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.

Accurate and Complete

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This short conversation with Valerie was moving toward the near side of frustration for her.

“Look,” I said, “the role of the supervisor and the role of the manager are distinctly different. It’s not that one is smarter or has more experience, but they bring separate and necessary value to what we do as an organization.

“The role of the supervisor is to make sure the work gets done. The tools are schedules, checklists and meetings. The value-add is accuracy, completeness and timeliness. It’s the role of the supervisor to make sure the entire project is complete, not ninety five percent, that there are no gaps in service and, at the end of the day, the project meets the customer’s specifications and deadlines.

“That’s the role of the supervisor.” -TF

Can’t Explain

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“So, what you are telling me is that you were overpaying lead technicians under the guise of supervisor. And you couldn’t figure out why they all underperformed?” I asked.

Valerie was shaking her head. They were in the process of hiring three managers to replace six supervisors.

“Well, it’s hard to explain,” she began. “I mean, I think the biggest difference between a supervisor and a manager, is just more experience and we have to pay a manager more. But they should do a better job and be able to handle more.”

“Handle more, what?”

“You know, handle more!” Valerie exclaimed.

“Valerie, if you can’t explain it to me, how will you explain it to your new managers, I mean supervisors.”

Valerie looked for help from the ceiling, then to her right. “We just need someone who can do a better job, I don’t know how to explain it any better than that.”

“So, you are going to try to hire someone with a bit more experience who still may not be right for the job?” -TF

Not a Chance

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“That’s why we decided to get rid of our six supervisors and hire three managers to replace them,” Valerie explained. “The three managers will work with a lead technician on each crew.”

“Tell me why you eliminated the supervisor layer?” I asked.

“They weren’t really doing the job. At the pay rate, we weren’t getting our money’s worth. We think if we pay a little bit more, we can get a better person. That’s why we decided having three managers would be better than having six supervisors.”

“Valerie, I am a bit disturbed about the way you have structured the accountabilities. Let’s talk about the general expectations of a supervisor, you know, the ones you decided to get rid of.

“The primary role of the supervisor is to make sure the work gets done,” I continued. “The primary tools of the supervisor are schedules, checklists and meetings. It is the job of the supervisor to anticipate the required volume of work, make sure we have the right amount of materials on-hand to complete the tasks, schedule the proper equipment and assign the right number of people. During the day, as tasks are being completed, it is the job of the supervisor to monitor progress toward the daily goal.”

Valerie was almost laughing. “Well, I can tell you that is definitely NOT what our supervisors were doing, not even close.”

“And that’s not all,” I continued. “Supervisors should be looking ahead specifically to tomorrow and the rest of the week. They should be reviewing production demand for the rest of the month, making sure materials will be on-hand, that equipment will be available and that we have sufficient personnel.”

Valerie was smiling but shaking her head. “Not a chance,” she replied.

The Real Work

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Wes was turning inward, thinking about his role. “I never really thought about the people system that I’m responsible for. I always thought of recruiting as a necessary evil. We never plan for it. Conducting interviews is always inconvenient. I fill a position as quick as I can, so I can get back to my real work as a manager.”

“And what real work is that?” I asked.

“You know, motivation issues, management issues,” Wes replied.

“Did you ever think that if you focused more on the recruiting side, the selection side that your issues related to motivation and management might disappear?” -TF

Your Most Important System

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“And what is your most important system to think about when you are a manager?” I asked. Wes was beginning to see just how big his job really was.

He knew the answer to this question had to be something central, something core to the role of a manager. But, he was struggling. Not because he didn’t know the answer, but he had never really thought about it.

“What is the most difficult part of being a manager?” I followed up.

“That’s easy, it’s the people,” Wes replied.

“So, what’s the most important system to think about when you are a manager?” I repeated.

“The people system?” Wes floated.

I nodded. “Think about all the elements surrounding the members of your team. It’s pretty complicated stuff. First you have to decide on the roles that need to be played, then the skills necessary, the capability (measured in time span) necessary. You have to consider how to bring new people on to the team, what training is necessary. You have to test them to determine their skill level, design increasingly complex task sequences to find their failure points. You have to determine coaching times, mentoring times, recharging times, performance standards and goals. To be effective, as a manager, you have to create a system.” -TF

Looks Spontaneous, But It’s Not

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Wes was mulling over his role as a manager. “But, my days always seem to be filled with problems, some internal, some external, you know, with customers. In fact, we pride ourselves on prompt customer response. We are in a high demand, time is of the essence business. Yet, you say that a manager’s most important tasks have time spans of months. There are times when I have to respond, as a manager, within minutes. And we’re talking critical customer stuff.”

“It appears that way,” I replied. “But if you spend all your time responding to customer emergencies within minutes, then your life, your organization will be in constant and total chaos.”

Wes nodded. “Sometimes, no, most times, it seems like that.”

“How do you take the chaos out, and still respond to emergencies within minutes? Look at an organization whose life actually is emergencies, EMS. I will guarantee that when first responders show up on a medical scene, their actions are carefully designed into consistent systems that have been repetitively trained. Those systems are not ad hoc, but were created over long periods of time (time span) and are constantly reviewed and improved.

“What happens may appear rapid and spontaneous, but it is a system. When you think of the most important role of a manager, think system.” -TF

Takes More Than a Day

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“I guess I kind of thought of them as the same job,” Wes pondered aloud.

“Even though you are one person filling both roles as supervisor and manager, their functions are quite distinct,” I replied. “At the end of the day, what is the supervisor supposed to have accomplished?”

“Well, every day has a quota. There is a certain amount of work that is supposed to get done.”

“And at the end of the day, what is the manager supposed to have accomplished?”

Wes was stuck. It was several seconds before he took a stab. “I don’t know, I guess he is just supposed to manage.”

“It’s a tough question. The reason it’s a tough question is, the most important work of a manager can’t be finished in a day. Many tasks take a month or six months with the most important tasks requiring a year or more to complete.” -TF

Too Many Directions

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“So, it’s okay to be a working manager?” Wes asked.

“In a small organization, it almost always happens that way,” I replied. “As a manager, you may have four or five supervisors reporting to you. At the same time, you may have to supervise one of the processes yourself. It could be a matter of economics, or just that you cannot find the right person to fill the role.”

“That’s exactly the way it works, now.” Wes looked relieved.

“But, there’s a problem, being a part time manager and a part time supervisor,” I warned.

The look of relief on Wes’ face was temporary. He knew it was too good to be true. I waited.

“You’re right. Being part time manager and part time supervisor, I feel like I am being pulled in too many different directions. One of my supervisors comes to me with a question and I can’t listen, because I have my own work to do.”

“And when you don’t have time to listen, are you bringing value to the thinking and work of that supervisor who has a question?” -TF

Double Duty

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“So, you are saying that’s it’s okay for one person to play more than one role in the company, since we are so small. We just don’t have enough people to cover everything you’ve outlined.” Wes was piecing this together, looking at the roles and the limited number of people he had available.

“That’s why the smallest of companies need only focus on their product or service. They keep all of their performance standards in their heads, because they are the only ones doing the work,” I replied.

“It’s like a sole practitioner, a CPA or an attorney in a company of one. They alone are doing the work, so there is no need to document processes.

“It’s only when that sole practitioner grows, adds people, that processes have to be established. Because now, other people are doing the work and those same performance standards must be maintained.

“At that point, there are really only two roles in the organization. The people who are doing the work and the (no longer sole) practitioner who makes sure the work gets done.

“At the same time the (no longer sole) practitioner is making sure the work gets done, you can almost bet he is also doing some of the work himself. The (no longer sole) practitioner is now playing two roles at the same time.” -TF

Double Duty

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As Wes studied the chart scrawled across the white board, I could see a question mark on his forehead. “It’s all well and good, to say that this layer in the company does the work, and this layer, supervisors, makes sure the work gets done, and the next layer, managers, create the systems in the company.” Wes stopped.

“But sometimes, I feel like I have to play a little bit of all of these roles. In some departments, we just can’t afford to hire separate people to fill those roles. Sometimes, we have to play double duty.”

“That’s not unusual,” I replied. “I find this chart is especially helpful for lean companies, like yours, where you can’t afford to field every position with a different player. But the roles still have to be played, even if some are played by the same person.

“Just remember, that every minute a manager plays the role of a supervisor is a minute that your systems are neglected. Young companies don’t have a choice.” -TF