Category Archives: Fitness

Not Under Pressure

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“I’m not sure what happened,” Byron explained. “Our company was voted the number one employer two years ago. We have the best employee benefits, we have the best equipment, we have roomy workspaces, our sales people get trip incentives. All of a sudden, to stay profitable, we have to lay some people off. The mood around here turned south very quickly.”

“Times have been good?” I asked.

“Up ’till now.”

“What happened?”

“Sales have been off. Suddenly all these great things about our company are costing us out of business.”

“When were the decisions made that put you upside-down on your cost structure?”

Byron had to think back. “Three or four years ago, I guess. Those were the best of times.”

“It’s in the Best of Times that we make our biggest mistakes.” -TF

Training to Respond

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It has been a lively discussion. If you missed the story on Fox News or CNN, you can follow the link at the bottom of today’s post.

So, let’s talk about training. After all, this blog is about management. What Gregory St. Germain didn’t understand was training. My wife trained three years in kick-boxing, with five years in a martial arts blend of kenpo and muay-thai, earning her black belt, and three years of kung-fu weapons training. That’s why St. Germain sits in Broward County jail.

I was not surprised.

Why is management training so important? Over the last 13 years, more than 1,000 managers have participated in my management program. It’s training. While I like to think it has a great curriculum (I compiled and wrote the book), it’s not the book that makes it work. It is the repetitive behavior drills.

In the end, I don’t care one whit what participants know about management. What I care about is, given a situation, can they do? Can they perform? Can they respond effectively? That’s why management training is so important.

Our local police chief, a former graduate of my management program, is quick to caution people about confronting criminals (my wife got a stern warning). So, tomorrow, we will talk about Decision Trees. –TF
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If you missed the story, here’s the CNN link.

Split Decision

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Twenty-four year old Gregory St Germain must have missed the photos on top of the television, photos taken at Margo’s Black Belt graduation. And he certainly missed the display of Kung Fu weapons in another bedroom. For several minutes, he organized what he considered to be loot, working room to room. Donning a backpack of valuables, ready for his exit, he heard the front door slam shut.

My wife noticed the frantic commotion in the hallway, a shadowy figure trying to release a deadbolt on a side door.

“I am not a victim,” she told herself.

CNN Link

I want to thank you all for the emails and phone calls. There are times in our lives when we are called upon to respond. For the next couple of days, we will talk about training, discipline, fitness and decision trees. -TF

What Helps, What Hampers?

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“It’s people that are difficult,” Marion began. “Keeping a machine productive is easy. I can calculate its capacity and then stack work in front of it accordingly. But people aren’t machines. How can I calculate capacity and then stack work in front of people?”

“Machines are easier,” I replied. “Machines work the same way, day in, day out. People don’t. People are subject to daily changes and long term changes. As a Manager, you have to stay in front of that growth curve.

“When you look at the role of each of your team members, let’s start with these three questions.

  • What is the work that is necessary in each team member’s role?
  • What is it that you do, as a Manager, that is helpful in their work?
  • What is it that you do, as a Manager, that hampers their work?

Marion smiled, “Well, I already know that.”

“Perhaps, but you might compare notes with your team members.” -TF

Out of the Groove

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“But habits can help and habits can kill,” I said. Muriel and I had been talking about competence in the workplace.

“I don’t understand,” she replied. “We just talked about how competence and habits go hand in hand.”

“Yes, they do and like many things, your greatest strength can also be your greatest weakness.” I could see Muriel’s face scrunch up, mixed in resistance and curiosity.

“Competence requires a set of habits. Habits help us, habits hurt us. Think about a new problem that must be solved, like that change in production last month.”

Muriel winced. “I know, I know. We had really practiced hard on producing that left element. We were really good at it, and it was difficult. Then we got the machine. Using the machine was even harder, so my team kept doing it manually. Someone even sabotaged the machine configuration that kept it out of the loop for two days. All in all, it took us three weeks to become competent on the machine, when it should have taken only five days.”

“Habits can sometimes be the most powerful forces in resisting change. Habits are grooves in the way we think. They can be helpful, but sometimes, we have to get out of the groove and it’s tough.” -TF

Connection to Habits

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“Why are habits connected to competence?” I asked. Muriel and I had been talking about competence in the workplace. Muriel was promoted to manager in her department two years ago.

It was like a trip down memory lane. “When I first became a manager,” she started, “I was awful. I thought I was such a hot shot, walking around telling everyone what to do. Within a couple of weeks, productivity in my department was at an all time low, and I couldn’t figure it out. That’s when you began to talk to me about the Power of the Question.

“So, I started asking questions. Instead of telling my team how to do the work more efficiently, I began asking them how they could do the work more efficiently. I didn’t do it very often, but when I did, remarkable things happened. Over time, I got better at asking questions. Now, asking questions is a habit.”

“So, what competence is connected to the habit?” I followed.

“The competence is challenging my team. Challenging them to higher levels of performance, productivity, efficiency.”

“So, competence is all about acquiring a new habit.” -TF

Not a New Skill

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Muriel took a measured breath. “I have an uneasy feeling about my position here, and I don’t know why,” she explained. “Things are going well, at least they seem to. But I think things are going to change. And I am not sure I will be prepared to adapt quick enough.”

“Things are going well, now?” I asked.

“Well, yes.”

“When did things begin to go well?”

Muriel laughed. “You are right, things weren’t always this rosy. There was a time when it was tough. But I got better. And as I got better, things got easier.”

“So, things got easier as you became more competent in your role, here, as a manager?” I probed.

Muriel nodded affirmative. “Competence,” she repeated.

“And we know things will change, again, because they always do. Change in your industry, in your company, on your team and with yourself. And when things change, you are faced with your own incompetence.”

Muriel winced. Close to home, perhaps. I continued. “But you do adapt and you do change. But tell me, when you successfully perform something new, for the first time, does that make you competent?”

“No,” she responded. “Competence requires practice, doing it well over and over, until it becomes a habit.”

“So competence is not simply acquiring an occasional new skill, but acquiring a new habit.” -TF

Unconscious Behavior

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“It’s the difference between work and non-work,” I said. “Both work and non-work are states of mind. Non-work is an unconscious state of mind. Work is a conscious state of mind. Non-work just happens on its own with no particular direction. Work only happens when there is a purpose.”

Nathan and I had been discussing a simple start to a meeting where he asked each team member to contribute a piece of good news to start the meeting.

“So, you are connecting this exercise at the beginning of the meeting with a state of mind?” Nathan asked.

“Absolutely,” I responded. “Thoughts drive behavior. And if your thoughts connect to a purpose, then you are more likely to engage in work. If your thoughts are not connected to a purpose, then your behavior is likely to be unconscious and non-productive. How you think is everything.” -TF

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Our next Leadership class in Fort Lauderdale starts April 23. For more information, visit www.workingleadership.com.

Sustaining Change

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Phillip had assembled his sales team. They had promised to meet to look over their schedules for the following week. One or two had substantial clutter on a spreadsheet looking paper. Others had something tucked away inside a folder, a corner peeking out, but nothing available for casual inspection.

“Phillip tells me, you all decided to make some changes with the way you go to market,” I started. “I am very interested to hear about your plans.”

There was some shuffling of bodies around in chairs, everyone trying to get comfortable with this new accountability.

“I see some schedules for next week,” I continued. “Let’s get the cards out on the table.” Everyone looked to their left and then to their right, some schedules appeared, then more, then all. Some were full of chicken scratch, some were sparse.

I asked Phillip to explain, again, the purpose of the meeting, the purpose of the schedules, the purpose of this change of habit. We went around the circle, each explaining their schedule.

“Here is the secret,” I observed. “This is what will make this work. And if you don’t do this, the likelihood for success is slim.

“Many people think that making this kind of change is noble and the nobility will sustain it. Others think that if they don’t make this change, they will feel guilty and the guilt will sustain the change. Neither of those thoughts work.

“The only thing that will sustain this change will be to gather those people around you who will not let you off the hook, who will hold you accountable for what you promise to each other. It is the only thing that will sustain you through those time when you want to quit, or when you feel lazy.

“So, look around the table, my friends. This is the group that will help you to the next level. You just have to give them permission to hold you accountable.” -TF

Changing Habits

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Phillip arrived at the appointed time. “I think I am ready,” he announced. “You asked me to think about where we will be, what our target is.”

He described in some detail the three goals his team had set, what success looked like. It was my turn.

“So, now that you have painted this picture of the future, what habits will serve you? What do you need to do every day, every week that will deliver consistent results?”

It took Phillip some time to get cranked up. “My team is a sales team. Our job is to be in the field talking to prospective customers, every day. We sat down yesterday and looked at how much face time we really have with customers. We were shocked when we mapped it out. Only forty five minutes a day, on average for each of the five days last week.”

“So, what do you need to change?” I asked.

“I know it doesn’t seem like much, but we are going to try to double our face time. Ninety minutes per day spent with prospective customers.”

“And how are you going to do that?”

“We have been in the rut of just waiting for the phone to ring, so we haven’t been thinking very far into the future. We have been just reacting. As a team, by 5:00pm on Friday, every week, we will have met and shared our appointment schedules for the following week. We are going to keep a rolling calendar 7 days into the future. The target is to get seven hours of face time scheduled by Friday for the following week.”

“Good,” I said. “I will see you here on Friday. I would like to sit in and see how this works for you.” -TF
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Our next Leadership Program begins on February 26. Visit www.workingleadership.com for details.