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.

Motivated to Make Things Right

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“So, you were surprised that you didn’t get fired?” I asked. Kim and I were talking about her near disaster with a forklift.

“I was certain I would get fired. It was a boneheaded move on my part. But my manager, well, it was almost like he used a counterbalance. He knew he had my undivided attention over the forklift. He also knew that I was motivated to make things right. And he got someone to run the safety program, (me!), where it benefited the most.” Kim replied.

“How did that bring value to your thinking and your work?”

“Well, he could have fired me, he could have yelled at me. He could have embarrassed me in front of the team. He could have called me out to his boss. He could have suspended me. But what he did was to make me think.

“He had me motivated to sit down and learn more about how serious this safety stuff really is. It was one of the most important lessons in Leadership that I have ever been a part of.”

Big Mistake

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A good bit of the morning had passed when I met Kim in the coffee room.

“Okay, I came up with a list,” she said. “It’s not a long list, but I was able to think about some specific things that were helpful to me when I was a supervisor. It’s funny. At the time, I didn’t realize how helpful it was, but now, I can see it clearly.”

“So, what’s the biggest thing on the list?”

“We were under some pressure to get a big order pulled for shipping. I was supervising the crew. Things were hectic. I commandeered a forklift that had been pulled out of service. One of the buckles on its safety harness was being repaired. I was thinking, how stupid, not to use a forklift for a few minutes just because it didn’t have a safety harness.

“Big mistake. I told one of my crew to use it anyway, just to move some product about ten feet over in the staging area. That part was okay, but when I wasn’t looking, the crew member took the forklift over and started moving other stuff. He figured it was okay to use the machine, since I said so. He was turning a corner and ran over something, his load shifted and he came right out of the machine.

“I was lucky. No one was hurt, nothing got damaged. In fact, everyone that was there, thought it was funny. Well, except for my manager. I thought I was going to get fired. It was a stupid thing I did.”

“So, what did your manager do?”

“He never yelled at me. I remember, he just came into my office that afternoon. He said one word, ‘Lucky!’ Then, he put some safety books on my desk, said he would be very interested to attend my safety meetings for the next three months.”

“So, tell me, how did that bring value to your thinking and your work?” -TF

It Wasn’t Barking Orders

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Across the lobby, I spotted Kim. She was one of seven supervisors who had just been promoted to manager. It was a good group, positive vibes, but I could see Kim was a bit nervous in her new role.

“How’s it going?” I asked.

“Pretty good, so far,” she replied. “I think I can handle all the stuff I am supposed to do. It’s that other stuff, I am worried about.”

“What other stuff?”

“You know, being a manager. Team stuff, morale. You talk about bringing value to my supervisors. I want to do that, but I am not sure what it means.”

“It’s not that difficult,” I replied. “Just think back, when you were a supervisor. What did your manager do that really helped you, I mean, really helped you become the manager that you are today? Was it barking orders at you? Bossing you around? Yelling at you when you screwed up? Solving your problems for you?”

“No,” Kim replied. “It was none of those things.”

“So, think about it. What were the specific things your manager did that brought value to your thinking and your work?” –TF

Which Boss Are You?

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Great responses to yesterday’s mailbag question.

It is always tough to become a new supervisor, to an existing peer group or a new group. A new supervisor always means change. And most people don’t like change, at least they don’t like the unknown parts of change.

Respect comes, not from the authority of the position, or the experience of the supervisor. Respect comes from bringing value to the work and thinking of the individuals on the team.

In fact, team members will always seek out the person in the company that brings value to their thinking and their work. If it happens to be their supervisor, that’s great. All too often, it’s not.

Think about it. We all work for two bosses. We work for the boss who is assigned to us, and we work for the boss we seek out. The boss we seek out is the one who brings value to our work, our thinking and our lives.

So, if you are the new supervisor, that’s the boss you need to be. -TF

All Ears

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

I have just been promoted to a supervisory position on the Hot-Line of a large kitchen. Unfortunately, I seem to be having a hard time gaining the trust and respect of my co-workers as well as other supervisors and managers. It seems to be difficult for some to grasp the fact that I have been entrusted with the charge of the kitchen once in a while. It might be the fact that I have not had a great deal of time in the position, as of yet, so hopefully it may get better with time and my ability to be patient. But if there is any bit of advice and/or support that you may be able to provide, I am all ears. -TM

So, what do you all think? If you have some advice for TM, please post a comment.

Encouraging Lies

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“So, how did you miss this critical piece of information during the interview?” I asked. Ted was beside himself for a recent hire.

“That’s the thing. I gave him some theoretical examples to find out what he would do in a couple of specific situations. He answered the questions pretty well,” Ted replied.

“Then, what’s the problem?”

“He answered the questions pretty well, theoretically speaking, but he had never actually performed the work himself. It is almost like he read a bunch of articles in a trade journal. He knew the buzz words and conceptually how things worked, just no real experience.”

“So, what do theoretical questions do for you, as a manager conducting an interview?”

“Quite frankly,” continued Ted, “it just encourages the candidate to make stuff up and lie to me.”

“Indeed.” -TF

Missed It in the Interview

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“It happened again,” Ted explained. “I told myself that the next time we needed to hire someone, I would be prepared for the interview.”

“And?” I asked.

“Scott came down the hallway. He said the candidate had talked to four other people and everyone liked him. I didn’t even know we had interviews scheduled.

“He asked if I had fifteen minutes to talk to the candidate, just to see if I liked him, too.

“Funny, I liked him, too.”

“So, what’s the problem?” I pursued.

“Everyone liked him, but here we are, two months down the road and I find out he doesn’t have any experience in one of the most critical parts of the job. He just told me point blank that he has never done this before. Worst part, he tells me he doesn’t even see that as part of his job. If we need that done, he suggests we hire an expert or a consultant to help out.

“Just what I need, to hire another consultant because someone on the inside can’t do their job.”

The Super-Magic Pill

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

Yesterday, in a post about the Magic Pill, you said that a manager should only work 40 hours a week. There’s no way I can get all of my work done in 40 hours. You have to be kidding?

Response:

The Magic Pill is a mind-set. Forty hours a week is a mind-set. Of course, managers do work more than 40 hours a week, but the point is the mind-set. If you worked 80 hours in a week, would you be able to get all of your work done? The answer is no. The work of a manager is never done.

The point of the Magic Pill is two-fold. First, when you get tired, exhausted, burned out, your effectiveness drops off dramatically, down to zero. But the most important part of the Magic Pill is to work differently. The role of a manager is not the same as the work of a team member.

Let me tell you about the Super-Magic pill. It only allows for 10 hours of work in a week. If you took the Super-Magic pill and only worked 10 hours a week, what would you have to change to work effectively?

No, I am not kidding. I am as serious as a heart attack (the one you will have working 60-70 hours a week). -TF

Rules for the Magic Pill

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Prescription Instructions

  1. The magic pill must be taken, by managers, once per week, on Monday.
  2. The magic pill has no effect on the manager during the week until 40 work hours have been logged.
  3. Once 40 work hours have been logged, the magic pill prevents the manager from thinking about work activities.
  4. Blackberries and remote email are considered work activities by the magic pill.
  5. If the manager persists in thinking about work activities, the magic pill will shut down conscious thought and make the subject sleep for a temporary period (naptime).
  6. In most cases, the magic pill has been shown to change the work habits of managers, who now know they must be effective within 40 work hours per week.
  7. In clinical trials, in some cases, side effects of the magic pill have improved family and social activities.

Think about this magic pill. If you took the magic pill, what habits would you change to become more effective? -TF

Hard Work and Control

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“It’s funny,” Curtis observed, “sometimes, after hours, it is quiet and I ask myself, why am I here? I should be home with my family, but there is still so much to be done. And if I don’t take care of some loose ends, something critical will blow up tomorrow.”

“Do you think you are the only manager in the world that is thinking that thought?” I asked.

Curtis chuckled. “You know, you’re right. So, why does it happen?”

“You tell me,” I replied.

Curtis had to think. He had been so busy working, that he never thought about what he was doing and why he was doing it.

“I feel guilty,” he finally responded. “I am responsible. It’s up to me. I guess I bring it on myself.”

“And if something doesn’t change, about the way you manage this department, what will happen?”

“I am already seeing the chinks in my own armor. I feel tired every morning. I stopped working out because I don’t have time. I feel like I have a cold coming on. But the harder I work, the more things seem out of control.”

“Think about that,” I said. “The harder you work, the more things seem out of control.” -TF