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.

Change and the Manager

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If I did not allow you to come to work tomorrow, what tasks would your team find to work on? I get a variety of responses, but they all come down to this: Tomorrow, they would work pretty much on the same things they worked on today.

And if I held you back another day, what tasks would your team find to work on, and what methods would they use? The responses continue to distill: They would work pretty much on the same things as today, using the same methods as today.

Good. Now, how long could your team continue to do that without you? Be honest.

Your team could continue to work on the same tasks using the same methods for a long time. How long? Exactly up to the very moment when…

Exactly up to the very moment when something changes. In that instant, you, as a manager, suddenly have a job. Management is about helping your team adapt to change. In fact, if nothing in your market, in your industry, in your state, in your town, with technology ever changes, then your company does not need you.

The more change you see in your market, in your industry, with technology, the more management you need. -TF

Fat Chance of an Idea

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The response in the room was silence. Everyone counted, one, two, three, waiting for Jeanine to nod her head indicating that the discussion over. Today would be different.

The team knew that the less they contributed, the less they could be held accountable for. Jeanine would describe an issue or a problem, and then ask for ideas. No one ever had any ideas. No ideas meant no accountability. The team was not doing this on purpose. Most counterproductive thinking is done unconsciously.

Productive thinking requires conscious thought. It most often happens by design, rarely happens by chance. Jeanine’s statement of the issue played right into the hands of chance. “The customer is complaining that their product is always late, even though they know it was manufactured by the deadline. Does anyone have any ideas?” Chance of an idea? Fat chance.

We changed Jeanine’s question by simply making it more specific. “In what ways can we move the customer’s product from our manufacturing floor to the staging area and onto the truck in less time?” Suddenly, there were seven ideas.

Productive thinking happens by design. Make your question more specific. You will get more ideas. -TF

Job Description for a Machine

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Question:
You talk about creating a system for recruiting that would rival our equipment procurement system. Where do we start?

Response:
Think about that machine your company just purchased. If the price was north of $50,000, a bunch of people spent a lot of time looking at this machine in many different ways. Here is where it all started.

One, two or three people sat down and did a needs assessment. In that needs assessment, they asked some very fundamental questions.

  • What do we need this machine to do for us?
  • Is there another way, or another machine that would do a better job?
  • At the end of the week, how much production do we need from this machine?
  • What are the quality standards that we need from this machine?
  • How will this machine interface with our current work flow?
  • What kind of support will this machine require to sustain the productivity we need from it?
  • What other customers like us are currently using this machine?
  • How is this machine performing for them?
  • If we grow, what capacity will this machine need, in reserve, to accommodate our growth?

Think about these questions. Replace the word “machine” with the word “person.” Think about the job description you are writing. This is where you start. -TF

Wasted Effort

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“If it doesn’t show on the screen, it is wasted effort.” I grew up in the television production business and that one principle helped us make the most important decisions. If the element did not make a visual impact on the screen, we passed on it.

What does this mean for your team? What defines your “tv screen?” I will lay odds that your “tv screen” is defined by your customer. If your customer does not value your “value added” service, then stop doing it.

How do you know when your customer values your “value added” service? You know, when your customer is willing to pay for it. If it doesn’t show on the screen, it is wasted effort. -TF

Round People in Square Roles

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“In the area of behavior modification, the most, perhaps only, effective means are psychotropic drugs and frontal lobotomies, which may still be legal in some places in New York,” says Ed Ryan.

There are so many round people in square roles. So get out of the behavior modification business and get into the talent selection business.

The most effective managers are not those who are expert in motivation, or coaching, or process improvement. The most effective managers are those that are expert at defining roles and selecting the right people to fill those roles.

Look at your team. How long have you been trying to modify behavior? Any wonder why this is driving you nuts. Stop it. Get better at selecting talent, then go build your team. -TF

Ambiguity and Chaos

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Though his head felt it, the room was not spinning. The muffled conversation was screaming. Lenny was sure he was about to pass out.

In the six months since he was promoted, things had become increasingly chaotic. “When the path is clear, anyone can be the leader,” I told him. “It is in the middle of ambiguity that leadership emerges. The person who paints the clearest picture of reality will emerge as the leader.”

What is this “reality” stuff, and why is it so important? Because reality always wins. You can identify it and deal with it, or ignore it and allow it to eat your lunch.

What is reality in your company? It’s the stuff that keeps you from achieving your goals. It is the head trash that distracts you from effective action, which diverts you from your purpose. Purpose is a good place to start the reality conversation. Purpose helps to make sense of the chaos, creates a context for the noise. Purpose allows us to see clearer patterns of behavior. If you are a Manager and the world is swirling, sit down with your team and have a talk about purpose. -TF

Role of the MOR

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Ralph was amazed when he looked at the overtime. Seventy percent of the employees were working 55 hours a week plus. “We gotta find some more people.”

“So, why don’t you find some more people,” I asked.

“We have tried, but all of our supervisors complain that they don’t have time to read resumes much less conduct interviews. And you should see some of the ragtags they did hire last week. We just don’t know what to do.”

Most companies kick the job of selection and recruiting too low in the org chart. Enter the role of the Manager-Once-Removed (MOR). The MOR is the Manager one level above the supervisor, and is the missing link in most selection processes. Ralph’s complaint about the supervisor is actually the truth. Most supervisors ARE too busy and, for the most part, are not trained to conduct effective interviews.

One level up, the Manager Once Removed (MOR) has more perspective, can make better judgments and is more likely to be trained at interviewing. While the supervisor is cracking the whip on the production floor, the MOR should be planning, forecasting and recruiting. Selection is one of the highest and best uses of time for the Manager Once Removed.

Take a look at your hiring process. Do you have the right people reviewing and selecting talent? -TF

Speed of the Grapevine

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Which is faster in your organization, the monthly newsletter or the company grapevine? I am taking odds.

When something bad happens, it is amazing how quickly news spreads from one work team to the next, one department to the next. If only our company newsletter was half as effective at half the speed. More importantly, we know how well the grapevine works with bad news and gossip. How can we inject positive buzz into that same channel? How can we impact the chatter around the water cooler in a positive way?

Gregg uses a bell. There are certain rules for ringing the bell. It has to be a new contract, success in a collection effort, the closeout on a difficult project. But when the bell rings, no one knows why. They have to ask, “Hey, I heard the bell ring today. What happened?”

“Oh, man, we have been working on the ABC contract for three months. They finally signed.”

That’s the kind of positive buzz I like to hear around the water cooler. What kind of impact do you have on the gossip channel in your organization? -TF

What’s Stopping Us Now?

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Ask these two questions.

1. Where do we want to go?
2. What’s stopping us?

That second step is very interesting. What is stopping us? When you examine the list of what is stopping us, you discover it to be a list of beliefs. They sound like reasons, sometimes excuses, but on closer examination, beliefs.

  • We don’t have enough time.
  • The person doesn’t have the right skill.
  • We don’t trust the person to do it.

Are these reasons, excuses or beliefs? As the list grows longer, it reveals the truth. Most reasons why we don’t take action has to do with the beliefs we hold as managers. To really make headway, we have to look at our beliefs, understand that the reason is ONLY a belief, and that the belief can be changed.

We don’t have time. (You haven’t made this a priority.)
The person doesn’t have the right skill. (They will learn the skill through this delegation.)
We don’t trust the person to do it. (You haven’t set up a feedback system to monitor positive progress.)

It is just a belief. Change it. -TF

No Drill Sergeants in the Jungle

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Drill sergeants yell and scream and get results. Why can’t a manager?

Most of us have either worked underneath or know a manager who behaves like a drill sergeant. The descriptions come easy. He runs a tight ship. He manages like his haircut.

But, it occurred to me, there are no drill sergeants in the jungle. Let’s say a squad is on patrol in hostile territory and one team member falls behind, cannot keep the pace. There is no drill sergeant around to demand 50 pushups. There is no yelling in the jungle. Communication may be whispered or signaled, but there is no “I can’t hear yooouuu!”

Drill sergeants work in an artificial environment called training. Their purpose is to instill discipline to exact trained behaviors. Managers work in the jungle. It’s real in the jungle. Production is real. Quality is real. Customer satisfaction is real.

As a manager, the next time you have an urge to yell like a drill sergeant, you might find a whisper more effective. -TF