Miguel looked at me. I looked at him. A stare-down.

Miguel spoke first, “You are adding a swing shift, so our production will run 18 hours a day. As a manager I am working 12 hours a day, as it is. And you want me to be responsible for the production of this additional shift?”

“And I want you to cut your hours here at the office from 12 hours to 10 hours per day. Nine hours per day would be better. What changes will you have to make to accomplish that?” I asked.

“Quality is going to suffer,” Miguel protested.

“No, our quality standards remain the same.”

Miguel took a step back. His head went down. He disappeared from the conversation momentarily. “I cannot do it alone,” he finally responded. “I will need to pick a couple of people to help me out, one to head up each shift.”

“And what if one of them gets sick or has to take a personal day?”

“Then, I am back to working 18 hours that day.”

“Not allowed,” I responded.

“Then, I will have to pick four people. Two people to supervise and two people as backups.”

I looked at Miguel and smiled. “Come and see me when you have made your selection. We will talk about your next steps.”
__
No one person accomplishes anything of significance, by themselves. While we may single out, give accolades and awards to a person for accomplishment, without a team around them, they would be nothing. What does that mean for every manager?

“I am already working 12-13 hours a day,” Miguel pushed back. “And you are going to expand the swing shift to run 18 hours a day. How do you expect me to manage? I can’t do it.”

“You can’t do it the way you are doing things, now. What has to change?” I asked.

“Look, I can only be responsible for production about 12 hours a day!” Miguel’s face began to redden.

“No, I want you to be responsible for production 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That’s why you get paid by the month, not the hour.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little unrealistic?”

“Not at all. You can’t do things the way you have in the past. What has to change?”

“Well, I can’t be here 24 hours a day. I’m pushing it the way it is, now.”

“Actually, I don’t expect you to be here more than 9-10 hours a day. How can you be responsible 24 hours a day when you are only here for 9-10?”

From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
I have been a department manager for four years and things are going well. I have created systems and have few problems with my staff. I also managed to establish good communication with outside groups that need our services.

All is well, my boss thinks I’m getting bored and now wants me to transfer to another office with more staff. The were problems with the previous manager. My specific instructions are to help them improve productivity and quality.

Here are my issues:
1. Most team members have worked in the company longer than me.
2. The company grapevine tells me they are difficult to manage, stubborn.
3. There is conflict among the team leaders, about priorities, methods, allocation of resources.

Before I assume my new position, I plan to talk to each and every one of them to get to know them personally. I will conduct an interview to understand the existing difficulties and how I can help. I hope that I can develop solutions to make them more productive and stop their fighting. To be honest, I don’t have 100% confidence that I will be successful.

Response:
It’s like getting married. You never know you if made the right decision for a soul-mate, until after the ceremony. And once you are in, you can’t go back.

Tenure and age can create friction, sparks, smoke and small outbreaks of fire. Respect, authority and accountability will be the dynamics at risk. Yet, younger managers can be successful in a team with older, tenured workers. Here is your mantra.

Bring value to their decision making and problem solving.

If you are able to bring value to their decision making and problem solving, you will immediately earn their respect, establish your authority and gain the ability to hold them accountable. Easy to say, hard to do.

How do you bring value? You don’t do it by telling people what to do. You bring value by asking questions. Your intuition tells you that is the first move, conduct interviews, gather data and do some analysis. It is your ONLY move. And when you come to your conclusions, delivering the news to the team about the “new” way, must also be done with questions. And if you are not getting the response you want, then you are asking the wrong questions.

You have your intuition. I have my intuition. My intuition tells me that your boss selected you for some very good reasons.

“Wes, efficiency is only one side of the story. And cost-cutting could put you out of business,” I said.

“But I was told to reduce as many costs as I could,” he replied.

“As a manager, you have some decisions to make. Most of your day to day decisions will be about Pace and Quality. Pace and Quality.”

I could see Wes repeating those words to himself. Pace and Quality.

His head began to move from side to side, “But we work as fast as we can and Quality is always at the top of the list,” he stated proudly.

I stared at Wes, silently for fifteen seconds. “Bullshit. Without metrics, targets, you have no idea how fast you are working and you use your Customer as your Quality Control department.”

“I am curious about your goals,” I observed. “They describe a process, but don’t speak to the outcome. In the end, what are you trying to achieve?”

“My goal is to increase efficiencies. We just need to be more efficient,” Wes attempted.

“Why do you need to be more efficient?”

“Kind of obvious, isn’t it? Every company has to be efficient.”

“I get the concept,” I replied. “But what is the outcome, what is the result if we are more efficient?” I could tell Wes was getting impatient.

“We make more profit,” he blurted.

“How much more profit?” I pressed.

“I don’t know, whatever it turns out to be.”

“So, you have no way to measure the effectiveness of your intention to be more efficient?”

“I see all of that,” Dale responded. “Timing, urgency, quality, priority and necessity. I get it. And I see how understanding Time Span helps me make those decisions.”

“But that’s just the beginning,” I pointed. “There is one more decision. The most important decision a manager makes. As managers, we spend so much time figuring out what to do, how to do, when to do. But the most important decision is who.”

“You’re right,” Dale replied. “And if anything is going to come back to bite me, it’s the decision about who.”

“And Time Span helps us make that decision. Not only does Time Span point to timing, urgency, priority and quality, but Time Span is an indicator for complexity. The shorter the Time Span of a task, the less likely it is to be complex. The longer the Time Span of a task, the more likely uncertainty will creep in and influence the outcome.

Each person is born with an innate ability to deal with a certain amount of uncertainty in the world. That capability can be objectively measured in Time. If we understand the Time Span of the task and understand the Time Span capability of the person, we can create a match. The most important decision a manager has to make is who.”

“I never really thought about it,” Dale replied. “I figured most things would get done when they got done. Sometimes, I push people to get something done faster, when we need it. But you are right, thinking about the Time Span of a goal is usually an afterthought.”

“So, what happens when we set the Time Span for a goal?” I asked.

“It sets a follow-up date,” Dale nodded.

“And what else?” I pushed.

“Well, if the Time Span is short, it dictates the timing of the action, how urgent something is.”

“And if the Time Span is short, what impact does that have on the quality of the output?”

“Obviously, if we are in a hurry, we might compromise on the quality of the work product,” he confirmed.

“So the by when governs the timing of the action, the pace of the action, the urgency of the action, the ultimate quality of the action, the priority of the action and in many cases, whether the action occurs at all.”

“So, if I make my goals more specific, you will be happy?” Dale asked.

“No, I will only be half-happy,” I replied. “A goal has two parts to it. A what, by when. Making your goals more specific, defining a quantity and a quality standard gets us part way there. But what about the Time Span of your goals?”

“Look, we have a lot going on around here. I am sure we will achieve our goals, but I can’t really tell you when. I mean, probably sometime this year.”

“And that’s why I will only be half-happy. Like most managers, you spend most of your focus on the what of your goals. The by when becomes an after-thought, if at all. Why do you think the Time Span of a goal is as important as the what?”

“What are your top three goals?” I asked.

“Well, we need to control our costs. That’s one. We have to control our inventory. And we need to improve the morale in our team,” Dale replied.

“Those are worthy pursuits, but what’s the goal? How will you know when you get there?”

“I knew you were going to pin me down. You always want me to be more specific.”

“Why do you think I always press you?” I continued.

“I guess, if I’m not specific, you can’t hold me accountable,” Dale smiled.

“So, the first part of accountability has to do with the specifics of the goal.”

I don’t often do book reviews, but this one caught my eye.

Once Upon a Cow by Camilo Cruz, is a story about our own personal cows. The beginning parable is about a teacher and a student who journey to a small town, the teacher telling the student to look for the poorest home where they would seek refuge for the night.

The two men stopped in front of the most dilapidated little shack they had ever set eyes on.

The student watched in disbelief as the teacher sliced through the cow’s throat in one swift movement. The fatal wound caused the animal to drop silently to the ground.

The story continues one year later when the teacher and student return to the home. They find the family flourishing and learn the story of how the death of the cow caused the change in their fortune.

We all have cows that need to die.