I want to step outside the stories for a couple of days and talk about a few things we are doing here. Management Skills Blog is in its fifth year with more than 1000 posts talking about issues faced by managers.

Over the years we have been working on an interactive platform that kicks off today. Those of you from my workshops know about the research of Elliott Jaques. His concepts of Requisite Organization will be the cornerstone of this new platform. Today, a group jumps in with both feet.

We start with Goals. Everything we do, as a person, is goal directed behavior. Our daily lives are filled with “what by whens.” Sometimes we are aware of our goals, sometimes our goals are so routine that we don’t even notice. Yet our days are full of goals.

Some goals are noble, some not so noble. Some goals are driven by needs, some driven by desire, some driven by avoidance.

And there are times, plenty of times, when we are most definitely aware of our goals. We think about them, share them with others, change them, write them down and achieve them. Everything we do starts with a goal.
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Working Leadership Online kicks off today. 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.

Today begins the Orientation for our Working Leadership Online program. Those who have registered will receive their program codes later today. Next Monday, we will begin our first subject area on Setting Goals and Time Span.

We will continue registration throughout this week, so if you have an interest, please follow this link.

Setting Goals seems so elementary, it would be easy to overlook. Perhaps that is why so few goals get written down. And it wasn’t until my understanding of Elliott Jaques research on Time Span that I began to see Setting Goals in a new light.

A goal is simply a What by When. For some reason, we always seem to focus on the What without understanding the importance of by When.

It is this lack of focus on by When that causes misunderstandings, missed priorities, project delays and overruns. This lack of focus causes procrastination and our inability to manage the complexity involved in longer Time Span tasks.

“Who decides the by When of a task?” asked Torrey.

“The Manager,” I replied.

“But what if my team tells me they cannot meet the deadline?”

“It is the responsibility of the team to tell you that. And the sooner they are able to tell you, the sooner you, as the Manager can make the adjustment.”

“You mean, move the deadline?”

“No. If the deadline is important (not arbitrary), then you, as the Manager, must make adjustments. And these are decisions that only you can make. You might bring in more manpower, allocate more machine time, authorize overtime. None of those decisions can be made by your team. Only you, as the Manager, have that authority.”
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Join us for Working Leadership Online.
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.

In response to Monday’s Letter from China, Joe Barnes writes:

Having lived through several deep recessions in the U.S. I found that there are still rewards to be obtained even when you have to redefine your traditional concept of productivity:

Spend your free time wisely. Focus on EDUCATION–learn a useful skill; learn a new language; read things that you previously ignored; reach higher than you thought possible when you were busy with the work that has now fallen by the wayside.

Be PATIENT. Think long term. This situation did not happen suddenly and it will not be cured suddenly. Focus your energies on WELLNESS. Depression and anxiety sicken and kill. Adopt a new regimen of exercise, fitness and healthy food. Grow your own; you have the time.

Focus on SPIRITUAL enrichment. Spend time being involved with and reaching out to those whose lot in life is worse than yours. All the things that abundant work denied you, due to too busy a schedule, will now be possible. REINVENT YOURSELF so that when global circumstances improve you will be ready to prosper.
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Pre-registration continues for Working Leadership Online. This program kicks off with Orientation on Jan 26. For more information, follow this link.

From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
I’m from China and manager of our sales department. The global financial crisis is hitting everyone in the world and China is not an exception. Among my staff, some people fear being laid off with little enthusiasm to work while others are even more negative about the future.

My question is how we can motivate people and how to relieve them from their worries, and rebuild hope for the future, though no one can predict what will happen.

Response:
The value most often cited for effective leadership is honesty. We seek leaders with integrity. These should be your guiding lights.

Unfortunately, you may not know what the honest answer is, so your response may sound hollow. When, in fact, you may not know what the future holds for your team or for your company.

What do we know? We know that this economic crisis will pass and that the world will get along. Life, goes on. In this case, not quickly. My advisors (Ecotrends.org) tell us not to look for relief until the summer of 2010, and even then, we may only see the first signs of spring.

That means things are going to be tough and uncertain.

In all of this however, there will still be opportunity. And that opportunity will only come to those organizations that are aggressive in finding and capitalizing on those opportunities. Even if the world’s economy is reduced by 40 percent, there is still 60 percent left. The question, for your team, is which group they want to be in, the 40 percent or the 60 percent. It is really a choice.

Today caught up with me. Running hard, just like you.

It has been a wild year, but then we knew it would turn out this way. Maybe we didn’t believe it, in our hearts until the past couple of months, but we knew it would turn out this way. We worked hard to prepare, get our balance sheets in order, wean off debt, and say goodbye to some of our favorite people. It was those last goodbyes that were the most difficult, those we hoped we could keep, but couldn’t after all.

And some companies are still growing, traditionally counter cyclical to economic circumstances. This will still be a time of change.

Some of what we know will no longer be valid. Some solutions will no longer fit the new problems. It will require our brightest mind and sharpest execution. And it will always come down to this.

Find a market need big enough.
Build a product or service to meet it.
Then produce it faster, better and cheaper than your competitor.

To help, we have created a new management program called Working Leadership Online. It will start at the end of January. You can find out more about by following this link.

But, now it is time to rest and enjoy the holidays with family and friends. Management Skills Blog will return on January 5, 2009. And now this story, first published here in 2005.
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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.

He reached for the switch and the mercury vapors went dark. He slid out the door and locked it behind.

“Changes?”

“Yes, changes,” I replied. “Have a meeting and simply ask, what has changed?”

Roselle started to speak, then stopped.

“Why is it important to talk about Change?” I asked.

Roselle laughed. “Because without change, they could come to work and do the same thing they did yesterday.”

“And without change,” I continued her sentence, “if they could come to work and do the same thing they did yesterday, they would not need a manager.”

That hit close to home. Roselle got quiet again.

“Look, Roselle, now more than ever, your company depends on its managers to get through this thing. Your company is depending on you. Your company is depending on you being effective.”

“It still feels bad,” Lydia explained. “We spent the past ten years building this team, and now, we have to take it apart. I feel bad when I have to tell people they have lost their jobs. I feel bad for the organization. All of our hard work, our capacity, our competence, our place in the market, we have to dismantle.”

“And?” I asked.

“And we have to keep on. At the end of the day, life goes on,” Lydia admitted.

“What do say to those, you have to disconnect?”

“There is nothing to say. There are no words. I can only give them respect. They have a difficult journey ahead, and they face it alone.”

“And what do you say, to those who remain?”