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.

2007 Business Plan Template

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Sylvia was stumped. I knew she was working on her 2007 Business Plan. On her desk was a lonely legal pad of paper. There was not a single thing written.

“How’s it going?” I asked.

I got one of those lizard eye looks.

“Stuck?” I followed up.

“You know we are all working on our Business Plans for next year. I know what I want to say, but I don’t know where to start.”

“Would you like a planning template that can help you organize your thoughts and goals?”

Her head shook affirmative.
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If you would like a copy of my 2007 Business Plan template, just follow this link to the website. On the right side, under my picture is a menu choice called Planning Template. From there you can download it. The file is written in Microsoft Word, so you can enter your own narrative. The third page is for goals, both business and personal. This page works not only to describe the goal, but acts as a tracking tool throughout the year.

If you have any questions, just ask. I have been using this planning tool for the past eleven years with companies of all sizes. The template works just as well for departmental planning.

Whose Meeting Is It?

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Adelle emerged from the conference room after two long hours of debate. She shook her head from side to side, a genuine look of despair. “I tried,” she shrugged, “but we didn’t make a whole lot of progress. What we ended up with was mostly crap.”

I had just arrived on my way to another meeting, but she had my curiosity. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“Oh, we have been trying to figure out the best way to solve this problem and there are a bunch of ideas, but we just can’t reach a consensus on which way to proceed. I am really afraid to get started until I know for sure that everyone is on board. But every time we make a compromise, other people drop off and want something different.”

“What happens to the quality of the solution every time you compromise?”

“That’s the real problem. It’s the compromising that kills it. After listening to all the input, I know what we should do and the little compromises just water it down. We might as well junk the whole project because, in this state, it will not do what the customer wants it to do.”

“Whose meeting was that that you just walked out of?” I asked.

It was Adelle’s turn to ask, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, was it the team’s meeting, or was it your meeting? Let me put it a different way. Who is your boss going to hold accountable for this decision?”

“Oh, I tried that once, blaming a decision on the team. I got the message. My boss is going to hold me accountable for the decision.”

“Then, it wasn’t a team meeting. It was YOUR meeting that the team got invited to. It is your responsibility to listen to the input, and it is also your responsibility to make the decision. And you don’t need agreement, you just need support.”

Adelle had to sit down to think about this one. -TF

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Next Sales class starts January 8, 2007. www.workingsales.com
Next Leadership class starts January 22, 2007. www.workingmanagement.com

More Than Individual Accountability

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From Wednesday’s Ask Tom mailbag:

Elaine, a manager, has a supervisor who now reports to her. This supervisor has been with the company since the beginning, but doesn’t follow all the company guidelines, avoids “extra” duties like training. There is resentment building among the other supervisors about everyone carrying their load. So, this issue is more than individual accountability, there is an impact to the group dynamic.

We had great comments posted from Jeff, Kurt and John.

This issue will not be solved overnight.

Step One. Start with a one on one conversation. As a manager, this is a listening exercise, using questions. The subject areas should begin with history, then job satisfaction, teamwork, team member assessments, productivity and training. The purpose of this conversation is to make the supervisor’s thoughts visible, nothing more. It is likely that what is said by the supervisor more closely conforms to company policy than the behavior you have witnessed.

Step Two. Use the team dynamic to have a supervisor’s meeting to discuss those same subject areas. Again, this exercise is one of asking questions and listening. The purpose of this conversation is to make the team’s thoughts visible. And this is the first of several on-going meetings. The time spent in this meeting should not exceed thirty minutes. Do not try to solve the world’s problems, but make their thoughts visible, thank them and adjourn the meeting.

Step Three. Continue with these meetings on a scheduled basis, perhaps once a week and make progress toward problem solving especially in those areas where you have noticed a breakdown in collaboration. The purpose of these meetings is to have the supervisors define and take responsibility for making progress. Your supervisor in question will either play, or not.

So, Elaine, keep us updated on YOUR progress. -TF
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Our next Sales Program starts January 8, 2007 www.workingsales.com.
Our next Management Program starts January 22, 2007 www.workingmanagement.com.

Not Carrying the Load

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

I’ve been in my position as a manager for the past year and a half. Over time, I have noticed that one of our supervisors always seems to do his own thing and doesn’t conform to all of the company’s policies. He has been with the company since it started and has a wealth of knowledge about our industry. Yet, he refuses to help train new employees or take on a larger work load. This causes problems with the other supers who feel their work load is too heavy. A month ago, I inherited this situation. His former manager never confronted him so he feels like his behavior is normal and that no change is necessary. What can you suggest to help this situation?

Response:

The inattention from his former manager has placed you in a tough position, but that’s nothing new. Management is all about the reality of behavior. I know you want him to either shape up or ship out, but the downside is the loss of tribal knowledge, continuity of service to customers, having to recruit and train a replacement. Before I respond, why don’t we let some others take a crack at this. If you have some advice, let’s hear it. Post a comment.

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Our next Sales Program starts January 8, 2007 www.workingsales.com.
Our next Management Program starts January 22, 2007 www.workingmanagement.com.

Driven by the Details

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Miriam creeped into the conference so as not to disturb the rest of the meeting. Everyone was working hard on their business plan for 2007. “I’m having a bit of trouble,” she said. “I know all the steps for the plan, but I am just stuck.”

“And step one is what?” I asked. We were working with a structured planning model.

“Step one is to create the vision for my department. And that was easy. I think I got it all captured in a couple of sentences. It’s the rest of the plan that I am having difficulty with.”

“Interesting,” I replied, “that you can capture that much detail in two sentences.”

“Well, you are right,” Miriam confessed. “There isn’t a lot of detail, but I thought it would be better if it was short.”

“Miriam, here is the way the vision part of the plan works. The more detailed it is, the clearer the images are, the easier it is to write the rest of the plan. Instead of two sentences, write two pages. I want to know who your customers are and what services you provide. You probably have more than one customer segment, tell me how they are different and how your services to each are different? Tell me what position you hold in the marketplace, what your market share is? Who are your competitors? Tell me what your competitive advantage is, what are your core competencies? Who are your key personnel, how do you find them, how do you grow them? Tell me about your facilities, your plant? How do you control quality? How do you guarantee performance?”

Miriam left the room with a bit of thinking to do. A couple of days later, I read her vision statement. It contained all the detail we talked about and more. The plan that followed was clear and detailed, all driven by a carefully constructed word picture of the future.

The first step in the plan is vision. -TF

Get the Picture Inside Your Head

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“But, I thought, to do planning, the first step was to create some goals?” asked Nicole. “That’s what we have always done.”

I nodded. “That’s where most people start. And goals are important.” I stopped. “And, how do we make sure we are going after the right goals? And how do we make sure the targets are set high enough?”

“Well, we have to have a good idea of where we are going,” Nicole replied.

“Exactly, and that is what we have to define first.”

Nicole winced. “How do we do that?”

“There are a number of ways. We could take a picture, draw a picture, describe a picture of where we are going?”

“What do you mean?”

“One of my clients, Banyan Air Services at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport just finished a brand new terminal building, something, as a team, they have been working toward as long as I have known them. For years, hanging on the wall, there was an artist’s rendering of their new building. That was it. That was the vision. And everyone who walked by or sat in that office knew precisely where the company was headed.

“Year after year, without wavering, that picture stood inside the heads of the management team. It drove them to perform with that single thought in mind. Two weeks ago, they had their grand opening. It is amazing how that single visual picture drove their thinking, their performance, their goals for well over a decade.

“The first step in planning is vision.” -TF

Group

Part and Parcel

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Last March, one of our subscribers in Malaysia, Rose, had a decision to make. She could have remained in her old job, or she could have stepped into this crazy world called management. Being a manager is different. Her life changed. Last week, I got this update from Rose.

“Remember me? Yeah and I’m still surviving after four months as a manager. Things seemed to be turning up not as scary as I expected.

“Anyway, I’m gaining my subordinates’ trust and the projects seemed to be progressing. I’ve implemented some new policies along the way, like implementing tighter inventory movement. My boss appreciates me for that. I’m also able to cut down on customer waiting time in our retail area by teaching key staff members how to maneuver tasks of other employees.

“Although, my direct boss seems to appreciate what I’ve done, she is quite apprehensive when I try to push for market differentiation in our consumer products. Frustrating, but I guess it’s part and parcel of life. She is instrumental in my employment and also the flood gate keeper to all the politics that try to veer into our business unit.

“But, one thing for sure, I’m feeling alive again. And powerful, occasionally, when my subordinates look to me for guidance. Anyway, although I don’t know you personally, Mr. Tom, but you have been most helpful in helping me to make up my mind four months ago. Keep up your good work. May you be blessed.”

Interesting and inspiring. My thanks to Rose for sharing her decision with us. -TF

Not a Management Technique

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Rose is one of our subscribers in Malaysia. Last March, she was faced with the dilemma whether or not to take a new job as a manager. In the end, Rose took the job. After giving proper notice, she started in June.

“Remember me? Today is my second day on the job as a new manager. Wow!! Exhilarating and tough. Scares the hell out of me. But anyway, management, especially when it involves strategy at the corporate level is really something new to me! Even with an MBA, it’s not easy!

“I have to think about expanding the business and yet I can’t just do it without considering the brand’s image in the market. I can’t afford to portray the new brand into the lower segment.

“Should I think about franchising or should I get a distributor to take the new product lines into other markets.

“Still, I have to take into account the under capacity of the production department, which is also under my care. How to motivate the production line when they are so new to me? I think I’m going to have high blood pressure soon.”

So Rose took the bold step and jumped into the thick of things. It is one thing to anticipate the challenge. It is another to feel the reality of being overwhelmed. And here you come face to face understanding this is not about management techniques, this is about courage.

It is now some months since these first days in June. I heard from Rose again last week. Her update on Wednesday. -TF

Something Else is Necessary

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Rose was asking for advice, clearly torn between the comfort of an existing job and the scary prospect of a new job in management. This new position would be a stretch. Perhaps her new employer saw something in Rose that even she did not see in herself. But still, it was Rose who had to make the decision. My response:

“Dilemmas are the wonderful part of life. The position you describe sounds like a big job without a lot of internal resources. That is not an altogether bad thing, because you can make decisions quickly and turn direction instantly. Not only can you make a mistake, but you can also approve it.

“It does make the problem more difficult to enter a market area where you have little technical expertise. Since you don’t have an internal sales staff, you will need to find out who can help you understand this new market and how others have gone about it. Competitors are a wonderful source of information. You can read about them, and sometimes even talk to them.

“Bottom line, you will have to go into high learning mode to find out what actions need to be followed to be successful.

“I would also have more conversation with the owner, to determine how he will measure your success. What revenues have to be achieved? What markets have to be penetrated? How many and what kinds of new products might be successful?

“I would also like to find out what the owner was impressed by? What did he find interesting about you as a candidate? He must know that you have little experience in this industry, so why did he not see that as necessary to success in the new position? It must have been something else.

“I know I have asked more questions than given advice or direction, but this is a decision you will have to make yourself. Perhaps these questions have helped to clarify things so you can make the best decision for you.” -TF
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Please note our new publishing schedule, three times a week, Monday-Wednesday-Friday.

Pulled Toward the Flame

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So, here I comfortably sit, listening to this unexpected story. Rose lives halfway around the world, in a culture that is unfamiliar to me, yet her dilemma is like many I hear about every day. Life is uncertain. Many decisions, we can only judge in hindsight. Rose was both excited and apprehensive.

“I do understand that if I were to take up this new job, it would be a fantastic stepping stone for me into management level as compared to my current position. It is like Pandora’s Box. There is no absolute gain by taking up this new position. I would be doing everything, overseeing the production team, marketing the product lines, diversifying the brand. Yes, it would be extremely exciting, maybe too exciting. As the days pass, I’m finding more and more reason for not taking this job. Perhaps, I should just stay put in my comfort zone. Why do I have to go through this kind of dilemma?”

So, here is my question to you. If management is a social act, why did you decide to take on the responsibility? What is it about management that pulled you toward the flame? -TF
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Please note our new publishing schedule, three times per week, Monday-Wednesday-Friday.