Category Archives: Accountability

System Variables

Leave a reply

“What do you mean, I avoid making judgments about team members who report to me?” asked Derrick. “We have a very sophisticated performance appraisal system. It is based on something called Management by Objectives. And we have bonus compensation tied to it. The employee always knows where they stand based on the measurements.”

“What is it that you measure?” I replied.

“Well, it’s based on a number of things, for example, if they are able to meet production quota each month, that counts.”

“And what are the variables that influence production to quota?”

“It’s pretty cut and dried, they either make it or they don’t.”

I stopped for a moment to let Derrick catch his breath. “So, you are telling me, that your raw materials always meet spec and go right onto the line?”

Derrick turned his head slightly, looked at the floor, then back at me. “Well, no, sometimes we have to reject some of the material and that slows things down.”

“And what about the production machine, the one you were going to replace last year, but didn’t. You know, the bottleneck in your system, where all the materials stack up in front, waiting to go through?”

Derrick laughed, “You’re right on that one. That machine comes down about twice a week. We really should have replaced it. Maybe next summer. That’s why it’s important that everyone works extra hard to make sure they get their bonus.”

“So, let me understand this,” I responded. “Two system variables, raw material spec and machine down-time can have dramatic impact on production to quota, and you think you are managing employee performance based on that number?” -TF

A Judgment Most Avoid

Leave a reply

Picking up our discussion about Results vs. Effectiveness, Kurt posed the question.

Question:
Results can be measured, how do you measure effectiveness?

Response:
Effectiveness is a matter of judgment. Effectiveness is a matter of managerial judgment. How well does Rudy perform in the achievement of the desired goal? Given all the ins and outs, the difficulties faced, the unanticipated, unplanned monkey wrenches that get in the way, how well does Rudy perform?

This is a matter of managerial judgment.

Given that:
1. Any task (or role) requires a certain capability.
2. The person assigned has the appropriate capability.

The judgment is whether the person is committing their full capability to the task (or role).

This is NOT a “matter of counting outputs, super credits for super outputs, or penalties for lateness or sub-standard quality.” * This is about bringing their full capability to the completion of the task.

It is the job of the manager to observe and account for all the surrounding circumstances and make this most important judgment. And it is precisely this judgment that most managers avoid.

*Elliott Jaques, Requisite Organization, 1989.

My Contribution

1 Reply

“Oh, man, they did it again!” exclaimed Ralph, covering his face.

“And how did you help them screw up?” I asked.

Ralph peeked between his fingers. “What do you mean? I didn’t have any part in this.”

“I know, I know,” I agreed. “But if you did contribute to the problem, what was it?”

Ralph started to chuckle, hands now propped on his hips. “Well, if I did have a hand in this, it was picking this group of knuckleheads in the first place. And I probably didn’t explain what needed to happen very well.”

“Indeed. As a manager, before we jump to blame the team, it is always important to ask the question.

“How did I contribute to the problem?

“The Manager is usually at the core of what went wrong.” -TF

Impact and Consequences

3 Replies

“When you talked to Taylor, what did you tell him?” I asked. Dana had just completed her first accountability conversation. It had not gone so well.

“I told him that I really liked the work that he was doing, but that he needed to come to work on time. And that I really appreciated the effort he was making,” Dana replied.

“I can see why he thought he might be in line for a raise. Dana, the first part of his behavior that you want him to change is coming to work on time. What impact does it have on the rest of the team when he shows up late?”

Dana stuttered for a second, then organized her thoughts. “Well, no one else can get started on their work, until Taylor is there. It’s not just him. In the fifteen minutes that he is late, he costs the team about 90 minutes of production.”

“And what are the consequences to Taylor if he doesn’t start coming to work on time?”

Again, Dana had some trouble. She had not thought this through to the next step. “Well, I guess he could get fired,” she finally realized.

“You guess? Dana, you are the manager. What are the consequences?”

“You’re right,” she concluded. “If I have to speak to him twice about coming in late, I have to write him up. Three written warnings are grounds for termination. So, yes, he could lose his job.”

“And, when do you want this behavior corrected?”

“Well, tomorrow would be nice.”

“Dana, if you want this behavior changed by tomorrow, you need to call Taylor back in here and have another go at this accountability conversation. What two things do you need to cover?”

“I need to talk about the impact he is having and the consequences.”

The Positive Sandwich

Leave a reply

Dana was almost trembling when I showed up. The color was gone from her face. “Water,” she said, “I need some water.”

There was a chilled bottle on the corner of her desk, still full. I slid it over to her, waiting for her to continue.

“I don’t think I did that right,” she finally spoke.

“Step me through it,” I asked.

“I had to talk to Taylor. He has been coming late, dawdling on the work he is supposed to get done, and he is being really snippy with everybody around him, like he has a chip on his shoulder.”

“So, what happened?”

Dana shook her head from side to side. “Well, I tried to be positive first, then the negative part, then finish it off with another positive. But I don’t think I got my point across. He thinks he is going to get a raise.”

Corrective Action

Leave a reply

From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

We had a deliverable and the engineers on the project came in 3 days late. We want to acknowledge their success and we also want to understand why they didn’t deliver on time. Extra hours were not put in near the end of the project to meet the delivery date. We struggle with acknowledging success when they are simply just doing what they were hired to do.

Response:

It really doesn’t matter what you, as the manager, think. The only thing that matters is what your engineers think. Based on your description, time sensitivity, or sense of urgency was not top of mind.

Project effectiveness, in this case is mixed. While the technical side may have been solidly constructed, the client may have lost several thousand dollars per day because of the delay. Many construction contracts contain liquidated damages for failure to meet deadlines. Most construction litigation is based around damages due to delay-claims.

So, time is important, in many cases, critical.

At the conclusion of every major project, I always insist on a post postmortem meeting to review the following questions:

  • What did we expect?
  • What did we do well?
  • What went wrong?
  • What can we do next time to prevent this from going wrong?

These questions would allow your engineers to pat themselves on the back for things done well and give them the opportunity to address real issues of underperformance.

On an extended project, I use these same questions at interim checkpoints.

  • What do we expect?
  • What are we doing well?
  • What is going wrong, what is beginning to slip?
  • What corrective action do we need to take, now, to get back on course?

Expecting engineers to call their own meeting to ask these questions will never happen. That is your responsibility, as the manager. Remember, what you think doesn’t matter. What matters is what your engineers think. -TF

But They Will Get It Wrong

2 Replies

“I think I am pretty good at explaining our policies and procedures. I mean, we spent a lot of time developing our processes. We have tested things. We know the best way to get things done. So, why doesn’t my team listen to me?” complained Megan.

“What happens?” I ask.

“Okay, there are 13 steps in this process. And there are certain things that you have to look for, like you can mess up step number two and you won’t notice until step number six, so you have to take the whole thing apart back to step two.”

“Sounds complicated.”

Megan gave me the look. “That’s why I have to explain it. But they don’t seem to listen, then they start doing things their own way. About half the production has to be scrapped.”

“What do you think is happening?”

“They’re just not listening to me,” Megan stated flatly.

“I think you are right. They’re not listening to you. Sounds like they care more about what they think than what you think?” I watched Megan for her response. She didn’t like what I said, but I was just confirming what she had observed. They weren’t listening to her.

“How can you use that to your advantage?” I continued. Megan’s look at me was probably similar to the look she gave her team. “Megan, let’s try something different. I got this camera from some promo give-away. Here, take it. It’s only 3 megapixel and the chip will only take 25 pictures, but why don’t you give your team this camera and ask them to document this 13 step process and see what you get.”

“But they will get it all wrong,” she protested.

“Yes, but it’s a good place to start. Tell me how it goes.” -TF

As Things Grow More Complicated

Leave a reply

“And where do you want accountability, solely on your shoulders, as the manager, or do you want the entire group accountable for their own performance?” I repeated.

“I want my whole team accountable,” Reggie replied.

“You see, Reggie, in the beginning, as a manager of a small team, you can take the brunt of the responsibility, because the responsibility is small. As time goes by, if you want to step up to larger responsibility, you will find that strategy will fail you. You, as the manager, can no longer solve all the problems, catch every package that falls off a forklift, fix every little discrepancy that comes roaring at you. If you try to do it all, by yourself, you will fail.

“So, you have managers who know they have to get their teams involved, to get their teams to hold themselves accountable. But they don’t know how. So, some consultant recommends a bonus program to get buy in. And you have seen, first hand, what that does to accountability.”

Reggie took a deep breath. “So, it was okay when things were small and times were good. But now that we are growing, more and more people are trying to game the bonus system.”

“And, lord help you, when times go bad, and they will. A bonus system during bad times is a sure-fire morale killer.”

“I think, the biggest lesson, for me,” Reggie replied, “is that, as things grow bigger and more complicated, I have to learn how to hold my people accountable to the performance standards that we set. And a bonus system doesn’t substitute for that skill.”

Where Do You Want Accountability?

Leave a reply

“Of course, no one is happy,” Reggie quickly responded. “The performance standard is not accomplished. I don’t care, as the manager, whether or not I pay the bonus. What I care about is the performance standard.”

“But, implicit in your agreement to pay a bonus for achieving a specific standard, was not paying the bonus if the standard was not achieved, so you cannot be angry, you cannot be upset and you certainly cannot hold them accountable for the underperformance. By agreeing to the bonus, you have told your team, it is okay for you to do less than your best. Accountability is out the window.”

Reggie was not happy. He did not like to hear this.

“Now, let’s go back to the conversation. You remember the conversation where you got your team talking about the performance standards instead of you?”

Reggie remembered. “This is where, instead of me telling them, I ask them questions, begin a discussion and together, we set the performance standard?”

“Yes, and what happens to accountability in this circumstance? Remember, there is no bonus, only you and your team. Where does accountability land in this conversation?”

Reggie was thinking through the conversation. Finally, he concluded, “If the group sets the performance standard, then accountability rests with the group.”

“And where do you want accountability, solely on your shoulders as the manager, or do you want the entire group accountable for their own performance?” -TF

Who is Accountable?

3 Replies

Quick reminder. We still have space available in two of our Leadership programs. The program is six weeks (six sessions) in length, one program to be held in Fort Lauderdale FL (kicks off Wednesday, September 12), the other in Orlando FL (kicks off Monday, September 24). For more information, visit www.workingleadership.com.

Reggie and I kicked around his bonus system last week. Moving away from bonus as motivation requires a different mindthink on the part of the manager. Last Friday, we talked about the first shift, moving performance talk from the manager to the team. We talked about how the manager creates that conversation.

“Reggie, when you are barking all the orders, and telling people, if they will just perform to this standard or that standard, they will get an extra bump in their paycheck, where does that place accountability?”

Reggie looked at me for a minute, shook his head, “I’m not sure what you mean, where does that place accountability?”

“Reggie, the reason this is a difficult concept, is that most managers rarely talk about accountability. Back to the question. Where does a bonus system place accountability for performance?”

“I still don’t know what you mean?”

“The manager says, if you perform to this standard, you get an extra $100 in your paycheck this week. What happens to accountability for performance to the standard?”

Reggie was working through this in his head. “Well, the manager has done his job. He defined the performance standard and calculated the bonus, so it’s now on the team member?”

“Not quite,” I said. “The team member now has the choice to perform, or not perform and understands the consequences. If the team member underperforms, $100 of their promised pay will be withheld.

“So, the team member underperforms and does not receive the bonus. They’re okay with it, because, in the end, they didn’t have to work that hard after all. And the manager must be okay with it, because he doesn’t have to pay the $100.

“So the performance standard is not achieved. Who is accountable for the underperformance? Is everybody happy?” -TF