Category Archives: Accountability

Underestimating the Level of Work

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“I still don’t know what you are getting at,” Arlene shook her head. “It’s entry level work. You are right, it’s not that interesting.”

“Don’t be so swift,” I reprimanded. “Let’s talk about this entry-level work. First, what is work?”

Arlene was looking up, retrieving the answer planted in her mind some weeks ago. “I remember. Work is making decisions and solving problems.”

“Okay. And what decisions must be made in connection with this entry-level work?”

“It’s pretty cut and dried,” Arlene related. “Our work is highly regulated. Everything we do has to be within very specific guidelines.”

“And what if it’s not cut and dried,” I challenged. “You see, the guidelines you work under only set the quality standards for the output. Let’s ask the question again. What decisions must be made in connection with this work? And as we answer, I think you will find this work is quite a bit more than entry-level.”

What’s Missing in the Work?

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“What has been missing in this young recruit’s career?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Arlene replied. “All she seemed interested in was how many vacation days she is going to get.”

“Why do you think she is focused on her vacation days? What has been missing? Missing in her work before she came to your company two months ago? And perhaps still missing in her work?”

“Well, I don’t know,” admitted Arlene. “It is pretty basic, entry level work. Perhaps there really isn’t that much to focus on, except how much vacation comes with the job.”

“You might be right be right about the job,” I agreed. “But what about the work?”

What Has Been Missing?

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Goal Directed work is a basic feature of all life. -Elliott Jaques

All life. Not just humans, all life.

What is work?

Work is an organism’s judgment in making decisions to reach a goal? -Elliott Jaques

Work is not pushing the red button. Pushing the red button is not the goal. In the orientation, we made it a point to tell the technician that his job was to push the red button. Maybe that is the job, but that is not the work.

The goal is to produce a specific quantity of material at a specific quality standard by the end of the day. The work is not to push the red button. The work is using judgment to make decisions to produce the goal.

There are staging decisions, decisions of speed and pace, decisions about work station organization and cleanliness, decisions about scrap, decisions about machine noise, machine funny noise, maintenance engineering. Do I lubricate now, or make three more cuts, then lubricate? Am I behind in my task assignment or ahead in my task assignment? Did this last piece meet the quality standard? Pace and quality, pace and quality?

Arlene’s desk was clear. Her arms were folded. “Yesterday, I had a discussion with a recent hire, two months, asking about her experience with us so far. Her response was, two weeks vacation wasn’t enough, would like to take lunch at no set time, and doesn’t understand why no Christmas bonus.”

“What has been missing in this young recruit’s career?” I replied.

Essence of Accountability

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The past couple of weeks, we have been looking at teams and accountability, some great comments.

Don writes:

Team responsibility is a nonsensical theory developed by academics that have never functioned in the work place. No one is ever responsible for the ultimate outcome of the group or the damage done to the company. Every major crash in American business can be tracked to every level of management claiming they were never informed of a problem by their “team”. Group rule equals wasted time in the form of unproductive meetings, unrealistic goal setting and the pushing of responsibility to the lowest level. If American businesses doesn’t wake up, this team business format will be called the predecessor to economic depression.

Colleen writes:

I work for an internet marketing company with team members all around the U.S. We’ve never even met in person, know very little about each other, but somehow we accomplish a lot together. I guess it’s about the quarterbacking, huh. Just a matter of doing the task you’re assigned and letting the quarterback do the coordinating.

The essence of accountability. The manager is to be held accountable for the performance of the team. This simple concept is a game changer. -TF

Not a Group

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“At first, this group dynamics stuff looked interesting, you know, everyone together under a team incentive bonus. It sounded exciting in the seminar, but in real life, this is painful,” Naomi explained. “The worst part, is we’re not getting any work done.”

“So, who is accountable?” I asked.

“I think everyone has to take a small part of the responsibility for the team not cooperating,” Naomi replied.

“No, I don’t mean who is responsible for the mess. I mean, who is accountable for the goal?” I insisted.

“The goal? We’re not even talking about the goal. We are just talking about cooperating better together, as a team.”

“Perhaps, that’s the problem,” I suggested. “You are spending so much time trying to cooperate as a group, that you forgot, we are trying to get some work done around here.

“Is it possible,” I continued, “that you have been misdirected to think more about shared fate and group dynamics than you have about your team. A team is not a group. A group may be bound together by shared fate, but a team is bound together by a goal. Stop thinking about group dynamics and start thinking about the goal. That’s why we are here in the first place.” -TF

Resentment

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“Well, the bonus was designed to promote teamwork. At the end of the year, if they made their team goal, everyone would get the same amount of incentive from the pool,” Naomi explained.

“And?” I prompted.

“And, it turns out that some team members feel like they are doing all the work and that other team members are not contributing at the same level. A little resentment. And it goes both ways, the others say they are doing their best, but circumstances are preventing the team from reaching their goal.”

“And, what is your role, as the manager?”

“My role? I am trying to stay out of it. The consultant said to let the team work it out. This group dynamics stuff, you know.”

“And how is that approach working for you, as a manager?” -TF

Teambuilding With Ropes

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Naomi had several sheets in front of her, spread out like a game of solitaire. “I don’t understand,” she remarked. “I thought I had this group nailed together.”

I dug deep into my bag of diagnostic questions and asked, “How so?”

“Our company has really been working hard this year on teamwork. We know that higher levels of cooperation and cross support make a big difference on our output. I thought I had this team dialed in, but sometimes cooperation seems to be the last thing on their mind.”

“What makes you think you had this team dialed in?” I asked.

Naomi was quick to respond, “Oh, we started out this year with a big retreat, back when we had budget for it. It was a great team building experience. We had a ropes course and we did group games. I mean, we didn’t sing Kumbaya, but, you know, it was a great weekend. Everyone came out of there feeling great.”

“And how long did you expect that to last?” I probed.

“Well, the consultant told us we needed to create some sort of team bonus, you know, where every one depends on the rest of the team to get a little something extra at the end. That way, if one makes it, they all make it. Shared fate, he called it.”

“I see. And how is that working out for you?” -TF

Target Completion Time

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Sondra finished her project over the weekend.

“Last week, you assigned this task to Dale, but you ended up doing it,” I observed. I could tell she was very pleased with the project result, but miffed that she spent the weekend working when Dale had all of last week to work on it.

“I thought a lot about what you said about being more explicit about my deadline. Next time, I will try to remember that,” Sondra replied.

“More than that, the target completion time is essential to the task assignment. Dale gets all kinds of assignments. To complete them, he has to use his own discretion, primarily about pace and quality. Most of the decisions he makes are about pace and quality. Without a target completion time, he has no frame of reference in which to make his decisions. His ASAP will ALWAYS be different than your ASAP. ASAP is not a target completion time.”

Sondra smiled. I took a look at her project. It was really very good. She will make her client meeting today and life will go on.

Expected Completion

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Sondra was holding her head between her hands, staring directly down to the surface of her desk. I tapped the door and she looked at me over her glasses.

“Why the long face, said the bartender to the horse?” I asked.

She smiled through her temporary state of mind. “Gotta work tomorrow, Saturday,” she replied.

“Not the end of the world, what’s the matter?”

“I assigned a project, a major project to Dale on Monday. He asked when I needed it. I said ASAP. Today is Friday. He hasn’t started it and he is leaving town for the weekend.”

“So, what does ASAP mean?”

“It means it’s important and I need it right away. The client meeting is first thing Monday. Another communication breakdown.”

“Oh, it looks like a breakdown in communication,” I replied. “But the responsibility lies with you, the Manager.”

“What do you mean? I told him it was important and that I needed it as soon as possible.” Sondra had pushed herself back from the desk, arms extended.

I shook my head. “This is basic goal setting and you have committed the classic mistake. When you assign a task, any task to achieve a goal, what are the elements in that assignment?”

“Well, I tell them what I want them to do, you know, how many of whatever, and any important details.”

“And what else?”

Sondra was stumped. But in all fairness, her mind was thinking about Saturday. I am sure by now, she just wished I would go away.

“How about when you want the project completed by?” I prompted.

“Well, if it has a deadline, but if I just need it done, it’s going to take whatever time it takes.”

I shook my head. “No,” I said slowly. “Every task assignment ALWAYS has an expected completion time. The classic mistake most managers make is ignoring the importance of the expected completion time. Tell you what. You come in tomorrow, on Saturday, finish your project, that should have been finished yesterday and on Monday, we will talk about the importance of expected completion times.” -TF

Where is the Interest, the Passion?

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“Brent, let me get this straight. You said that your salespeople may not be doing their best because they may not be interested in the work? Do your salespeople understand the work?”

“You’re right! Sometimes, it’s like they are brain dead. They are just mechanistic, going through the motions,” Brent described.

“So, they understand the prescribed duties, show up, make a presentation, ask for the order. But let me confirm, they may not understand the problems that must be solved or the decisions that must be made to create a successful sale?”

“Exactly, I mean we train them and train them again on the presentation, until they have it memorized, down cold, but you are right, that does not make a successful sale. The success of the sale depends much more on the questions they ask and the data they collect about the customer’s problem.”

“So, as the Sales Manager, do you sit with your team and talk about the problems that must be solved and the decisions that must be made during the sales call? That’s where the work is. That’s where the excitement is. That’s where the challenge is. If you are looking for interest from the salesperson, the connection is in the work, not the prescribed duties.”