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.

Reserve Power

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Saturday was 75 miles downwind into Key Largo and Sunday was 75 miles back, into the teeth of the same blustery wind-gift from the day before. The event was the MS-150 to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy.

At the end of a single day cycling event, the bike is parked, muscles stretched and beer consumed. A multi-day event requires a different strategy, a strategy called Reserve Power.

On the second day, through a particularly gusty stretch, leaning into the handlebars, turning 105 cadence, it occurred to me how often projects go this same way. Anticipated energy and resources are consumed, yet the project continues. Overtime cranks in and phone calls home tell of delayed dinners.

Often in management, we focus on tangible resources, raw goods and machine capacity. An important area we often miss is the management of energy. This is seen in morale, momentum and enthusiasm.

On a bicycle, running out of energy is called bonking, and once bonked, recovery to continue is rare and performance dramatically compromised. As a manager, be aware of the emotional energy of your team. Manage that energy. Build reserve power. -TF

Gap Analysis

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The meeting took a sudden turn for the worse when Emil stood up, walked over in front of Sharon and slammed down the report. Up to then, things had been ambling along with the usual finger pointing, back biting and general nastiness. Now, there was real confrontation.

The GPS Project had been off track for several weeks and had been the whipping post of every department meeting in the past 14 days. As I listened, it occurred to me that, what had been said, was true. The problem was in the structure of the conversation, or the lack of it, that prevented the team from making progress.

I suggested a Gap Analysis. This is quick and easy. Take a flipchart piece of paper and make three columns. Column 3 is used to define what we expected. This could come from any list of goals, benchmarks or milestones. Column 1 is to document what we got, instead. This is what actually happened in relation to the expectation. The middle column is the gap, which can now be used to document what actions can be taken to close the gap.

This simple structure can be used to turn the whining, moaning and complaining into a useful conversation. -TF

The Cause of the Problem

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Monday’s blog about open door policies struck a nerve. Here is an excerpt from one of many e-mails:

“People tell me that I should have one of those number machines outside my door, like the ones they have at the deli. Sometimes, my open door policy really does prevent me from doing my job and meeting deadlines.”

As a manager, people line up outside your door because you have trained them to do that. One day, they had a problem, they brought it to you and you solved it. Now, whenever they have a problem, they bring it to you. As a manager, you have created a downward spiral that continually shifts the burden to your shoulders. If you manage a team of six, you have six people constantly dumping problems on your desk.

Stop it.

As a manager, it is your responsibility to reverse the flow. As a manager, your primary objective is to build a team that can solve its own problems. Train your people to bring you solutions.

One of my clients printed up a small pad of paper that he kept on the corner of his desk. Whenever a team member arrived with a problem, he ripped off the top sheet and sent them to the conference room for ten minutes. Here is what the sheet said:

1. What do you think is causing the problem?
2. Name three solutions that might solve the problem?
3. Which is the best solution that might solve the root cause of the problem?

So, ten minutes later, the manager would go to the conference room, only to find it empty. Problem solved. -TF

Think Fast

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Lisa Haneberg, at Management Craft, was curious about the time frame allotted for having a team create questions in a meeting. I was suggesting that the team create twelve questions in the short span of six minutes.

It’s a twist on “Work expands to fill the time allotted.” People will think quickly if you ask them to think quickly. While it sounds like an aggressive dynamic, my experience tells me that fifteen minutes yields no better results than six minutes. Especially in meetings, I err on the side of going too fast. If I need to slow down, most teams will raise their hand and tell me.

This brain dynamic is the topic for a recent book by Malcolm Gladwell, called Blink. “Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant, in the blink of an eye.” People will think quickly if you ask them to think quickly. -TF

What Are You Going To Do About That?

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“I just can’t seem to get anything done,” lamented Ralph. “It seems that, all day long, people just line up at my door with questions and problems they cannot solve. I spend more time working on their problems than my own problems.”

I asked Ralph how accessible he was. “Oh, I have an open door policy. In fact, I cannot remember the last time I closed my door.”

An open door policy sounds like an admirable leadership trait, when, in practice, it can create unintended results. An open door policy can actually train your team members that you are the fastest way to solve a problem. As the manager, you can become the shortcut that prevents independent research, arriving at new ideas, or formulating original strategy.

On the wall behind the swivel chair of one of my favorite clients is posted the following phrase, “What are you going to do about that?”

Next time, one of your team members enters your “open door” with a problem they wish you would solve for them, try this response. “That’s curious, what are you going to do about that?”

You might even get some of your own work done. -TF

You Will Never Get What You Want

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You will never ever get what you want!!! You will only get what you focus on.

At first I am disappointed, because I really want what I want. It makes me feel bad to understand that I will never get what I want.

If I really want it, I have to focus on it.

A client lamented, “It is really hard to find good people these days. We just never seem to hire the kind of people we really want.” So, what did I feel like screaming? YOU WILL NEVER EVER GET WHAT YOU WANT! You will only get what you focus on.

It’s not that you can’t find good people out there. You just have not focused your concentration and energy to find good people. So, what does focus look like? Think about finding good people, talk about finding good people, have meetings about finding good people, plan a campaign to find good people. Roll out an action plan to find good people.

You will never get what you want. You will only get what you focus on. -TF

Hierarchy of Horrors

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“We seem to get so many customer complaints that I feel like I am just putting out fires all day. I am afraid to take time off. Thank goodness we shut the phones down on Sunday,” lamented Bryan.

The reason we create customer service departments is to deal with customer complaints. If you are in business, you will get complaints from customers.

Have everyone in the customer service department meet ten minutes early and make a list of all the complaints from the day before. Next, from the customer perspective, rank them from bad to worse.

1. The delivery was ten minutes late.
2. The delivery was one hour late.
3. The delivery was two hours late.
4. The delivery never arrived.
5. The wrong item was delivered and customer had to return item.
6. The item was delivered damaged and the customer had to file a claim.

The next day, repeat the process and co-mingle the priorities from bad to worse. The pattern created is what Michael Basch (former Federal Express guy) calls the “Hierarchy of Horrors.” With this patterned list, you can now systematically make improvements in the areas that require the most attention. This list is valuable for management meetings where other departments might be able to help.

Make your list. What is your customer’s “Hierarchy of Horrors?” -TF

Simple Exercise

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The meeting had come to a standstill. Oh, Marion was still talking, but no one was listening. No one was thinking, no one was contributing.

“Marion, stop!” There was an immediate startled moment in the room. “In one sentence, Marion, what is the issue we are talking about?”

“Well, it’s not really an issue, it’s just an update on the Phoenix project, just the stuff that happened last week.”

“That’s not true, Marion. This is not just a report on what happened last week. The Phoenix project is four weeks behind schedule, the clients pissed off and we don’t have a clue what is driving it into the ground.”

Simple exercise. Pair off the team members and give them the following assignment: Create twelve questions designed to expose what needs to be corrected on the Phoenix project. Only questions are allowed. Time frame: Six minutes to create the questions.

Six minutes later, this meeting had a dramatic change in mood, tempo and attitude. Marion was no longer comfortable responding to the questions. It is possible we were finally talking about something real. -TF

Pairing Behavior

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“Can you believe that jerk took credit for the idea that our team came up with? And can you believe the big cheese boss bought it, hook, line and sinker? Won’t they be surprised when they run into the fatal flaw? That will fix their wagon.”

I often hang out at the water cooler, especially with new clients. The official issues facing most companies are often smoke-screens for the unofficial issues I hear about at the water cooler. And for my money, the unofficial issues are much more dangerous and tougher to deal with than the official issues.

In psychological lingo, this water cooler talk is known as “pairing” behavior, where a pair of people leave a group to advance (gossip about) an underground agenda. These conversations carry more insight to the real roadblocks facing most organizations.

Unfortunately, most managers ignore these real problems, hoping to deal with the smoke-screen official problems. And then, wonder why no real progress is being made in the organization.

Spend some time at the water cooler. That’s what I do. -TF

Two Weeks Later, Nothing Changed

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So you attended that tactical planning meeting. Everything was high fives, energy in the room. Man, you were going to tackle the world and solve the most dramatic problems your company faces. There were enough ideas to paper the wall. The facilitator ran out of high priced ink in his Marks-a-Lot.

But now, you are two weeks down the road and nothing has changed. Not one iota. What the hell happened?

I see companies get so involved with brainstorming that they fail to become judgmental enough to come up with the ONE BEST IDEA that will solve the problem. All the ideas seem so creative, the team cannot say no. Rather than adopt one strategy, rejecting all the others, and following through, the team languishes in the Jacuzzi of ideas.

Brainstorming, to be effective, requires the team to suspend judgment and accept all ideas. That’s perfect for brainstorming. But, sooner or later, a real strategy must develop that requires analysis, judgmental thinking, rejection of marginal ideas, combining strengths of related ideas and surgically carving away the ineffective positions.

Identifying the ONE BEST IDEA is a separate step from brainstorming, and absolutely necessary for effective action. -TF