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.

No Respect

Leave a reply

Question
I just don’t know how to gain their respect. Sometime in the meeting, it’s as if they are not even listening to me. They nod and agree, promise to follow through. The next day, they are back to the same non-productive behavior. They don’t even respect the meeting. They show up late, sometimes not at all. Where are their priorities?

Response
Rodney lives on in the lives of many managers. Expecting respect, demanding respect didn’t work for Mr. Dangerfield and doesn’t work for most managers.

You will never gain respect until you, as their manager, bring value to their thinking and their work.

Stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about your team member. If you, as a manager, want to bring value to the thinking and work of your team members, start by asking them questions. Through questions, you can help them clarify, explore, challenge, plan and follow-up.

In my years in the classroom, I have found that no one really listens to me, anyway. So, I stopped lecturing and started asking questions. Something happened. My students started learning from themselves.

Start. Start asking questions that bring value to the thinking and work of your team. Rodney will rest in peace.

Oh, if you are not getting the response you want, you are asking the wrong question. Happy New Year -TF

Seduction of the Red Zone

1 Reply

Stephen Covey calls it the tyrrany of the urgent. I don’t think it’s tyranny, I think it is a subtle seduction, the seduction of the Red Zone.

Take two parameters of time, IMPORTANT and URGENT. Now, that’s where the action is. When I ask for a list, I get enthusiastic responses:

  • Customer complaints
  • Request from the boss
  • Project deadline due last Monday
  • BIG customer problem

URGENT and IMPORTANT!! Stuff a manager can really sink their teeth into. Are managers good at this stuff, these special requests, last minute deadlines and BIG customer problems? Yeah, baby, in fact, they are Managers because they are good at this stuff.

“I am on a break in a meeting, thought I would call in, please, give me a problem to solve.”

This is the juice that managers thrive on. They begin to fall for anything that even looks URGENT and IMPORTANT. After a while, URGENT alone is good enough. Please give me some more juice.

But, what about the IMPORTANT, but NOT-URGENT stuff? What kind of management behavior is that? You know, planning, delegating, coordinating, controlling, directing. Not much juice there, but what impact would these behaviors have on things in the red zone? With better planning, delegating and coordinating, some things in the red zone go away.

By the way, the red zone is where heart attacks start. -TF

Little Murders

Leave a reply

Most managers are unaware of the fishbowl in which they live. Years ago, I received some sage advice from one of my scoutmasters as a young patrol leader. “When you look at your own behavior in front of the other scouts, remember, you can’t go take a pee without everyone knowing about it.”

Every move a manager makes is amplified and remembered. If a manager arrives at work and walks past the receptionist without saying, “Good morning,” well, then, the business MUST be going down the tubes.

Jules Pfeiffer, a famous cartoonist, used to have a series he called, Little Murders in which he depicted the little murders we each commit every day. Little Murders we commit, often without intention or even awareness. We may not be aware, but it is still a Little Murder.

Who did you walk by today, without stopping, without a cheery remark, without a smile? How many Little Murders did you commit today? Remember, amplification works in the other direction, too. A few moments, a kind word, a warm handshake, a listening nod may make all the difference in a team member’s day. -TF

White Boards

Leave a reply

One inch higher on the left and the magnetic white board would be level. It had been the subject of much speculation on the shop floor that morning. There were several theories floating around, but no one had correctly guessed what the boss had in mind.

While the shop floor was organized according to a logical work flow, production had gotten further and further behind. The right jobs were late, the wrong jobs were early.

Last Friday, the boss had taken an informal poll. “George,” he said, “tell me, how do you know if we are ahead of schedule or behind schedule?” It was a fair question, but one that George did not know how to answer. “Well, boss, I guess if we were behind schedule, someone would come out here and tell us.”

It was an interesting response, seeing as how the floor was running only 28% on-time delivery. The boss walked over to the foreman’s office, leaned in and asked, “Say, John, when we are behind schedule, which I know is most of the time, do we ever tell anyone out on the shop floor?”

“Oh, no, boss, if we did that, they might get discouraged and quit.” Another interesting response.

You see, the boss had just heard of an experiment in a plant where they simply published production numbers on a daily basis to everyone in the plant. Every time there was an improvement over the previous day, the manager would circulate and thank everyone. No bonuses, no pizza, just a complimentary remark. The slow group in the plant improved from 83% efficiency to 87% efficiency. The fast group, however, improved from 96% efficiency to 162% efficiency (62% beyond predicted capacity.)

One inch higher on the left and the magnetic white board would be level. I wonder what your numbers would be. -TF

Contagious

1 Reply

What is more contagious than a positive attitude? A negative attitude, of course!

At the beginning of most classes I teach, I always ask, “Think of one positive thing that has happened to you this past week.” Often, there are blank stares, quizzical looks, some hard thinking going on there. Given another thirty seconds, most can finally come up with something. What makes this exercise so difficult?

A much easier question would have been, “What is the worst thing that happened to you this past week?” People never have trouble coming up with that one. They are happy to tell you about things not working out in their lives. Interesting that makes them so happy.

Thinking negative thoughts is largely an unconscious activity. People express negative thoughts without thinking. Idle gossip is rarely intentional, it just happens and those who get sucked into it are not even aware they are traveling in that direction.

As a manager, if you want to set a positive tone, you will have to challenge your team to think about positive things. The expression of positive thoughts is a conscious activity. It requires active thinking. It is work to think that way. Positive thoughts and positive expression only occur intentionally. As a manager, it is your responsibility to challenge your team to think this way. -TF

Visualization and the Budget

Leave a reply

How do we know when we will run out of money? That’s what budgets are for. What is this budgeting process all about? How do you teach someone how to budget? How do we create comprehensive budgets for something in the future?

Strip all the accounting jargon away, and you find that a budget is, simply, the money part of every business plan. The first step in planning is visualization, seeing into the future and imagining the resources required. Working with my students, I insist that their visualizations include colorful detail, the smell of the room, the focus of light, the heat of the moment. When the vision of a project can be described in vivid, compelling terms, the job of imagining the budget becomes so much easier. How do I teach people to budget? I teach them to visualize the future and imagine the resources required to create the picture. You can do this individually or with your team.

The second step of any business plan is taking inventory (not literal inventory), but reviewing the historical elements that got you to the present. Prior projects often have “budgeted” costs and always have “actual” costs. Reviewing these historical reports combined with that clear picture of the future will create a budget with fewer surprises. -TF

Nice pull, Mike!

Leave a reply

I was third rider off the nose as our bikes snaked down A-1-A. In the face of a headwind, it was tough to keep the speed above 20mph. Mike had been on the nose for four minutes, fought through a couple of gusts that literally moved my front wheel 6 inches off the line. We were cresting a short incline, picking up speed. I knew Mike was about spent.

Two bikes ahead, I saw his taillight move left and I knew that he was done. Four minutes ago, we had popped out from behind the protection of a row of condo towers and smacked straight into the wind. But Mike is a steady rider, maintains a solid cadence.

Moving up the pace line requires focused concentration. Each cyclist is 12-24 inches off the wheel in front, tucked into a protective draft, maintaining spacing, watching for hazards, checking speed, searching for traffic, pedaling a stiff heart rate, controlled breathing, feeling the burn of lactic buildup.

“Good job, Mike!”
“Thanks, Mike!”
“Great pull!”
“Good speed!”

As Mike dropped to the back of the pace line, each cyclist he passed had a word of appreciation, encouragement and inspiration. I know Mike was dog tired. He had beaten the wind for the past five minutes and was seeking protection on the end of the pack. But, I saw him sit taller and his cadence increase. His body was beat, but his spirit was up.

Are your team members getting too much appreciation from each other? As your team winds its way through the day, what does appreciation sound like? Does your team have a protocol, an established time and place where they can genuinely thank each other for support and contribution? Does your team practice thanking each other?

Merry Christmas. -TF

Vision & Motivation

Leave a reply

When I was training for a marathon (at the ripe age of 39), Thursday morning would arrive at 3:30. The alarm clock would ring and I had a decision to make. I could throw it against the wall and return to my slumber, or I could put on my shoes and head out the door.

At 3:31am, I put together the connection between vision and motivation.

The goal was clear, 16 miles, in the cold. But for some reason, that goal did not get me going. In fact, the only thing that got me out of bed was my vision. My vision was a movie-like first-place finish breaking the tape, wind in my hair, looking sharp in my fancy running togs. It was only that clear and compelling vision that got my feet on the floor.

Here is the truth. Your team doesn’t care about your goals. They are not exciting. The only tool you have, as a manager, to get your team juiced up, is a clear and compelling vision of the future. A vision complete with vibrant color, exciting sounds and the smell of success. It is a description of the details that breathe life into a project. Vision is where enthusiasm lives, energy, drive and inspiration.

So, think about your recent projects.

  • When they were planned, what picture did you paint for your team?
  • Could they see it?
  • How excited were they about your picture of the future?
  • How did that project go, anyway?

If you want to make it better, if you want your team to become engaged, paint a better picture. Better yet, get your team to help you paint the picture. –TF

Mastery

Leave a reply

“It is difficult to lead the charge if you think you look silly on top of a horse.”

I am often asked to describe the most important qualities of leadership. What does it take to make a good leader? There are many qualities. Today I am thinking of Mastery.

Mastery is the beginning of self-confidence. Many times, people believe they can pump themselves up with a motivational book or by attending a motivational seminar. While there are temporary positive feelings of invincibility, it doesn’t take more than a few hours back at the office for that to wear off.

True self-confidence begins with mastery. “Mastery over what?” Well, just about anything that requires some new degree of skill, anything that requires a person to truly push their performance beyond their current level of self-confidence. Most folks seldom push themselves beyond their current limits, for fear of failure. It is in the facing of that fear (fear of failure) that I see true growth, a new level of mastery. There can be no mastery without the possibility of failure.

When was the last time you truly pushed yourself beyond your limits? When was the last time you engaged in something new, something that required you to think in new ways that required more tenacity than you have ever mustered before? It isn’t going to come from a book. It isn’t going to come from a seminar. Get off the couch, go do something new. -TF

Partner’s Time Horizon

2 Replies

Question:
I’m at wits end. Discussions with my partner are becoming more and more frustrating. He keeps making decisions that have a positive short term impact, but a negative impact in the long run. I try to sit down with him, but the conversation ends up with an argument. I usually back off just to keep the peace, but, sooner or later, the long term will catch up with us.

Response:
Who was it, Yogi Berra, who said “the future ain’t what it used to be.” You are correct. Q1-2005 is just around the corner, it is very short term, but five years ago, Q1-2005 was seriously long term planning. Here is an interesting question, “What decisions did we make 5 years ago that put us precisely in this predicament today going in to 2005?”

Interesting question, but there is more going on here. Your description is a classic dilemma between two people harboring different time horizons. Time Horizon is defined as:

  • The length of time a person can work into the future, without direction, using their own independent, discretionary judgment.

Some people have a one-day Time Horizon, others have one-week, one-month, three-months or a year. Some people can work into the future two years, or five years. Some, even 10 years, thirty years. The decision to build the Hoover Dam was made by a person whose Time Horizon was substantially longer than 5, or even 10 years. People have different Time Horizons, and it’s hard wired.

Finally, I am concerned about the quality of the conversation. To be productive, you have to recast the context of the discussion. In the beginning of the discussion, you have to grant permission to each other to disagree. (What the hell does that mean?) It means creating a structure where opposing viewpoints can be considered and explored. Right now, your structure is an argument. You don’t even explore your own point of view, you back off. Some of my clients use something as simple as the De Bono hats exercise. Each member of the discussion (even if it’s only two people) assumes a different point of view around the problem based on the color of hat they are wearing at the time. White might be legal, green -finance, yellow -short term impacts, blue -long term impacts. Each person argues their color, with passion, exuberance, turning over stones and exploring the extreme. Nobody backs off. The ending decision can now be made with more facts on the table, with all points of view appropriately considered. -TF

If you have a question to submit, you can e-mail: tfoster {at} fosterlearning {dot} org