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.

Which Ones to Keep

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“Convert my notes into a list of what by whens? That’s easy enough, but how is that going to help?” Colleen challenged.

“When you list out your what by whens, you will have a simple list of goals. Embedded in those goals will be the magic to help you organize.”

“So, then I could sort the list out by the things that are most important?” Colleen asked.

“No,” I replied. “The magic is in the by when. The by when will tell you the Time Span of the goal. List them all, shortest Time Span to longest Time Span. And, what did you say was your next decision, as a Manager?”

“To decide which goals are mine and which I should delegate,” Colleen smiled.

“When you look at the Time Span of the goals, which are the ones most appropriate for you to keep and which are those most appropriate to delegate?”
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Just a quick note, a milestone. Management Skills Blog published its first post November 15, 2004. This week completes four years of publishing. And I feel like we are just getting started. Look for some big changes coming in January.

Transforming Your Notes

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“That’s the first place I am stumped,” Colleen admitted. “Some of the tasks I know I should be doing, and some of the tasks I need to delegate.”

“How are you going to make that decision?” I asked.

Colleen laughed. “I could keep all the stuff I like to do and give away the rest.” She stopped. “But, that probably won’t work.”

“When you look at the list of things to do, the tasks that have been assigned to you, how easy is it to pick out the goals embedded in the list?”

Colleen looked at her notes. “Not so easy. It made a lot more sense in the meeting.”

“You know you need to organize this list in some way. But you can’t do that until you transform your notes.”

Colleen looked puzzled.

“Look, the goals made sense in the meeting,” I continued, “but to create an effective list, you need to transform your notes into a list of what by whens.”

Sorting the Tasks

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“I am a little overwhelmed,” Colleen admitted. “I just got out of a planning meeting. We’re looking down the road a bit. I think I got a promotion, not a raise, just a new area that I have to supervise in addition to all the work I am already doing. Downsizing, you know.”

“Lot’s to do?” I asked.

“Yes, and I know I have a team to support me, now a bigger team. Some of the things we have to accomplish are brand new to me. I am trying to sort things out.”

“So, you have a fresh set of goals and priorities? How are you going to organize what to do?”

“I don’t know, but I have to decide fast. I’m not sure what things I have to work on and what things I can give away to my new team. I guess I am going to have to make some quick evaluations.”

“What are you going to start with, organizing the tasks or evaluating the people?” I prompted.

“I am thinking about a spreadsheet,” Colleen replied, “a spreadsheet listing my team members across the top and listing the tasks down the side.”

“And how are you going to sort the tasks?”

Most Important Discipline of Time Management

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“There are many disciplines for Time Management,” I said. The group was taking notes. “Which is the most important?”

“OHIO,” shot a voice from the back of the room. “Only Handle It Once.”

“Okay,” I replied. “But who cares? Without this discipline, who cares if I handle a piece of paper once or handle it 50 times?”

“Prioritization?” came another guess.

“And what is it, that makes one task more important than another task?”

“The goal?” answered a voice in the third row.

“The goal,” I repeated. “Without the goal, all Time Management is meaningless.”

Difference Between Success and Failure

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“But, I don’t understand. They fill out the form. What discretionary decisions do they have to make as they collect the data from the customer?” Arlene asked.

“Lots, and it is those discretionary decisions that determine success and failure,” I replied. “Let’s look at the form. The first field is the name field. So, you capture the name data for me.”

“Well, it’s your name.”

“Wrong place to start. See, you think if you put my name in the name field, you are done. You missed the first discretionary question.”

Arlene sat up. “Which is?”

“What’s the goal. That’s the first question. What’s the goal?”

“To complete the form?” Arlene tested.

“No! The goal is to have the name information accurate on the policy, so in the event of a claim, there is no clerical confusion or denial of coverage based on the mismatch of a name that may be compared to driver’s license or other identifying paperwork.”

Arlene nodded her head. “So, your name isn’t your name.”

“Not at all. You know me by my nickname. To complete the form, you will have to ask a better question. Mr. Foster, I need to make sure the name on the policy matches your other identification, what is the full name on your driver’s license?

“Arlene, it is questions like these that make all the difference between success and failure. And there are too many of them to train. They become the discretionary decisions for the team member. And if you want a productive discussion with your team, sit with them, as their manager, and talk about the discretionary decisions they have to make. To reach the goal.”

Discretionary Decisions

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“Do you, as the Manager, sit with your team and talk about the decisions they have to make as they collect this data?” I asked.

“Well, we go over how to fill out the information on the form. We have training every month on changes to the form or changes in the way it is processed,” Arlene replied.

“Have you ever had a team member follow all the instructions, complete every box on the form, but at the end of the day, there were problems?”

Arlene started laughing, nodding her head. “Oh, yes!” she blurted. “We had this one guy, we had to let him go, finally. And it was difficult, because he did everything he was supposed to, but he was such a mess, disorganized. It was all last minute with him. I mean, he would get the filings in just under the wire, but the underwriter, who had to approve the paperwork was always kicking it back. In the end, the customer would not be approved and they would be mad at us. But remember, all we do is the paperwork, we don’t approve the underwriting.”

“That’s not true,” I countered. “You could tell the difference between poor performance and good performance with this guy. As his manager, when did you know you had a problem?”

“Oh, it was the first week. You could just tell,” Arlene explained.

“And, how long did it take before your company terminated him?”

Arlene hesitated, “Eighteen months. But we had to give him a chance. We had to make sure he had the proper training and that he didn’t just get a batch of problem customers.”

“He didn’t fail because of the training,” I replied. “And customers are always problem customers, so that’s not it. And he did not fail because you didn’t tell him what to do, the prescribed duties. He failed in the discretionary part, the decisions he had to make as he approached the work. These are the decisions that managers never talk about with their team. And it is these decisions that make the difference between success or failure.” -TF

It’s Not About the Forms

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“You describe the role as entry level. The output must conform to strict guidelines, which creates the quality standard. What are the decisions that must be made in connection with the work?”

Arlene was shaking her head from side to side. “We don’t allow a lot of latitude with this work.”

“You think you don’t allow latitude. In fact, you tell your team members there isn’t a lot of latitude, when in fact there is. There are a ton of decisions that must be made.”

Arlene was quiet.

“Look, most of the prescribed duties involve collecting data from your customers to determine their qualifications. While it seems cut and dried, there are many decisions that must be made about the quality of their responses, the accuracy and completeness of the data.

“The difference between ok performance and outstanding performance is not in filling out the forms, but in the decisions related to the quality of the data that goes on the forms. The job may be completing the forms, but the work is the decisions that must be made.

“An important discussion between the manager and the team member is not about the forms, but about those decisions.” -TF

Underestimating the Level of Work

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“I still don’t know what you are getting at,” Arlene shook her head. “It’s entry level work. You are right, it’s not that interesting.”

“Don’t be so swift,” I reprimanded. “Let’s talk about this entry-level work. First, what is work?”

Arlene was looking up, retrieving the answer planted in her mind some weeks ago. “I remember. Work is making decisions and solving problems.”

“Okay. And what decisions must be made in connection with this entry-level work?”

“It’s pretty cut and dried,” Arlene related. “Our work is highly regulated. Everything we do has to be within very specific guidelines.”

“And what if it’s not cut and dried,” I challenged. “You see, the guidelines you work under only set the quality standards for the output. Let’s ask the question again. What decisions must be made in connection with this work? And as we answer, I think you will find this work is quite a bit more than entry-level.”

What’s Missing in the Work?

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“What has been missing in this young recruit’s career?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Arlene replied. “All she seemed interested in was how many vacation days she is going to get.”

“Why do you think she is focused on her vacation days? What has been missing? Missing in her work before she came to your company two months ago? And perhaps still missing in her work?”

“Well, I don’t know,” admitted Arlene. “It is pretty basic, entry level work. Perhaps there really isn’t that much to focus on, except how much vacation comes with the job.”

“You might be right be right about the job,” I agreed. “But what about the work?”

What Has Been Missing?

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Goal Directed work is a basic feature of all life. -Elliott Jaques

All life. Not just humans, all life.

What is work?

Work is an organism’s judgment in making decisions to reach a goal? -Elliott Jaques

Work is not pushing the red button. Pushing the red button is not the goal. In the orientation, we made it a point to tell the technician that his job was to push the red button. Maybe that is the job, but that is not the work.

The goal is to produce a specific quantity of material at a specific quality standard by the end of the day. The work is not to push the red button. The work is using judgment to make decisions to produce the goal.

There are staging decisions, decisions of speed and pace, decisions about work station organization and cleanliness, decisions about scrap, decisions about machine noise, machine funny noise, maintenance engineering. Do I lubricate now, or make three more cuts, then lubricate? Am I behind in my task assignment or ahead in my task assignment? Did this last piece meet the quality standard? Pace and quality, pace and quality?

Arlene’s desk was clear. Her arms were folded. “Yesterday, I had a discussion with a recent hire, two months, asking about her experience with us so far. Her response was, two weeks vacation wasn’t enough, would like to take lunch at no set time, and doesn’t understand why no Christmas bonus.”

“What has been missing in this young recruit’s career?” I replied.