I just completed the curriculum for the next Subject Area in Working Leadership Online. Planning – Creating the Future.

I am always struck by what planning helps us do and what excuses we have for not planning more often.

• We don’t have time to plan.
• Our plan never works anyway.
• We don’t have enough information to plan.
• We could create a plan, but the boss will veto it.
• I was responsible for the last plan and it didn’t work. I caught hell for it. No more planning for me.
• If we put a plan together, someone will try to hold us accountable for it.

That last one is my favorite.
Planning – Creating the Future kicks off March 16. Working Leadership Online. Register now.

“But everyone understood that we had to land the project for the team to get their bonus,” Lindsey protested.

“No, you understood that. The team understood something different. If they gave it their best and worked really hard, the team would get the bonus. So, they worked really hard and gave it their best. The only person who was in position to make decisions was the manager. The team didn’t get their bonus because of their manager.”

Lindsey was quiet. “So, we set up a system that, in the end, created a divide between the manager and the team.”

Working Leadership Online Update
Our next subject area – Decision Making – Facts and Intuition begins Monday. For registration, visit www.workingleadership.com

Lindsey had a puzzled look on her face. “I don’t understand. The team missed the deadline. We lost the project. If not the team, who do we hold accountable for the result? And believe me, this was a big deal. There was a big team bonus riding on this project.”

I started, slowly. “Who knew about the project first? Who had knowledge about the context of the project among all the other projects in the company? Who had the ability to allocate additional personnel to the project team to meet the deadline? Who had the authority to bump other project schedules to meet this deadline? Who was in a position to authorize overtime for this project?”

“Well, the Memphis team Manager,” she replied.

Working Leadership Online Update
Our next subject area – Decision Making – Facts and Intuition begins Monday. For registration, visit www.workingleadership.com

“I don’t see it,” Lindsey grimaced. “As a company, it is certainly not our intention to pit management against team members.”

“Yet, you feel a growing divide, and you are blaming the economy,” I replied.

“Well, yes, if it weren’t for the economy, I don’t think this would happen.”

“Let’s take a look at managerial accountability. Who do you hold accountable for the output of any of your teams? They have a goal, the goal is not reached. Who do you hold accountable?”

“You’re right. Just last week, our Memphis project team missed a deadline that cost us the opportunity to land a project. It wasn’t my team, but anyone could see from a couple of weeks before, that they weren’t going to meet the time constraints.”

“Who did you hold accountable for missing the deadline?” I asked.

“Well, it was the Memphis project team.”

“Wrong, it’s not the team we should hold accountable for the result.” -TF

From our Working Leadership Online program:

Question:
I need help with my field work. I met with my manager to discuss my goals. I can list several specific goals that are interrelated but my issue is that they are mostly on-going. It is difficult to nail down the Time Span.

For example, my biggest goal is to manage the backlog so that we maintain 100% Due Date Performance. This goal, like most of mine, will never be complete. My goals are measured daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. However, they are dynamic and I am struggling to put them in QQTR (Quantity, Quality, Time, Resources) terms.

Response:
In many environments, your work may not be project oriented with specific due dates. In some cases, the Time Span connection has more to do with evaluation periods. In your case, you describe daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual Time Spans.

I am most interested in the longest Time Span goals, or those goals which are judged in longer Time Spans. I am certain you look at metrics on a daily, weekly and monthly basis to capture data so you can make adjustments. Those short term metrics measure production performance. And production performance is important.

But, for you, as a Manager, I am looking for those longer Time Span goals, not measuring Production units, but measuring your system that drives Production. I am looking for metrics about your system and the way it manages efficiency, throughput, scrap, waste, safety, slowdown and acceleration to meet order flow.

Let me take a stab in my imagination.

Prior to the end of each year (Time Span), the Due Date Performance of our backlog will be measured for the previous 12 month period. During that time, the average on-time delivery will deviate no more than 5% from the specified Due Dates.

As time goes by, that 5% goal might be reduced to 4%, then 3%, then 2%, then 1%, then 0%.

Or, if due dates are always consistent and more accurately described as lead times, your goal for a twelve month period might be to reduce the lead time delivery for every order from 40(?) days to 30(?) days. or even shorter.

In your position, as manager, I am not looking for production goals with one or two day Time Spans, but performance measured in longer Time Spans that would indicate production systems maintenance, or production systems improvement.

Let me know if this helps. By the way, thinking about goals, in this way, is different than you may have ever thought about. But, then, that’s the point. To think about your role in a new way. -TF

Krista had a sheepish look on her face when I asked to see her list of goals for the next three months.

“I don’t really have a list,” she said. “I mean, I know what I am supposed to do. I keep it in my head.”

“Then how do you organize your list, if you don’t have it written down? How do you share your goals with other people? How do you change and update them? Most importantly, how do you make decisions about goals?”

“Well, when I started this job, my manager explained things to me. I had a job description and I signed off on it. Is that what you mean?”

“How long ago was that?” I asked.

“About two and half years ago,” she replied.

“Your customers have changed, your market has changed, technology has changed, regulations in your industry have changed, your team has changed. Do mean that your goals have NOT changed in two and half years?”
___
The option of learning online at my convenience is a great benefit. The course was excellent – I learned many things that I can apply as a manager. -Arlene Breitkreuz

Working Leadership Online. Register Now.

• Feb 16 – Decision Making – Using Facts and Intuition
• Mar 2 – Planning – Creating the Future
• Mar 16 – Delegation – Ultimate Leverage
• Mar 30 – Control Systems and Feedback Loops
• Apr 13 – Managing Time – Managing Yourself
• Apr 27 – Team Problem Solving – Power of Team
• May 11 – Coaching – Two Powerful Models
• May 25 – Coaching – Underperformance and Misbehavior

We have 8 week subscriptions and annual subscriptions.

Torrey took a long breath. “So, I am responsible for the output of my team members?”

“That is what I will hold you accountable for,” I replied.

“Even if they get sick, or a machine breaks down, or materials are late,” Torrey was looking for a way out.

I nodded my head. “Torrey, the reason we selected you for this project, is that you have been successful on other projects, six months in length. I expect you to manage the uncertainty of events that could happen and will happen during a project of this Time Span. I expect you to make contingency plans, schedule redundancy where it’s appropriate, inspect for quality, anticipate schedule changes, vacations and prevent accidents. I don’t expect you to make excuses. I expect you to anticipate, modify, readjust and meet the deadline.” -TF
__
Working Leadership Online kicks off next Monday. Register Now.
Feb 2 – Goal Setting and Time Span (2 weeks)
Feb 16 – Delegation (2 weeks)
Mar 2 – Planning (2 weeks)
Mar 16 – Decision Making (2 weeks)
Mar 30 – Control Systems and Feedback Loops (2 weeks)
We have 8 week subscriptions and annual subscriptions.

“Don’t you think you are being a little hard on me?” Torrey floated.

“Not at all. I am just heading off the excuses I expect to hear when your team doesn’t meet your goal,” I replied.

“My goal. But it’s not really my goal,” Torrey protested. “It’s the team’s goal.”

“No, the project goal is your goal. It is you, the Manager, that I hold accountable for the project goal. Regarding your team, I only expect them to do their best.”

“But, but,” Torrey sputtered.

“But, what? You signed off on the project budget, based on the resources and the schedule. You signed off on the Goal, the What by When. I will judge your effectiveness, to manage the project resources and the schedule along the Time Span of this project.”
__
Working Leadership Online kicks off next Monday. Register Now.
Feb 2 – Goal Setting and Time Span (2 weeks)
Feb 16 – Delegation (2 weeks)
Mar 2 – Planning (2 weeks)
Mar 16 – Decision Making (2 weeks)
Mar 30 – Control Systems and Feedback Loops (2 weeks)
We have 8 week subscriptions and annual subscriptions.