Tag Archives: competence

Screwed Up Again

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“They screwed it up again,” Charmagne protested. “Luckily, I managed the risk, so it wasn’t a devastating mistake.”

“Perfect,” I said.

“What do you mean, perfect? You mean perfectly wrong?” she stated flatly.

“I find competent people always in learning mode,” I responded. “To build the competence of the team, you have to keep them in learning mode. Do people learn more by accidentally getting it right? Or inevitably making a mistake? As the manager, this is your perfect opportunity to get your team in learning mode.”

A Position of Power

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“Where do you think your power comes from, as a manager?” I asked.

Angelina thought. “Part of it comes from my position. I get respect from my team, because they know I am their boss. That what I say, is the way things go.”

I nodded, and watched.

She continued, “But, frankly, that’s not the way it happens. Just because I am the boss, sometimes doesn’t mean anything at all. I feel like my mother saying – Because I said so.”

“Why do you think you were promoted to manager? So you could have power over your team?” I pressed.

After a moment, she replied. “I don’t feel like I have that power.”

“But, you do have power. For an incompetent person, that power comes from the outside. That power comes from position. For a competent person, that power comes from the inside. It is an internal discipline that everyone sees.”

Can’t or Won’t

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“My team seems to think there are some problems they face that will never be fixed,” Kari explained. “It’s always, here we go again. Same problem, different customer.”

“Do you think they can’t fix the problem or won’t fix the problem?” I asked.

“Can’t fix or won’t fix, what’s the difference? The problem still ends up on my desk, again,” Kari flatly stated.

“Often, people prefer a problem they can’t fix to a solution they don’t like.” **

Kari thought for a moment. “You’re right. To fix the problem, they have to stop production and figure out what’s going wrong. Instead, they would rather flare a few tempers and call for help.”

“This is where you have to decide if this is a matter of can’t or won’t. Often, someone who won’t solve a problem, or even try to solve the problem, feels like they don’t have the capability to solve the problem. They feel incompetent and give up. Your job, as a manager is not to solve a solveable problem, but to build the competence of the team to solve the problem.”
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**Shades of Lee Thayer, Competent Organization

Be Prepared

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“My boss tells me I need to have a plan for next year,” Joseph complained. “I don’t know why he thinks it is so important. All the plans we have ever published are out of date within 60 days. Maybe some targets are still in place to mark progress, but the rest of it gets chucked.”

“You are correct,” I replied. “And so is your boss. The plan is just a work product of a process. And, it’s the process that is critical, not the work product.”

“So, we sit down and imagine what things we could tackle, what problems might come up,” he said. “In the course of events, some things come true and some don’t. What’s the point? When they happen, if they happen, we will just deal with it.”

“What if you are not prepared to deal with it?” I nodded. “One characteristic of competence is the ability to constructively imagine into the future, anticipate those opportunities that could be leveraged, identify things that could go wrong, the forces that might work against you. And, be prepared. The competent housepainter carries extra paint brushes. The competent plumber carries extra tools and common supplies, even it’s not on the work order. The competent teacher steps into the classroom with a lesson plan. The competent driver starts out with a full tank of gas, even if the trip is only 100 miles. The competent manager builds a team with capacity and cross training.”

“When I was a kid in the Boy Scouts, our motto was Be Prepared. Do you mean like that?” Joseph asked.

“It is one of the first things I look for in an individual, related to competence.”

Breakpoint

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“I know you want me to press my team, stress test my system,” Naomi agreed, “but what if they are simply not capable in that pressure?”

“When things are calm, wouldn’t now be a good time to find out?” I replied. “Identify the breaking point now, instead of after it is broken.”

Naomi looked reflective. “I can do that. I can run drills, like a sports team in practice. And, I know I am looking for the breaking point, but what about the wobbly point?”

“Capability is much like performance. The best indicator of performance is performance. The best indicator of capability is capability. And, the problems that must be solved, the decisions that must be made have to be within the capability of the team member. When you assign a decision to someone who does not possess the capability for the decision, what happens?”

“That’s easy. First they avoid the decision, deflect the decision, or find a scapegoat for when it inevitably fails,” Naomi said, without hesitation.

“There’s your wobble, that’s what you have to pay attention to.”

Stress Test

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“Competency has to do with mental fitness,” I pressed. “What could happen that would put your perfect workflow into utter disarray?”

Naomi stopped to think. Instinctively, she knew this was a legitimate question. “Our market could double?” she floated.

I nodded. “Yes, but markets don’t double that fast, at least organically. Your volume might double if you had a competitor go out of business, but competitors don’t go out of business that fast either. And, don’t think I am expecting something far fetched with a low probability to reality. What could happen that would put your workflow in disarray?”

“Okay, I think I have one,” she finally responded. “We could get one large order from a customer that we have to expedite. Maybe a customer we have been courting for a while, and we finally get a chance, but it’s large with a short time frame. That could stress test our perfect workflow.”

“So, your team is currently competent at routine efficiency within normal parameters. But, if we get one disruptive order inserted into the workflow, with a tight timeframe, things might get wonky?”

Naomi’s turn to nod. “Yes. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it might take as long as two weeks to stabilize the line back to normal turnaround. And, we would appear to be incompetent to everyone, especially the sales department.”

“And, I am not trying to be critical. It is normal to reach a level of competence, only to be challenged with increased volume and tighter deadlines. Competence requires continuous improvement. What scenarios could you see that would stress test your system, stress test your team, that you could prepare for?”

Utter Disarray

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“But, don’t we ever get to a point where we are finally, once and for all competent?” Naomi turned her head and looked at me sideways.

“Just so, so, but then it changes,” I replied.

“I mean, we have been working on this new workflow for about a year,” she proudly proclaimed. “We shifted things around until we had the right sequence. There is zero idle time between work steps. Our expected output is right in line with our goals. I believe the team, myself included, is now competent in this new workflow. It took us a while to get here, but I think we made the grade.”

“Competence is not judged by looking at the past,” I said. “We think we understand the world that way, but we don’t live in the past, we live in the NOW. And, we live in anticipation of the future. We may have been competent yesterday, but today is a new day, with new challenges, problems and decisions. You believe your team, including yourself, is now competent in your new workflow. Until when? What could change that puts your fine tuned workflow into utter disarray?”

Yoda Says

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“I think I could give it a try,” Naomi nodded. “I think I could get my team together, go over the seven wastes, and ask them to come up with an idea.”

“Yoda says there is no try,” I smiled. “Think about what you just said.”

“I guess I was making continuous improvement a choice,” she smiled back.

“You guess?”

“I was making continuous improvement a choice. Competence is not a choice, it’s a habit,” Naomi’s smile reluctantly faced the truth.

“So, it’s not just making competence necessary for your team. It’s making competence necessary for yourself.”

Building the Habit

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“Okay, so we pinned showing up to work, to starting on time to meeting deadlines,” I concluded. “Now what. What is the next habit?”

“I get the practice of meeting deadlines, but I am still stumped on what to work on next,” Naomi looked puzzled.

“You’re stuck because you are trying too hard,” I suggested. “Put the next habit on your team. Have your team decide what the next habit of competence will be.”

“If I am stuck, they are going to be stuck,” she complained.

“You are stuck because you haven’t set up some guardrails to guide their thinking. Let’s take a simple framework like MUDA,” I prompted.

“I know MUDA, that’s the seven wastes,” Naomi sparked.

“And, what are the seven wastes?” I asked.

“Moving stuff around too many times,” she started. “Making too much stuff, overproduction. Making things too complicated, overproduction. Holding too much inventory, raw goods or consumables. Unnecessary movement, work flow and work flow sequence. Waiting for stuff, white space in the workflow, creating unnecessary idle time. Identifying and eliminating defects.”

“Very good,” my turn to smile. “Do you think your team could identify one of the seven wastes and work to improve their competence? Competence is not a choice, it’s a practice, it’s a habit.”

Not a Choice

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“How do you make competence necessary?” Naomi asked.

“If you make competence a choice, it is no longer necessary,” I replied. “Competence is a practice. We get better, not because we choose to get better. We get better through practice. It’s the habits we choose, those routine grooved behaviors that determine our competence.”

“I get it,” Naomi nodded. “But I am still stuck.”

“In what ways could your team become more competent? What could they practice? Let’s take something simple. What time does your team get started in the morning?”

Naomi smiled because she already knew where I was headed. “We’re supposed to start at 8 o’clock, but you know, anytime between 8 o’clock and 8:15, and that usually involves coffee and a little joking around.”

“Joking around is good. If we’re not having a bit of fun, what’s the point? As a manager, do you want your team to become more competent at showing up to work?”

“Yes, but that seems a little silly, becoming more competent at showing up to work,” Naomi was still smiling.

“I agree, so let’s shift our focus, from showing up to starting on time. As a manager, do you want your team to become more competent at starting on time?”

“That sounds like a higher goal than just showing up,” Naomi agreed.

“Now, let’s pin starting on time to finishing on time,” I pressed.

“You mean, like meeting deadlines,” she connected. “Yes, as a manager, I want my team to become more competent at meeting deadlines.”

“So, what is the practice, what are the habits required for meeting deadlines?”

“You meet deadlines by starting on time,” Naomi settled.