused by the project leadership.

“I hope this doesn’t open a bag of worms,” Alicia confided before we entered the room.

“If it does, then the bag needed to be opened,” I replied. –TF

Criticize in Public

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Last day of Open Registration for Working Leadership Online. Orientation begins August 9, Session One begins August 16.
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“But I was always taught, praise in public, criticize in private?” came the question from Alicia.

“Of, course, that is what the team would like you to do,” I replied. “And when you take the two project leaders out of the room, you cripple the team from dealing with the problem. The next time it happens, they will look to you to rescue them.”

“But, isn’t that my job?” Alicia pushed back.

“Is your job to make the team comfortable, or is your job to grow the team where they can solve increasingly more difficult problems? They cannot do that when you solve their problems for them. They can only do that when you help them solve their own problems.” -TF

Stomachs Upside Down

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“Are you kidding?” Alicia protested. “You can’t talk about personality conflicts in a team meeting like that.”

“Why not?” I replied.

“Talk about turning stomachs upside down. My stomach would be the worst.”

“Alicia, consider this. In your team meeting, if every person’s stomach is churning queasy, is it possible that, at that moment, the group is dealing with a real issue?”

Alicia turned wide eyed. “Well, duh!”

“And do you think it’s possible that, until that real issue gets solved, that no other productive work can be accomplished by the team?” -TF

In the Meeting, Not Out

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Open Registration is now available for Working Leadership Online. Orientation begins August 9, Session One begins August 16.
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Alicia looked puzzled. “But I think I really need to have a heart to heart talk with my two project leaders, away from the team. When we have that kind of friction, I don’t think the team can be very productive.”

“I agree you need to have a heart to heart talk with your project leaders,” I replied. “But what would happen if you had that talk in the meeting instead of away from the team?” -TF

Personality Conflict?

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“Why do you think they were too scared to talk about the real problem stopping this project?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Alicia replied. “I guess I really need to work on creating a more open environment. But I think I have a personality problem. It’s hard to talk about a personality conflict in the middle of a meeting. That’s why it was so weird. We couldn’t talk about the real problem, so we couldn’t talk about anything at all.”

“So, how do you intend to create an environment where your team can deal with the real problem and get back to productive work?”

“I guess I need to pull the two project leaders aside and talk to them in private,” Alicia nodded.

“What if I told you, in the long run, that would make matters worse?” -TF

The Secret

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Open Registration is now available for Working Leadership Online. Orientation begins August 9, Session One begins August 16.
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“I don’t get it,” Alicia explained. “We just had a meeting on how to rescue this stalled project. No one came up with any ideas. For an hour. It was like waiting to go see the dentist.”

“So, your team didn’t isolate the problem,” I prompted.

“Oh yeah, they did, just not in the meeting. We wasted an entire hour. Only when the meeting was over, I find out, at the water cooler, the project is stalemated because the two project leaders are angry at each other.”

“Someone told you at the water cooler?” I asked.

“Oh, no, I only found out by accident. There were two people whispering a little too loud. I put two and two together.”

So, why didn’t this come up at the meeting?”

“I don’t know,” Alicia wondered out loud. “It’s like it was a secret. A secret everyone was too scared to talk about.”

Momentum In Avoiding

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“What do you mean, cripple my team?” Lydia protested. “I mean, I agree that I shouldn’t force my decision on the group. I need to get buy-in. But cripple my team?”

“No, in this case, buy-in is just a cover-up. This is a team decision with team responsibility and consequences for the team no matter which way they choose. As the leader, if you make this decision for the team, they are no longer responsible and the consequences are no longer theirs. Even with buy-in, when the team suffers the consequences from your decision, you will be to blame. They will take you to the mat.”

Lydia was silent.

“And your team will gain more experience and momentum in avoiding responsibility than stepping up to the plate. As the leader, you will cripple your team.” -TF

Crippling the Team

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“I cannot believe the way people are responding to this situation,” Lydia explained. “They know the right thing to do, but they are all wimps, now that they have to stand up for it.”

“What is your position?” I asked.

“To do the right thing. I laid out the steps we need to take, who we need to contact and how we need to present the facts. I know it’s unpopular, but it’s the right thing to do.”

“How are you going to persuade the team to take the right action?”

“I’m the leader, so I could just force the issue, take the steps on my own,” she replied.

“And what kind of leadership is that?”

Lydia thought, grinned, then slowly nodded. “That would be tyrannical leadership, I suppose.”

“And if you are a tyrant and force it, then you let the team off the hook. They are no longer responsible for taking action. You cripple them from being responsible in the future.” -TF

Perfectly Plausible

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Pre-registration for our Working Leadership Online program has ended. Open registration begins next Monday. Details.
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Brett was somewhat disturbed with my observations about his dilemma.

“I don’t think you are being fair,” he said. “You know the market is tight and you know we are out there doing our best to drum up sales.”

“Do you have a competitor that is already out of business?” I asked.

“Not one, we lost three competitors almost nine months ago. The market wasn’t even nearly as tight as it is now. They just couldn’t sustain it.”

“If you ran into one of them in the grocery store and asked them why they went out, what would they say?”

“Well, they would blame it on the market,” Brett replied.

“Yes. And everyone would believe them and feel some empathy for them. It is a perfectly plausible excuse. Your former competitors chose to live with the problem, and whine and complain about it, rather than make the changes necessary to get a different result.” -TF