Tag Archives: manager

Self Directed Work Teams?

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From the Ask Tom mailbag –

This question came from a different thread I follow, but it is a very interesting conundrum.

Question:
We operate manufacturing facilities in several states, with each Plant Manager, reporting to a VP who is about to retire. We are considering the elimination of the VP role. Have you experimented with or implemented self-directed work teams. Are there any lessons to be learned before this decision is made.

Response:
I have to wince. Wince is an involuntary response to pain which has not yet happened. I fear there is already bias to experiment with self-directed work teams and endure the predictable pain. But, it is still a fair question.

In my second book Outbound Air, the CEO asks a similar question.
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“Come on, you arrived at work this morning and came straight away into this meeting. Your teams are all out there, without you, making decisions and solving problems. How do they know what to do today?”

Finally, Peter spoke up. “Sounds too obvious, but my team is mostly doing their work today, the same as they did, yesterday.”

“And, if I hold you in this room, through tomorrow, how will they know what to do tomorrow?”

Peter was on a roll. “I suppose they will carry on tomorrow the same way they carried on today, the same way they carried on yesterday.” He looked around to see if anyone else appreciated his humor.

“Right then, if your teams can carry on the same way tomorrow, then what do I need you for?” Catherine stared sternly in the eyes of her executive team.
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This question strikes at the very heart of management. How do we define the word -manager? What is the role of a manager? I will let you kick this around for the day (comments?) and we will pick this discussion up tomorrow.

How to Measure the Complexity in a Role

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“And how big is Ron’s job right now?” I asked.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Eduardo protested. “I am just trying to get my arms around measuring the size of the job by using Time Span.”

“I understand,” I replied. “So, think about it now. Measuring the size of the job using Time Span will become clear.”

“Okay,” Eduardo started. “Ron’s role now is to manage two supervisors with a total staff of twelve people. That’s two supervisors and ten workers.”

“So, what are the tasks and what is the Time Span of the longest task?” I prodded.

“Well, Ron has to teach his supervisors to use the same process he used when he was a supervisor. But he had all that in his head, so now he has to either write it down, or draw a picture, flow chart it out, or something. He has to create the system for his team.” Eduardo stopped. “This is really a different job. I think one of his supervisors isn’t doing that great and needs to be replaced. Ron is going to have to figure out what skills would be valuable to interview for and then he has to go out and recruit.

“He also has some equipment that needs to be replaced with more sophisticated machines, get a bit more automated, but he is going to have to make his case. And he has to budget for it. And he has to get that budget approved. Our budget process alone is done on an annual basis.

“Without thinking much more about it, I think the Time Span required for Ron’s job, now, is about twelve months.”

“So, based on Time Span,” I said, “the size of Ron’s current job is twelve months?” Eduardo was nodding. Time Span as a unit of measure was beginning to sink in.

Outbound Air – Levels of Work in Organizational Structure now available on Amazon.

Outbound Air

It’s a Manager’s Judgment

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“How do you measure the size of the job?” Eduardo whispered, talking to himself, but making sure I knew he was thinking.

“We have to make a judgment call here,” I said. “We have to decide if Ron is big enough for the job. But to do that, we have to decide how big the job is.”

Eduardo had never thought about work this way. Measuring the size of a job was a little off-the-wall for him, but I could see in his face that it made sense.

“I am thinking, and your question seems logical, but I don’t have a clue how to really measure something like the size of a job.” Eduardo was still with me, but he was out of ideas.

“Think about when Ron was successful, when he was supervising the work to be done. What was the longest task that he had to accomplish, in terms of time?”

Eduardo was thinking. “Do you mean, that he had to hit his daily production targets?”

“In a sense, but I am guessing, if he was supervising, he was working toward a goal with a longer Time Span than daily production.”

“Well, yeah, I mean Ron was in charge of daily production, but some days were up and some days were off and some days, we shut down production for preventive maintenance. We looked at production on a monthly basis.”

“So every month, he had to hit the same number?”

“Well, no. Some months were up and some months were down. Ron had to work to the sales forecast. There was some seasonality to it, and some of the production orders took more than a month to cycle through. We really looked at things on a quarterly basis.”

“So, the Time Span for Ron’s role as a Supervisor was around three months?”

A light bulb went off in Eduardo’s head. “Time Span? Is Time Span the measure of how big the job is?”

Outbound Air – Levels of Work in Organizational Structure now available on Amazon.

Outbound Air

How Big is Job? How Big is the Person?

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“I don’t know,” replied Eduardo. “I just hope he snaps out of it. Ron was our poster boy. For the past couple of weeks, he has seemed distant, removed from his crew, removed from the work.”

“You ruled out alcohol or drugs. Is it a matter of skill, something he can learn, or is it a matter of capability?” I repeated. “You can hope this will fix itself. How much patience do you have?”

“What do you mean?” Eduardo had a new sense of curiosity. “Ron has to snap out of it fast.”

“Tell me again, what has changed with Ron’s role?”

“Well, a year ago, he was supervising a couple of people, making sure the work got done. Now, he has to manage other people who are supervising that work.”

“Is the job bigger, now?” I asked.

Eduardo looked at me, puzzled. “Well, yeah. He has more people, I guess it is more complicated.”

“So the job is bigger now. How do you measure, how much bigger the job is?”

“Measure?” Eduardo had never been asked to measure the size of a job before. “I don’t know,” he continued. “It’s just more complicated, I guess.”

“So, how do you measure the complexity of Ron’s new job?”

Outbound Air – Levels of Work in Organizational Structure now available on Amazon.

Outbound Air

Onward Thru the Fog

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Eduardo was hanging up the phone when I arrived. I could tell he was puzzled.

“It’s funny,” he said. “This is the third time I have explained things to my Ron, but it just doesn’t sink in. For two years, he was doing great, but now, he seems to be in a fog.”

“You are Ron’s manager?” I asked. Eduardo shook his head.

“Yes, in fact, he was a good hire. We started him in a little office with only two people. He grew it to six, now he is at twelve. Somewhere along the line, he lost it.”

“Alcohol, or drugs?”

“No, I don’t think so. He is too conscientious for that,” Eduardo observed.

“But he seems to be in a fog? Tell me what has changed in the past year, going from six people to twelve people.”

Eduardo looked to the far corner of the room, picturing the changes before he described them. “It’s like Ron was supervising the work pretty well, but now he is one step removed. He is now managing a couple of supervisors. Maybe that’s the problem. He is too far away from the what he knows how to do?”

“Is it a matter of skill, something he can learn, or is it a matter of capability?”

Outbound Air, Levels of Work in Organizational Structure, by Tom Foster, is now available for Kindle, soon to be released in softcover.

Outbound Air

Testing a Person Prior to a Promotion

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“You told me, before I promote someone to a new role, that I should test them, with project work,” Maryanne surmised.

“So, how will you test this person?” I prodded.

“Her assembly work is good, but to keep everyone on the line productive, we need an ample supply of raw materials. There is a lead time of three weeks from ordering and we can only keep so much in stock. I could ask her to put together the next order from our supplier.”

“And, you will check her order before she places it?”

“Of course. But after she does it couple of times, I can likely trust her. Then I will give her another project to do related to the preventive maintenance schedules on some of our machines.”

“And, what will be the trigger point for the promotion?” I asked.

“Good question. I think I should sketch out an overall plan for this promotion to include a sample project from each skill required in the new position.”

Outbound Air, Levels of Work in Organizational Structure, by Tom Foster, is now available for Kindle, soon to be released in softcover.

Outbound Air

You Have a Hunch

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“You have a hunch, let’s call it intuitive judgment, that this team member might be effective at a higher level of work. You observe evidence of that potential in current projects, and in the pace and quality of current work output. She is helpful to other people she works with and coordinates her work handoffs so they are seamless. So, what is your question?” I asked.

“There is an open position. I think I would like to promote her,” Maryanne shrugged her shoulders.

“So, if you promote her, and it doesn’t work out, what do you have on your hands?” I pressed.

“You’ve told me before, a chocolate mess.”

“So, how will you test her in the role you are thinking about?”

Outbound Air, Levels of Work in Organizational Structure, by Tom Foster, is now available for Kindle, soon to be released in softcover.

Outbound Air

How to Evaluate Effectiveness in the Role

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“You have a hunch this team member has potential,” I told Maryanne. “What did you see, what did you observe that gave you the hunch?”

Maryanne was not convinced about her hunch. “This team member always seems to finish her work on time. It rarely contains errors. Occasionally, I will see her toying with other ways to accomplish the work, shortcuts that save time, but don’t impact quality or quality improvements that don’t take extra time. Whenever there is an extra project, she always volunteers. She is helpful to other people she works with, coordinates her work handoffs so they are seamless.”

“When you think about her effectiveness in the role, would you say she works as well as someone in the top half of the role or the bottom half of the role?” I asked.

“Definitely the top half,” Maryanne replied.

“And in that half, would you say the top, middle or bottom?”

“Top of the top,” she confirmed.

“Then, how are you going to test her potential?”

Outbound Air, Levels of Work in Organizational Structure, by Tom Foster, is now available for Kindle, soon to be released in softcover.

Outbound Air

Should I Promote Based on a Hunch?

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“I have someone that I have been watching,” Maryanne started. “I think they have the potential to move into the open manager spot on my team.”

“What makes you think this person would be successful?” I asked. “What is the evidence of potential that you see?”

“It’s just a hunch,” she replied.

“So, you are going to give someone a promotion based on a hunch?”

“Okay. I know you want me to slow down,” she agreed.

“So, tell me. What evidence of potential do you see?” I repeated.

“How can you see potential?” she asked. “How can potential be more than a hunch?”

“Most of the time, if a person has potential for higher levels of work, there is evidence. Your hunch is based on something you see. What did you observe in this person? What is the evidence?”

Outbound Air, Levels of Work in Organizational Structure, by Tom Foster, is now available for Kindle, soon to be released in softcover.

Outbound Air

The Go-Go Stage

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“That which does not kill you, makes you stronger,” Jim Dunbar grinned. “Our momentum told us we were not likely to die, at least not in that fiscal year,” he said. “We were invincible. So, I signed a lease on the second plane.

“Passenger loads picked up, and I had to hire more people. And that led to a predictable stumble. There was no rhyme or reason for the way we did things. We survived on our tenacity, but our tenacity began to fail us. My wife described our behavior as improvisation. Invincibility and improvisation make for a toxic cocktail. We over-promised, extended our thin resources.

“I remember our first overbooking. We had more passengers than seats. I looked at my schedule, figured we could make the run to Denver, flip the aircraft around and come back for the other group. For some reason, we thought the stranded passengers would wait the four hours. But, a weather system moved in. In spite of our promises, we never made it back, and missed another flight leg with a scheduled full plane.

“To say we flew by the seat of our pants was an understatement. But, at the time, I figured that my team practiced for months. We successfully flew one plane, how difficult could it be with two planes?

Excerpt from Outbound Air, Levels of Work in Organizational Structure, by Tom Foster, now available on Kindle, soon to be released in softcover.

Outbound Air