Just landed in Newark, up here for three days, working with Dick Shorten’s Vistage groups on the research of Elliott Jaques.

Still have a few openings in Working Leadership Online. Free Introductory Membership for our next Subject Area – Accountability – Control Systems and Feedback Loops. If you would like to get on the list, follow this link to the Free Introductory Membership.

“I hope that worked,” Gail blurted.

“How so?” I asked.

“I know I am supposed to hold my team accountable,” she replied. “Sometimes, I feel like a babysitter.”

“If you didn’t feel like a babysitter, what would be different?” I pushed.

“If I don’t come down hard, let my team know I really mean business, it seems like they consistently underperform. But if I am in their face, they actually step up and get the job done.”

“How much of your energy does that take?”

“It’s not just energy,” Gail lamented, “Is this what management is all about, because it’s not really that much fun.”

“So, what would be different, if you could find a better way?”

“I don’t know. Instead of me, is there any way they could hold themselves accountable?”

‘What do you mean?” Ronnie asked.

“Describe, again, your control system,” I replied.

“We distribute the task assignments for the day, for the week,” Ronnie began. “The team does the work. The control system counts the output. The output is compiled and delivered to the manager at the end of the week. The manager looks at the output and meets with the team to talk about their performance.”

“You mean, where the team screwed up?”

“Well, yeah. If they screw up, it’s up to the manager to address the situation,” Ronnie defended.

“I see.”

“I knew it,” Ronnie complained. “We set up a control system to hold people more accountable and now somebody has sandbagged the control system.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Look, we have a tight production budget. We cannot afford screw-ups, on either the pace or the quality of the output. Sometimes, production gets behind and we don’t find out about it until it’s too late. So, our QC people put in a control system that counts production every five minutes. The data is collected, compiled on a report and automatically emailed to the manager every Friday. He can see trends in pace, shift productivity and work station productivity.”

“What does the manager do with the report?”

“Every Monday, he meets with the production team to talk about the report. The team can really see where they screwed up,” Ronnie smiled.

“So, what’s the problem?”

“The control system count was off. We had to bring in another QC inspector to do an independent audit of the finished inventory. At first, the count between the control system and the inventory was pretty close, but after a couple of weeks, the numbers went whacky. Turns out, the production team has been messing with the control system counter. They were swiping finished goods through the counter multiple times one day and skipping the counter on other days. The control system was always wrong.”

“Imagine that?” I said.

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?”