Tag Archives: Outbound Air

Best Two Books to Give an Executive for the Holidays

Leave a reply

The two biggest problems faced by most executives are –

  • Defining roles and finding people to fill those roles.
  • Defining the working relationships for those roles, or structure.

That is why I wrote Hiring Talent and Outbound Air.
HT-SoftBevel-150
Hiring Talent
Most managers are not very good at hiring. They don’t practice enough to get good at it. They don’t prepare for it. They fall into traps, make the hiring decision too quickly, based on emotion. And the cost is huge. If a manager does this job well, life is wonderful. If a manager does this job poorly, life is miserable and for a very long time.

Outbound Air
Outbound Air
As we define roles for people to play, how do we define the working relationships between those roles. It’s all about structure. Structure is the context in which people work. Structure drives culture. Most org charts are full of lines and boxes. Some of the lines are solid, some are dotted. We have an intuitive feel for how we want people to work together, but there is actually a science to it. Outbound Air is a business novel that chronicles how organizations grow and mature. Everyone wants to take their company to the next level, but few have a clue what the next level is. Everything we know about organizational structure and levels of work rests on the research illustrated in Outbound Air.

If I Only Had People Who Were Smarter

Leave a reply

“We have plenty of people to do the work,” Max explained. “I have written all the steps for them to follow, a nice flow chart as a visual on the cover of the binder. As the projects move through, I have Gant charts to help me understand the status, so I can explain to the customer.”

“It all sounds very organized. So what’s the problem?” I asked.

“The problem is, the production team doesn’t follow the work instructions. I walked by a work cell yesterday and the work was clearly being done out of sequence. I suddenly knew why we were having QC problems on some of the output.”

“And?” I pressed.

“I asked them why they were doing it that way, when we had just completed a training program on the correct sequence. Do you believe this? They told me the training program was wrong, that they had been doing it their way for a long time and they didn’t see the need to change. Besides, it was easier to do it their way.”

“And they had just been through training?” I wanted to know.

“Well, yes, it wasn’t like a class. I spent ten minutes with the four of them. It was really common sense. I don’t see why they didn’t get it. If I had smarter production people, they would have figured it out on their own,” Max was clearly frustrated.

“You see something they don’t see?”

“Yes. And how.”

“Did you ever think, you see something they cannot see?”

Why We Have Supervisors

Leave a reply

“Yes,” Samuel appeared a bit agitated. “But, you are dealing with the rank and file. You are sitting in a pretty nice boardroom, Catherine. You have a nice salary. I know you and I may have bouts of frustration with our work, but at the end of the day, we have it pretty good. But, the rank and file, that is another question. In their jobs, they must all be frustrated. I mean, it is pretty lackluster work. That’s why we have to have supervisors, to keep them in line, to make sure they don’t sit around and play on their smartphones all day.”

Catherine’s blood pressure began to rise. Her face flushed. “Mr. Pierce, it is coming clear to me why Outbound Air, as a small upstart airline, got into so much trouble after your company bought it. It appears, I have as much work to do with the board of directors as I do with the team.”

“Catherine, I am all ears,” Samuel responded. “But I must tell you, we have a large investment in this airline, we have poured in a lot of capital to introduce jet service to the fleet. Your intentions with the company must be grounded in a solid return on that investment.”

“I appreciate your reminder of the value of the shareholders who bear the risk. And that risk is shared by our workforce. Each team member comes to work every day with the full intention of doing their best. They want work that gives them the opportunity to use their full potential. They want to spread their wings and receive fair compensation for that work. They want to use their brain, to exercise judgement in making decisions to reach a goal. They have goals, just like you have goals. They have a need, not only to bring value to their own lives, but to bring value to the lives of the people who work around them. As the chairman of the board, if you do not recognize that, my work as CEO is already doomed. All crumbs lead to the top.”
______

This is the beginning of the sequel to Outbound Air. Find out how Catherine got here.

Parlor Games at Best

Leave a reply

Samuel Pierce felt it was his duty, as Chairman of the Board, to make sure the new CEO was grounded in reality. “Catherine, I just want to make sure that you are up to the challenges you face as the new CEO, and that you are not being too idealistic.”

Catherine Nibali was chosen as the successor CEO to a company in trouble.

“You will have the union to deal with,” Samuel warned. “I know it was here when you arrived, but it is here nonetheless.”

“That’s true,” Catherine agreed. “The existence of a union is only one indicator of the deeply ingrained misconceptions this company drifted into. The people systems were based on false assumptions of managerial leadership. It’s no wonder the union was able to take hold. But, Samuel, there is more. The union is only the tip of the iceberg.”

“With all due respect,” Samuel interrupted. “Your predecessor, Al Ripley, tried a number of things. He re-engineered many of the work processes, he allowed group dynamic exercises, ropes courses, results based incentives, group bonuses.”

It was Catherine’s turn to interrupt. “Exactly,” she stared directly at Samuel. “Parlor games. Parlor games that, at best, might create a small burst of productivity, but in the long run, laid the ground for the union and shaped a culture that provokes disruptive behavior. We stand for what we tolerate.”
______

This is the beginning of the next book, sequel to Outbound Air. Find out how Catherine got here.

But, We Have a Company to Run

1 Reply

“But, we have an airline to run,” Samuel continued to object. “As chairman of the board, it is my primary responsibility to make sure we have the right person at the helm. It is not my responsibility to micro-manage you, meddle in the way you run things. But, the way you run things makes me wonder if we have the right person at the helm.”

“Look, Sam,” Catherine replied, “we can squeeze the legroom, rearrange the seating on the planes. We can start charging for checked baggage. We can add a service fee if someone wants a soda. But that is not our problem.”

Catherine looked intently at Sam, sitting at the head of the boardroom. In the periphery, she could see the logos of the other companies in the portfolio. Outbound Air was the company in trouble and she had been selected to turn it profitable. She continued.

“Sam, we have close to a thousand employees now. They work 40 hours per week. Economically, they depend on us. Our compensation system and job opportunities directly impact how they live, now, next week and next year. Their self-esteem, what they achieve in life, in large part, depends on the role they play for us. How we set expectations, how we define their working relationships, how we evaluate their effectiveness, all, have direct impact on their contribution. They come home at night, frustrated or satisfied based on how things went that day. The way we design the environment of their work has way more impact on our bottom line than any fees we may charge for luggage.”
_____

The saga of Outbound Air continues. Find out how Catherine got here.

Kiss Off

Leave a reply

“Catherine, we hired you to run this company, and we want to give you free rein, but you must admit that some of your initiatives don’t translate into profit for this quarter.” Samuel Pierce was chairman of the board. He was not happy, but he was willing to listen.

“Sam, you didn’t hire me to focus on the next three months,” Catherine replied. “This company has some real problems that will take time to repair. In the short term, we will suffer. We will suffer some profit. I am not here to turn a single quarterly number. I am here to create a sustained profitability stream.”

“But, these employee initiatives are going to erode profitability. You want to change the wage structure. Your personnel plan adds in management overhead. These are long term things that will last beyond the next quarter. Are you sure you know what you are doing?”

Catherine took a moment. “On the surface, my role is to operate the business functions, define the metrics, create revenue and hold expenses. We can do that, and, in the short term, we can make a tidy profit. AND, my role is to create a sound and effective managerial system that will sustain those business functions. As CEO, right now, I have to focus on our people system, because it’s broken. As long as the people system is broken, you can kiss off all the rest.”
____

The saga of Outbound Air continues. Find out how Catherine got here.

Hot Spots

Leave a reply

“So, I am the one to fix this problem with my silos,” Regina slowly realized. “And I can’t just leave my managers in the room to figure it out. Where do I start?”

“Putting your managers in the room is not a bad idea, but they will not be able to figure it out without you. Your role is the integrator,” I said.

“So, I get them in the room, then what?”

“Your managers are competent at work flow charting. Get them to step back and draw, not a system flow chart, but a functional flow chart.”

“Not sure I understand,” Regina quizzed.

“Your managers can flow chart the steps in a system. This exercise would be to flow chart all the systems in your business model sequence. Take this list, put a box around each element and flow them sideways on the white board.

  • Marketing
  • Business Development
  • Sales
  • Contracting
  • Engineering
  • Project Management
  • Operations
  • QA/QC
  • Warranty

In this exercise, we are not looking for the problems inside each function, we are looking for the problems that exist as one function hands off work to the next. We are looking for transition issues, capacity issues, clarity, timing, dead space, delay, undiscovered defects, inspection points.”

“How will we find those?” Regina asked.

“This is a hot spot exercise, just look for the pain. Your managers may not be able to fix the issues, but they know exactly where they are.”

Dotted Lines Create Ambiguity

Leave a reply

“Each department manager turned toward internal efficiency because you told them to. No waste, no scrap, predictable output,” I said. “But now you have multiple departments, multiple systems and subsystems. You have silos. Silos that compete. Silos that compete on budget. They compete for resources. They compete for your managerial attention. Most companies stay stuck here. It’s your move.”

Regina was thinking. Her eyes looked down, her vision went inside. “I am the problem,” she observed. “I told them to be this way?”

“You are the problem,” I agreed. “And you are the solution. Your departments are perfectly capable of creating those internal efficiencies, but those internal efficiencies have to be optimized. Work goes sideways through the organization. It starts with marketing, then goes to sales, then to contracting, then to operations, then to warranty, looping into R&D. Work gets handed off from one department to another.”

“So, I can’t just put all the managers in a room and tell them to figure it out?” she guessed.

“Your role is one of integration,” I nodded.

“Like all the dotted lines on the org chart?” Regina offered.

“Your dotted lines on the org chart have your best intentions. Intuitively you understand the horizontal cross-functional working relationships, that’s why you drew the dotted lines. But dotted lines create ambiguity. No one understands the specific accountability and the limited authority that goes with those dotted lines. So people make stuff up. And that’s where the trouble begins.”

The Problem is Normal

Leave a reply

“Each department manager turned toward internal efficiency because you told them to,” I repeated.

Regina was stunned. She had difficulty seeing the root of the problem as her management directive.

“All crumbs lead to the top,” I said. “And, don’t think it’s because you are a bad manager. Every company has to become system focused at some point. It’s normal. But the solution to become efficient creates the next step of organizational friction. All these internally focused departments, these silos, have to work together.”

Regina’s look of surprise began to calm.

I continued. “If the problem comes from an internal focus by each department, where do you think we will find the solution?”

Regina turned her head. “With an external focus?” she floated.

I nodded, “Yes, and that’s where you come in. This is a higher level of work.”

You Told Them To

Leave a reply

“It’s killing us,” Regina complained. “Our silos are killing us.”

“How so?” I asked.

“It’s like there is a little internal competition out there. It started with the blame game. Departmental managers in a meeting, pointing fingers at a problem. Not my fault, everyone said. Then it became CYA behavior. Departments began to build steps into each process to actually shift responsibility for problems to other functions.”

“Why do you think that happened?” I pressed.

“I don’t know,” Regina replied. “There was a time when I thought a little competition was appropriate. It seemed to help everyone perform at a higher level.”

“So what is happening, now that there is a little competition?”

“Our production department cranks up output, while our warehouse department tries to figure out what to do with all the finished goods. The sales department promises delivery with no visibility to purchasing, so we run out of raw materials. Production gets choked off and we run overtime while guys stand around with nothing to do. It’s a mess.”

“Why do you think it happened?” I repeated.

“I don’t know. It was like we just grew up into the problem.”

“You did. You just grew up into the problem. You told everyone to be efficient, no waste, no scrap. You wanted high utilization of precious resources. Each department went internal to re-sequence for that efficiency. It was a noble move and required at the time. Each department manager did it, because you told them to.”