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.

Perfectly Equipped

1 Reply

I looked at the breakout session on the hotel marquee. Today in the Yeehaw Room was a symposium on Best Practices.

I smiled.

Best Practices are necessary but not sufficient.

Past experience may be helpful, but seldom covers all the bases. Past experience seldom anticipates all the change. Past experience often misses critical elements that will be different in the future.

Best Practices are what we teach in school. Those who live by Best Practices will find themselves perfectly equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. Accomplishment always happens in the future. -TF

This Guitar is Out of Tune

1 Reply

Marvin was not in his office when I arrived. It didn’t take long to find him among a group of people desperately trying to solve a problem with a machine on the floor.

“It’s always something,” Marvin said. “Just when we get one problem solved, it seems like some other variable goes out of whack. We are trying to figure out why this thing won’t maintain the pressures we need.”

“When did all this start?”

“Weird, it started just a couple of months ago. We have been making these units this way for ten years. We have tweaked almost every parameter and this guitar is so out of tune, it sounds sick.”

“So, what are the factory defaults on the unit? What are the baselines?” I asked. Marvin just stood there. You could see the blood draining from his face. They had been working on this problem for two months, trying to figure out how to adjust the machine.

“Sometimes,” I continued, “we have to clear the decks and go back to square one.” Twenty minutes later, after restoring the defaults and making three adjustments, the machine was holding tolerance. For the first time in two months.

Often, the problem we are trying to solve is the wrong problem. -TF

The Perfect Trap

Leave a reply

From the Ask Tom mailbag:

As a follow-up question regarding the necessity for a Manager to think into the future.

Question:

The question(s) are: How do you determine the time frame that a manager should be thinking into the future? Given your garden-variety project, do you figure out “lead time” for the group? Example: team has to prepare documents for an audit in two weeks, we have an existing pool of docs to update. You’ve discussed this in the past, however your thoughts would be appreciated.

Response:

This question sets the perfect trap for the manager with short term thinking. Of course, this short term project has to be completed prior to the two week deadline. But here is what a manager needs to be thinking about.

What audit projects do I anticipate receiving during the next twelve months? What is the scope of those projects, how long will they take and what technical work is necessary? If I chart out a timeline of the number of projects over the next twelve months, how many overlap, or are there quiet periods in between?

Who will I need on my team to do the technical work, the research, the preparation and the review? Who will I need to perform the administrative work of tracking all of the elements and packaging the audit when the work is completed?

Who do I have on my staff now and who do I need to recruit? What impact will that have on my budget, in terms of expense to the anticipated revenue? When do I place the ads, when do I interview and when do I make the hires?

How long will training take to get these people up to speed to perform this audit work? Who will do the training?

All of these questions require way more than two weeks. These are the issues for the successful manager. The typical timespan (working into the future) for any working manager is twelve months. -TF

But, what about today?

Leave a reply

“But, what about today?” asked Kristen. “It’s great to think about the future, but I have to get stuff done today.”

In class, we had been talking about how a manager has to think differently.

“The anchor for the manager has to be some specific time point in the future. Every action we take only has meaning related to that future time point. Call it planning, call it a milestone, call it a goal.

“You are right. You have to get stuff done today. Action occurs today. The role of the manager is to inspect that future time point and create today’s effective action. Here is the question. What is the destination, and what is the most effective action we can take, today, to get there?” -TF

Into the Future

1 Reply

We kicked off a new management program last week. With every class, I have a new manager, recently promoted, on the cusp of a brand new role.

“What’s the biggest difference? What will change for me? What do I have to learn?” The questions reveal the chasm, a chasm that requires a journey full of twists, turns and decisions to be made.

“The biggest difference,” I begin, “is time span. As a manager, you will begin to think further into the future.

“As a team leader of a crew, you might think about what needs to be produced this week. As a new supervisor, you also have to think about what the schedule looks like for two weeks. The big project three weeks from now will require more prep and staging time.

“As a new manager, you have to think about your system that captures forecast data and translates that data into materials, people, equipment and timelines.

“Becoming a manager, at any level, requires you to think further into the future, using your own discretionary judgment.” -TF

The Fix

Leave a reply

Kyle was listening, but not sure if he liked what he heard. He wasn’t happy with his team, but it was working exactly as he had designed it. I had suggested the fix was not to work on the team, but to work on the person who designed the team.

“Your team will perform, for better or worse, based on who you are as a leader,” I suggested. “It will not perform better because you are able to fix something gone wrong, or able to decide how many units to produce today. Your team will perform based on who you are.”

“Who I am?” asked Kyle.

“Yes, Kyle. Who are you? Where are you going?” -TF

Exactly What You Designed

2 Replies

“They just don’t get it,” protested Kyle. “Why are they so stupid?”

“Why are they so stupid? Or why are you so stupid for expecting them to get it?” I asked. Kyle did not expect my response and I could see him stiffen in the chair. He didn’t know how to react to the challenge, so he countered with a question.

“What do you mean?” he said, stalling for time. I was quiet. The seconds ticked by. Kyle finally broke the silence. “Okay, they are not stupid. I just wish they could be more productive, and solve problems better, work smarter.”

“You have exactly the kind of team you have designed,” I said. Kyle’s face lightened a bit.

“You know, you are probably right,” he replied. “So, how do I make it better? How can I improve the design?”

I waited. “It’s not a matter of improving the design. It’s a matter of improving the designer.”

Personal Connection

Leave a reply

“So, knowing each team member’s name is not just a thing to do that seems nice?” I had been talking to Ernie about his team. Remembering names was serious business for Ernie.

“No, I mean, I am probably pleasant enough,” responded Ernie. “But being able to call someone by name gets their attention. I believe it actually changes the way they feel about themselves. And quite frankly, the way I feel about them has a lot less to do with their attitude than the way they feel about themselves.

“I can give my team a bunch of pep talks and motivational speeches, but nothing has the punch, nothing makes the connection more personal, than being able to call someone by name.”

He Cannot Hide

Leave a reply

“So, knowing each person by name must create a warm and fuzzy feeling some people never get at work,” I said. I had been talking to Ernie about his team pictures collage in his office.

Ernie laughed. “Oh, it’s way more than that. Some of that sensitivity training stuff they send us through, would have you believe that it’s only important to establish a friendly relationship and get people to like each other. Like I want to win a popularity contest or something. But here is the real payoff.

“When a new team member suddenly realizes that I know he exists, that I can recognize him by name. And that a couple of times a week, I might come over and sit down next to him and strike up a short conversation, something else happens. Sure he may feel warm and fuzzy, but he also knows that he cannot hide. He knows that his productivity is important. He knows if he performs, he will receive some appreciation. He knows if he doesn’t perform, I am going to call him on it. He knows he is not a faceless line worker, but that I value his contribution each and every day.”

The Secret Collage

2 Replies

It didn’t take me long to notice something interesting in Ernie’s office. Posted over the side of his credenza was a collage of pictures, each with a person’s name. It wasn’t just five or six pictures, more like thirty-five or forty.

“Quite a display,” I said.

“Yeah, that’s my team,” Ernie responded with a smile.

“All those people directly report to you?” I asked.

“No, I have six supervisors in the mix, but that’s my team, forty-six people. In fact, I have two new guys right here.” Ernie showed me two new pictures, each with their name captioned at the bottom. “When someone starts on my team, we take a digital picture and I photoshop their name at the bottom. I stick it up here on my board, so I get used to the face and the name together. I gotta tell you. I used to be really bad at names, so this is my cheat sheet.

“What I really like to do is, wait a couple of days after someone starts on the line. They probably haven’t seen me up close since their orientation. I walk over, sit down next to them and I am able to call them by name. This place is so big, most people expect that I don’t know they exist, much less know their name.

“Every couple of days, I drop by and do the same thing again. I cannot tell you how important it is to be able to call someone by name.”