Category Archives: Accountability

Is It Too Late?

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Stella’s disbelief faded to reality. “You’re right. That’s what I did during my interview, here. I tried to steer the conversation to my best qualities. I mean, I answered their questions, truthfully, but, you know, they didn’t really ask that many. They spent most of the time describing the job, what they expected and how great the company was.”

“You probably got more out of the interview than they did,” I replied. “So, what can we do different?”

“Isn’t it a little late, we already hired the wrong person.”

A Hundred Reasons

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“I just hope this delegation with Joe goes okay. We have a lot on our plate this week and a couple of serious issues,” Ruben hedged.

“Ruben, there are a hundred reasons why this delegation could fail. If it succeeds, it will not be because everything was right with the world. It will succeed in spite of everything going against it.” -TF

What is Necessary Today?

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“Now that you understand the necessity of delegation, what is the specific outcome that is necessary this week?” I asked.

“I guess I need to delegate something,” Ruben replied.

“Ruben, this is not a guessing game. If you guess, you will be wrong. What specific outcome is necessary this week?”

Ruben paused. “I have a project I want to,” Ruben stopped. “I have a project that is necessary for Joe to complete by next Wednesday.”

“Good. Now, if Joe is to complete this project by next Wednesday, what is necessary for you to do today?” -TF

Necessary

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“No, it is necessary, because if you don’t delegate, you can’t play the role. And if you can’t play the role, then we have to find someone who can. That’s why it is necessary for you to become a better delegator.”

Ruben laughed to break the tension. “When you put it like that, I guess I have to become a better delegator.”

“No, when I put it like that, it means I have to make a choice between you and someone else. The necessity of you becoming a better delegator only happens when you put it like that.”

Ruben was searching for words.

“Ruben, repeat after me. It is important for the words to come from you. ‘It is necessary for me to become a better delegator to be an effective manager. If I do not become an effective delegator, it is necessary that I step aside for someone else.’”

Ruben gulped, then slowly repeated the words. –TF

Here’s Why

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“I know I have to actually delegate something to make progress,” Ruben confirmed. “But I get to work, things start happening and before you know it, I am up to my elbows in problems.”

“Tell me what you want to happen,” I prompted.

“It’s not what I want to happen, it’s one thing after another. For example, I can take you through yesterday, minute by minute and you’ll see what I’m up against.”

“I believe you could take me through, minute by minute, but explaining what happens doesn’t change things. Tell me, Ruben, what do you want to happen?”

“I want to be a better delegator.”

“Now, change one element of your thought. Change want to necessary. It is necessary for you to be a better delegator.”

Ruben looked at me with lizard eyes.

“Why is it necessary for you to be a better delegator?” I asked.

“So, I can be more effective?” Ruben floated.

“No, it is necessary, because if you don’t delegate, you can’t play the role. And if you can’t play the role, then we have to find someone who can. That’s why it is necessary for you to become a better delegator.” -TF

Not a Failure to Communicate

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“I don’t understand,” Dean complained, disappointed with a botched handoff between two of his departments. “We had a meeting about the need to communicate better in the middle of the project. Both sides dropped the ball and everyone is playing the blame game.”

“Yes, but did they get their bonus?” I asked.

Dean looked at me like I was from Mars. “We’re not talking about bonuses, here. We have a communication problem.”

I was looking at pre-project package. It clearly pointed to several team goals for each of the four teams that had to coordinate on the project. And there was a $2000 team bonus tagged to each goal.

“You think you have a communication problem. I think you have a bonus problem.” -TF

Create the System

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“But, we got the parts in and shipped the units. I thought we handled that quite well,” protested Valerie.

“You are right, your supervisor did a good job. That’s what supervisors do. But your work, as a manager, was not done,” I replied. “The job of the manager is to create the system. When you discovered you would be short of parts, it was your supervisors job to go find the parts, but it was your job to ask

  • Why didn’t our system anticipate this shortage?
  • Why didn’t our system detect this shortage as soon as the order was placed into our system?
  • Why didn’t our system spot our supplier’s inventory and indicate a shortfall in those parts?
  • Why didn’t our system have alternate vendors for those critical parts?
  • Why didn’t our system continually track alternate supplier inventories to find odd lots at aggressive pricing?

“The job of the manager is to create the systems, monitor the systems, improve the systems. It’s great that we have a supervisor who knows how to scramble. But I prefer a system that responds to our constantly changing circumstances. The role of the manager is to create those systems.” -TF

Lucky Break

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“Then what is my role, as the manager?” Valerie asked. “I do all the same stuff as the supervisor, it’s just that most of the time, I handle the bigger problems.”

“Bigger problems, like what?” I followed.

“Like last week, we had a large order for a customer, an international customer, and one of the components from a supplier was defective, 500 units we had to reject. The customer is screaming because he has already sold the first three shipments that we can’t deliver.”

“What did you do, as the manager?”

“Well, I scrambled around and found 500 units from a supplier in California. In fact, they were leftover stock and we got them cheaper than our normal supplier.”

“Why didn’t your supervisor locate them for you?” I asked.

Valerie looked sideways. “Well, actually he did. I said I scrambled, meaning my supervisor scrambled. He is the one who found the parts. It was kind of a lucky break that solved the problem.”

“So your supervisor did his job, as a supervisor, and you failed to do your job as a manager.”

Valerie looked puzzled. -TF

Accurate and Complete

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This short conversation with Valerie was moving toward the near side of frustration for her.

“Look,” I said, “the role of the supervisor and the role of the manager are distinctly different. It’s not that one is smarter or has more experience, but they bring separate and necessary value to what we do as an organization.

“The role of the supervisor is to make sure the work gets done. The tools are schedules, checklists and meetings. The value-add is accuracy, completeness and timeliness. It’s the role of the supervisor to make sure the entire project is complete, not ninety five percent, that there are no gaps in service and, at the end of the day, the project meets the customer’s specifications and deadlines.

“That’s the role of the supervisor.” -TF

Can’t Explain

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“So, what you are telling me is that you were overpaying lead technicians under the guise of supervisor. And you couldn’t figure out why they all underperformed?” I asked.

Valerie was shaking her head. They were in the process of hiring three managers to replace six supervisors.

“Well, it’s hard to explain,” she began. “I mean, I think the biggest difference between a supervisor and a manager, is just more experience and we have to pay a manager more. But they should do a better job and be able to handle more.”

“Handle more, what?”

“You know, handle more!” Valerie exclaimed.

“Valerie, if you can’t explain it to me, how will you explain it to your new managers, I mean supervisors.”

Valerie looked for help from the ceiling, then to her right. “We just need someone who can do a better job, I don’t know how to explain it any better than that.”

“So, you are going to try to hire someone with a bit more experience who still may not be right for the job?” -TF