Category Archives: Accountability

Can’t Wait

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“When did it start?” I asked. Gerald stopped to think. A long time employee, recently promoted to Manager, had gone brain-dead.

“The timing is a little tough. When we promoted him to Manager, we knew there would be a learning curve, so we gave him a little space and the benefit of the doubt. But after four months, my patience is wearing thin.”

“Why have you let it go so long?” I asked.

“Well, we figured it would take a quarter to get up to speed, so we set some benchmarks that he needed to hit by the end of six months. I don’t know if we can wait until then.”

“So, this is management by results?” I pondered.

“Yeah, that’s the way we normally do things. But he’s not even close, and when we do try to pin him down, there is always some excuse about something not being in his control, and that we should wait for the six months we agreed to measure the benchmark.”

“How are you liking your approach?” -TF

Can’t Succeed Based on Performance

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Gerald was getting impatient, up and down from his chair, pacing the floor. “But that’s the way we work. Management by Objectives.”

“I can see that,” I responded, nodding. “You gave him six months to hit his objectives, but you can already see that his behavior, as a Manager, is not effective?”

“Well, yes. And even trying to pin him down on his objectives. He’s just slippery. We are trying to measure the benchmarks and we can’t get the information. He has a production report that is due every Friday, but I never get it on time. And then, when I do get it, there is something screwy with the numbers, like a formula is wrong, or the columns don’t foot with each other. So I ask him to fix it and it’s another week before I see him again. Meanwhile, another Friday report is due and late again.”

“So, he can’t succeed based on his effectiveness, but he can succeed based on his ability to manage the data that you don’t receive about his performance?” –TF

Cap Ex Time Span

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“I know I have a budget report to submit every October, but it only takes me about a week to put it together. I just look around and see what equipment on the floor really needs replacing, get some vendor quotes and run it up the flag pole. Sometimes I get the budget, most times I don’t. You describe this as a 15 month Time Span task?” asked Corina.

“That’s the problem,” I replied. “If you see that report as a one week Time Span task, then it is of little value to the company. That is why identifying Time Span is so important. Only when you understand that this is a 15 month Time Span task do you understand that it is a much bigger project.” I could see a glimmer of understanding, so I pressed.

“By October, I need you to really look into the future for the entire following year. I need you to get a big piece of paper and flow chart out your system. I want to see each production element, time studies on each process, handoffs, bottlenecks and dependencies. Using your discretionary judgment, I want a well-thought out recommendation for Cap Ex that will help the company earn money. It still might only take a week to prepare the report, but the thinking is much deeper. This is a 15 month Time Span project.” -TF

Manager’s Discretion

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“What about me?” Corina continued. “As a Manager, my job is different. How would discretionary judgment be stated on my job description?”

“Let’s take your job description, identify one of your Key Result Areas and see what we come up with,” I said.

Job Description
Job Title: Plant Manager
This is a Stratum III Position. This role in the organization is to create the systems in the plant, monitor and improve those systems.
Key Result Area – Cap Ex Equipment
Prescribed Duties: By October 1 each year, the Plant Manager will submit to the Management Team an analysis and recommendation for the purchase and retirement of all production equipment whose value (at purchase) is $5,000 or greater for the following calendar year.
Time Span – 15months. This task requires the Plant Manager to look ahead to the following calendar year, to anticipate changes in production systems and work flow or other circumstances that will affect production capacities; to examine the remaining useful life of existing equipment and to explore new technologies which may be useful in the plant. The Plant Manager will use discretionary judgment to analyze production capacities, market demand (from sales) and return on investment on each piece of equipment. The Cap Ex Equipment plan will be reviewed by the Management team for modification and approval by November 30 each year.

Supervisor’s Discretion

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Job Description
Job Title: Supervisor
This is a Stratum II Position. This role in the organization is to make sure the work gets done.
Key Result Area 1 – Scheduling
Prescribed Duties: By Wednesday at 5:00p, post the team work schedule for the following week.
Time Span – 4 weeks. This task requires the supervisor to look ahead on a rolling 4 week basis, to anticipate changes due to team member vacations or other circumstances that will affect the team members attendance; and to look ahead on a rolling 4 week basis, to anticipate changes due to production fluctuations which may require a reduction in shift personnel or overtime. The supervisor will use discretionary judgment to create the schedule based on those circumstances. Overtime must be approved in writing by supervisor’s Manager.

“So, just posting the schedule on Wednesday isn’t the half of it,” Corina flatly stated. “I have always accepted that if the schedule got posted, the job was done. Now I am beginning to see that Supervisor effectiveness occurs way before Wednesday. Also, the boundary is very clear for discretionary judgment. Overtime requires approval.”

Corina thought for a minute.

“What about me?” she continued. “As a Manager, my job is different. How would discretionary judgment be stated on my job description?”
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Our next Leadership Program in Fort Lauderdale begins Wednesday, March 19. For more information, visit www.workingleadership.com.

Discretionary Performance

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Question from the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

How do you incorporate discretionary responsibilities into the job description?

Response:

This discussion hinges on the difference between prescribed duties and discretionary duties.

Prescribed duties are easy. Those are the ones you are told explicitly to do.

But do we pay an executive, who writes a letter, for the mechanics of pushing a pen to make ink flow onto a piece of paper, or pressing keys to make letters appear on a screen? Or do we pay an executive for the discretionary thinking that goes into the message of the letter?

Do we pay a machine operator for the prescribed duties of moving a piece of metal into position and pressing a button to cut the metal? If that were the case, we would simply purchase robotics. Or rather, do we pay the machinist for the discretion of how raw materials are organized to enter the work area, the cleanliness of the scrap produced by the machine, the attention paid to the preventive maintenance to keep the machine operating?

Indeed, effectiveness in a position may have more to do with discretionary performance than prescribed performance.

So, how do we build discretionary performance into the expectations of the job? Can it be done through the job description document? Comments? -TF

Time Span of Discretion

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Greetings from Austin. It’s warmer here.
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“What should I expect from my accounting department?” asked Roland.

“I don’t know, what do you expect?”

“We have a job description for each position, but it’s just a list of things that have to get done,” Roland continued.

“Is it sufficient to clearly communicate what you expect?” I asked.

“I thought so, when we wrote them up, but now I don’t know. You have been talking about Time Span. How does that figure in to all this? How can it be helpful?”

“Okay, let’s look at your Accounts Payable position. When you look at the work that has to get done, does your job description accurately describe the tasks?”

Roland pondered for a minute, “Yeah, but even if my A/P person does all the things on the list, even gets them done before they are due, they could still be doing a lousy job.”

“Oh, really, how so?”

“The job description says that all the invoices have to be recorded into the computer system and coded to the various expense accounts. And check runs are supposed to be finished by 5:00p every Thursday. But the person could still be doing a lousy job.”

“Tell me more,” I continued.

“They could do all the prescribed duties okay, it’s the discretionary things, like looking to see if we could take a discount if we paid early, or making sure we don’t pay the same invoice twice in the same month. Stuff like that.”

“So, it’s the discretionary part that’s not made clear in the job description.”

Roland thought some more, “You’re right, the job is really bigger than what is reflected in the job description. How do you put that stuff in the job description?”

Mr. Nice Guy

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

This is about the production supervisor for our company. He is generally well regarded by most of his subordinates, as easygoing, who tries to help his employees in any way he can. If a worker needs a small loan until payday, he digs into his pocket. If an employee needs some time off for a personal problem, he takes up the slack himself, doesn’t dock the time off.

At the last performance appraisal, one of his workers had experienced a large number of personal problems during the year. In the appraisal, he decided to do as much as possible to help. Although an average worker, he rated him outstanding in virtually every category. Because the firm’s compensation system is heavily tied to performance appraisal, this created a merit increase of 10% in addition to COLA.

The employee has acknowledged that his performance was no better than average, but didn’t hesitate to tell his friends about his wonderful boss.

What difficulties do you think this has created for the company? Is there anything that should be done to diminish any negative impacts?

Response:

For, now, I will leave this to our readers. Please post any comments you have using the link below. To read posted comments, follow this link to the website that supports this blog. This should be interesting. -TF

Just Say No!

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“You are right,” Byron continued. “The things that hurt us now are decisions we made a couple of years ago when times were good. It seemed like a good idea at the time. We didn’t think very hard about some of our bone-headed moves.”

“And, now?” I asked.

“And, now we have to get lean. Maybe really lean. It may get worse. We have to be able to take a couple more punches and still be able to maneuver, be able to take advantage of opportunities, but it’s difficult.”

“What is so difficult about it?”

“Well, now, everything has to be focused on a result. If it doesn’t produce a result, it has to go. It’s not pleasant. In many cases, we have to learn to say NO! So often, we try to figure out what TO do. Now we have to make decisions on what NOT to do.”
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Quick look ahead. Our next Leadership program begins in Fort Lauderdale on February 27 and on March 3 in Miami. Visit www.workingleadership.com.

Changing a Mindset

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Our next Leadership program kicks off Wednesday, January 9, in Fort Lauderdale. For registration, simply reply to this email or visit www.workingleadership.com.
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In response to yesterday’s post, about the Manager with problem employees rule-breaking behind his back.

I see three origins of this behavior.

  • Malicious, destructive rule breaking.
  • Lazy, non-compliant rule breaking, when the boss is not around.
  • Fun rule breaking, light hearted, poking fun at authority, when the boss is not around.

Here is one thing we understand.

The team members know the rules. People don’t break the rules without knowing the rules. So, this is not a training issue. This is a mindset issue, which is a bigger problem.

Changing a mindset rarely comes from the outside. A Manager cannot dictate that a person change a mindset. Those of you with children can attest. It simply does not work.

The solution will require a multiple set of meetings. I would recommend twice a week, 10 minutes per meeting. So, pick a Monday and Thursday, or Tuesday and Friday, first thing in the morning. As the Leader, simply ask these questions and flipchart the responses from your team. Keep your thoughts to yourself. Post the flipcharts in the break room and leave them there.

  • Meeting 1: How are we doing, working together as a team?
  • Meeting 2: What impact do we, as a team, have on the customer?
  • Meeting 3: In what way can we, as a team, have a more positive impact on the customer?
  • Meeting 4: What impact does our individual behavior have on the behavior of our other team members?
  • Meeting 5: In what way can we, as a team, have a positive impact, helping each other create a more positive customer experience?

The purpose of these meetings is to:

  • Get the team talking about behavior, not the manager talking about behavior.
  • Re-focus the energy of the team from misbehavior to customer focus.
  • Get the team to create its own accountability for behavior, even when the Manager is not around. -TF