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 One Gets to Coast

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There are three kinds of people who attend my classes, and I bet you find the same people on your team.

The first type always shows up early, helps set the meeting room and every time I ask a question, has their hand flailing in the air about to bust a gut. This is the person I call, the Eager Beaver.

The second type shows up on time, seldom late. This is the Vacationer. They are happy to be in the meeting, because they don’t have to be at their desk working. When asked to participate, sometimes they contribute, sometimes they don’t. It doesn’t matter to them, after all, they are on vacation.

The third type would not dare be late, not wanting to attract attention. They slide into a chair in the back of the room. They know they were told to attend this meeting, but they have no clue why. This is the Hostage, sitting arms folded, avoiding eye contact, with a look on their face that says, “Don’t even try to teach me anything.”

So, your team is trying to solve an issue. Which one of the three types will have the idea that saves the day? Think about it. Who can you count on? Who has the creative spark that solves the problem?

As a Manager, you don’t know. You can’t possible know. That is why you need the active participation of each member of the team. Nobody gets to coast, nobody sleeps through, everyone engaged. As a Manager, it is up to you to create that environment. Would you like to know how? -TF

Discover Executive Management Online. Orientation opens in 16 days. Session One opens in 30 days.

Real Time

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Three months had passed, each seeming to rocket toward the deadline looming next Friday. Olga was frantic. What seemed like a lifetime to complete the project was now drawing to a fleeting few days. Meetings had occurred, but to her dismay, she could not remember where she seemed to lose control. Promises had been made, questions asked that needed research, but the project was careening south like a Canadian goose in September. In the heat of the meetings, Olga had scratched some sparse notes, but now, they made little sense, showing more disorganization than authoritative clarity.

And that’s why God made laptop computers. Try this for your next project meetings. Invite either a clerical person or an outsider who has no vested agenda in the project, but enough familiarity to spell the names. Hand them a laptop with an e-mail client (like Outlook). Preload the e-mail addresses of all the participants into a blank e-mail and instruct that notes be taken in the body of an e-mail, or at least as an e-mail attachment.

Those notes should include general summaries of items discussed, commitments made, by whom and deadlines. As soon as the meeting adjourns, press the “send” button. In my class, students always ask, “How soon after the meeting should the minutes be published?”

My answer is always: in Real Time. Everyone gets a copy immediately. -TF

Discover Executive Management Online. Orientation opens in 17 days. Session One opens in 31 days.

Saving Face

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The tension in the air was growing. The silence lasted longer than Troy’s patience. “Okay, you screwed up. Not the end of the world. And you need to make it up to the team.” But how? How could Henry face his peers? Firewatch had been his responsibility and he took a shortcut. The resulting accident had been scary, there was some property damage but no one was hurt. Three people had been in danger and the re-work would put the team a week behind, still with a hard deadline.

As the Manager, Troy could not afford to have the team blow up. He would need all-hands-on-deck, even Henry’s. Henry had to be humble, not defensive. Henry needed to apologize. Henry needed to demonstrate a new attitude of responsibility. Not just a promise, but a demonstration. For this to work, Henry had to save face. Anything less and the team would find itself short-handed, perhaps at odds against itself.

How do you save face when you are wrong? Admit it immediately and emphatically. Take responsibility, don’t blame circumstances. Don’t blame lack of sleep, fatigue, the fate of an accident. Be strong. You are responsible. -TF

Discover Executive Management Online. Next Orientation opens in 18 days. Session One opens in 32 days.

How to Kill a Project

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Apoplectic, enraged, irate, spitting mad. That pretty much describes how Theo felt after his brief encounter with Brad. Two weeks ago, they sat in a delegation meeting, everything according to plan. But here they were, three hours to deadline and the project had not been started. Theo’s ears began to ring as Brad defended himself, “But you never came by to check on the project, I thought it wasn’t important anymore. So, I never started it. You should have said something.”

The lack of follow-up can kill a project. And in the chaos of the impending deadline, the Manager gets caught up, personally starting, working and finishing the project, often with the team standing by, watching.

What one small change could dramatically change the way this delegation played out?

Follow-up. Schedule not one, not two, but, perhaps three or four quick follow-up meetings to ensure the project is on track. Segment the project, and schedule the follow-up meetings right up front, from the beginning. These check-ins are more likely to happen if they are on the calendar. -TF

Catching the Draft

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I am approaching my favorite turnaround, knowing the distance will put me and my bike at 42 miles when I get home. Riding by myself, into the wind, has kept me at a modest 19mph, looking forward to the tailwind on the return. As I pull up to the final traffic light, I notice my regular riding group in the distance. They went long early this morning, already on their return, barreling with the wind. Running an easy pace of 22, they blow by me as I round the turn, hopelessly behind, twenty yards, forty yards, sixty yards.

Even with the wind, fatigue keeps me at 21mph as the group continues to pull away. Then I see Henrik off the back. He has slowed down, waiting for me to catch him. As I slide beneath the protective draft of Henrik’s wheel, my speedometer hits 23. Two minutes later, we are together with the pace line, inside the narrow cone of calm.

What happens when a member of your team gets hopelessly behind? Will one of the stronger members drop off to bring someone along? Have you created a protocol in your company that describes when and how this happens? Do you have a formal coaching or mentoring program integrated with team training?

If I can only catch Henrik’s wheel, he will pull me back to the group. -TF

Whose Flag Is It, Anyway?

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Marjorie was puzzled. Twenty minutes ago, she had adjourned a meeting with her development team. The purpose of the meeting had been to share the newly published annual business plan. For the first time since Marjorie joined the company, the vision, described in the plan, finally made sense. They had staked out a customer base and truly nailed down the objectives for the next twelve months. It was the clearest flag the company had ever planted. Then, why didn’t the team respond enthusiastically?

In my class, I often ask the question, “What’s your flag?” And then, “What are the different flags of each of your team members?”

Which flag do you care the most about? Which flag does your team member care the most about? Here’s the news, nobody cares about your flag. People only care about their own flag. Companies are great about describing their own flag, but nobody cares. Customers don’t care, employees don’t care. People only care about their own flag.

As a Manager, to have any hope in the areas of motivation and alignment, you have to find out the flags of each of your individual team members. Finding out about the flags of your customers doesn’t hurt either. -TF

Build on Strength

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Omar was dejected. He had just spent his annual training budget on a re-engineering consultant. His rationale had been that re-engineering would require a reasonable amount of training to be effective.

Happy at the beginning, the biggest bottlenecks in the plant had been at the top of the agenda. In the re-engineering meetings, everyone was excited and enthusiastic. It was only now, after the project had been shut down and the consultant sent packing that the truth began to emerge.

Omar had intended this process to bring the team together, to create trust, cooperation. Tackling the toughest workflow issues seemed admirable. Only now, he began to learn of the different agendas within the team, hidden agendas, mistrust, turf skirmishes and blaming behavior. That was the buzz. Things were worse now than before.

For Pete’s sake (or Omar’s sake). Why would you take a team and try to solve the most difficult problem on the planet (floor)?

START SMALL. Build trust by having team members report on small successes for the week. Try solving a small problem. Everything the team does sets a precedent for the next team event. If the team tries to solve a difficult problem and fails, they are more likely to fail on the second problem. If the team solves even a simple problem and succeeds, the likelihood for future success (and trust) increases.

START SMALL. Build on strength. -TF

Who is the Bad Guy Here?

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As the team left the room, Mandy had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. There had been lots of promises, but in her heart, she knew that only 10% of the elements on the project would be complete. It was almost as if Mandy should stand on a chair and scream at the top of her lungs, “I really, really mean it this time. We have to get this stuff done.”

Those of us who have children know the futility of standing on chairs and demanding. It is pretty entertaining for the children, but hardly effective.

In what way could Mandy create an atmosphere that would drive higher performance toward the goals set by the team? If standing on chairs and screaming doesn’t do it, what does? Most Managers are not aware of or do not leverage team accountability. Managers assume the role of the bad guy and essentially let the team off the hook when it comes to holding each other accountable for performance.

Turn the tables. In your next meeting, when a team member reports non-performance or underperformance, stop the agenda. Ask each team member to take a piece of paper and write down how this underperformance is impacting their part of the project. Go around the table and ask each person to make a statement. Then ask the team to create an expectation of how the underperformance should be corrected. Go around the table again. Finally, ask the underperformer to respond to the team and make a public commitment to action.

Team accountability is a very powerful dynamic. -TF

Fernando’s Mistake

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Fernando was in a quandary. His newest team member, Paul, made a major mistake on a batch run that was due for shipping this afternoon. QC had pulled a sample, then more samples, eventually, the whole batch.

It was time for an accountability conversation. Fernando knew that Paul was inexperienced, yet showed great promise with a terrific attitude. The mistake would cost about $3,000 in scrap and another $1000 in re-run time. Paul had a great attitude, but this clearly could not happen again.

How was Fernando to talk to Paul without creating defensiveness? How to make sure that Paul would not repeat the behavior again? A passing comment would not work, light-heartedness would not communicate the seriousness of the situation.

Fernando decided to talk about a mistake that he once made. By talking about his own mistake, he could go really deep; describe the details, the consequences, the corrective action. He could talk about emotions, impact on the team, accepting responsibility. By talking about himself, Fernando could lay it all out, without creating a defensive response from Paul.

If Paul does not get defensive, is there a greater likelihood that he will actually take corrective action, change his behavior? -TF

P.S. Join Executive Management Online. Orientation now open, Session One opens in 2 days.

Bon-bons and Fried Calamari

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When I woke up, I knew I was in trouble. I had promised Henrik a 100 mile ride today and I was not in the right condition. The weather had been poor the previous week, so I had trained short. I was in sleep deficit by six hours over the past four days. I had slacked off my diet, eating bon-bons and fried calamari. Today would require peak performance and I was nowhere near my peak.

The warmup was easy, straight downwind with a 16mph tail. Holding an even 20mph pace was effortless. Fifteen miles into the ride, we made a u-turn at Las Olas and turned north, directly into the wind. A pace of 18mph into a wind of 16mph was a 34mph gentle breeze in the face. Hunkering into a compact profile, hiding between the condo towers swirling the blustery weather, we made our way mile by mile. It was just head down, holding cadence until mile 46.

That’s when my knee began a dull throb. I call it tennis elbow, but point to my knee. The pain makes you want to stop, but when you slack the pressure, the pain becomes worse, and we will had 54 miles to go. Our turn into the nose of the wind would last until mile 62.

I was looking forward to the West Palm Beach inlet turnaround. The wind, which had been our foe, would now become our friend. The 18mph pace had been slow and grueling. One mile short, Henrik spotted a pair of riders already traveling south. A week earlier, they had pulled Henrik up to Jupiter inlet. “If we can make the turn and come back to catch them, they can help us,” Henrik shouted to me. He was hammer down and I, behind, had no choice but to grit my teeth and go with.

We caught the pair, but they were on a Saturday recovery ride and in no mood to pick up the pace. Our efforts had moved us down the road, but we were on our own again and 40 miles from home. My legs hurt, my butt hurt, my knee hurt. It did not matter, I was still 40 miles from home.

At mile 85, the blustery skies opened up and it started pouring rain. Our agreement to seek shelter in the event of a storm was abandoned. We were too far along and only 15 miles to go. My glasses were spattered with rain drops and mud. The road grime on my jersey was melting away, the rear wheel throwing water and debris up from the backside. One hundred miles came none too soon. All I could think of was getting a hot shower.

Being a manager, often, the going gets tough. You have decisions to make, problems to work through, material shortages, work delays. Fitness, in my mind, is one of the six dimensions of performance. It has an impact on how well you perform, as a manager. How is your nutrition, how well do you sleep, how consistent is your training (yes, managers need to train)? When the going gets tough and peak performance is required, how close are you to your peak? -TF