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.

If You Can Find It

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From the Ask Tom Mailbag:

Question:
You seem to make a big deal between a Job Description and a Performance Contract. Other than the name, what’s the difference?

Response:
Most job descriptions simply list the tasks and activities related to the job. It is important to know what to do in your job. But it is also important to know how well something should be done and when something should be done.

It is only when we specifically describe the results, that people clearly understand the expectations of the job.

So, how do we know when we have clearly stated the results. I use the Q-tip criteria. QQT. Quantity, Quality over Time. When I state the results in terms of a specific Quantity of something at a given Quality standard over a specific period of Time, there is a great likelihood that the expectation is clear.

Look at your own Job Description (if you can find it) and see if it describes Results. -TF

Squirming Out of Accountability

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“A Performance Contract?” asked Ron. We had been talking about Miguel, a newly promoted manager.

“Yes, a Performance Contract,” I replied. “Miguel may have had a job description when he started here as a supervisor, but now that he has been promoted, you haven’t clearly stated his new expectations. Part of his being overwhelmed is that he doesn’t know exactly what is expected.”

“But I am sure we have a job description written, somewhere, for his position,” Ron explained, trying to cover.

“Yes, but here is the difference. A job description is a document that describes what you would like Miguel to do. It’s a one-way street. A Performance Contract is a document that you have to sit down and hammer out. It is an agreement that requires commitment from both sides.

“People will always squirm out of general accountabilities based on a job description. It is much more difficult to squirm out of clear expectations spelled out in a Performance Contract.” -TF

The Performance Contract

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“He is in a bit over his head,” Ron explained. “Miguel has been with the company for three years, now. He was promoted to manager about six weeks ago. I just don’t know if he is cut out for the job.”

“What does his behavior tell you?” I asked.

“It’s funny. All of a sudden, he has become defensive about things. When he misses a deadline, and he has missed a few lately, instead of owning up, taking responsibility, he gets angry, blaming this or that. Because he gets angry, people around him back away and let him off the hook.”

“What do you think would improve his feeling of being overwhelmed with his new job?”

Ron had to think on this one. Finally, he shook his head, not sure, “He just needs to get organized.”

“And how do you organize yourself in a new job?”

“I don’t know,” started Ron. “Something to help you remember all the things you are responsible for?”

“And what do you call that?” I pressed. “You have one. At some point, your boss sat down with you and hammered one out.”

“You mean, my job description?” Ron stopped. “Come to think of it, Miguel has been working for the past six weeks without one.”

“Okay, now I want you to change the name of Miguel’s job description. From now on, I want you to call it a Performance Contract. Before we meet again, I want you to sit down with Miguel and hammer out his Performance Contract.” -TF

What is Necessary

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“So, as you see me struggle with my new role as a manager, what do you see as my biggest challenge?” asked Joel.

“The biggest mistake most companies make is underestimating the Time Span required for success in a role. The biggest mistake most managers make is underestimating the time span required for success in a task,” I replied.

Time Span is the cornerstone for understanding what is necessary. -TF

Attaching Time Span

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I could see that Joel was stressed. This was a big job. Joel had been a successful supervisor, but this assignment as a new manager was different for him.

“I was Mr. Nextel walkie-talkie,” he proclaimed. “Life was exciting. Things were always moving.

“But you asked me to make a list of the most important tasks in my new role. I started with the job description. The insight came when I tried to peg the time span associated with each task.

“Here is one,” he continued. “The job description says that I am responsible for making sure we have enough direct labor to meet the production needs for all the cycles during the year.

“At first, I thought it just meant that I should post job vacancies and do some interviews. But when you asked me to attach time span to the task, my head started to spin.

“It was only then, that I realized I needed to research our historical workloads during the three cycles of our year. I had to take a look at our maximum production capacity along with the marketing and sales forecast. I spent the time to lay out all this data for the whole year. I used a line graph to help me visualize it. Then I had to figure out when we needed to meet to capture the actual numbers related to the forecast. The forecast is helpful, but it is often wrong by as much as ten percent.

“All in all, when I looked at my new job, I really have to be planning out 12 months in advance. This is a lot bigger than I thought.”

I smiled at Joel. He was new to the job, but he was beginning to understand the time span necessary to be successful. -TF

Time Span for the Project

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Joel laid the list on the table. “It’s weird,” he started, “there were some obvious things, but there were some other things that were more interesting.”

I had asked Joel to make a list of tasks that he had performed as a supervisor and to identify the time span of each task.

“For example,” he continued, “I ran a rolling production schedule out for three weeks. So at any one time, I was working three weeks into the future. But there were some other tasks that were longer than I thought.

“I was in charge of raw materials. We would get in shipments of plastic parts that had to be inspected. There was a time when a whole boatload of parts was defective. In the short term, I had to really move around the production schedule to keep things moving. But in the long term, I had to work with the vendor on getting replacement parts in. I had to figure out what we needed to keep in production, then to build some raw goods inventory.

“Finally, I had to spend several months figuring out what the problem was with the parts, working with the vendor to solve the problem. Turns out, there was a bad batch of resin from another supplier. Because of the problem, the resin supplier actually went out of business and our vendor had to find a new source. I know it was his problem, but I had to work with him, trying out and finally certifying a new resin supplier so our parts would hold up. That whole process took three months and my manager expected me to handle it without a lot of direction from her.”

“So the time span for that project was about three months?” I asked.

“Yes, you could call it three months.”

“So, now in your new job, as a manager, what are some of the tasks that you will be responsible for and what is the time span? Take a look at your job description and meet me back here tomorrow.” -TF

Working Into the Future

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“Tell me, Joel, in making your transition from supervisor to manager, why do you think things slowed down for you?” I asked.

“The biggest difference,” he replied, “is that I am not dealing with things so much as I am dealing with people. When I was a supervisor, I just made sure material got moved around, that machines worked and that everybody was at their workstation. Sure, things shifted around and we changed the schedule all the time, but it was easy compared to this. As a manager, things have slowed down, but it’s a lot harder to get things done. It’s more complicated. I have to think further into the future.”

“How far into the future did you have to think as a supervisor?” I pondered.

Joel thought for a minute. He had never considered the time span he had to work into the future before. “Well, as a supervisor, I guess it was only about two weeks out. That’s how far we scheduled people.”

“Tell you what, Joel. The next time we meet, I want you to list out the longest tasks you had as a supervisor. I want to go over that list with you to see if we can make some sense moving forward as a manager.” -TF

The First Challenge

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Joel was not shaking, but he was certainly shaken.

“I just don’t know,” he said. “Since I was promoted from being a supervisor to a manager, things are different. It is certainly not as easy as I thought, a bit out of control.”

“Being new to management is tough. No one prepared you for this, they just promoted you and expected you to figure it out,” I replied.

“And what if I don’t figure it out?” Joel asked.

“Oh, you will figure it out. But that is no insurance that you will succeed. There are a number of reasons that managers don’t make the grade. The first reason is commitment. This is harder than you thought it would be. Being a manager requires a passion for being a manager. Being a manager is a lot different than being a supervisor.”

“You are right about that. Being a supervisor was fun, fast paced, things were always changing and I had to respond quickly. Being a manager, things move slower. I have to think about things. And the worst part, most everything I do is accomplished through other people. Other people are hard to control. They don’t always show up the way I want them to.”

“So, you are facing the first challenge of a being a manager. Do you really want to be a manager? Do you have a passion for it? Just saying yes doesn’t make it so. Why do you have a passion for it?” -TF

Like I Am Not Even There

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“She ignores me, like I am not even there,” Joan complained, “and I am her boss.” Joan joined the company as a manager nine months ago. One of her direct reports was a 12 year veteran with the company.

“What is the behavior you observe?” I asked.

“I call a meeting of my staff, she doesn’t show. I walk past her in the hallway and she doesn’t acknowledge me. She is focus forward. I have seen personality conflicts before, but this one takes the cake.”

“How do you think you will gain her respect?”

Joan shook her head. “I just want her to be nice. At this point, I have about given up on respect.”

I waited for the pity party to settle for a few seconds. “First, this is not a personality conflict. Second, I don’t care if she is nice to you, I just want her respect.”

“Yeah, right, how is that going to happen?”

“It is really very simple. All you have to do is bring value to her thinking and her work. Stimulate her thinking. Help her improve to the next level. You cannot gain respect by giving directives or demanding that she be a nice person. You can only gain respect by bringing value.” -TF

Start It Right Away

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“You tell me,” I said. “You see the new behavior extinguished after one week with no reinforcement. You only have two choices left. Positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement?”

Ryan was concerned that his training program wasn’t sticking. “Well, as long as they are doing it right, I shouldn’t have to say anything. So, I should probably watch them and correct the wrong behaviors.”

Ryan wasn’t lazy, but he really didn’t want to spend any more time than was necessary to make sure the training stuck.

“So, how are you going to monitor the behavior?” I continued.

Ryan was a touch frustrated as he was thinking this through. “I don’t know. I really don’t have the time to spend watching them all day, and by the way, we have 20 workstations in that unit. I would probably have to put three supervisors on just to do the watching. And if it’s the first week, they will mostly be doing it right, so catching them doing it wrong will be happen chance. But if I wait until after the first week to watch, it will be too late. I don’t know.”

“What if you considered positive reinforcement? Make positive comments when they do it right. Then, you could begin the reinforcement right away,” I suggested.

This had never occurred to Ryan in a million years. You could see a wave of relief come over his face. “You mean, I could hit each workstation, make a positive comment and leave?”

“Yep, make a positive comment, leave, go do some other stuff. Come back, make a positive comment, leave, go do some other stuff. You can bring some of the workstations together to watch one guy do it right. That’s one positive comment to five people at the same time. You could take a picture of someone doing it right, print it out, write good job across it with a marker and post it in his workstation. You can do lots of things quickly. Get the new behavior established and move on.” -TF