Category Archives: Accountability

Not a Chance

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“That’s why we decided to get rid of our six supervisors and hire three managers to replace them,” Valerie explained. “The three managers will work with a lead technician on each crew.”

“Tell me why you eliminated the supervisor layer?” I asked.

“They weren’t really doing the job. At the pay rate, we weren’t getting our money’s worth. We think if we pay a little bit more, we can get a better person. That’s why we decided having three managers would be better than having six supervisors.”

“Valerie, I am a bit disturbed about the way you have structured the accountabilities. Let’s talk about the general expectations of a supervisor, you know, the ones you decided to get rid of.

“The primary role of the supervisor is to make sure the work gets done,” I continued. “The primary tools of the supervisor are schedules, checklists and meetings. It is the job of the supervisor to anticipate the required volume of work, make sure we have the right amount of materials on-hand to complete the tasks, schedule the proper equipment and assign the right number of people. During the day, as tasks are being completed, it is the job of the supervisor to monitor progress toward the daily goal.”

Valerie was almost laughing. “Well, I can tell you that is definitely NOT what our supervisors were doing, not even close.”

“And that’s not all,” I continued. “Supervisors should be looking ahead specifically to tomorrow and the rest of the week. They should be reviewing production demand for the rest of the month, making sure materials will be on-hand, that equipment will be available and that we have sufficient personnel.”

Valerie was smiling but shaking her head. “Not a chance,” she replied.

Too Many Directions

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“So, it’s okay to be a working manager?” Wes asked.

“In a small organization, it almost always happens that way,” I replied. “As a manager, you may have four or five supervisors reporting to you. At the same time, you may have to supervise one of the processes yourself. It could be a matter of economics, or just that you cannot find the right person to fill the role.”

“That’s exactly the way it works, now.” Wes looked relieved.

“But, there’s a problem, being a part time manager and a part time supervisor,” I warned.

The look of relief on Wes’ face was temporary. He knew it was too good to be true. I waited.

“You’re right. Being part time manager and part time supervisor, I feel like I am being pulled in too many different directions. One of my supervisors comes to me with a question and I can’t listen, because I have my own work to do.”

“And when you don’t have time to listen, are you bringing value to the thinking and work of that supervisor who has a question?” -TF

Discretionary Duties

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

I help supervise a young man at my company. He has a grating voice, a false sense of his own skill level, often fishes for complements on average work and tries to tell others how they should be doing their jobs. He is truly the most annoying person I’ve ever encountered. That being said, he works a shift no one else wants to work and does an o.k. job with a lot of direction from co-workers.

Response:

A false sense of his own skill level is not such a bad thing. Between you and me, let’s call it self-confidence, perhaps over-confidence. Some managers may try to adjust a person’s over-confidence by calling them out, chopping them off at the knees or otherwise belittling them. Waste of time. In fact, counterproductive.

Marcus Buckingham, in his book, The One Thing You Need to Know describes a superb managerial response. He assumes that, in some cases, over-confidence may actually be helpful in the face of a true challenge. So, rather than try to adjust this young man’s confidence level, spend time asking him to articulate the difficulties of doing a high quality job in his role with the company.

Most people underestimate the real difficulties, which contributes to over-confidence and also contributes to under-performance. Your job, as a Manager is to help the person explore those difficulties.

I once spent three successive days with a CNC operator, whose job was to cut sheet metal using a machine from the plasma cutting table manufacturers. Each day, for a half an hour, he would explain things to me. We started with his prescribed duties, cutting metal and meeting quota for the day. That was a quick discussion.

The rest of the time, we talked about his discretionary duties. It was up to his discretion how he organized his materials in front of the machine. It was his discretion to listen for funny noises coming from the machine. It was his discretion to collect and dispose of scrap coming out of the back of the machine.

Funny, it was those discretionary things that made the difference between a good operator and a great operator. What do you think? After three days, totaling ninety minutes of conversation, explaining things to me, do you think he was a better operator? -TF

Enough is Now

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In response to yesterday’s Ask Tom, if a new team member is still struggling after five months, it’s time for graduation. Excellent comments were posted by Michelle Malay Carter, Varun Malhotra and Chris Young. Read the comments here.

My turn.

You have two things working against. Both need to be fixed, though it’s too late for this person.

First, you have difficulty making the termination decision because the performance standards for the role have not been set. Everyone knows this person is underperforming, but without a standard, we are all left with only our opinions. Tough to terminate someone based on an opinion without a standard.

So, take this opportunity to create a standard. Heck, create a certification process. Get your team involved to create a performance protocol. All new hires should be considered to be on probation until they meet the standard. Set a time limit and move on.

Second, you don’t have anyone waiting in the wings. If you had too many people vying for that chair, the decision would be much easier to make. For this position, you need to be trading up. -TF

When is Enough, Enough?

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Greetings from Toronto.
From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

I was recently promoted to supervisor. It’s been a challenge, but I definitely think I can grow into the role and learn to handle it successfully.

Before I was promoted, a new technician was hired. It has been almost 5 months since, yet he is still in training. That’s 5 times longer than any other new hire we’ve had. Other technicians who are working with and “shadowing” him in training continue to report that they do not trust his ability to proficiently handle his duties. With my own firsthand observation, I feel the same way. Had I been promoted earlier, I would have strongly objected to his hiring.

It’s always the same story: the job required a stronger technical background than he thought so it’ll take him longer, and he will continue to do his best to learn the ropes and gain the trust of the other employees. He cannot provide a timeframe when he thinks he would be ready.

If it were strictly up to me, I’d get rid of him. Keeping him diverts technicians and resources from other projects, costs the company his hourly wage, and most likely lowers our customer satisfaction ratings as many of our callers quickly pick up on the fact that he is “new” and unsure of himself. My manager, however, would prefer not to take that route, for fear of the consequences that can follow termination. Yet, I feel like he’s pressuring me when he says things like “He STILL isn’t ready yet? He’s been here for 5 months! Why is it taking so long?”

What should I do? Would I be justified in setting a deadline by which he must become proficient? When should I say “enough is enough?”

Response:

Actually, I am curious about how others see this. Please add a comment below. -TF

In a Pinch, He’s Great

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“Are you having fun with all this?” I asked, smiling behind a very serious intent.

“Hell, no,” Gerald replied. “I’m ready to just ditch the guy. But he has eight years of good performance in his file, easy enough to get along with, always shows up as a team player. I don’t know how I would document his deficiencies to fire him. I can’t even get his production reports.”

“Let’s think about the problem, again. Let’s go over the facts. You have an eight year employee, always a team player, positive attitude that you promoted to Manager.”

“Yes,” Gerald agreed.
“Before you promoted him, did he ever display behavior that demonstrated competence as a Manager?”

Gerald’s face turned puzzled. “What does that mean? He was one of our best supervisors. He could make things happen in a heart beat. My top pick if we ever got in a jam. He could handle two walkie-talkies, a cell phone and drive a fork-lift at the same time.” Gerald stopped. “Well, not that we allow people to talk on the phone and drive fork-lifts, but you know what I mean.”

“So, in a pinch, when things get hectic, he’s your man?” I confirmed.

“What is different about being a Manager?” -TF

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.