From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

I am preparing for an interview for a Stratum III position, 12-18 months Time Span. I understand the Time Span interview process from your workshop. It will help identify the Time Span capability of the candidate. But, how do we know the candidate was successful in the previous job?

Response:

Indeed. This past Wednesday, I talked about the Four Elements of Success. Not only do you have to interview for Time Span, you also have to interview for the three other elements.

I recommend a behavioral interview approach, always focused on past behavior. Here is a list of starter questions.

In (Area #1) what goals were established?
What were the tasks and activities that supported those goals?
What resources did you have available to support those goals?
How did you develop those resources to support those goals?
How often did you review progress toward those goals?
What were the results during the past 12 months toward the achievement of those goals?

In the interview, depending on the Stratum of the position, I recommend approximately 60 prepared questions during a 90 minute interview. For each prepared question, I usually ask two drill down questions for a total of 180 questions.

That typically gives me a pretty good idea of success. -TF

Ted was biting his lower lip. “I am ready,” he proclaimed. “Right now, being a manager is not much fun. If I was better at this, if I knew what to do, things would be easier. I want to make this happen.”

“Wanting is not enough,” I said. “You have to make it necessary.”

Ted got a quizzical look on his face. “What do you mean, make it necessary?”

“You may think that high levels of performance are driven out of desire, team spirit and rah, rah. But that all sputters out eventually. When you don’t feel well, your desire gets weak. When your team has an off day, the rah, rah disappears. All of that will impact your performance.

“The only way that high performance can be sustained is if that high performance becomes a necessity. It will only be sustained if there is no other way. Necessity. Necessity drives high performance.”

“I am still not sure I understand,” Ted said. “What makes something necessary?”

“Something is necessary only when there is no other way. Look, Ted, you think you want to be a better manager. That will only sustain you when you feel like it. Unless becoming a better manager is a necessity, you will ultimately fail. But if there is no alternative, if becoming a better manager is a necessity, then you cannot fail.

“It must become a necessity.” -TF

“So, habits are connected to competence. Why is that so important?” I asked. Muriel was one of my former students, even before she was promoted from supervisor to manager.

“Sometimes, when I am faced with a problem, especially a new problem, it’s difficult to solve. Competence is the ability to bring my thinking and resources to the problem quickly. Not just quickly, but easily. Almost like an instinct. Only I know it’s not instinct, because it is something I learned and had to practice,” she replied.

“Give me an example,” I said, looking for clarity.

“Okay, planning. As a manager, I know it is very tempting, when faced with a problem, to just jump in and solve it, dictate a course of action and move on. What I found was, that whenever I did that, I would fail to notice some critical element, misdirect my people and end up with my team losing its confidence, in me.

“It took me a while to learn that I needed to slow down, get to the root cause of the problem, then create a plan. It was painful, in the beginning, because planning was not me.

“I would have to stop everything, clear the decks, drag out my books on planning. It was excruciating, worse, it took too long. Sometimes we would miss a deadline because the process took too long. It was difficult not to go back to jumping in, dictating a course and moving on, even if it was in the wrong direction.

“It was only when I committed the planning model to memory, that things began to change. Once I had it in my head, I could access the steps without having to look them up in my book. I began to break down every problem this way. Planning became quicker and quicker. Better yet, I was able to involve my team in creating the solution by using the steps. We seldom overlooked critical items. The best part was that everyone was on-board when we finished planning.

“Now, planning is a habit. My team does it all the time. It is a competence.”

Originally published December 23, 2005.

As Matthew looked across the manufacturing floor, the machines stood silent, the shipping dock was clear. Outside, the service vans were neatly parked in a row. Though he was the solitary figure, Matthew shouted across the empty space.

“Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night.”

He reached for the switch and the mercury vapors went dark. He slid out the door and locked it behind.
—
We hope you all have a wonderful holiday. Management Skills Blog will return on January 3, 2007. We will be checking email over the holidays, so if you need us, you know how to get us.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. -TF

Well, we have reached to the two year mark here at Management Skills Blog. I believe I will have a beer.

Over the past 24 months, we have created 517 short posts about management with all its glory and splinters. All of those are indexed by category on the website www.managementblog.org.

We are going to take a short time off over the Thanksgiving week holiday. When we return on November 27, we will resume publishing three days per week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you need your fix, go tackle the website. It’s open 24 hours a day.

Until then. Have fun, don’t eat too much and stay away from that “wild” turkey. -TF

From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

I am a new manager. I hold a weekly meeting that goes pretty well. We say the things that need to be said and make our plans, but the meetings seem to bomb at the end. They just stop. The energy in the room is flat. I tried to give a motivational rah-rah speech at last week’s meeting but it fell flat on its face. I wish I had kept my mouth shut. The meeting is missing something at the end. How can we finish on a high note?

Response:

Follow your own advice and keep your mouth shut. Unless you are one of the rare charismatic managers, your attempts to raise the energy level will feel contrived and pointless.

Why?

Because the energy is all coming from you. You need some help. Try the following exercise.

At the end of the meeting, distribute 3×5 index cards. Have everyone write down one action item they plan to do based on the meeting. Then make your way around the table, asking each team member, in turn, to publicly state their commitment to action. You will be amazed at the rise in energy as you adjourn the meeting.

This is no hollow rah-rah. The reason this works is because it is real and every person participates. -TF