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.

Not the Time to be a Superhero

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“You have two out of five manager positions in place on a daily basis, so when you have a problem, you think you are fixing it when you are NOT fixing it,” I offered.

“What do you mean?” Derrick asked.

“When you have a problem, you think you are fixing it. In fact, you have a supervisor in play to make sure the problem gets fixed.”

“So, the problem is fixed,” Derrick insisted.

“No, the problem is fixed, but the system is still broken. You are missing three of five Managers, so you are not paying proper attention to your systems.

“You see, Derrick, when you have a problem, everyone scrambles to fix the problem. Even experienced Managers put on their superhero cape and leap in front of their biggest customer to save the day.

“What they need to focus on,” I continued, “is not the problem. They need to focus on the system. Why didn’t the system prevent that problem? Or at least mitigate the damage from the problem? Their role is NOT to fix the problem, but to fix the system.” -TF

Two Out of Five

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We will be closing registration soon for our Online Leadership Program. For those who don’t get into this session, we will start a waiting list for next time.
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Derrick located a copy of the org chart. “A little out of date,” he remarked.

“It’s time stamped only three weeks ago,” I said.

“Yeah, well, it’s still out of date.”

“So, if I think you have a system problem, where should I look on the org chart?” I asked.

“All these people are the ones who are doing the work, and the supervisors make sure the work gets done. You have to be looking at our managers,” Derrick observed.

“Yes, and I see you have five manager positions. Those are the ones responsible for creating the systems inside your company.”

“That’s why it’s a little out of date. One manager got promoted to Vice President and we figured he could still cover his old position. This manager, here, got an offer from another company, and we decided that we might be able to do without for a while. And this manager, our controller, wanted to move to the northern part of the state. And with the internet, she does her work from home.”

“Let me get this straight. You have five manager positions, monitoring your systems, yet only two out of five actually show up for work here?” -TF

Predictability and System

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“I understand how we calculate profit, but what does that have to do with my organizational chart?” Derrick asked.

“You design a predictable profit into your price, but what is it that keeps your profit predictable when you actually deliver your product or service?” I replied.

Derrick was thinking. “It becomes predictable when we are able to do the same thing over and over, the same way, with the same methods, in the same amount of time, with the same amount of scrap.”

“And how do you make all that happen over and over?”

“Well, we have designed a system and we train everyone to work the system.”

“And so, if something is happening with the predictability of your profit, what’s wrong, where do you look?” I continued.

“Something has to be wrong with the system,” Derrick nodded.

“So, where do you look?” I insisted.

“We should try to find out what’s wrong with the system.”

“Remember, I said that your problem is seldom a what, almost always a who?”

Derrick grinned. “So, that’s why you want to look at the org chart.”

Systematic Profit

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We will be closing registrations for our online Leadership program next week. If you have an interest, please let us know.
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Derrick was still puzzled, but scrambled through some papers on his credenza. Finally, he produced an org chart, at least a version of it, with several scribbled notations.

“Will this do?” he asked.

I shook my head. “It’s a start.”

“So, what are you looking for?”

“Derrick, you offer a price to your customers for your services?”

“Well, they tell us what they want, or need, then we have to take it through our estimating department. It’s not that simple, takes a day or so to produce a price based on a set of specifications.”

“And in that estimate, have you marked up or included some specific amount that should be profit on the job? Either gross profit or net profit?”

“Of course. We want to build in 10 percent for overhead and 10 percent for profit in addition to the direct costs. At least that’s the theory,” he stated flatly, rolling his eyes.

“No, it’s not just theory. Your livelihood, your business success is tied to those numbers. This is not a game.” -TF

Question to think about. Where in your system, do you specifically determine how much profit (gross or net) should be made, either on a project or within a time frame?

It’s Not a What

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“The reason we called you in, is that we have a margin problem,” Derrick explained.

“How do you know?” I asked.

“Easy! Revenue is up and profit is down.”

“How do you think that happened?”

Derrick took a moment. “We’re a bit stymied. Every time we think we found the problem, and think we have it fixed, at the end of the month, the numbers tell the same story. Revenues up. Profit down.”

“I tell you what I would like to see. Could you get me a copy of your org chart?”

“Our org chart?” Derrick looked at me like I was from Mars. “I said we have a margin problem, why do you want to see our org chart?”

“Derrick, you have looked all over the place trying to discover what is wrong. Your problem is not a what. Your problem is a who.” -TF

The Misbehavior Conversation

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We have had great response to our online Leadership Program (target date – August 9, 2008). Only a few seats left. Get the details.
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My thanks to Larry and CSA for their responses to yesterday’s question about undermining authority.
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Here’s my take.

Undermining authority comes in many flavors. It could be naive behavior, thinking that it is helpful. It could be meddling behavior, a supervisor with nothing more interesting to do. It could be something to prove, disagreement with vision or disagreement with methods. It could be malicious, absolutely intentional as retribution for a past oversight from authority.

Your question leaves out detail, but your next move is the same no matter how unintentional or down-right mean and nasty the motive.

Your next move is a conversation and the sooner, the better. This is the Misbehavior Conversation.

If you want to fire the guy, you don’t need my help, so I assume you want the behavior to improve. You will need a quiet place. Here are the elements and the time frames for each step.

Observation. Describe specifically, without judgment, what you have observed. Be a reporter, no emotion, no opinion, just the facts. (10 seconds).

Impact. Describe the impact this is having on the team, the department, the company, the customer. (10 seconds).

Your contribution to the problem. (Yes, you have to assume some responsibility in this problem). As his manager, it is likely you were not clear when you created the roles and responsibilities. You likely have seen this behavior for some time, but you haven’t said anything, hoping that the behavior would go away. If you’ve kept quiet, then you have given permission. (10 seconds).

What’s at stake. There are many stakeholders who have some skin in this game. It is not just this supervisor and one or two people. Your customer is the biggest stakeholder. (10 seconds).

Consequences if no change. Do not forget this step. If there are no consequences, then I don’t know why you are having this conversation. (10 seconds).

Your wish to resolve. Tell this supervisor that your intention is for things to improve. (5 seconds).

Ask for a plan to correct the behavior. (5 seconds). Don’t fall for the trap of telling this supervisor what must be done. The plan for improvement must come from his lips. So shut up and listen. (10 minutes).

Agreement on follow-up. This is an appointment to check on progress. Get your calendar and set a specific time, within seven days of this conversation.

This is not a long conversation. You will notice that you only get to talk for one minute compared to ten minutes for the other person. Note the solution to the problem must come from the other person. The most important skill is listening and asking questions. -TF

Undermining Authority

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
What is the best way to explain undermining authority to a supervisor who is doing it to another supervisor? Also, can you give me examples I can use?

Response:
Before I offer direct advice (yes, I have some specific thoughts), I would like to extend the opportunity for feedback from fellow readers. If you have some advice, please post a comment. -TF

The Problem with Results

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Great response to the announcement about our Online Leadership program. Target start date is August 9. Details.
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“That’s the problem with our results based system,” Audrey explained. “As his manager, I have to sit around and wait for the results to come in. If they don’t, I am supposed to be quick and decisive. Chop phim off at the knees.”

“You sound like it doesn’t work out sometimes.”

“More than sometimes. There are almost always outside circumstances that impact results. I can have someone doing a great job, but some circumstance spoils the party. Even though they were doing a great job, they get a (2) on their performance appraisal.

“Or even worse,” Audrey continued. “I have a supervisor, who is really doing a lousy job, but they get lucky, the goal gets achieved, so they score a (5).”

“And?” I prodded.

“And, now my boss says we have to cut overhead, somebody has to go. I have to pick the lousy supervisor with the (5) and let go the good supervisor with a (2).”

Online Program

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Over the past 13 years, I have had many requests to deliver our classroom program in other parts of the country. Unfortunately, the logistics of this type of program are difficult. We can’t do the work that needs to be done in a one-shot seminar.

So, we have been working hard to create the same learning program in an online platform. We studied online learning for several years and spent the time creating a platform we are finally happy with.
If you have interest in participating or have someone on your team that you think would be interested, here is the heads up.

  • We will have about 20 participants in an online interactive group.
  • I will personally be the instructor.
  • There will be application assignments that have to be done at work (so to participate, you have to actually be working in a management capacity).
  • There will be outside reading in addition to the time spent online with interactive discussion assignments, about two per week.
  • This is not some zippy online course that you can wing your way through. Participants should plan to commit 2-3 hours per week for five weeks.

If you are interested, follow this link to the pre-registration. Pre-registration only commits your interest. Once we have a group together, we will confirm the start date and see who is ready to go.

The tuition for the program is $600, but if you pre-register, you will get a $50 credit toward the program. Looking forward to seeing you online. -TF

Do You Believe It?

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“When you evaluate his effectiveness, given his resources and his challenges, how does he stack up?” I asked.

Audrey was quick to reply. “No way. That’s the problem. We have a results based performance review system. He is obviously not getting the results we want, but there is always something, some circumstance that prevents him or his team from delivering the goal. And that something, that circumstance always seems to make sense.”

“You mean the excuse that gets him off the hook is the excuse that you believe.” -TF