“I thought I was so smart,” Bianca said. “We had a problem with an ingenious solution. But, when we executed the solution, we created another problem.”
“As always,” I smiled. “The solutions we employ will always create the next set of problems. Indeed, I can always tell a team that is stuck. They are still working on the same problem from the last time I saw them. I can tell when a team is making progress, because they are always trading up one set of problems for another set.”
“As I look at my team,” Logan began, “the problems I see and the problems individual team members see are sometimes different.”
“When that difference exists, it clearly demonstrates the difference in your aim, your goal, and the goals of the individual team members. The goals you have will dictate the problems you have.”
“You know I have always wondered. There was someone who, during the job interview constantly complained about their former boss. At some point, they came very close to calling him an asshole. I didn’t hire that person. For some reason, I was certain that I would be the next asshole in that person’s life.”
“I have to name the problem?” Logan asked, knowing the answer to his own question.
“Yes,” I replied. “Your aim will cause you to notice the problem. Those without your aim, your goal, will not see the problem. What catches your attention, your focus, will depend on your aim. Then name it. The problem you solve will be the problem you name. And, the name you give to the problem will determine what you do about it.”
“Why the long face?” I asked.
Logan’s face tightened. “I’m struggling with a problem,” he finally said.
“Something not going your way?” I wanted to know.
“I’m not as selfish as that,” he replied. “It’s just not going the way I thought it should go.”
“There’s a gap between where you are and where you would like to end up?” I smiled. “And, that’s a problem?”
“Yes,” he nodded, pensively.
“Please understand, Logan, the way you think things ought to be, your goal, will determine the problems you have. And, you will define your problems and struggles in the same way. So, it is really important to examine your goals, the way you think things ought to be. For the way you think will determine the troubles you have.”
“That was a tough one,” Cooper breathed a sigh of relief.
“How so?” I asked.
“The team was struggling with this nasty defect in a critical area of production,” he started. “It took them a while just to collect the data on what was going on, where the failure point was. Then, what to do? That’s when they pulled me in.”
“And?”
“And, I figured it out. Some of their data was defective, which threw them off the trail. Then, I had the insight that solved the dilemma.”
“So, what did you just train them to do?” I was curious.
“I showed them how to solve the problem,” Cooper said.
“No, you showed them that whenever they have a hard problem, they should collect some data, even defective data and then bring the problem to you. That somehow, you will have a brilliant insight that saves the day, and they are off the hook. Not only have you crippled the team from solving their own problems, you have taught them to practice bringing problems to you.”
“I’m stumped,” Sarah explained. “I am trying to get my team to do things, to do them my way, and they seem to just go off and do something else. Somehow, some way, I need to focus on motivation. I need to figure out what I can put out there, as some sort of an incentive to get them to perform better.”
“Do you want to be a psychologist, or do you want to be a leader?” I asked.
“I don’t get it,” she replied.
“Psychologists are always convinced they can figure out a way to motivate people. Don’t get me wrong, they didn’t start with people, they started with rats. First they starved them, then put them in a maze and were astounded when the rats desperately searched and found the food. Amazing, isn’t it, that starving rats would go in search of food.”
“What’s that got to do with people?” Sarah wanted to know.
“That’s a good question for the psychologists,” I replied. “They took their findings of rats and generalized them to people. Except people are more complicated than starving rats. Even the rats, once they found and ate the food, stopped searching. Motivation is elusive. We can find short term external motivators that give us the illusion that we are in control, but that’s not the way people work. External motivation is really manipulation, and only works for a short time and usually only when the manager is around. The only motivation that works long term is something inside the person that causes them to behave in a certain way. You have difficulty causing yourself to work in a different way. Why do you think you have the power to cause someone else to work differently?”
“I’m a little disappointed with my team,” Jesse nodded, looking down.
“And?” I asked.
“We were in the meeting, talking about a new method in one step of our production. It’s way faster and prevents the defects we were seeing during that step. I know it seemed strange to the team, but they said they would trust me and do it the new way.”
“And?” I repeated.
“It was like we didn’t even have the meeting. They talk a good game, but what they say and what they do are different. I wish I knew what they were thinking.”
“Does it really matter what they were thinking. My guess is they were thinking you had a new way. They were thinking it seemed strange. But, they were thinking they trusted your new way. Thinking, even talking is no assurance of behavior. If you want insight into someone’s behavior, watch what they do.”
“People problems,” Sebastian shook his head. “It’s always people problems.”
I smiled. “Yes, you can think people create all your problems, AND they are also the only ones who can create your solutions.”
“So, I can have it both ways?” he chuckled.
I continued to smile. “The way you see your people will determine the problems that land in your lap, and whether those problems arrive with solutions attached. If people are only the source of your frustration, you will find only more problems. If people are also the source of your solutions, you will find inspiration and joy. You get to decide how you see your team.”
“I understand our biggest machine has been off-line for a day and a half?” I asked.
“Two days,” Camila replied. “It was down first thing yesterday morning, but we didn’t report it down until lunchtime.”
“And?”
“It’s fixed now,” she explained. “Someone made a mistake on the machine setup for a specific tool and over-torqued the main drive. The drive can handle the pressure, but the tool came apart and destroyed a bunch of stuff inside the cabinet, including the safety partition. No injuries.”
“And, the fix? What’s the corrective action?” I wanted to know.
“Yeah, we have to make sure the setting doesn’t exceed the tool tolerance,” Camila was quick to respond, hoping the conversation would be over, soon.
“The problem wasn’t a machine setting? The problem was that someone wasn’t paying attention, didn’t doublecheck, wasn’t thinking, wasn’t trained or didn’t have the capability. That’s what you have to fix first.”
“We have the forecast,” Samuel said. “All on a spreadsheet. We know what we need to sell by the end of this quarter.”
I looked up, smiled. “Do you mean, you know what you hope for? Do you mean, based on your explanation for the shortfall last quarter? Or is this just a guess?”
“Well, none of those. It’s just what we believe the CEO would be happy with,” Samuel explained.
“It’s nice to have an agreed upon target,” I surmised, “but do you think it will just happen from the number on the sheet or are you going to make it happen? Do you think you have the power to intervene on what will happen?”
“We are going to try,” Samuel looked determined.
“What will happen, will happen,” I replied. “Are you prepared to intervene in what will happen?”
“I told you, we will put in our best effort.”
“And, what if your current best effort isn’t good enough? Are you prepared? Look, your forecast is a target, not a predictor. We don’t know what is going to happen, nor do we control it. We don’t control what customers do. We don’t control what our competitors do. We don’t control how our supply chain performs. The only thing we can do is to prepare for whatever may happen. So, when it does, and it will, we are prepared. What does that preparation look like?”