Category Archives: Accountability

Rule Breaking

8 Replies

Our next Leadership program kicks off Wednesday, January 9, in Fort Lauderdale. For registration, simply reply to this email or visit www.workingleadership.com.
__
From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

I am a young store manager of two and a half years with no previous managerial experience. Through this time, I have problem employees doing things behind my back, against the rules. I never have enough information to reveal the responsible person or the only information I get is confidential. Mostly, I do not have the time to be involved all day with rule breaking when I am not in the store. What can I do differently to improve this situation?

Response:

It is difficult to understand the nature of the rule breaking, so I can see three causes.

  • Malicious, destructive rule breaking, when your back is turned.
  • 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.

For your part, it probably doesn’t matter. If your boss was aware of the hijinks behavior, it would reflect poorly on you as the Manager. This is tricky, and the solution is likely counter-intuitive. Your efforts could easily backfire and make the situation worse.

So, let’s get some input from others. If you have a response for this dilemma, please post your comment below. If you would like to read the responses, just follow the link to today’s post. I will have some thoughts tomorrow. -TF

Speed in Essential Skills

2 Replies

From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

I manage a drafting department of 12 people and have been quite successful over the past 5 or 6 years in improving the quality of our work and the morale of our people.

I have a member of my team who has good skills but takes forever to get anything done. In my effort over the years to make him more productive I’ve afforded him the opportunity to become skilled at many different tasks, each time hoping that this would be the one that “clicked”. His production level, however, never improves even after the “learning curve” of any new skill is overcome.

I’m finally facing the fact that this guy will not ever make the shift from being a thinker to a doer. Letting him go is difficult for me though, since I’ve acted all this time as his “enabler”. I probably should have realized his limitations a lot sooner and avoided the situation that I’m in now, that being, having a multi-skilled individual who ironically has become a liability.

What’s your take on this?

Response:

Some people master a skill quickly; others may complete a task only after some hard work (which takes time). Your response (training him in many skills) to the amount of time for task completion may have been misguided, making matters worse, even slowing his production time.

1. Determine what you need this team member to do. This should be based on what the company needs from him. What is his role? Write this down. Instead of training him on many different tasks, focus on the essentials of his deliverables. Don’t create a role around him. Determine the role and determine his capability to fill that role.

2. Baseline evaluation of the “candidate.” This is a very serious conversation. You have had these conversations before, this one is different. Your prior conversations have been searching for something he might be good at. This conversation will focus on what the company needs from him in his role. This will be a focusing conversation. The next conversation will be your evaluation, after one day, of his baseline performance in that role.

3. Improvement metrics. Rather than looking to train him on many different skills, the focus should be on throughput speed in the essential deliverables the company needs from the role. Examine each step in the process that speeds him up or slows him down. We don’t need him to learn a whole bunch of other skills, we simply need to get him faster at the essential skills.

4. Evaluate his long term contribution. After a period of three weeks, as a manager, you will know whether his behavior is becoming more effective or staying the same. As his manager, it will be time for you to make a judgment. It will be time for you to make a decision. Is the candidate becoming more effective in the essential role that we have for him? This is a yes or no question.

5. If the answer is yes, then you have a contributing member. If the answer is no, inform your manager that you are de-selecting this person from your team. If your manager has another role which might be suitable, turn this person over to your manager for placement. If your manager has no other role, it is time to release this person to industry.

Every part of this should be explained to the candidate. There should be no secrets. The candidate should understand the consequences of underperformance. At the same time, underperformance does not make him a bad person. It is likely that he will be relieved that he can look for a position more appropriate to his speed level, rather than live in the shadow of underperformance and constant scrutiny. -TF

From Supervisor to Manager

Leave a reply

Our next Leadership program kicks off January 9, 2008. For registration information, visit www.workingleadership.com.
__

“Do you know why you were promoted from supervisor to manager last year?” I asked.

“Because, I was the best darn supervisor the company had,” Melanie replied.

“And, being the best supervisor, what did you do that none of the other supervisors were able to do?”

“Oh, that was easy. I could see the future. I could tell when something was going to get screwed up, weeks ahead of time, and I could adjust the schedule to make sure we stayed productive. You know, if you reject some raw material because it’s out of spec, that means you have to shift some stuff around.”

“Yes, you were one of the best schedulers around.”

“What do you mean, were?” quizzed Melanie. “I still am.”

“Not exactly. Do you know why you were promoted from supervisor to manager last year?” -TF

Three Months Notice

Leave a reply

“This is all spilt milk, anyway,” Melanie snorted. “I know I have to buckle down, get out there, split up the work, then see if I can put an ad in the paper. I have gone through this before, third time this year.”

“I know,” I nodded. “I have read the exit interviews. Did you know that two of the three supervisors that left you this year had graduated from night school?”

Melanie’s eyes got wide. “Well, I knew they were going to school at night.”

“Did you know they had new jobs lined up three months before they graduated?”

“Well, I thought that was all talk. I didn’t pay any attention to that.”

“I know you didn’t pay attention. If you had paid attention, you would have three months advance time to prepare a new supervisor to take over. Now, you have to scramble. Melanie, the only reason you still have a job, here, as a manager, is that you are a pretty good scrambler. But, one day, you won’t be able to scramble and you’ll get sacked for a loss.” -TF

Knowing Enough to Predict

4 Replies

Thanks to Larry Stamper for his response to yesterday’s post about Melanie’s dilemma.
__

“Who is responsible for the team?” I asked again. “Who is responsible for the performance of the team, and all the things that affect performance?”

Melanie started looking around her office, as if someone was going to appear.

I continued. “If it’s not you, as the department manager, if it’s not you, then who?”

Melanie’s eyes stopped skirting the room. There was no hero that appeared. One last time, she floated her excuse, “But how am I responsible for one of my supervisors quitting?”

“That’s a very good question. How are you, as the manager, responsible for one of your supervisors quitting?”

“What, am I supposed to be clairvoyant?” Melanie snapped.

“That would be helpful,” I nodded. “But let’s say you don’t have supernatural powers. How could you, as the manager, know enough about your supervisors, to have predicted this departure?” -TF

I’m Not Accountable

1 Reply

Ring in the new year. Our next Leadership class in Fort Lauderdale begins January 9, 2008. Registration is open at www.workingleadership.com.
__

“I feel let down,” Melanie lamented. “I don’t know how I am going to explain this to the CEO. He has a short temper for this kind of thing. The worst part is, I’m just the messenger, but likely to get the brunt of it.”

Kyle, one of Melanie’s direct reports had just quit, leaving the rest of her team with more work and a tight deadline.

“Why do you feel you are just the messenger?” I asked.

Melanie moved her head back, almost startled. “I am not sure what you mean,” she said. “I’m not the one who quit. I am just the one who has to report it upstairs.”

“You’re Kyle’s manager?” I confirmed.

“Well, yes, but Kyle is the one who quit.”

“I understand Kyle is the one who quit and I am also curious to know who is responsible for the team that is now missing a member with a backlog that is going to crunch an important deadline?”

“But, Kyle is the one who quit,” Melanie protested. “You can’t hold me accountable for the pickle we’re in. I know I am the manager, but what am I supposed to do?”

System of Roles and Relationships

3 Replies

“It’s the system, Derrick,” I began. “If you imagine the relationships between Managers and their direct reports, between team members and their Managers-Once-Removed. If you can see these relationships as a system of people, do you think the structure of the system has anything to do with the way that people behave inside of this system?

“It’s the way that we define those relationships, define those roles. It’s the system. Unfortunately, most managers, most VPs, most Chief Executives never sit down to think about this structure, this system. And the system has the largest impact on things like productivity, efficiency and even morale.

“There are excellent systems and there are poor systems. Tell me, what do you think is the difference? Where should we look first?” -TF

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