Time Span for the Project

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Joel laid the list on the table. “It’s weird,” he started, “there were some obvious things, but there were some other things that were more interesting.”

I had asked Joel to make a list of tasks that he had performed as a supervisor and to identify the time span of each task.

“For example,” he continued, “I ran a rolling production schedule out for three weeks. So at any one time, I was working three weeks into the future. But there were some other tasks that were longer than I thought.

“I was in charge of raw materials. We would get in shipments of plastic parts that had to be inspected. There was a time when a whole boatload of parts was defective. In the short term, I had to really move around the production schedule to keep things moving. But in the long term, I had to work with the vendor on getting replacement parts in. I had to figure out what we needed to keep in production, then to build some raw goods inventory.

“Finally, I had to spend several months figuring out what the problem was with the parts, working with the vendor to solve the problem. Turns out, there was a bad batch of resin from another supplier. Because of the problem, the resin supplier actually went out of business and our vendor had to find a new source. I know it was his problem, but I had to work with him, trying out and finally certifying a new resin supplier so our parts would hold up. That whole process took three months and my manager expected me to handle it without a lot of direction from her.”

“So the time span for that project was about three months?” I asked.

“Yes, you could call it three months.”

“So, now in your new job, as a manager, what are some of the tasks that you will be responsible for and what is the time span? Take a look at your job description and meet me back here tomorrow.” -TF

Working Into the Future

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“Tell me, Joel, in making your transition from supervisor to manager, why do you think things slowed down for you?” I asked.

“The biggest difference,” he replied, “is that I am not dealing with things so much as I am dealing with people. When I was a supervisor, I just made sure material got moved around, that machines worked and that everybody was at their workstation. Sure, things shifted around and we changed the schedule all the time, but it was easy compared to this. As a manager, things have slowed down, but it’s a lot harder to get things done. It’s more complicated. I have to think further into the future.”

“How far into the future did you have to think as a supervisor?” I pondered.

Joel thought for a minute. He had never considered the time span he had to work into the future before. “Well, as a supervisor, I guess it was only about two weeks out. That’s how far we scheduled people.”

“Tell you what, Joel. The next time we meet, I want you to list out the longest tasks you had as a supervisor. I want to go over that list with you to see if we can make some sense moving forward as a manager.” -TF

The First Challenge

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Joel was not shaking, but he was certainly shaken.

“I just don’t know,” he said. “Since I was promoted from being a supervisor to a manager, things are different. It is certainly not as easy as I thought, a bit out of control.”

“Being new to management is tough. No one prepared you for this, they just promoted you and expected you to figure it out,” I replied.

“And what if I don’t figure it out?” Joel asked.

“Oh, you will figure it out. But that is no insurance that you will succeed. There are a number of reasons that managers don’t make the grade. The first reason is commitment. This is harder than you thought it would be. Being a manager requires a passion for being a manager. Being a manager is a lot different than being a supervisor.”

“You are right about that. Being a supervisor was fun, fast paced, things were always changing and I had to respond quickly. Being a manager, things move slower. I have to think about things. And the worst part, most everything I do is accomplished through other people. Other people are hard to control. They don’t always show up the way I want them to.”

“So, you are facing the first challenge of a being a manager. Do you really want to be a manager? Do you have a passion for it? Just saying yes doesn’t make it so. Why do you have a passion for it?” -TF

Like I Am Not Even There

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“She ignores me, like I am not even there,” Joan complained, “and I am her boss.” Joan joined the company as a manager nine months ago. One of her direct reports was a 12 year veteran with the company.

“What is the behavior you observe?” I asked.

“I call a meeting of my staff, she doesn’t show. I walk past her in the hallway and she doesn’t acknowledge me. She is focus forward. I have seen personality conflicts before, but this one takes the cake.”

“How do you think you will gain her respect?”

Joan shook her head. “I just want her to be nice. At this point, I have about given up on respect.”

I waited for the pity party to settle for a few seconds. “First, this is not a personality conflict. Second, I don’t care if she is nice to you, I just want her respect.”

“Yeah, right, how is that going to happen?”

“It is really very simple. All you have to do is bring value to her thinking and her work. Stimulate her thinking. Help her improve to the next level. You cannot gain respect by giving directives or demanding that she be a nice person. You can only gain respect by bringing value.” -TF

Start It Right Away

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“You tell me,” I said. “You see the new behavior extinguished after one week with no reinforcement. You only have two choices left. Positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement?”

Ryan was concerned that his training program wasn’t sticking. “Well, as long as they are doing it right, I shouldn’t have to say anything. So, I should probably watch them and correct the wrong behaviors.”

Ryan wasn’t lazy, but he really didn’t want to spend any more time than was necessary to make sure the training stuck.

“So, how are you going to monitor the behavior?” I continued.

Ryan was a touch frustrated as he was thinking this through. “I don’t know. I really don’t have the time to spend watching them all day, and by the way, we have 20 workstations in that unit. I would probably have to put three supervisors on just to do the watching. And if it’s the first week, they will mostly be doing it right, so catching them doing it wrong will be happen chance. But if I wait until after the first week to watch, it will be too late. I don’t know.”

“What if you considered positive reinforcement? Make positive comments when they do it right. Then, you could begin the reinforcement right away,” I suggested.

This had never occurred to Ryan in a million years. You could see a wave of relief come over his face. “You mean, I could hit each workstation, make a positive comment and leave?”

“Yep, make a positive comment, leave, go do some other stuff. Come back, make a positive comment, leave, go do some other stuff. You can bring some of the workstations together to watch one guy do it right. That’s one positive comment to five people at the same time. You could take a picture of someone doing it right, print it out, write good job across it with a marker and post it in his workstation. You can do lots of things quickly. Get the new behavior established and move on.” -TF

The Bet

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“The difference,” I spoke quietly, “the difference is the big three. Frequency, duration and proximity of the manager.” We had been talking about getting process changes to stick with the workforce.

“You have noticed that your training on these process changes seems to last for about a week before the new behavior is extinguished.”

“Extinguished?” Ryan asked.

“Extinguished, like a fire, put out. The behavior goes away. Let’s look at your management reinforcement to the new behavior. There are three possibilities. Positive reinforcement of the correct new behavior. Negative reinforcement of the old wrong behavior. No reinforcement regardless of the behavior.

“You described that your managers gave no reinforcement regardless of the behavior?”

Ryan nodded his head. “Well, yeah, we figured we had done our job in the training. Why should we have to go back to make sure they are doing it the new way?”

“Because, with no reinforcement, the new behavior is extinguished after one week. Not only does it happen, it is predictable. I will bet you a dollar that if you go back and re-train the new behavior, on the floor, that new behavior will be extinguished after one week.”

Ryan’s eyes were looking at me, but you could tell he was looking inward. “You would win your bet. It is predictable. So what do we do?”

What’s the Difference?

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“We trained them to do it. And when that didn’t work, we trained them again. They even passed the certification test,” complained Ryan. “But when they get back out on the floor, they go back to doing it the same old way. I just don’t understand.”

“So, you have focused all your attention on the time period prior to the behavior?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you train them, then they do it wrong?”

Ryan shook his head slowly. “Well, it’s not like they do it wrong immediately, but after a week or so, it’s like the training never happened.”

“What do you think is going on?”

“It’s like the training is wearing off.” Ryan had an exasperated look on his face.

“So, it takes about a week before the training wears off. What could you do differently during that week?”

This was painful. Ryan was hoping he could get away with a little classroom training and be done with it. “I suppose,” he paused. “I suppose we could watch them and see if they are doing it wrong and correct their behavior.”

“What if you watched them to see if they were doing it right and give them some appreciation?”

“What’s the difference?” Ryan asked. -TF

Up Until Now

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“What did you learn?” I asked. Martin had finished a couple of days speaking with his team about their individual values.

“I gotta tell you,” Martin started, “I have never had this kind of conversation with my team before. I rounded them up the next morning and before we started the shift, I just floated a couple of questions.

When we work well together, what is it that we do to make that happen?

What could we do more of, to be more effective as a team?

“All of the things they talked about were heavy with value words. Not only do I have more insight into what makes my team tick, they have a better insight. They have never talked about this stuff before.”

“And, how is this going to help you, as a manager?” I asked.

“Easy,” Martin replied. “Something as simple as everyone showing up on time. No one really understood how important it was to show up at 8:00am. Up until now.” -TF

Ask It Differently

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“So, let’s get back to the conversation part. How do you get people to talk about values in a way that is helpful?” Martin insisted.

“It is really very easy,” I said. “You simply ask them.

“I know you have tried this before and you got the lizard eye stare, but try the question differently, not about them, but about the environment around them. Often people cannot talk about themselves, but they easily see things around them. Here is how the question goes.

What do you value in a team member?

“When they respond to that question, they are really talking about themselves. Here are some more.”

What are the positive things your team members do to make this a better place to work?

Think about your best manager. What are the characteristics about that person that set him apart from other managers?

When you have a really tough problem to solve, what are the things that are really helpful to the process?

Martin was getting the picture. He excused himself from the room. He had some questions to ask his team members. –TF

A Clear Connection

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Martin was waiting in the conference room when I arrived. He had a single sheet of paper in front of him.

“That was easier than I thought,” he started. “I simply observed the way my team members dress, and it was curious how quickly I noticed the difference between my top performers and the rest of my team.”

“Observing physical characteristics can give you important clues about a person’s value system. People communicate a great deal about themselves without speaking a single word.” Now it was Martin’s turn to nod his head.

“Does this have anything to do with habits?” he asked.

“What are you thinking?” I replied. I could see the wheels turning.

“Well, the fact that my top performers dress differently, I mean neater, cleaner, more polished, is not because they consciously thought about it. It seems that is just who they are. And it comes out in their work product. A person who takes pride in their personal appearance, also takes pride in their work product.”

“Why do you think that happens?”

Martin paused. “I am beginning to see a clearer connection between values and behavior. Even if people don’t think about it, consciously, that’s why they do what they do.”

“So, how important is it, for a manager, to understand the value system of team members?” -TF