They Don’t Get a Promotion

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

When is a team member ready (capable) for the next step? How do we measure capability so we can create and fill in opportunities? Which methods do you use to measure capability for the next step?

Response:

Evaluating is team member is much simpler and more precise than making a judgment about an outside candidate for a position.

Checking readiness is a matter of testing. Testing for skill and testing for Time Span.

Step One is to examine the current tasks and determine the Time Span required for each task.

Step Two is to gather three people (the Team Member, the Team Member’s Manager and the Manager Once Removed) to discuss the following question. “Is this person performing below, at or above the Time Span required in the current position? It is a very simple question. You will be amazed at how quickly the three will agree.

If the three agree that the Team Member is performing above the Time Span required, the next step is to test the Team Member. Again, the test is simple. Give the Team Member tasks typical of what they would encounter at the next level, with the difficulty of those tasks measured in Time Span.

This testing process is a totally different mindset for a Manager. You no longer give an individual a promotion to see if they can handle it. You now test them with typical tasks. They don’t get a promotion, they earn it. -TF

Not a Matter of Skill

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Joyce had her thinking cap on. Her dissatisfaction with Phillip was not from a lack of performance, but from a lack of capability.

“I want you to begin to think about capability in terms of Time Span,” I prompted.

“You’re right,” she replied. “Phillip seems to stay away from, or procrastinate on all the projects that take time to plan out and work on. And then, it’s like he jams on the accelerator. He even told me that he works better under pressure, that last minute deadlines focus him better. I am beginning to think that he waits until the last minutes because that is the only time frame he thinks about.”

“Give me an example,” I asked.

“Remember, I found him hidden away in the warehouse, rearranging all the shelves himself. It’s really a bigger project than that. We are trying to move the high turning items to bins up front and slower moving items to bins in the back. But it’s going to take some time to review, which items need to be moved, how to retag them, how to planagram the whole thing. We started talking about this three months ago with a deadline coming due next week. So, only now, Phillip gets stuck in the warehouse doing things himself. And the result is likely to be more of a mess than a help.”

“Is it a matter of skill, planning skills?” I ventured.

“No, I don’t think so. It is a matter of capability,” Joyce said with some certainty.

“Then how are we going to measure that capability?” -TF

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But, I Already Know

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“If you had to describe the reason for Phillip’s termination, what would it be?” I asked.

Joyce shifted with the uncomfortable question. I had asked her to make a judgment about a team member’s underperformance. And I was looking for objective and measurable evidence.

“I think I would have to go back to his job description and start there,” she replied.

“And if you went back to the job description, what would you find?”

Joyce got up from her chair and paced to the side of the room. “First of all, I would have to find the job description, but I already know it is just a bunch of gobbledygook.”

“So, if I really put you to the test, as a manager, you are holding Phillip to a performance standard that you describe as gobbledygook?”

“Yes, but, I can still tell that he is not doing his job. He doesn’t have the capability. I know that, even without the job description.”

“So, how are we going to capture what you already know in measurable terms to help us? To help us know what to do with Phillip?” -TF

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Our next Leadership class in Fort Lauderdale begins July 16. For more information, visit www.workingleadership.com. We have only four available seats left.

The Real Reason

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“So, let’s look at your description of Phillip,” I prompted. “You said he is probably in over his head. What exactly does that mean?”

Joyce’s brow furrowed. “You know. He is having trouble cutting it. Can’t deliver. Doesn’t know whether to scream or eat a banana.”

I smiled. Nodded. “I know. I know exactly what you mean. But how do we characterize this behavior so we can improve the situation?”

Joyce looked a little sheepish. “I don’t mean to poke fun. But I really don’t know how else to put it.”

“So, let’s say you fire Phillip and your boss comes to you and wants to know the reason. Are you going to say the Phillip was terminated because he didn’t know whether to scream or eat a banana?”

“Of course not. I would have to think of something more tactful,” Joyce replied.

“Instead of something more tactful, I want you to think of something closer to the truth, something you can be objective about and measure.”

“I don’t know,” said Joyce, backpedaling.

“Yes, but if you did know, what would the reason be?” -TF

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Over His Head?

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Joyce was thinking about her team. Things were not a disaster, but not running too smoothly. There was a perceptible friction that was beginning to take a life of its own.

“I have been watching Phillip,” she started. “It seems he is struggling with his job as a supervisor, but it’s hard to tell. He has his good days, but not too often.”

“How would you rate his performance?” I asked.

“Well, that’s pretty easy to see. He is always late with stuff and it’s never completely done the way it should be. And then, when I go to talk to him about it, I can’t find him.”

“Is he in the building?”

“Oh, yeah, he will turn up, but it’s like, he was two hours down in receiving, he said he was organizing the place. Now, I know the place needs to be organized, but he was doing it all alone, and not out here on the floor where he really needed to be. The receiving guy could have taken care of organizing.”

“What do you think the problem is?”

“Well, even though he is a supervisor, it seems he would rather be doing lower level stuff. Some of his team members even accuse him of micro-managing.”

“So, what do you think the problem is?” I repeated.

“It’s like he is in a role that he doesn’t even like, and probably in over his head,” Joyce concluded.

“And who put him in that spot?”

Joyce turned her head and looked back at me, sideways. A bit of a grimace.

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Our next Leadership program in Fort Lauderdale begins July 16. For more information and registration, go to www.workingleadership.com.

Goal Directed Behavior

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

You have been talking about the four elements of success. How does a goal figure in to success?

Response:

All behavior is goal directed behavior. If, as a Manager, you want to understand the behavior, find the goal that’s driving the behavior.

But the impact of the goal on the intensity of the behavior still has to do with interest (passion). We have interest only in those things that we value, which is why values are so important.

The reason why the values discussion is so important is to determine what will light up the interest (passion) of an individual and is that interest aligned with the goals of the organization.

If you have alignment of interest and goals, you will not have issues related to motivation. Without that alignment, the goal is meaningless and will not drive behavior. -TF

Middle Aged Crazy

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
In a recent Post, you described the push-back behavior of Byron, a manager. In a comment on that post, you described Byron as a Stratum III “newbie.” What did you mean?

Response:

As a person grows and matures through their life, people move from one Stratum to the next, each according to their own life schedule. Each Stratum is connected to its own way of thinking, connected to its own skills. As a person grows into their next Stratum, they leave a level of high competence and grow into the next level at low competence.

Example, a great team leader (Stratum I) becomes a newbie supervisor (Stratum II). It takes a while to develop the competencies at this new level.

A great supervisor (Stratum II) becomes a newbie manager (Stratum III). It take a while to develop the competencies at this new level.

Elliott Jaques chronicled this phenomenon, this crossing of Stratum in mid-life as the Mid-Life Crisis. We all saw the movie “Middle Aged Crazy” without knowing we had Elliott to thank for the scientific explanation. -TF

It’s Not I.Q.

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

In an earlier post, you mention capability as one of four requisite traits for success. When you say capability, do you mean intelligence?

Response:

If you go back and re-read the post, you will see that I was referring to capability as measured by Time Span. This is most certainly not intelligence.

So, what is intelligence?

Intelligence, whatever that may be, has historically been measured using an I.Q. test. There are three problems with I.Q. tests as a measure of capability.

1. There is no statistically significant correlation between scores on an I.Q. test and success. One does not follow the other. If correlations did exist, all members of the Mensa society would predictably be our most successful leaders, which they are not.

2. I.Q. tests have mostly been administered to populations of children ranging into their teenage years. When was the last time you took an I.Q. test. I bet it was when you were in elementary or junior high school.

3. I.Q. tests are inherently designed to be completed in the present. Each problem has an answer which is to be calculated in the present. I.Q. tests are not designed to account for goal directed behavior with a future time frame.

Which brings us back to capability. When I use capability, I refer to the research conducted by Elliott Jaques related to Time Span. Capability has to do with the competence of an individual to complete goal directed behavior within a prescribed Time Span.

How long should it take to complete a three month project? A person either has the capability to do it or not? -TF

Preparation for the Interview

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“We have been using a Team approach to hiring,” Byron floated. “What do you think of having Team interviews?”

“How do you find that helpful?” I asked.

“Sometimes a single interview might miss something important. If there is another Hiring Team member in the room, they might catch it,” Byron replied.

“I am all for Interview Teams. But I don’t want to gang up on candidates. Here is the way I like to use Teams.

“Let’s say we put three people on the Interview Team. We have a meeting to decide on what areas we intend to cover during the interview. Some areas will overlap and that’s fine. These will be separate interviews and I would like to know if the candidate tells the same story to similar questions.

“And some of the areas will be different, depending on the Interview Team member. They have different areas of expertise and follow different lines of questions.

“But the most significant reason to work with an Interview Team is to put together the list of 50-60 questions that create the base line for the interview.”

Byron looked a little surprised. We had talked about this number of questions before, but I couldn’t tell if he was a believer. “Fifty or sixty prepared questions?”

“Yes, and that’s only the beginning.” -TF

Drive the Process

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“As the Manager Once Removed, what else am I responsible for in this hiring process?” Byron asked.

“Since this hire is two Strata below, and since the Hiring Manager is one of your direct reports, you are the coach,” I replied.

“Coach?” Byron questioned.

“Yes, coach. How good is Ron at hiring?”

“Well, he doesn’t have that much experience with it, but he has hired people before. I don’t want to micro-manage him.”

“It is not micro-management to sit down with Ron and hammer out the job description. I mean a real job description, one that you can interview from. It’s not micro-management to sit down with Ron and talk about creating a list of 50-60 critical questions that need to be asked during the interview. You are the coach. This is your process to drive. Delegation is not abdication.” -TF