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.

Who’s Best Interest

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“Speak in terms of the other person’s interests.” Those words rattled around in Susan’s head for a minute. Finally she spoke.

“But, you know, sometimes, there is stuff that I need to communicate. Sometimes there is stuff that is in my interest, or the company’s interest. What do I do then? I mean, it’s all well and good to talk about the other person’s interests, but what about me, what about the company?”

“Susan, you make it sound like your team doesn’t have you or the company at heart. In fact, they do. Let’s take the issue of efficiency. It is in your best interest as the manager and in the company’s best interest for your team to work efficiently, right?”

“Exactly,” Susan replied, moving to the edge of her chair. “I want to talk about efficiency, so how do I talk in terms of the other person’s interests when I want to have a discussion about efficiency?”

“First, Susan, understand that your team also wants to be efficient. Believe it or not, your team wants to be productive and do a good job. They want to do a good job for you and the company. And it is your responsibility, as the manager, to make that connection.

“Gather your team together. Divide them in workgroups of two or three people and tell them the topic for the day is efficiency.

“Today’s topic for discussion is efficiency. But before we talk about how we can be more efficient, let’s talk about why. For the next one minute, work in your teams and write down three benefits that happen when we work more efficiently. The benefits you think about, should be personal benefits to you. You spend 8 hours a day working here and you work hard. What are the personal benefits to you when the team works more efficiently?”

Susan looked at me, then pulled out a sheet of paper. “Let me write that down,” she said.

Get Their Attention

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“But, what if my team just doesn’t want to listen to me?” Susan protested.

“And, how does that make you, as the manager, less responsible for the communication?” I asked.

“Yeah, but, if they don’t want to listen, how can I make them listen?”

“Indeed, how can you make them listen?”

Susan stopped, this wasn’t going anywhere. “I can’t make them listen. If they don’t want to listen, I have to figure out how to get them to want to listen.”

“That’s a start. Remember, as the manager, you are 100 percent responsible for the communication. So, how do you get them to listen in the first place?”

“Well, I guess I have to talk about things they are interested in. I have to get their attention.”

“And since you are 100 percent responsible for the communication, that is exactly where you should start. Speak in terms of the other person’s interests.” -TF

Complete Responsibility

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“The biggest difficulty we have,” Susan insisted, “is communication.”

I nodded. “How so?”

“Well, sometimes it seems we are not even on the same team. I give instructions, I hold meetings, but when somebody has to coordinate with someone else, it always seems like the ball gets dropped.”

“What do you think the problem is?” I asked.

“It seems that there is an awful lot of talking going on, but not a lot of listening.”

“And that surprises you?” I smiled.

“No. But, as the manager, I expect my team to listen when I talk.” Susan shook her from side to side, impatiently.

“Oh, so this is your team’s fault?”

Susan was no dummy. She sensed I was setting her up. “Well, okay, I know I am 50 percent to blame,” she relented.

“And what would you do differently, if I told you that you were 100 percent responsible. For your team’s complete understanding, you, as the manager, are 100 percent responsible for the success of the communication. What would you do differently?” -TF

Retaining Top Performers

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

I have a performance review with a top performer on my team. In addition to reviewing his past 3 months results, I am trying to prepare some discussion topics that are geared towards 1) further developing his strengths and 2) finding ways to challenge him so he does not get bored.

Response:

I think you just defined the discussion topics.

Developing strengths can usually be identified with the following questions.

  • What is it that you believe you do well?
  • If I was standing as an observer, what would I see in you as a strength?
  • How do you gain the greatest leverage from your strengths?
  • How do you nurture your strengths?
  • How can I, as your manager, nurture those strengths?

Finding ways to challenge the team member is most easily done through delegation. Most people believe delegation is a time management tool, but it is also your most powerful people-development tool. Ask these questions.

  • Looking forward, what responsibility would challenge and test your abilities?
  • If we were to assign that responsibility to you, what safeguards could we put in place to make it a learning experience rather than a trial by fire?

When you think about retaining your top performers, these are the most important conversations. -TF

The Picture of the Team

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“It’s amazing,” Megan explained. “I gave them the camera and a list of the 13 steps of the process and walked away. I didn’t supervise the picture taking. Forty five minutes later, they called me back. Think about that. My team has never called me over to their work area.

“They were talking about the best sequence for the steps, the proper way to perform some of the tasks and even one step that they thought was unnecessary. They have never talk about stuff like this, never ever.”

Now it was my turn to smile. “So, as their manager, what are you going to do next?”

“Well, they are re-shooting some of the pictures, but then I am going to print them all out and post them in this photo album I bought. I am also sending the photos over to the training department so they can put them into a powerpoint.

“But the best picture,” Megan grinned, “was the picture of the team that goes on the front of the photo album. With the look on their faces, I think they actually like working here.”

But They Will Get It Wrong

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“I think I am pretty good at explaining our policies and procedures. I mean, we spent a lot of time developing our processes. We have tested things. We know the best way to get things done. So, why doesn’t my team listen to me?” complained Megan.

“What happens?” I ask.

“Okay, there are 13 steps in this process. And there are certain things that you have to look for, like you can mess up step number two and you won’t notice until step number six, so you have to take the whole thing apart back to step two.”

“Sounds complicated.”

Megan gave me the look. “That’s why I have to explain it. But they don’t seem to listen, then they start doing things their own way. About half the production has to be scrapped.”

“What do you think is happening?”

“They’re just not listening to me,” Megan stated flatly.

“I think you are right. They’re not listening to you. Sounds like they care more about what they think than what you think?” I watched Megan for her response. She didn’t like what I said, but I was just confirming what she had observed. They weren’t listening to her.

“How can you use that to your advantage?” I continued. Megan’s look at me was probably similar to the look she gave her team. “Megan, let’s try something different. I got this camera from some promo give-away. Here, take it. It’s only 3 megapixel and the chip will only take 25 pictures, but why don’t you give your team this camera and ask them to document this 13 step process and see what you get.”

“But they will get it all wrong,” she protested.

“Yes, but it’s a good place to start. Tell me how it goes.” -TF

Conscious Choice

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

I was curious about a study in IT that showed that while managers can see underperformance, they can’t see who is over-performing.

Response:

Actually, the results of the study may be correct, however, the conclusion may be flawed.

The results show that managers easily recognize or identify underperformance, but they do not as easily recognize or identify over-performance. The conclusion is that managers do not have the ability to recognize over-performance. I believe that to be false.

Managers do not recognize or identify over-performance because they do not focus on it. Managers allow the distractions of underperformance to dominate their vision and efforts.

It is simply a matter of focus. It is a conscious choice to focus on over-performance, and once that decision is made, the focus becomes quite natural. But it’s that choice that is difficult. It is too easy (unconscious) to see things wrong and too difficult to make the conscious choice to see things going right. -TF

The Hand or the Back of the Hand?

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This question was in response to the study that showed larger improvements from high performing team members than lower performing team members as a result of positive reinforcement.

Question:

Is this because the high performers were actually severely underemployed or because they were more talented or some other reason?

Response:

I am certain there were many individual reasons for the dramatic uplift in performance. The point of the story is that, often, we, as managers, spend time with our problem team members instead of our high performing team members.

And when we spend time with our poor performers, it drags us away from positive reinforcement toward negative or punitive reinforcement. Between the two types of reinforcement, positive and negative, which is more likely to bring out the best in people? -TF

Where Do You Spend Your Time

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

What is the incentive to the person who performs at a higher level than the status quo, if they are rewarded the same?

Response:

While this sounds like a simple question, it is actually quite complicated. While I am not a fan of performance bonuses, I am a fan of differential pay bands for those who are more effective than others. Simply put, people should not be rewarded the same.

There should be different consequences. But the most powerful consequence may not be compensation.

A study was conducted with a group of factory workers. One group produced a high level of product each day (avg 94), the other group produced a lower level (avg 76). The manager was instructed to change two things.

First, each day, post the personal productivity of individual team members. Second, any team member who improved one day to the next, received a complimentary remark from the manager. No pizza, no bonus, no extra time off, just a complimentary remark.

At the conclusion of the study, the low performing group had improved from (avg 76) to (avg 84). Everyone was quite pleased.

The high performing group improved from (avg 94) to (avg 146).

Most managers end up spending time with their poorest performers. Where is the real payoff? -TF

Courage

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

I need your advice. Yesterday, my manager called me in and shouted at me for a mistake I made in an Excel spreadsheet. He berated me to the point where I just felt sad. I felt so sad, in a way, that I couldn’t bear to be with the company any longer and asked to resign. I stated the reason was the unprofessional behavior of my manager. At the exit interview, they seemed not to care. What should I have done instead to help them realize that working under those circumstances is not healthy?

Response:

It took courage to make your decision. Write this down, for it will guide you in the future.

You stand for what you tolerate.

You made a decision that you would not tolerate being bullied. You made a decision that you will be treated with dignity and respect even when you make a mistake. Remember this lesson as you grow through life, for some day, you will be in a position to hold someone else accountable for their mistake. Remember how you were treated and the result.

If you want someone to resign from their job, then treat them poorly.

However, if you want someone to understand their mistake and correct the circumstances so that it is less likely to happen again, then treat them with dignity and respect.

As you search for your new job, hold your head high and ask questions about the culture of the company. You have learned a lesson on the kind of organization you will seek out in the future. -TF