Category Archives: Accountability

All Crumbs Lead to the Top

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“But the worst part of my little bonus system,” Reggie confided, “was not that my managers were manipulating the numbers, but I think it really changed their mindset. I corrupted their thinking and digging out of that hole is going to take time. And some of them will not survive.

“And the winner, the successful candidate who gets the position as the new division VP is going to think he got the job by gaming the system. It doesn’t matter how I explain it, in his heart, his experience will tell him that he got the job by playing with the numbers.

“It is really true,” Reggie continued, “the behavior you reinforce, is the behavior you get. I created the incentive. I got the behavior.”

“If you are going to create a different environment, what has to change first?” I asked.

“All crumbs lead to the top,” Reggie said. “I have to change first.”

Big Mistake

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A good bit of the morning had passed when I met Kim in the coffee room.

“Okay, I came up with a list,” she said. “It’s not a long list, but I was able to think about some specific things that were helpful to me when I was a supervisor. It’s funny. At the time, I didn’t realize how helpful it was, but now, I can see it clearly.”

“So, what’s the biggest thing on the list?”

“We were under some pressure to get a big order pulled for shipping. I was supervising the crew. Things were hectic. I commandeered a forklift that had been pulled out of service. One of the buckles on its safety harness was being repaired. I was thinking, how stupid, not to use a forklift for a few minutes just because it didn’t have a safety harness.

“Big mistake. I told one of my crew to use it anyway, just to move some product about ten feet over in the staging area. That part was okay, but when I wasn’t looking, the crew member took the forklift over and started moving other stuff. He figured it was okay to use the machine, since I said so. He was turning a corner and ran over something, his load shifted and he came right out of the machine.

“I was lucky. No one was hurt, nothing got damaged. In fact, everyone that was there, thought it was funny. Well, except for my manager. I thought I was going to get fired. It was a stupid thing I did.”

“So, what did your manager do?”

“He never yelled at me. I remember, he just came into my office that afternoon. He said one word, ‘Lucky!’ Then, he put some safety books on my desk, said he would be very interested to attend my safety meetings for the next three months.”

“So, tell me, how did that bring value to your thinking and your work?” -TF

Tough Assignment to Turn Down

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Curtis shifted in the chair. “But my team never really comes up with anything. Sometimes it seems they just want me to tell them what to do so they don’t have to think.”

“Of course they want you to tell them what to do. If you tell them what to do, then they are not responsible for the solution. All the accountability falls back on you.”

“Yes, but after all, I am the Manager,” Curtis replied.

“It’s a tough assignment to turn down,” I nodded.

“What do you mean?”

“They invite you to take all the responsibility, you get all the glory. It is a tough assignment to turn down. Unfortunately, you cannot hold them accountable for things gone wrong. Your team kind of likes it that way.” -TF

They Don’t Get a Promotion

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

When is a team member ready (capable) for the next step? How do we measure capability so we can create and fill in opportunities? Which methods do you use to measure capability for the next step?

Response:

Evaluating is team member is much simpler and more precise than making a judgment about an outside candidate for a position.

Checking readiness is a matter of testing. Testing for skill and testing for Time Span.

Step One is to examine the current tasks and determine the Time Span required for each task.

Step Two is to gather three people (the Team Member, the Team Member’s Manager and the Manager Once Removed) to discuss the following question. “Is this person performing below, at or above the Time Span required in the current position? It is a very simple question. You will be amazed at how quickly the three will agree.

If the three agree that the Team Member is performing above the Time Span required, the next step is to test the Team Member. Again, the test is simple. Give the Team Member tasks typical of what they would encounter at the next level, with the difficulty of those tasks measured in Time Span.

This testing process is a totally different mindset for a Manager. You no longer give an individual a promotion to see if they can handle it. You now test them with typical tasks. They don’t get a promotion, they earn it. -TF

Not a Matter of Skill

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Joyce had her thinking cap on. Her dissatisfaction with Phillip was not from a lack of performance, but from a lack of capability.

“I want you to begin to think about capability in terms of Time Span,” I prompted.

“You’re right,” she replied. “Phillip seems to stay away from, or procrastinate on all the projects that take time to plan out and work on. And then, it’s like he jams on the accelerator. He even told me that he works better under pressure, that last minute deadlines focus him better. I am beginning to think that he waits until the last minutes because that is the only time frame he thinks about.”

“Give me an example,” I asked.

“Remember, I found him hidden away in the warehouse, rearranging all the shelves himself. It’s really a bigger project than that. We are trying to move the high turning items to bins up front and slower moving items to bins in the back. But it’s going to take some time to review, which items need to be moved, how to retag them, how to planagram the whole thing. We started talking about this three months ago with a deadline coming due next week. So, only now, Phillip gets stuck in the warehouse doing things himself. And the result is likely to be more of a mess than a help.”

“Is it a matter of skill, planning skills?” I ventured.

“No, I don’t think so. It is a matter of capability,” Joyce said with some certainty.

“Then how are we going to measure that capability?” -TF

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But, I Already Know

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“If you had to describe the reason for Phillip’s termination, what would it be?” I asked.

Joyce shifted with the uncomfortable question. I had asked her to make a judgment about a team member’s underperformance. And I was looking for objective and measurable evidence.

“I think I would have to go back to his job description and start there,” she replied.

“And if you went back to the job description, what would you find?”

Joyce got up from her chair and paced to the side of the room. “First of all, I would have to find the job description, but I already know it is just a bunch of gobbledygook.”

“So, if I really put you to the test, as a manager, you are holding Phillip to a performance standard that you describe as gobbledygook?”

“Yes, but, I can still tell that he is not doing his job. He doesn’t have the capability. I know that, even without the job description.”

“So, how are we going to capture what you already know in measurable terms to help us? To help us know what to do with Phillip?” -TF

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Our next Leadership class in Fort Lauderdale begins July 16. For more information, visit www.workingleadership.com. We have only four available seats left.

The Real Reason

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“So, let’s look at your description of Phillip,” I prompted. “You said he is probably in over his head. What exactly does that mean?”

Joyce’s brow furrowed. “You know. He is having trouble cutting it. Can’t deliver. Doesn’t know whether to scream or eat a banana.”

I smiled. Nodded. “I know. I know exactly what you mean. But how do we characterize this behavior so we can improve the situation?”

Joyce looked a little sheepish. “I don’t mean to poke fun. But I really don’t know how else to put it.”

“So, let’s say you fire Phillip and your boss comes to you and wants to know the reason. Are you going to say the Phillip was terminated because he didn’t know whether to scream or eat a banana?”

“Of course not. I would have to think of something more tactful,” Joyce replied.

“Instead of something more tactful, I want you to think of something closer to the truth, something you can be objective about and measure.”

“I don’t know,” said Joyce, backpedaling.

“Yes, but if you did know, what would the reason be?” -TF

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Our next Leadership program in Fort Lauderdale begins July 16. For more information and registration, go to www.workingleadership.com.

The True Scope

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“So, it helps to understand Julie’s job,” I observed. Eduardo and I had been talking about how attaching Time Span to each task in a job, helped to understand the scope of the job.

An epiphany was occurring inside Eduardo’s head. “Yeah, think about freight,” he started. “Hector is our freight supervisor, and his area is a mess.”

“How so?”

“Well, he usually gets all the day’s shipments out. It’s a big job, because we have to carefully crate everything. That’s part of the problem, often our crates don’t hold up and our product gets damaged in transit. We have close to ten freight claims going at any one time.

“Hector thinks he is responsible for one day’s work each day, when the Time Span required is much longer. He should also be responsible for investigating and resolving all of these freight claims, figuring out which of our crate components failed, and making changes to the process to reduce transit damage. He needs to work with our vendors to buy different crate components that do a better job. All of that seems to get lost in the shuffle, but it is really Hector’s responsibility. Instead of a one-day Time Span, his job is more like a one-month Time Span. He has some serious follow-up to do.

“It is only when I describe the job’s Time Span as one month that I begin to see the true scope of the job.”

The Whole Job

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“I never thought of it that way,” said Eduardo.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Trying to attach Time Span to specific tasks in a person’s job,” he explained.

“What do you think about it?”

“I never really thought about the person’s whole job. When I start to attach Time Span to the separate tasks in a job, my understanding of the job gets a lot larger.”

“Give me an example,” I prompted.

“Okay, one of my supervisors, Julie, is responsible for scheduling. On the face of it, she needs to sit down and write out the schedule once a week. It takes 45 minutes to an hour depending on the work we have in house. If the schedule gets messed up, you know, someone gets sick, or the volume of work increases, Julie throws up her hands. She is quick to blame the circumstance and says she did her job, she put the schedule together last Friday.”

I smiled as Eduardo continued.

“So, scheduling is not something with a Time Span of one hour. Scheduling has a Time Span of three weeks. That’s how far in advance that we schedule.

“When I explain it to Julie, we need to talk about the Time Span. We publish the schedule each Friday, but she needs to be planning, for real, three weeks into the future. She needs to check the incoming work mix, scheduled machine maintenance and vacation schedules for the upcoming three weeks. Materials, machines and people for the upcoming three weeks.

“And when there is a change in the schedule, she needs to recalculate everything, three weeks into the future. By attaching Time Span to the task, now, I can see the whole job.”

If You Can Find It

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From the Ask Tom Mailbag:

Question:
You seem to make a big deal between a Job Description and a Performance Contract. Other than the name, what’s the difference?

Response:
Most job descriptions simply list the tasks and activities related to the job. It is important to know what to do in your job. But it is also important to know how well something should be done and when something should be done.

It is only when we specifically describe the results, that people clearly understand the expectations of the job.

So, how do we know when we have clearly stated the results. I use the Q-tip criteria. QQT. Quantity, Quality over Time. When I state the results in terms of a specific Quantity of something at a given Quality standard over a specific period of Time, there is a great likelihood that the expectation is clear.

Look at your own Job Description (if you can find it) and see if it describes Results. -TF