Category Archives: Accountability

Saving Face and Time-Out

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Thank you all for your helpful comments on the post from Monday. If you receive the email version of Management Skills Blog, you can follow this link to the website to read all of the posts.

From Monday’s post:

I’m new to the middle management game. I supervise on the weekend. I’ve got a great team with one exception. She leaves early, complains when she has to work late, and runs to upper management every time she feels slighted. I’ve listened when she cries. I’ve tried being the tough supervisor. Nothing seems to work. Today (Saturday) she left early without completing her regularly scheduled work. The conversation deteriorated into a shouting match and she left.

Response:

Shouting matches create a tough spot. Once the volume escalates, there is more at stake than the original problem. There are now face-saving issues on the table. How can you back down as the supervisor? How can she back down as the victim of her tyrant (weekend) supervisor?

There is no easy path back to high performance for either of you. Whenever conversations become angry, you can be guaranteed to solution is near. Immediately call a time-out.
Negotiators use it, heck even basketball coaches use it. Time-out disturbs the flow, so especially if that flow is headed downhill, interrupt it.

Janice, I’m sorry. This conversation is getting heated and if we continue on this track, I am afraid we might get derailed. I want to stop and take a break. When we come back, I know I will have calmed down and I will be able to listen better. I am going to go down the hall, buy a soda from the vending machine and I will meet you back here in five minutes.

Time-out can be very helpful for regrouping, re-thinking, calming nerves, gaining perspective.
Tomorrow, let’s look at two more areas surrounding this person. -TF

A Shouting Match

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

I’m new to the middle management game. I supervise on the weekend. I’ve got a great team with one exception, a young woman whose attitude will surely get in the way of her career. But, she doesn’t seem to care. She leaves early, complains when she has to work late, and runs to upper management every time she feels slighted. I’ve tried reducing her workload to get her out of the office on time. I’ve listened when she cries. I’ve tried being the tough supervisor. Nothing seems to work. Today (Saturday) she was called in early, but then left early without completing her regularly scheduled work. She said if I had a problem with it I should call upper management. The conversation deteriorated into a shouting match and she left.

I don’t want to run to management with this. I want to solve it myself. I just don’t know how. Any advice?

Response:

You are in a tough place. As the weekend supervisor, you have no authority to hire and fire and she is under the wing of a protective manager who doesn’t have to put up with her negative behavior on the floor. I have a few specific recommendations, but I would like to throw this out for general discussion.

Here is the discussion question. As a weekend supervisor, with only limited contact, how would you change this dynamic? Let me stipulate two rules. You cannot fire her and you cannot send her to a Dale Carnegie course. Please post a comment. -TF

Shift the Responsibility

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Erwin wasn’t leaving until I told him. We had been talking about managers and accountability. We had talked about fear and the manager avoiding the accountability conversation. “We have to overcome this fear,” I said. “If we don’t overcome this fear, the manager will stay put, frozen, and nothing will change. The team member will continue to underperform and the manager will remain miserable.

“Look, Erwin, most managers don’t understand the purpose for this accountability conversation. Most managers believe they have to perform some psychological magic on the team member, put them in a trance and return them to work as a perfect performer. By the way, that never happens.

“While the manager has the authority to put the team member into a trance (by virtue of being the boss) they have no power to do so. The manager has no magic. The only person who can make the change is the team member.

“You asked how my accountability model works. That’s how it works. It transfers the responsibility for change from the manager to the team member. As soon as the manager understands there is no magic and understands the weight of this conversation is on the shoulders of the team member, the fear begins to go away.” -TF

It’s Something Invisible

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“This accountability model is more than just a way for the manager to talk about performance.” I was talking with Erwin about managers and accountability. I was talking about step two in this four part model.

  • Making the connection.
  • Creating the model.
  • Practicing the model.
  • Coaching the model.

“On the face of it, the model is just a sequence of steps, but it has to accomplish something invisible.” I stopped. Erwin furrowed his brow.

“Look, Erwin. Why don’t managers hold their team members accountable? It’s not because they don’t know how. It’s for a whole bunch of other reasons. Mostly, it’s fear; fear of confrontation; fear that the team member will quit; fear that the team member will respond negatively; fear that the team member may stir up trouble. The fear is invisible.

“But, the model has to face this fear. The model has to be stronger than the fear. If it’s not, at the first sign of stress, the manager will retreat into avoiding the accountability conversation.”

“And your model does that?” asked Erwin.

“Yes, it does. Do you want to know how?” Erwin grinned, his eyes grew wide and he leaned forward in his chair. -TF

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There are six spaces left in our management program that begins next Monday, July 24 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. For more information, please follow the link to www.workingmanagement.com.

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Tour de France Update

Even with a day of rest, the Alps took their toll. The finish staging area looked more like triage than jubilance. Floyd Landis (USA-PHO) regained the yellow jersey, but at what price. His consolation is that his muscle exhaustion is no different than the others.

This is the start of week three. At this point, the riders split. Some break down, the kilometers ravage the body that wants to quit. Others get stronger. The rigor hardens the muscles and disciplines the body to tap its reserves.

Today saw a breakaway of 25 riders early on. As they assaulted the steep climbs, the escapees were picked apart, one by one with Landis in control. He held back from the stage win, focused on gaining time against Denis Menchov (RUS-RAB), Andreas Kloden (GER-TMO) and Cadel Evans (AUS-DVL). It is likely to be one of those four in yellow on Sunday. The picture becomes clearer.

But there are two more days in the Alps. Everyone is tired. Some will be strong. Some will break.

Overall Standings after Stage 15

1-LANDIS, Floyd -USA-PHO -69hrs 5sec

2-PEREIRO SIO, Oscar -ESP-CEI –+10sec

3-DESSEL, Cyril -FRA-A2R –+2min 2sec

4-MENCHOV, Denis -RUS-RAB –+2min 12sec

5-SASTRE, Carlos -ESP-CSC –+2min 17sec

6-KLÖDEN, Andréas -GER-TMO –+2min 29sec

7-EVANS, Cadel -AUS-DVL –+2min 59sec

8-ROGERS, Michael -AUS-TMO –+5min 1sec

9-LEIPHEIMER, Levi -USA-GST –+6min 18sec

10-ZUBELDIA, Haimar -ESP-EUS –+6min 20sec

11-MOREAU, Christophe -FRA-A2R –+6min 22sec

12-SCHLECK, Frank -LUX-CSC –+7min 7sec

13-POPOVYCH, Yaroslav -UKR-DSC –+7min 36sec

14-MERCADO, Juan Miguel -ESP-AGR –+7min 39sec

15-FOTHEN, Marcus -GER-GST –+8min 23sec

16-BOOGERD, Michael -NED-RAB –+9min 15sec

17-CHAVANEL, Sylvain -FRA-COF –+9min 56sec

18-MERCKX, Axel -BEL-PHO –+10min 25sec

19-PARRA, Ivan Ramiro -COL-COF –+10min 43sec

20-TOTSCHNIG, Georg -AUT-GST –+10min 53sec

Making the Connection

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“The point is to change the behavior,” I said. “The skill is easy to teach, it’s the behavior that’s difficult to change.” Erwin and I had been talking about how you go about teaching a manager the skill of accountability.

“So, how do you do it?” Erwin insisted.

“There are four steps to the process.

  • Making the connection.
  • Creating a model.
  • Practicing the model.
  • Coaching the model.

“Let’s start with making the connection. Before a manager considers any change in behavior, they have to make two connections. First, they have to understand why the behavior is valuable. And not just valuable in general, but valuable to them in their situation. For example, managers know they should hold their team members accountable, but they never sit down and think about the benefits when they do that. They never think about the impact to themselves or the impact on the team member.”

Erwin was nodding and listening.

“But worse, managers never sit down and think about what happens when they don’t hold their team accountable. This connection may be even more important. Managers don’t think about the impact to the team member when there are no consequences for their underperformance.

“So, we talk a lot about this, making it vivid and personal. That’s the first step.” -TF

Next Monday is the kickoff for our Working Management classroom series in Fort Lauderdale. Please follow this link to find out more.

Tour de France Update

Monday was a rest day. Tuesday brings the first of three mountain stages in the Alps. It will be a day of challenges. While Floyd Landis (USA-PHO) is in the best position among the top riders, his team may not be strong enough to protect him. Tuesday, look for a serious challenge from Mickael Rasmussen (DEN-RAB), last year’s King of the Mountain champion, in support of his teammate Denis Menchov (RUS-RAB).

Overall Standings after Stage 14

1-PEREIRO SIO, Oscar -ESP-CEI -64hrs 05min 4sec

2-LANDIS, Floyd -USA-PHO –+1min 29sec

3-DESSEL, Cyril -FRA-A2R –+1min 37sec

4-MENCHOV, Denis -RUS-RAB –+2min 30sec

5-EVANS, Cadel -AUS-DVL –+2min 46sec

6-SASTRE, Carlos -ESP-CSC –+3min 21sec

7-KLÖDEN, Andréas -GER-TMO –+3min 58sec

8-ROGERS, Michael -AUS-TMO –+4min 51sec

9-MERCADO, Juan Miguel -ESP-AGR –+5min 2sec

10-MOREAU, Christophe -FRA-A2R –+5min 13sec

11-POPOVYCH, Yaroslav -UKR-DSC –+5min 44sec

12-FOTHEN, Marcus -GER-GST –+5min 46sec

13-ZUBELDIA, Haimar -ESP-EUS –+5min 55sec

14-SINKEWITZ, Patrik -GER-TMO –+7min 7sec

15-LEIPHEIMER, Levi -USA-GST –+7min 8sec

16-BOOGERD, Michael -NED-RAB –+7min 23sec

17-TOTSCHNIG, Georg -AUT-GST –+8min 16sec

18-KARPETS, Vladimir -RUS-CEI –+8min 36sec

19-AZEVEDO, José -POR-DSC –+9min 11sec

20-SCHLECK, Frank -LUX-CSC –+10min 6sec

Core Skills of Project Management

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

What do you consider the three most important parts of Project Management?

Response:

Project Management is a classic Strata II role. From a macro level, it involves the coordination of people, materials, equipment and project sequence. The three core management skills drive the project forward.

1. Project Planning (creating a comprehensive project plan including milestones and accountabilities).

2. Creating and monitoring a schedule (prioritizing and sequencing time frames associated with changing elements of a project).

3. Creating and monitoring a checklist (documenting and tracking all the details for completion and quality).

The value adds for Project Management are project control, accuracy to project specifications, timliness and completeness. -TF

Next Steps and Follow-up

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“That was the missing link,” said Jeremy. He was explaining his meeting with Sylvia. As suggested he had gone back to outline the list of next steps for the project he had assigned to her.

“Even Sylvia was relieved,” Jeremy explained. “She agreed. The reason she had not started the project was that she was never clear on what to do first, so she always procrastinated. This simple process to clarify the next steps made all the difference.”

“And how many steps in this project?” I asked.

“Five simple little steps. But until we laid them out, the project was going to sit until it was too late.”

“When will you follow-up on the five steps?”

“Friday, at 3:00pm. At least I learned that lesson, to calendar my follow-up meetings. We will see how she does.”

All in all, it was a good week. -TF

As Simple as Scheduling

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Jeremy was already standing when I got to the courtyard. “I think I got it figured out,” he said. “You were right. I can tell you exactly when that unfinished report will hit my desk. Next Tuesday, because it is due next Wednesday.”

“And so, sometime on Tuesday, your teammate will realize it can’t get done, go ask your boss what he should do and your boss will say what?” I smiled.

“My boss will say, give it back to Jeremy and he will get it done.” Now, it was Jeremy’s turn to smile.

“Why are smiling? You were pretty upset last week when it happened to you.”

Jeremy almost cracked up. “I know. It’s weird. When you know it is going to happen, it’s funny, like watching America’s Funniest Home Videos. You know the guy is going to smash into the wall and it’s funny.”

“So, what are you going to do differently, because next Tuesday, this will not be so funny?” I asked.

“Well, first I am going to set up two follow-up meetings this week to make sure the project is kicked off and underway. Then next Monday, I will have a final follow-up meeting to get the last revision so I can review it on Tuesday. If we have a final touch-up, that will be okay. I guess it’s all in getting ahead of the curve.”

“You have learned a valuable lesson about follow-up. It is the one place that most managers drop the ball and it is as simple as scheduling on your calendar.” -TF

The Next Unfinished Project

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Jeremy pulled me aside as I walked down the hall. “I have the same situation,” he said.

“What situation?” I asked.

“My boss hands all the stuff to me to make sure it gets done, but he has never made it clear that I will be dishing out most of the work to the other team members. Worse still, he doesn’t support me when I get pushback on some of the assignments. He lets these people off the hook as soon as there is a whimper. I was here until 10:00p last night working on a project that I assigned to Sylvia two weeks ago. I found it on the corner of my desk yesterday with a note.

I didn’t have time to get this done. It is due tomorrow. I talked to the boss and he said just give it back to you. He said you would take care of it.

“I am not the manager, but the boss expects me to make sure everything gets done.” Jeremy was clear eyed, but you could tell he felt pretty beat up.

“Sounds to me like the boss expects you to take care of it. Tell me, how do you like working until 10:00?”

“I don’t. I was so mad, I could have strangled Sylvia.” Jeremy was fidgeting.

“So, what are you going to do differently next time?” I asked. “Because this will happen again unless you do something different.”

“What else could I do?” Jeremy sat straight in his chair. “I saw the package at 4:30 and there was five hours of work that had to get done. I had to stay.”

“That wasn’t the question. The question is how are you going to prevent that from happening next time?” Jeremy was stymied. “Let’s take a break,” I continued. “Let’s get some fresh air. I will meet you out in the company courtyard in about ten minutes. I have to check on something. Then we can talk some more. Until then, here is a clue about where I want to focus. What day next week is the next unfinished report going to land on your desk?” -TF

A copy of Creating Competitive Advantage by Jaynie Smith goes to Karen D’Abate for her follow-up comment on yesterday’s post. Many thanks to all who contributed. Some good thinking going on out there.

Biggest Change is You

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From the Ask Tom mailbag.

Question

I’m in a situation where I manage three different groups; however, I am not really the manager but actually in the same job category as the people I “supposedly” manage. The problem is my boss has given me the responsibility of all of these jobs, however, I do not have the authority to delegate to any of the people I manage. They all go crying to my boss. My tendency then is to try to “do it all”. I’ve spoken to my boss about the way I feel, “responsibility but no authority” and he does not know what I mean. He says just give it to him and he’ll find someone to do it. I feel unrespected, overworked and my self-respect is rapidly diminishing. What approach would be my effective for me to take?

Response

There are a number of dynamics going on here that are working against you. First there is the resistance from your co-workers to “assignments” for which they feel no accountability. Second is your boss, who wants to get things done, but is not willing to spend the time you need to work through this resistance. The third dynamic is you.

We could spend all kinds of time working on some technique or trick to subtly coerce your fellow team members into compliance or we could beat our head against the wall whining about how your boss just doesn’t understand. Or…

Or we can start with you. The biggest change that has to occur is not an approach. The biggest change that has to occur is with you.

I am going to throw this open to our readers for response. Here is the question.

What has to change in the mindset and the self-talk that will begin the slow development process of what being a manager is all about?

I have a fresh out-of-the-box copy of Jaynie Smith’s new book, Creating Competitive Advantage for the most insightful comment. -TF