Dealing With Organizational Politics

Here's a post from a person who wishes to remain anonymous. It is part of a homework assignment in our Leadership Skills program where she was examining an area for improvement in her leadership skills. It is reprinted with permission.

"The trait that causes me the most difficulty in performing my job is the ability to cope well with organizational politics. I have never been good at this one. I believe that organizational politics can often be traced back to ego issues.

"In the company I work for, there are many strong willed, intelligent males. Prior to my promotion, most of the female supervisors seemed very mousy. I have rarely seen them fight for their ideas or campaign for other females' ideas. I don't believe it's intentional; it's just a pattern of behavior that has been quietly instilled in them.

"I, however, am the aggressive advocate for good ideas, no matter who came up with them. I have a very strong personality and don't back down when I believe in my position on an issue. As you can imagine, this has created hardships for me and has made me wildly unpopular with some members of management. Mainly because I believe that respect should be commanded and not demanded. On the flip side of that, many of the associates appreciate my candor and have told management that it's actually why they like me. I am listing this as an area for improvement because I am painfully aware that a leadership skill is not only about managing down, but also about managing up.

"Over the past several months I have had ample time to decide and implement changes in my behavior with regard to organizational politics. I am working on being a more effective listener. Rather than jumping to conclusions, I let management finish their thoughts before I discuss mine. I also give myself a 3 second reaction time. If I feel that I may over-react, I wait 3 seconds before responding. This allows me to filter my responses allowing the member of management to feel heard and respected.

"I have also begun to create relationships outside the day to day business. I ask them about their day and their families and offer compliments if they are appropriate. This allows me to have another facet to the relationship.

"The final thing that I have tried (and am working on daily) is to try to remember that the members of management were also once non-management people. At one time, they did my job or one similar to it. They did earn their stripes and deserve to be respected."

Thanks very much for the insights Anonymous. Good points for us to consider. Especially the last one.

About me: Dan Pelley is an educator specializing in management training and development programs for supervisors and other first-line managers in Connecticut (CT), Massachusetts (MA) and Rhode Island (RI). The issue recited above came from a participant in one of his supervisory management development programs.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Tuition Increase

I've held the line as long as I could. My last price increase for the supervision series programs was in January, 2002. Nearly eight years ago! Effective October 15, 2009 the price for each of our 16-hour open enrollment supervisory management development programs was increased from $345.00 to $395.00 (less than 15%).

If you compare the content and format of my programs with those offered by anyone else, I know you'll conclude that dollar for dollar and hour for hour my programs offer the best value for your education dollar. And you save even more when you bring the program into your company with 15 or more participants.

About me: Dan Pelley offers a series of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. The five programs are "Managing People,: "Leadership Skills," "Managing For Results," "Proactive Leadership," and "Participative Management." 139 companies in Connecticut (CT), Rhode Island (RI), Massachusetts (MA) and New York have one or more people who earned this certificate.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Pride of Authorship

It's a truism in human nature - most people do not like to make changes and will resist change whenever they possibly can. And that's true even for people who make their living making changes.

For may years I was a management consultant. Recommending and implementing change is pretty much what consultants do. Yet, even though they are agents of change, consultants are also prone to avoiding changes, other than those they've recommended. The phenomenon is so pronounced among consultants that some people have labeled it as "Pride of Authorship."

While consultants spend time and effort getting you to accept and adopt their ideas for change, those consultants caught in "Pride of Authorship" have great difficulty accepting any modifications or changes to their recommendations. They believe their ideas were well thought out and will work successfully and do represent the best alternative. Otherwise they wouldn't have made the recommendation in the first place. Because of this, they fiercely defend against any changes to their change.

Now I don't mean to imply that all or even most consultants have "Pride of Authorship." Nor are consultants the only people who develop recommendations for change and therefore run the risk of being caught in that trap. But I do want suggest that everyone who develops ideas for change consider this fact: it's a very rare person who can develop the best idea for change in a vacuum; that is, without the advice and counsel of others, especially those people who will be impacted by the change.

About me: Dan Pelley conducts seminars and teaches programs on topics of interest to managers. Recent additions to his offerings are a six hour seminar titled "Thriving on Change" and a sixteen hour program titled "Leadership in a Changing Environment."

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Where Did he Go?

Yesterday, September 23, was the first time there was no post on a weekday since we started on January 21. All of the September posts up until then were written in July and August and were automatically being posted as I was in Italy and Croatia until just a few days before. Since returning I have been making major format changes (and some content upgrades) to Leadership Skills, Managing People and Participative Management. These changes were implemented in the last few days for week 1 of each program. Yesterday, the day of the missing post, I left RI at 6:00 AM and put 250 miles on the car visiting facilities of a new consulting client.

Considering the time required to post daily versus all the other things I need to do including program updates, client service and business promotion, as of today I will no longer commit to a daily post. There are several drafts posts in backlog, and I'll start getting them out to you soon. But I also realize that checking a blog daily and not finding something new can be a drag.

Luckily, the Blogspot programs include a mechanism whereby I can send you an e-mail each time a new post appears on the blog. Unfortunately the capacity of that feature is limited to only 10 e-mail addresses. If you would like to be one of those 10, please click here to send me an e-mail to let me know or give me a call. If you are a current or former participant in my programs you should have my telephone number. Beyond the first 10 e-mail addresses, I will try to find an alternate way of letting you know.

For all others, I hope to post relevant information as it becomes available. If you've enjoyed the blog so far, I recommend you check in from time to time to see what's new.

About Pelleyblog. This blog covers topics of interest to managers, particularly those at the first-line supervisor level. Topics include handling difficult employees, leadership, counseling, coaching, problem solving, lean thinking, motivation and time management. We welcome your comments on this post.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Here's a thought that sounds a note of caution whenever we believe our opinion, our position, our approach or our decision is right.

"We routinely disqualify testimony that would plead for further extenuation. That is, we are so persuaded of the righteousness of our judgment as to invalidate evidence that does not confirm us in it. Nothing that deserves to be called truth could ever be arrived at by such means."

by Marilynne Robinson in "The Death of Adam"

About Pelleyblog: Pelleyblog is designed to be a resource for supervisors and other first line managers. Currently most of our readers are from Rhode Island (RI), Central Massachusetts (MA) and Eastern Connecticut (CT). But everyone interested in management topics is welcome. We also welcome your participation. Feel free to comment on this or any other post.

Resistance to Change Can Be Good

Not all resistance to change is bad. That's because not all changes are good. People who resist change serve a useful purpose by raising questions and objections that cause us to take a hard look to make sure our changes are useful, cost effective and beneficial. It's possible the end result of the resister's challenge may be an improved change as potential problems are identified and removed before the change goes into effect.

So be thankful when people challenge or criticize your proposed change. After all, if your change is well thought out, you'll be able to show the critic how your change handles their issue. On the other hand, if your change is deficient, be thankful that the critic is taken the time to call it to your attention so you can improve it. Perhaps the critic can help you with the improvement as well. Whenever you can incorporate a critic's suggestions for improvement into your change, you'll begin to make them an owner of the change, and they'll be more likely to accept the change rather than resist it.

About me: Dan Pelley teaches ways to effectively implement changes as part of his "Proactive Leadership" program, one of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. 137 companies in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York have one or more people who earned this certificate.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

For Your Ears Only

I’m sure you are familiar with the concept of “talking out of school;” the idea of discussing something in the presence of others who really shouldn't be allowed to hear the comments. “Talking out of school” is generally not a good thing to do in any situation. When you are on the management team of a company “talking out of school” can get you into serious trouble.

I encourage managers to be friendly with the employees. To take the time to get to know each employee, build rapport, a solid relationship and open lines of communication. With certain ground rules and guidelines in place, I think it’s great for a manager to be friends with their employees and, for those who care to, to socialize outside of work as well.

The more friendly we are with employees, the more we must bear in mind the ground rule of being very careful about what we talk about with employees, especially when we are in a social setting. Don’t talk about other employees, except perhaps for a short word of praise. Don’t bad-mouth people or other departments or functional areas. And never ever talk about things you were told in confidence because you are part of your company's management team; things for “your ears only.”

These confidential items are never to be discussed with anyone outside of the circle of confidence. Never. Not to anyone. Not to your friends. And certainly not to your employees.

Interestingly, many managers will not even discuss these confidential items with their spouse. Their belief is that these things have nothing to do with their relationship to their spouse and, accordingly, the spouse does not have a need to know.

About me: Dan Pelley teaches communication skills as part of his "Leadership Skills" program, one of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. 139 companies in Connecticut (CT), Rhode Island (RI), Massachusetts (MA) and New York NY have one or more people who earned this certificate.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

No Return on Delegated Work

Some managers delegate work only to later discover the work isn't getting done on time, or the employee is hesitant about what to do, or there are errors, missing pieces or less than satisfactory progress. Some managers then take the assignment back and do it themselves, and often reminding themselves that this is exactly why they don't like to delegate work. What they fail to realize is that taking the work back does not solve the problem. In fact it can make the problem worse as some employee's learn to return delegated work back to the boss, especially delegated work that is difficult and/or delegated work that the employee doesn't like to do.

When delegated work is not being done the way it should, the manager must get involved as a teacher and a coach. Give advice, counsel, additional information and even retraining as needed. Show and tell if required. Pitch in and work alongside of the employee as necessary. But never take back the delegated assignment or the responsibility for getting that assignment done. This approach allows the employee to gain knowledge and experience so that they are in a better position to do the delegated work in the future. And employees also learn to ask questions, clarify instructions, and seek help sooner because they know that wasted time and effort will place more burden on them.

Also note that this approach can work well for normal assignments as well. If an employee encounters an exception to a routine job, avoid taking the exception away and handling it yourself. By helping you handle the exception, the employee will learn from the experience. And that will put them in a better position to deal with (or at least help with) similar situations in the future).

About Pelleyblog. This blog covers topics of interest to managers, particularly those at the first-line supervisor level. Topics include handling difficult employees, leadership, counseling, coaching, delegation, making work assignment, professionalism and time management. We welcome your comments on this post.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Include Your Employees in Decisions

Within a set of guidelines or boundaries, most companies empower employees to make certain operating decisions on their own. Decisions beyond those boundaries are typically referred to the manager who then makes a decision (up to her or his authorization level of course).

Most managers are good at making these decisions at their level of authority. What many managers fail to do however is to involve their direct reports in the decision making process or to even tell their direct reports the reason or justification for their decision.

By leaving direct reports out of the process the manager fails to educate them and leaves them to speculate, guess or surmise why some decisions tend to go one way and other decisions tend to go another. The employee may guess correctly, or not, but in any case they don't know for certain the business policies and philosophies that underlie their manager's decision.

By explaining the higher level decision-making process, the manager expands the employee's knowledge of the factors involved in making those decisions. This positions the employee to have their own decision-making boundaries expanded in the future, as the manager confidently delegates additional decision-making to an employee who knows full well what the correct decision is and, more importantly, why.

About Pelleyblog. This blog covers topics of interest to managers, particularly those at the first-line supervisor level. Topics include handling difficult employees, leadership, counseling, coaching, problem solving, lean thinking, motivation and time management. We welcome your comments on this post.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Like Father Like Son

You'll enjoy this post better if you read yesterday's post "You Never Know Until You Try" first.

As a teenager dad flew an airplane. As a teenager I raced a stock car. In one of my first races, the car popped out of gear in turn three. Let me tell you that situation gets your attention real fast.

The track where I normally raced was very high-banked. You normally had the gas pedal to the floor on the straightaways, held it as long as you could, then slipped your foot off the gas pedal (back off) and cut the steering wheel hard as you entered the turn. Halfway through the turn and completely off the throttle, you did a tap on the brakes (spot brake) and then slammed the gas pedal to the floor to come off the turn.

That works very well assuming of course that the car is in gear. If not, the engine races to red line RPMs (and its hard to hear that above the noise as none of our race cars had mufflers), and the drivers behind you are already banging into you and pushing you. While the shift lever looked like it was in normal position, I gave it a quick slap, it moved slightly and I was back in gear. Soon I was driving that turn with back off, spot break, slap the gearshift, mash the gas. Not a particularly good way to go, but we did qualify for the feature (final) race.

Most short tracks (ours was 1/4 mile) do not have pit stops, so there is no pit area visible to the spectators. Unlike what you see on television at the larger tracks where the pits are parallel to the pit road, our pits were located behind the track and parking was perpendicular to pit road. As you came in to the pit you could nose in or back in. Normally I would back into our pit. This time, excited from being bumped around and having to slam the shift lever every lap, I nosed into the pit and advised the crew.

With little time until the feature race, the crew decided to wire the gearshift tightly in position to see if that might hold it in gear. What did we have to lose? We only ran in second gear anyway and if it didn't work I could always slap it back into gear as I did in the heat race. So wire it up they did, with no time, effort, or amount of wire spared. Rube Goldberg would have been proud.

Imagine our chagrin when they called the race cars for the feature race and thirty three cars fired up and headed out to the track. I climbed in, fastened the belts, fired the engine and went to shift into reverse so I could back out of my pit (remember I had nosed in). There was the shift lever solidly wired into second gear. While some crew members searched frantically for wire cutters, others simply pushed the car back out of the pit stall. And interestingly enough, the car stayed in gear through the entire feature race.

When it comes to problem solving "Ya never know until ya try."

About Pelleyblog. This blog covers topics of interest to managers, particularly those at the first-line supervisor level. Topics include handling difficult employees, leadership, counseling, coaching, problem solving, lean thinking, motivation and time management. We welcome your comments on this post.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

You Never Know Until You Try

I love creativity. Innovations. New ideas. And I love hearing about things people try to do to solve problems, things that range from the deceptively simple to the Rube Goldberg contraptions. Some that work. Some that don't. Here's one that seemed logically simple, but in practice didn't work out.

In 1929 my dad was the youngest person in New Jersey to earn a private pilot's license. He was just 16 years old. He wore a leather flying suit, snoopy hat and goggles as many of the planes were open cockpit. The mechanicals were fairly primitive and the instrumentation was minimal at best.

One difficulty in flying these primitive aircraft was to know the orientation of the plane to the ground, especially when landing. Was the nose up or down and by how much (Pitch)? Were the wings level or was one lower than the other (Roll)? Gyroscopes for aircraft were available, but not in widespread use. Someone at the airport decided that two carpenter's levels could be used as a simple and inexpensive substitute.

One level was placed on the floor of the cockpit lengthwise to show pitch, and one was placed crosswise to show roll. Great idea except it was dark on the floor of the cockpit and the level bubble was difficult to see. A flashlight solved the problem.

Dad said it was a great idea and worked well when cruising along. But not good at all for landing when needed most. On the first landing attempt using the levels, the pilot found he needed one hand on the control stick, one hand on the throttle and one hand on the flashlight. Oops! The quick thinking pilot put the flashlight in his mouth and when he tilted his head to see the levels the light would go that way as well.

Well everyone probably had a good laugh. But I don't believe the system got much use. Anyway, Dad said the gyroscope soon became widely available and solved the problem.

When it comes to solving problems, "ya never know until ya try."

About me: Dan Pelley teaches problem solving and continuous improvement techniques as part of his "Proactive Leadership" program. Click here to see the program learning objectives. You can learn more about all of Dan's program by clicking here to visit our website.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

A Dark Day

I've started to write this post many times. Then I get angry, frustrated and upset about how we have responded to this day. And how little we have accomplished. Osama Bin Laden -- still out there. The Freedom Tower (now renamed 1 World Trade Center for some politically correct reason) -- still not done. The War on Terror (oh right, we can't call it that anymore; as if that makes the terrorism stop) -- ineffective; innocent people still die at the hands of uncivilized barbarians. See my problem? This paragraph was to be two sentences, and already it is building momentum and turning into a rant. And taking away from today.

On September 11, 2001 nearly 3,000 innocent people were slaughtered going about their daily lives. That's what we need to remember today. The children without parents. In some cases the parents now without a child. The first responders fallen in the line of duty. The wasted talents and skills of so many people. The hopes and dreams snuffed out. The weddings, graduations, birthdays, christenings, retirement parties and other celebrations that will never be. From the highly successful to just plain folks, innocent people blasted into eternity without even the possibility of a common mass grave. That's what we need to remember today. In prayer if you are so inclined (and many Americans are). Or in other ways of recognition if you are not (as this country allows you to -- unlike so many other countries).

December 7, 1941 was a day of infamy. September 11, 2001 will always be a dark day for me.

About me: Dan Pelley is an educator specializing in management training and development programs for supervisors and other first-line managers in Connecticut (CT), Massachusetts (MA) and Rhode Island (RI).

Too Much Checking?

I was called to a company to do a program in "Team-Oriented Problem Solving." The request for training in this subject area came about because of a quality error involving hundreds of thousands of parts and tens of thousands in dollars.

The eighteen hour problem solving program spans a nine week period with a two-hour class each week. Part of each class session is devoted to problem solving principles and practices and the other part of the class is devoted to discussion of real-world application problems. We also devoted some time attempting to diagnose the root cause of the quality problem that caused the company to have the program.

As we delved into the problem, failure to follow procedure was found pretty much every step of the way. But human error is a forbidden root cause because it is not a controllable or solvable condition that can be completely eliminated. Problem solvers confronting human error are encouraged to look for root causes in areas such as hiring practices, training, morale, motivation, and so forth.

The company had good people, many of whom had been with the company for years. It was a company that spent a lot of money on training. It was a good place to work and morale was high. There were well written procedures to cover everything. Quality was given high priority. So why did people fail to follow quality procedures virtually every step of the way?

As it turned out, the process had quality checks built in every step of the way with much redundancy including double and even triple checks. Since everyone was supposed to be checking, some people simply assumed that their checking role wasn't necessary, seemed to be redundant, and it wouldn't matter if they didn't check because the person before and after them would. While that may be true in a single instance, it certainly isn't true when it becomes widespread.

My advice was to reduce the number of checkpoints to a minimum, but enforce them to the maximum. People charged with checking needed to know that there wouldn't be others close by in the process to catch what they missed. That meant that mistakes would be costly and people who failed to perform required checks would be held accountable.

Moreover, these minimum checkpoints needed to be placed where work that could impact quality was performed, and the people performing that work had to be charged with responsibility for their quality (Quality at the Source).

Clearly my suggestion for less checking was not particularly well received. Indeed I hesitated to make it because it was unconventional. Yet the problem cause clearly seemed to point in the direction of too much checking.

I suspect the company "solved the problem" by hammering home the need for people to "do their jobs," and "follow procedures" and "pay attention" or else. And I believe that approach will work over the very short term. But I am still convinced that when everyone is made responsible for something (especially something redundant and boring), we ultimately end up with a system where some people leave the responsibility for actually performing the duty to someone else. If enough people do that, the system fails.

About me: Before becoming a full time educator, my career experiences included being vice president of a consulting firm, vice president - finance of a publishing company, vice president - sales support services for a manufacturing company and vice president - operations for a distribution company. As a full time educator working principally in Rhode Island (RI), Connecticut (CT) and Massachusetts (MA). I am pleased to share my experiences and business philosophies with managers at all levels.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

He's Just a Polisher

As part of a customer visit, I was charged with arranging a tour through our facilities. As we toured the shop, the person actually conducting the tour was pointing out various operations and introducing our guest to some of the employees. But we bypassed a work area where an employee was polishing jewelry, a very messy operation involving water and compounds. The employee had to wear an apron to keep the "mud" off his clothes and I imagine the tour guide didn't want the customer to get dirty.

Polishing is a very important operation in certain aspects of jewelry manufacturing. It takes a good eye and the right technique to "kiss" the jewelry just in just the right way to bring out highlights and make the jewelry piece attractive to the consumer. Our tour guide neglected to mention this detail or to even tell a customer what operation was being bypassed.

The customer took note and asked: "Who is that?," since he had already been introduced to many other people. The tour guide responded: "Oh, that's Paul, he's just a polisher."

I cringed. He's not just a polisher. Paul is an important part of our jewelry manufacturing operations. His job may be dirty, but it involves a good eye and a sense of artistry. Much of the attractiveness of the finished piece to the retail customer involves Paul's work. And more than that he's a human being with a family and children and hobbies and interests. In fact, when he left work on the day of this incident (and thankfully I don't think he heard the remark), Paul headed for places where he is well known. In many different locations throughout this area Paul gets on stage as a member of one of this area's leading country-western bands.

I tell this story because it illustrates a mistake I hope I'll never make, demeaning the workstation in life of another human being. And I also tell his story because I hope you too will never make that mistake.

About me: Dan Pelley is a Rhode Island-based educator with a diverse background. He has been a warehouse man, delivery driver, machine operator, janitor, soldier, cost accountant, system analyst, consultant, money dealer, marketer, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, and member of several boards of directors. He attributes his success in educating first-line managers to the fact that he always remembers where he came from. He also believes that most people are capable of professional growth if they are willing to learn what they need to know and do what is necessary to advance their careers.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

About my logo

My first job out of high school was in a machine shop. Being paid piecework, we hustled all day. But the work was routine, repetitious and boring. As factory workers we lived by the time clock, and were pretty much faceless entities, a pair of hands to feed a machine. My primary job required 15 different hand movements every 17 seconds. (See "The Room" for a more profound description of factory life).

I like to be recognized. I like to be a little different. Hard to do wearing a uniform and being known by a clock number.

We had a time card for each job worked. We wrote in our name, job number, checked off boxes for department, operation and so forth, posted quantities, and punched in and out on a time clock. It wasn't long before I stopped writing my name as "Daniel Pelley." I combined the D and the P into the one symbol you see centered in my logo, and I used that symbol while working in that shop three years full time and then four years part time while I was in college.

I don't know if anyone else in the company ever really noticed my symbol or cared, but it mattered to me. Because I wanted to be somebody other than a pair of hands, a faceless clock number in a uniform.

The years went by, and the road of life took me far away from the factory. To being a manager. An executive. To the boardroom. And the speaking platform. But I've never forgotten where I came from. And that's why my blue collar time card symbol with the addition of a diamond as a border became my professional logo.

My logo reminds me where I came from. I've never forgotten that. I attribute a large part of my success as an executive, a consultant and an educator to having as much respect for people who come to work and do routine repetitious work every day as I do for the most innovative professional or the most successful executive.

Oh, in case you were wondering: Why a diamond instead of a circle, square or rectangle? I chose the diamond simply because isn't as common as the others. I wanted to be a little different.

About me: Dan Pelley's career experiences range from the production floor to the boardroom and the college classroom. He has worked in companies as diverse as metal stamping, foundries, pharmaceuticals, computers and electronic components, hospitals, nursing homes, motor carriers, distribution, retailers, social services, government, quasi-government agencies, a major art museum and an airline. He shares his experiences through programs and seminars for companies in New England and through this blog.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Hand It Back

Some companies have a great way of preventing quality errors from being passed on person to person as a job travels downstream. What they do is charge each operation with checking the quality of work incoming from preceding operations. Any defective work they catch can be returned to the previous operation for correction. But once they pass the work on to the next operation, they now are responsible for any defects or errors they didn't catch. If the next operation finds an error and sends it back to them correction, they are not allowed to pass it back upstream even though the defect was caused by a preceding operation.

For example: Operation A makes a mistake, doesn't catch it when it happened, and sends the work to Operation B. Operation B looks over the incoming work, doesn't catch the error, proceeds correctly with its operation and sends the work to Operation C. Operation C looks over the incoming work and catches the error made by operation A and passed on by Operation B. Operation C sends the work back to B, and now B (to its chagrin) must correct the error. Operation B is not allowed to send the error back to the originator, operation A.

The purpose? To ensure that people thoroughly check incoming work. In this case, you can bet that Operation B will be checking what it gets from Operation A very closely in the future. You can also bet that this model ensures that all downstream operations are very careful about what they accept from any upstream operation.

In case you were wondering, if Operation B doesn't have the know-how or equipment to fix Operation A's error in the example above, Operation A will fix the error. But the cost of the repair will then be charged to Operation B!

About Pelleyblog: We are striving to be a communication device for managers where many people can share their thoughts, ideas, opinions, perspectives and points-of-view. We focus on topics of interest to supervisors, group leaders, foremen, department managers, project managers, team leaders, assistant managers, associate managers, office managers, nurse managers, crew leaders, unit managers, and other first-line managers. But managers at all levels, and people interested in management topics are welcome and are encouraged to join us both as readers and participants.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Oh My My My

Aren't these talking devices just wonderful. My car talks to me. One of my pc printers talks to me. And the other day, after avoiding it for some time, I finally got on my electronic scale. It said just four words: "Get off of me."

Hmmmm. Just what we need - electronic nags.

Seriously, my visit to the scale prompted me to visit another long lost friend, the treadmill. Amazing how dusty its become since I last visited. Fortunately it doesn't talk. If it did, I'd probably hear a lot of sarcasm: "Well, the prodigal son returns." "Forgot where I live did you?" "You better get started - this is going to take awhile."

So here I am, working off those indulgences that tasted so good. Exercising those muscles that rest while I work with my mind. (Posting to a blog burns very minimal calories.) And taking a moment to write this post to remind all of you that we need to constantly attend to body and soul as well as to our mind.

Now if you'll excuse me. The scale just called to tell me the treadmill needs to see me.

About Pelleyblog. This blog covers topics of interest to managers, particularly those at the first-line supervisor level. Occasionally we include topics of general interest, topics about Dan Pelley's background and experiences, and a rare occasional rant. We welcome your comments on this or any other post.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

She Retired

On May 10 I blogged about some of the recognition I've received and cherished in the past. ( Click here if you would like to read that blog post titled "Long Distance Participants.") Today's post deals with a quite unique form of personal recognition.

I did a program on "Work Team Participation Skills" for a company in Milford, NH. The program involved several sections of employees with each section meeting for two hours per week for eight weeks. All told about 80 people attended the program.

When a program ends, it's common for some participants to thank or compliment an instructor before they go. This company was no exception, and I was pleased to chat with several participants at the close of each section. But one situation nearly floored me. After one participant shook my hand, said a few kind words to me and then said goodbye, another took her place. Before a handshake and a few kind words she said: "You see that person you just talked to? Well she liked the program so much that she decided to keep attending, even though she actually retired after the third class! She asked for and got permission to come back to our classes each week."

I think I can safely speak for many educators, and certainly for myself, when I tell you that people like that make it all worthwhile. Many thanks to the more than 8,000 people who have attended my programs over the years and the more than 600 companies that supported their continuing education efforts.

Dan Pelley offers "Work Team Participation Skills," a 16 hour program designed to introduce team concepts to non-management employees. He also offers Team Facilitation Skills, a 16 hour program for managers and other team leaders. Click here to learn more about these programs.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Quality at the Source

Any person skilled in quality control disciplines knows that checking cannot prevent quality problems. Checking only catches quality problems after they've happened. When the error is caught we still have to fix it or re-do it and that costs time and money.

Quality problems can only be prevented at the time the original work is done. So the only person who can prevent a quality problem from happening is the person doing the job. If the person doing the job can do it perfectly every time there will be no problems to catch. No need to fix or re-do. That saves time and money.

Quality at the Source is the management technique of placing responsibility for preventing errors on the only people who can prevent errors in the first place -- the people who actually perform the work. When a person can perform a job perfectly every time, we can usually eliminate the need for checking.

About Pelleyblog. This blog covers topics of interest to managers, particularly those at the first-line supervisor level. Topics include handling difficult employees, leadership, counseling, coaching, problem solving, lean thinking, motivation and time management. We welcome your comments on this post.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

It Shouldn't Be That Hard

Over the past many months I've been making changes to the way I do things here at Dan Pelley Educational Services. I've discontinued my rarely used in-bound toll free number and expanded my on line presence. I parted company with my primary e-mail provider and added a more user friendly one. I've begun to accept ACH transfers as payments from customers. I'm also re-evaluating our use of fax, email and other tools as well.

Because of this, I found myself needing new business cards. Ordinarily I would go to Image Printing, a company I have been pleased to work with for many years. However, since I've already changed my primary email address twice in the last three months, and because I'm still not convinced which email system is best suited to my primary email needs, I didn't want the expense of professional printing for cards that may become obsolete very soon.

After seeing business card blank forms in a catalog, I decided to try them. They are made by an office supply company that is well recognized. I've used many of their other products over the years. They offered free on line templates compatible with my word processor, plus three other ways to design and print business cards. So I bought a pack of 200 cards to try it.

I then spent many, many miserable hours trying to do a simple layout and print job that ended up ranking among the top ten aggravating frustrating computer experiences I've had over the years (and I've had a lot of them). I should have known I was in for trouble when most user evaluations of the template I needed were 1 star or less. "Trash, junk, garbage, useless" is what most of them said. Except for one who talked about successfully using the tools and conventions for tables.

Okay. That made sense. After all I thought, five rows and two columns of business cards is most likely organized as a table. Besides, I've successfully used this company's templates for mailing labels in the past, how hard can this be? I downloaded the template. The download process wasn't seamless, but it wasn't all that bad to get through. And of course it included the obligatory collection of my email address as well as a routing through a page of other products, just in case I wanted to buy more things while I was in the process of learning how to use what I just bought.

Yes, I got a table. And a very strange one indeed. When I clicked on select table I got one cell. Some table functions seemed to work. Other table functions did not. Adding graphics was extremely difficult (but I find adding graphics in my word processor often tends to be difficult). Cut and paste gave me very strange results. Hours had gone by. I actually had one cell complete with a business card the way I wanted it (including my logo graphics), but just couldn't get all 10 cells of the table to replicate perfectly.

In frustration I went back to the company website from whence the template came. A second option was to use their "wizard" which (they said) would work with all their products and would be compatible with my word processor as well as several other programs. I could easily add logos and graphics to all their products. Download was free. So I did it. More routing through pages where I could get distracted by other offerings. the obligatory email address again, another not quite seamless download and nearly 100 Mb later, there I was .

And there I dropped. Turns out their easy-to-use system was a stripped down version of my word processor that lacked such tools as edit text box or edit picture. Complete waste of time.

Well, I then reasoned, I think I can just use my word processor tools to create a table to the specifications I needed. And I did. With much frustration and aggravation due to the exactness I needed and the tendency of software systems do things (by default) that that you really didn't want. But I did it. I printed the first sheet of business cards six hours after throwing away the "wizard" and going it alone.

My friends it just shouldn't be that hard to create a business card.

One last thought here. This situation is an example of how a good brand name gets tarnished. I have known and trusted this brand name for years. In the past I would purchase their products without question. I trusted them on the quality of their products and services. Today I look at them somewhat differently. And that's the lesson for today. Too many companies are so busy gathering your email address, routing you through product offerings, and trying so hard to get you to buy more that they fail to properly deliver the product or service you paid them for. ( Click here to see a related post).

About Pelleyblog. This blog covers topics of interest to managers, particularly those at the first-line supervisor level. Occasionally we include topics of general interest, topics about Dan Pelley's background and experiences, and a rare occasional rant. We welcome your comments on this or any other post.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Do I Need An Apple?

I'm becoming less and less pleased with Microsoft Windows. Software that is difficult to use. Constant updates to patch yet another glitch. Lack of forthright support (try help in Microsoft paint to see how to change the color of a portion of a picture for example). A browser that can be so problematic that some IT professionals will suggest you use other browsers such as Mozilla's Firefox. And, most recently, a perception that Microsoft is making it difficult to work with other resources especially those supplied by Google (and I for one am becoming more and more a user of Google resources).

Over the years I've met Apple users, and all seem happy with their system. Recently I've noted that many information technology professionals use Apple computers. So is it time for me to go that way? What do you think? I've put a survey at the top of the blog in the right column. It's available through September. If you own an Apple, or if you own a PC using Microsoft Windows, please check your preference in the survey. If you'd like to comment on your preference or on this post, you can click on the comment button at the bottom of this post.

About me: Dan Pelley is a Rhode Island-based educator with a diverse background. He has been a warehouse man, delivery driver, machine operator, janitor, soldier, cost accountant, system analyst, consultant, money dealer, marketer, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, and member of several boards of directors. He attributes his success in educating first-line managers to the fact that he always remembers where he came from. He also believes that most people are capable of professional growth if they are willing to learn what they need to know and do what is necessary to advance their careers.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Follow Through

Yesterday's post contained the thoughts of Matt McLaughlin as he focused on a personal negative trait. Today's post was written by a manufacturing operations manager who wishes to remain anonymous. Like Matt she is focusing on a personal negative trait and I reprint her work with permission.

"The trait that I feel causes me the most difficulty in performing my job is 'Does what he/she says they will do,' driven in large part by another deficiency: 'Regularly monitors progress and results.' I do well at assigning task, but lack the follow through on pushing it through and coming through on items that are left up to me.

"For example, I assigned a task of coming up with a plan to monitor our lubricants to avoid running out. The employee devised a plan that in the end required a work instruction and training of all employees to adhere to the system. Six weeks later, the plan is still sitting on my desk and I have yet to issue a work instruction. I assigned the task but didn't hold up on my end of the deal.

"I feel this has a very negative effect on the people who came up with the plan and threatens their confidence in me to follow through on what I needed to do. I can only imagine that if I don't improve in this area, the employees will begin to stop doing the tasks I assign because they will think that I won't review it when they are done, so why bother? In addition, because the lubrication plan I asked for is still not issued we still face a threat of running out because I haven't completed my tasks to finish the roll out of the procedure.

"The actions I will take in the future to strengthen my skills and improve in this area are as follows:

1. When appropriate, assign tasks/projects one at a time so I allow myself the time to review each one. Only at the close/completion of one task will I assign another.

2. When a task/project is forwarded to me for review and items are left undone, work with the team leader to have them assign the remaining tasks - rather than taking them on myself.

3. When a task is remaining and the team members are unable to complete them because it is out of their scope of ability (i.e., the work instruction for managing the lubrication area), I will delegate it to someone else inside my team of resources.

4. Ask the person in charge of the team to assign me the task and manage me as part of their team. Admit to them that this is an area that I struggle with (completing tasks on time), and that I'm going to need to be managed to ensure I complete my responsibilities. Turn it into a project management lesson for them, and help me with my follow through at the same time.

5. Get some quick wins! I think most of my faults in this area come from taking on too many things at once, and not setting realistic goals as to when they will be completed. For those reasons, many tasks go unfinished and are so past due that I don't take them seriously, or worse yet, there is no real expectation from anyone that I will get them done! I will evaluate any unfinished tasks sitting on my desk and approach them one at a time - picking the ones that require the least time and effort to complete. I hope that I will soon realize they are all achievable and get some motivation to continue completing them all (rather than looking at the pile on a daily basis and feeling overwhelmed)!"

Dan says: Thanks for the sharing. I especially like number 4 above. Not only does it help you, but it also expands the capabilities of team members.

About me: Dan Pelley offers a series of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. The five programs are "Managing People,: "Leadership Skills," "Managing For Results," "Proactive Leadership," and "Participative Management." 139 companies in Connecticut (CT), Rhode Island (RI), Massachusetts (MA) and New York have one or more people who earned this certificate.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Overdoing a Strength

Today's post was written by Matthew McLaughlin, Regional Incentive Clerk at United Natural Foods in Dayville, CT. Matt talks about something that most people would view as a positive trait. In doing a homework assignment in our "Managing People" program Matt illustrates how overdoing a positive trait can actually result in the trait being negative.

Here's Matt's work reprinted with permission.

"When examining the results from the personal inventory it would be possible for me to choose several factors that would apply to causing negative impacts on my job. But for the sake of this assignment I will have to choose Number 5 Helpfulness.

"Now for most people this wouldn't be a negative factor but for me I feel that it is. At work I'm very helpful; unfortunately this has also resulted in some bad habits in my case. Simple things such as when listening to a problem I might just jump ahead of what the person is about to say and provide an answer. To me it really doesn't feel like I'm interrupting the other person but on several occasions it has caused very tense situation where, because I jumped ahead, I actually missed some details the person thought was very important. I won't say if those thoughts always were important or not, but it really gets on someone's nerves when you don't let them finish what they are saying.

"Other examples of this is me offering advice on topics I overhear without even thinking that others might get upset I am listening to what they are saying while still doing my own work. My boss even gave me an oral warning for trying to be too helpful. In his mind he felt it was creating a negative feeling to the conversation too often. Because he is my boss he doesn't feel that I should interrupt him no matter the situation.

"To counteract my natural tendencies to provide help that isn't really needed from me at the wrong times I have came up with the following action plan:

a. Review past instances where this has occurred and look for commonalities, there should be certain events that trigger me to say something out of turn. I just need to identify them.

b. Determine a way to predict when I might do this to someone. Got to study myself more to be on the lookout for the signs that I am about to interrupt when I shouldn’t.

c. Teach myself to hesitate when I interrupt someone so that I can decide if I should or not blurt out what I was about to say. By hesitating I give my mind a greater chance to frame a correct response if any response if even needed at that time.

d. Listen to any feedback related to the changes in the way I deal with people to see if it is working or not. Feedback from others is very important in trying to stop myself from doing this.

e. Make additional changes as needed as things progress.

"I've actually been doing this for awhile now at work and I've really improved especially when dealing with my boss. More often than not I will be about to say something but stop myself and wait for him to finish before I state my opinion about a topic. Also it has improved the atmosphere in the office with the other employees since I no longer butt in on their conversations when I shouldn't. Even those that before would just deal with my tendency to interrupt them appreciate the changes I've made."

Very good advice, Matt! thanks for sharing it with us at pelleyblog.

About me: Dan Pelley teaches the concepts of understanding yourself and understanding others as part of his "Managing People" program, one of five programs leading to a "Certificate in Supervisory Management." The issue recited above came from a participant in his "Managing People" program.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Why Can't I Have Flex Time?

This is the final installment of a conversation I recently had with a friend; a manager who has some issues regarding remote employees. You may want to read the post for yesterday and the day before first.

"You know," said my friend, "It's not just the remote employees that are a problem. It's the on site people too. They see the off site employees coming and going, sometimes here, often not, and yet the on site people have to be here everyday. They know that off site employees don't work to a strict time table. They know that off site employees can structure their work and personal lives to suit their own needs. They know that on site people can't do that."

Hmmmm, I thought. Is this really a new phenomenon? As far back as I can remember, employees with set schedules have looked at employees with flex time and wondered "Why can't I have flex time?"

My answer has always been quite clear. "Any employee who works in a job that allows flex time can have it as long as business conditions allow it. But many of our jobs don't have flex time because of job conditions and/or customer requirements. If you work for me in a job that doesn't allow flex time then I encourage you to put your name in for consideration when we do have a flex time job open up. If you are the best person for that flex time job we will be happy to give it to you. If not, we encourage you to apply in the future when other flex time jobs open up. But in the meantime, since your job does not allow for flex time, we expect you to work your hours as scheduled, with reasonable adjustments for personal needs granted if and when business conditions allow it."

About Pelleyblog: We focus on topics of interest to supervisors, group leaders, foremen, department managers, project managers, team leaders, assistant managers, associate managers, office managers, nurse managers, crew leaders, unit managers, and other first-line managers. But managers at all levels, and people interested in management topics are welcome and are encouraged to join us.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

What Are They Doing?

Yesterday's post was my first on dealing with remote (off site) employees. You may want to read that post first.

My friend, the manager we looked at yesterday, continued to lament his problems with remote employees. "For instance," he said, "I have an employee who is a stay-at home parent. I understand our telephone conversations occasionally get disrupted. I understand sometimes my employee is off taking a child to this or that activity. I know that's part of why some people want or need to work at home. But how do I know I'm getting my money's worth? How do I know the time I'm paying for is productive time? Sometimes it seems like my stay-at-home parent does what he/she wants to do, and not what I want done."

My response was: "That my friend is again a management issue, the same kind of issue you can have with on site employees. Perhaps not to the same degree, but it's the same problem none-the-less. On site employees sometimes need time off to attend to personal things. Some on site employees are guilty of working on personal things on company time. On site employees sometimes talk too much, lose focus, get distracted or just plain goof off. And on site employees don't always do what we need done."

"Yes, Dan, but when they are on site I can see it and I can deal with it."

"Not always," I cautioned. "You can be in a meeting and your on site employees can have a field day until just before you get back. And how many times have you been disappointed with an on site employee when something you needed didn't get done? Admittedly, these conditions are usually surface faster and are dealt with more quickly when the employee works on site. But they are also controllable and can be dealt with quickly when an employee works off site, provided you stay on top of things by establishing and monitoring clear expectations of performance.

"First of all," I continued, "I'm glad you recognize that stay-at-home workers can get distracted by stay-at-home things. That's a natural part of life, and frankly a cost of having remote workers. The question becomes one of reasonableness. Are too many telephone conversations being disrupted by children? Then perhaps more on site meeting time is necessary if you and the remote employee can't find any other way to resolve the off site issue. Is your off site employee not available when you need them due to out-of-home child activities? Then create a set of expectations that you both can live with. You could also require the stay-at-home employee to let you know in advance when they don't plan to be at home working.

"Secondly, in terms of getting your money's worth, clear performance measures are necessary for off site workers just as they are for on site workers. For production and paper processing types of jobs, you as a manager need to have a good handle of how many units of work can be done per hour. For project work, you as a manager should have a pretty good idea (and so should the employee) of the budgeted hours for the project. And, most importantly as a manager, you need to know how each employee's performance stacks up against those measures.

"Thirdly, in terms of priorities and job completion requirements, those belong to you. You can delegate those responsibilities if you are happy with the way your off site (or on site) employee handles their workload. But you always have the right to command and demand those priorities and deadlines when you believe it necessary to do so.

"Finally, if an off site (or on site) employee is not performing to expectations, then you need to put on your coaching and/or counseling hat and deal with it. Of course the barriers to performance may be different in a remote environment. But in the end it doesn't matter. The barriers to performance need to be overcome so the employee performs to expectations. After all, you are paying them to do their job properly -- no matter where that job is being done."

About me: Before becoming a full time educator, my career experiences included being vice president of a consulting firm, vice president - finance of a publishing company, vice president - sales support services for a manufacturing company and vice president - operations for a distribution company. As a full time educator working principally in Rhode Island (RI), Connecticut (CT) and Massachusetts (MA). I am pleased to share my experiences and business philosophies with managers at all levels.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

The Remote Worker

There are two topics that I have been wrestling with lately. One is the issue of how to manage millennial employees. As you may know from prior blog posts, I find that issue to be both interesting and disconcerting.

The other topic, which has just recently come to the forefront for me, is how to manage remote (off site) employees. That topic is less interesting to me as I fail to see anything unique or unusual about remote employees that can't be handled with well known tried-and-true management techniques. Indeed, I believe off site employees have been around in various forms forever. Outside sales people. Service technicians. Delivery people. And, to a large extent, the problems of managing off site (remote) workers isn't all that different from situations where people are working on site without a boss being present. Like a convenience store clerk. Or a 2nd shift of 15 people in a manufacturing company with no on site supervisor or group leader.

A few days ago a friend told me he was having a great deal of difficulty with remote employees. He suggested they were quite different and hard-to handle. "Give me an example," I said.

He told me of a stay-at-home employee who constantly disrupts the department with requests to access customer files with information the remote employee needed to do the job. These frequent requests were wearing the department thin, especially my friend the manager. Seems the remote employee usually calls him to look up and transmit the information.

One answer of course is to put all the necessary documents and relevant information into a database so the needed information could be accessed remotely. My friend thought that was a good idea, but his company didn't have that technological capability at the moment.

"Then have your remote person take the files home," I responded, "unless there are other people who need them or other reasons the files can't go off site."

"Not a problem," my friend responded. "He can take files home. But he often gets into a project and doesn't have a needed file or other information."

"Perhaps he needs to come in to the office occasionally to get what he needs," was my next thought.

"Oh, he's required to spend one day a week in the office now," was the response.

"Then why is it se doesn't have the files he needs when working off site?"

"Sometimes he doesn't realize what is needed until he gets into the project. Sometimes I guess he forgets," said my friend.

"Well there's your real issue," I said. "Any person who works at an off site (such as a client site) quickly learns to plan ahead so they can bring what they need to do the job. Accountants know that. Consultants know that. Plumbers know that. It just takes a little forethought and discipline. That's what you need to deal with as the coach. The fact that your off site employee needs to plan ahead so he can leave the on site facility with everything he needs to do his work before the next on site visit. And, if you need to reinforce that lesson, it wouldn't hurt to have the off site employee have the inconvenience of making a special trip back to the on site location when the requests for support are getting out of hand."

About me: Dan Pelley frequently updates his programs to include recent trends and current best practices. You can learn more about his programs by clicking here to visit his website.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

The Rest of the Story

Last March we posted three reasons for not interrupting. Click here to see that post.

Today we'll add another reason to that list. When an issue is sensitive, touchy, delicate, troublesome, you-name-it; when a speaker really finds it difficult to talk about something because they don't want to hurt or offend you; when the speaker is trying to "talk around" a situation to avoid self-incrimination, blame for the problem, or justification for you to be unhappy with them; or for any other of a number of reasons; sometimes a speaker will hold back on telling you the "complete truth" or the "whole story."

In those cases the speaker tends to be very happy to let you interrupt. If they are lucky you may even divert the conversation away from the difficult topic or situation. Indeed, many children know that quickly confessing to a small offense may get Mom or Dad ranting and raving to such an extent that a bigger offense stays hidden in the background. Some employees know the same can be true with a boss.

When you are in one of these "delicate situations," and especially where you are looking at a counseling or disciplinary situation, it's best to let the speaker have their full say. Don't interrupt. But also avoid responding as soon as the speaker is finished. This is a great time to utilize an oft-times underutilized communication technique called silence.

People get uncomfortable with silence. If you try to not respond for just 30 seconds or so, you may find the speaker continues on. And as a great man often said "you just might hear the rest of the story!"

Gosh I miss Paul Harvey. Don't you?

About me: Dan Pelley teaches communication skills as part of his "Leadership Skills" program, one of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. Click here to learn more about our programs for supervisors.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Millennial Mindset

I must admit I've gotten away a bit from my efforts to learn more about the millennial generation; who they are, what they think and what motivates them. Yesterday I came across a great resource to help better understand the perspective of people born between 1980 and 1991, a perspective developed by Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin.

According to the college website, "Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college. It is the creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Emeritus Public Affairs Director Ron Nief. It is used around the world as the school year begins, as a reminder of the rapidly changing frame of reference for this new generation. It is widely reprinted and the Mindset List website at http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/ receives more than 300,000 hits annually."

What a wonderful resource. 11 years of profiles, each year different. And, looking over the profiles, what an awakening for those of us in the "older generations," and especially those of us whose hair is turning quite gray. Here's just two examples from the 2013 list (people born in 1991 who are entering college now as the graduating class of 2013):
"19.They have never understood the meaning of R.S.V.P.
23.The European Union has always existed."

Or how about the ones who graduated in 2002:

"15.They have likely never played Pac Man, and have never heard of 'Pong.'
39.The Titanic was found? I thought we always knew where it was."

What a wonderful resource for those of us trying to understand, supervise, manage and motivate millennials. Thank you Beloit College.

p.s., Carrie -- if you are out there my millennial friend -- what do you think?

About Pelleyblog: Pelleyblog is designed to be a resource for supervisors and other first line managers. Currently most of our readers are from Rhode Island (RI), Central Massachusetts (MA) and Eastern Connecticut (CT). But everyone interested in management topics is welcome. We also welcome your participation. Feel free to comment on this or any other post.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Three Thoughts on Time Management

Yesterday's post dealt with the idea of tackling big projects and/or huge backlogs of work by chipping away at them for just ten minutes a day. Unfortunately that approach seems in conflict with a time management technique that suggests the most efficient way to do any job is to work it straight through from start to finish. To do otherwise seems quite inefficient. Click here to see our March 1 blog post on that subject.

Fortunately there's another time management technique that may apply here. It's used to help overcome the wasted time of procrastination. When you have a job that you don't want to do, find difficult to do, or just have trouble getting started, commit to working on it for fifteen minutes. Often times, after 15 minutes we get into the swing of things and are able to see the job through to completion. However, if after 15 minutes you find you are getting nowhere, put the job aside for awhile before you commit another 15 minute try.

This 15 minute technique works very well for me when I suffer "writers block." Even though the initial minutes of "forced work" result in lots of gibberish, garbage, incomplete thoughts, broken sentences, partially complete paragraphs and so forth, I often find after awhile that a spark takes hold and off I go. And I don't look back at all when the Great Writing Spirit moves me. I just keep writing on my now-focused train of thought. After all, it won't take much time later during the editing process to delete the early scraps, gibberish and garbage.

So what do we do with these three thoughts on time management. Can we put them into harmony? Yes, I think we can. Here's how I look at them:

1. I still think the best way to do any job is beginning to end, start to finish. Whenever that approach is practical and realistic, then do it.

2. Some jobs are so big that we know they can't be done from start to finish all at once. Indeed, the magnitude of the job makes us reluctant to tackle them. So we put them off. In effect, we procrastinate. So why not budget and commit 10, 15 or 20 minutes a day to just chipping away at it. Not only will you make some process but you might also get a spark that causes you to go beyond where you planned to end. (Just be careful of spending so much time tackling the big project that you end up wishing you didn't because other things suffered).

3. When you suffer a severe case of procrastination on a job or project that needs to get done, bite the bullet for 15 minutes and see if a spark takes hold. If it does, run with it. If it doesn't, back off for a little while and then hit it for another 15 minutes. Continue as necessary until the spark takes hold.

About Pelleyblog. This blog covers topics of interest to managers, particularly those at the first-line supervisor level. Topics include handling difficult employees, leadership, counseling, coaching, problem solving, lean thinking, motivation and time management. We welcome your comments on this post.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

An Interesting Approach

As part of the homework requirements in our "Proactive Leadership" program, participants are encouraged to try the "Go Process" (click here to see post on that topic) and report back on what worked and what didn't as well as what they liked and didn't like about the disciplines of the "Go Process."

One person reported that he got the best results by tackling the bigger piles of backlogged work in ten minute increments each day. Filing was a good example of that. Previously filing would back up to the point where he would come in once a month on a Saturday to file papers and clean and organize his desk. Now he has set a goal of filing for just 10 minutes before he goes home each day. It's only a week and he is seeing the backlog diminishing.

Another project involved creating a database of key holders. He figured the total job would take two hours. He committed to 10 minutes of data entry a day. In just one week he was nearly half done.

Have you ever procrastinated on starting a big job simply because it was big. Well, you know the old saying; "The longest journey begins with a single step." Why not try doing just 10 minutes a day on those burdensome tasks that just seem to pile up. If you do, I'd like to know if it worked for you. You can click on the comment button for this post or, if you prefer, send me an e-mail by clicking here.

About Pelleyblog: Pelleyblog is designed to be a resource for supervisors and other first line managers. Currently most of our readers are from Rhode Island (RI), Central Massachusetts (MA) and Eastern Connecticut (CT). But everyone interested in management topics is welcome.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

A Tale of Two Companies

I had a tour of a manufacturing company with equipment organized in long rows consistent with the nature of much of its process. Soon I noted a plastic bucket on the floor at the end of each row. Most buckets held one or more tools while a few were empty. Being my usual nosey self, I asked the Plant Manager about them.

It seems this was an attempt to have a common tool set available for set-ups, adjustments to equipment and minor maintenance. Each bucket would have several screwdrivers, an adjustable wrench, pliers, a ratchet and common size sockets and so forth.

He admitted that the condition of the buckets showed the system had fallen down. As we continued the tour and met several supervisors, the plant manager did not mention the condition of the buckets to anyone, nor did he give anyone an assignment to see to it that each bucket was restored to their full compliment of tools, and that people were reminded to put the tools back in the bucket when they were finished with them.

Seems like little commitment to the potential improvement was to be found here.

Contrast that effort with another company who took a far more committed approach to having tools available. The tool requirement for each machine was determined by the machine operators. A corresponding set of tools needed for that particular machine was then purchased. A peg board was put up at each machine and a spot on the pegboard was chosen for each tool. The associated tool was outlined on the board, a visual reference showing which tools were in use. If it turned out that a tool was missing, a label on the pegboard indicated exactly which tool it was.

Now that was a commitment. And it was expensive. A set of tools for every machine? What did that cost? About $30,000. 00!

Why not just have a set of tools for every few machines? The company rejected that approach saying "if two machines are being set up at the same time with shared tools, those set up times are going to increase and set-up costs are going to go up."

The company also calculated the savings resulting from the $30,000.00 investment. Turns out the calculated savings associated with have a set of tools at each machine was over $130,000 a year!

I haven't talked with anyone from this company in quite a while. But I do know that last time I talked with them the peg boards had been in use for over two years and were still working well.

About Pelleyblog: We focus on topics of interest to supervisors, group leaders, foremen, department managers, project managers, team leaders, assistant managers, associate managers, office managers, nurse managers, crew leaders, unit managers, and other first-line managers. But managers at all levels, and people interested in management topics are welcome and are encouraged to join us.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

The "GO Process"

Did you ever do a thorough cleaning and organizing of a spare room? Your garage? Or attic? Only to look back several months later to see the mess, clutter and disorganization creep back in.
At work, have you ever done a 5-S project, Kaizen Event or just an intensive effort to clean-up and organize your workplace, only to see the sparkling results diminish back to dirt, clutter and piles of junk?

The reason for the fallback is that human beings are creatures of habit. And our habit is to pay attention to what needs to be done now, and to worry about the niceties of keeping things clean and organized when we can.

Some people don't even bother to attempt major cleaning efforts simply because the task is so huge. It's going to take hours, if not days, to get things in shape. They compare that time requirement with all they have to do and conclude that the major effort will have to wait until a solid block of time is available.

The "GO Process" is designed to support major clean-up efforts. It's a simple set of disciplines to keep us from falling back into old habits and ending up back in the mess. It can also be used to tackle a major clean-up effort by doing just a few things every day to make some progress while maintaining discipline to keep the gain. Using the "GO Process" you can steadily move forward over time until things are ship shape. Then the "GO Process" helps you keep things that way.

There are three steps to the "GO Process." Each requires a commitment and discipline. But they don't require hours and hours of effort.

Step 1. Put it Back. When you are done with tools, materials, equipment and supplies for one job, take a few minutes to put things back where they belong now so you aren't tripping over them when you do the next job. The time it takes you to put things back will usually be paid back immediately by the time savings of not having to work around them.

Step 2. Clean it Up. When a job is complete, the "GO Process" says we should try to clean the work area before starting the next job. But it recognizes that an immediate clean-up is not always realistic when clean-up takes more than a few seconds and we have lots of work to do. The "GO" step of clean up is to try to clean the work area when a job is done. But the discipline of the "GO Process" is to commit to cleaning up once a day, at a time of your choice.

Step 3. Sort it Out. Get rid of things you don't need. These things build up over time. We barely notice them at first. But after a while we begin to find these unnecessary things getting in our way and slowing us down. Ideally we would get rid of things as soon as we deem them to be unnecessary. The "GO Process" of course recommends you do this if you can. But the discipline of the "Go Process" is to commit to an hour or two once a month to go through and eliminate whatever escaped our attention as we went about our busy day.

So there you have the three "GO Process" disciplines:

1. Put It Back Now.
2. Clean It Up Daily.
3. Sort It Out Monthly.

By reducing the time commitment for keeping things clean and organized to a manageable level, the "GO Process" disciplines can help maintain the gains of major housekeeping efforts. Applying these disciplines can also help you chip away, day after day, towards a major housekeeping result without taking hours and days all at once.

If you'd like to learn more about the "GO Process," click this link to send me an e-mail and ask for more info. There's no cost or obligation.

About me: Dan Pelley teaches the "GO Process" as part of his "Proactive Leadership" program, one of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. Other topics include an overview of other continuous improvement techniques and methodologies including "Lean Thinking" and "Six Sigma;" Problem Solving; Practical techniques for calculating the cost of a problem and the payback of the solution; how to sell your ideas to your boss and others; and what it takes to be a successful change agent. Click here to learn more about this program.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

On Respecting Differences of Opinion

Today's post continues the insights presented yesterday by anonymous as she discussed a personal characteristic that she views as a deficiency. Yesterday she discussed coping with change. Today she looks at another personal difficulty involving respecting differences of opinion. Here's her thoughts for today, reprinted with permission.

"I have a very hard time listening to other people’s opinions. If it is not one that closely matches my own I usually develop a low opinion of that person. These are usually not politically correct opinions that I believe people should not be voicing in the work place anyways. I NEVER ask a person what they believe if it is a touchy subject."

Her action steps to help overcome this deficiency were as follows: "I will try to just walk away when others are saying statements that I may not agree with. I will just let them have their opinion and I will have mine. However, in the future, if it is something I feel is not work appropriate I will say so and ask for the discussion to stop. There is no reason for anyone to feel uncomfortable in the workplace, including me."

I suggested to anonymous that she apply the military strategy of "choosing your battles wisely" in the above types of situations. Some things just aren't worth fighting about. Other things very much are. The wise supervisor learns how to make that distinction.

About me: Dan Pelley teaches communication skills as part of his "Leadership Skills" program, one of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. 139companies in Connecticut (CT), Rhode Island (RI), Massachusetts (MA) and New York NY have one or more people who earned this certificate.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

On Coping With Change

Yesterday's post was written by anonymous. Today's post is written by a different person who also wishes to remain anonymous as she is discussing a personal characteristic that she views as a deficiency. She submitted this material some time ago in a program on leadership skills, and I haven't re-read it since I obtained her reprint permission until just now. It turns out that she actually presents two deficiencies along with corrective actions for both. So I've decided to separate them into two blog posts - one today and one tomorrow.

Here's her thought for today. "I am pretty stubborn at times and do not always like to hear a different way of doing something. It has made it hard recently to adjust to the change in management in my store. The new store manager changed many things, from policies, to where certain items where kept. For the first month I was very resistant to the changes because I believed the old ways did not need to be changed. I eventually overcame my stubbornness and realized that most of the changes were good, but not before having a long month of resentment towards my new boss."

Her action steps to help overcome this deficiency were as follows: "I will try to keep an open mind when a change is being implemented or if someone is showing me a new way to do something. I will remember the many times somebody else's idea was actually a really good one! If it actually turns out to work I will tell that person either thanks or that they had a great idea/change. I will try to think about what it would feel like if every time I had an idea it was shot down. It does happen and it sometimes hurts."

Thanks anonymous. We will visit you again tomorrow.

About me: Dan Pelley is an educator specializing in management training and development programs for supervisors and other first-line managers in Connecticut (CT), Massachusetts (MA) and Rhode Island (RI). The issue recited above came from a participant in one of his supervisory management development programs.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Accepting Responsibility

Today’s post was written by an author who wishes to remain anonymous. It was originally given to me as part of a homework assignment where she was focusing on one of her personal strengths, “the ability to accept and live up to responsibilities.” Her work is reprinted with permission.

Anonymous prefaced her work by stating “A company can take on the most qualified experienced candidates, but if these people do not feel a certain responsibility to their job and the company, they typically make decisions based on how easy or difficult it is for them or for their department.”

She then went on to describe a number of things that she believes are a natural part of her responsibilities as a supervisor. Here’s what she said: “I frequently find myself asking the question ‘if this was my company, my customer, my bottom line, what would I do; how would I behave?’ Typically, the response to this question is the more difficult of the available choices. Nevertheless, this is the path I will take. I believe this to be the more responsible choice, even if this means working extra hours to achieve the end goal.

“I accept new responsibilities only after fully understanding the scope of the assignment. I believe this is the only responsible thing to do. Quite often, people will agree for the sake of agreeing without understanding the magnitude of what they are being asked to do and then simply do nothing afterwards. If I believe the scope of the project I am been tasked with is outside my expertise or just not feasible, I will ask that we look at alternatives before agreeing to accept the project. The benefit to the company is that once I accept responsibility for a project, the management group trust that the assignment will be completed on time and in full.

“I tend to ask questions, if I see what I perceive to be as inefficiencies in the workplace, whether it is in my department or another. Rather than take the approach “it's not my job, my department, my problem", I will flag issues as I find them to department managers. Sometimes this may appear as meddlesome to the receiving party but once I explain why I think we need to look at something and why it's good for the company as a whole, I tend to get a favorable reaction. If nothing is being done and I feel strongly that the company would benefit from some action, I feel a responsibility to take it to the next level.

“If I find I am falling behind and not on top of my job, I will take the time to prioritize what needs to be done and by when. I will write a 'To Do' list to understand how far behind I am. If necessary, I will work longer hours (typically from home or at the weekend) to get back on target. I will flag items that I think will go overdue and ask that the due date of any assignment be moved out if necessary.”

Thanks, Anonymous, for sharing your thoughts on what responsibility means in real life terms.

About me: Before becoming a full time educator, my career experiences included being vice president of a consulting firm, vice president - finance of a publishing company, vice president - sales support services for a manufacturing company and vice president - operations for a distribution company. As a full time educator working principally in Rhode Island (RI), Connecticut (CT) and Massachusetts (MA). I am pleased to share my experiences and business philosophies with managers at all levels, and I encourage Pelleyblog readers to share their experiences, philosophies and general thoughts as well.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Change of Date

I'm taking registrations for the next "Participative Management" program in Lincoln, RI starting now and wanted to get the word out as I've just learned of a date change. Originally scheduled to start on Thursday October 1, 2009, the program start date has been moved up one week to Thursday September 24, 2009. October 1 will be a skip date. The complete schedule for the four class sessions are Sept 24; Oct 8, 15 & 22 (all Thursdays) from 8:00 a.m. to noon at The Northern RI Chamber of Commerce in Lincoln, RI. We've made the necessary changes to our on-line registration system. Click this link to go to our website home page, or this link to go directly to our on-line registration system.

Note: Our "Participative Management" program in Lincoln, RI is identical to our "Building High Performance Teams" program offered in Danielson, CT.

About me: Dan Pelley offers a series of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. The five programs are "Managing People,: "Leadership Skills," "Managing For Results," "Proactive Leadership," and "Participative Management." 139 companies in Connecticut (CT), Rhode Island (RI), Massachusetts (MA) and New York (NY) have one or more people who earned this certificate.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Make It Easy

Do you ever get frustrated or angry tripping over company policies and systems that make buying very difficult? I have spent much of my free time in the past two weeks trying to engineer a rework of a odd-size cooktop to replace an obsolete cartridge. (Yes, I am a do-it-yourselfer whenever I can be. And when I can't be I like to have a pretty good idea of what I'm talking about so I don't get ripped off by contractors).

Essentially I wanted to get the sizes, plug to plug compatibility, and other relevant information without a sales pitch for a new cooktop which would mean a new countertop and possibly even a new venting system. Do you think I could find that information easily from the manufacturer? Or two local appliance stores including the one I bought the original unit from? And the big box stores - forget it!

There's an old saying in retailing that far too many companies lose sight of. If you are a marketer, salesperson, customer service representative, engineer, designer, parts manager, equipment service manager, executive or what-have-you, if you are a person who has something to sell then make sure you never lose sight of that old retailing principle: "Make it easy for the customer to buy."

About me: Dan Pelley's career experiences range from the shipping room to the boardroom and the college classroom. He has worked in companies as diverse as metal stamping, foundries, pharmaceuticals, computers and electronic components, hospitals, nursing homes, motor carriers, distribution, retailers, social services, government, quasi-government agencies, a major art museum and an airline. He shares his experiences through programs and seminars for companies in New England and through this blog.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Using Different Styles of Interaction

Effective leaders learn to use different styles of interaction depending on the situation they face and the individual employees they must deal with. In today's post, Bill Gilmore, Senior Planner at Whitcraft LLC in Eastford CT, provides a very good example of using different styles of interaction. His company was in the processing of creating manufacturing cells and he knew that three people would not like that change. Here's Bill's example reprinted with permission:

"We were creating manufacturing cells at work that affected about 15 people. Having a good working relationship with all of them, I knew the three people who would be upset by the change and it gave me a chance to include them in different ways.

"One of the guys was going to complain no matter what, so I started probing him two weeks before we moved everything and made sure every negative thing he said was at least considered or worked around when possible. He happily moved and got his way on a couple of things that were good ideas but never would have come out if I didn't talk to him.

"Person number two was only concerned with where his tools would be located. Knowing his concern I was able to fit a shared tool chest in the cell and he was happy.

"The last person is the type of person that just doesn't understand why we need to improve everything and go faster so that gives him a bad attitude, but of course he won't ask any questions or give his input either. Knowing this, I went out of the way to explain why we were doing what we were doing and the money it would save without working any harder. Actually it will be easier because all his tools will be right there to use. He moved with no problems and very little negative comments."

In conclusion, Bill went on to say that his company is working on a number of change initiatives. He has seen several cases where the change process did not go well, where there were many problems and much arguing because the person leading the change did not understand how his people think or what makes them tick.

Thanks very much for the real-world example Bill. The key to managing people is to understand what drives each individual employee, and then to adjust our style of interaction with each individual in such a way that we get the very best performance from each unique person who works with us.

Bill Gilmore lives in Pomfret, CT and completed our Managing People program at Quinebaug Valley Community College in Danielson, CT yesterday.

About me: Dan Pelley teaches Managing People, a 16-hour program concerned with the topics of motivating people, developing positive attitudes, being more effective in getting the best out of each unique employee, and handling people problems. The program is offered to companies as an on-site program, and it is also offered on an open enrollment basis in Danielson, CT and Lincoln, RI.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

The Ideas of Others According to Spag

Yesterday's post considered that often times the people who work for us have good ideas; ideas that can be useful to us if we'll take the time to listen to them, explore them, and think about how we can use them. Today's post provides another example of that concept.

There was once a legendary retailer from Shrewsbury, MA who people knew by his nickname, "Spag." His wonderful retail store served thousands of customers daily; people both from near and far. One time, as a charitable event, he taught a course in retailing at a local college. I took that course just to hear the fascinating stories of his successful business philosophies. Today I share one of those stories with you.

Spag's general store carried all types of merchandise, and Spag told us he would try selling almost anything at least once. He said he often got suggestions and new ideas from his employees, figuring that if they liked a product well enough to buy it then others might buy it as well.

He illustrated that idea by telling us of an employee who suggested he carry motorized home ice cream makers. In this case, Spag wasn't convinced. "C'mon," he said to the employee, "who's going to buy that?"

"I would," responded the employee.

Still not convinced, but knowing that his own ideas on what will sell weren't always right, Spag ordered a trailer load (he bought much of his stock in trailer loads) of the ice cream makers. He said "I figured it would take at least a week to sell the trailer load."

At this point, Spag stopped speaking and looked solemnly at us. Then his face broke into a huge grin. "They were gone in four hours," he said.

He then went on to say that no one person can come up with all the good ideas. And yesterday's post reminds us that no one manager can think up all the improvements or solve all the problems. You may want to read that post if you haven't already.

About me: Dan Pelley's career experiences range from the shipping room to the boardroom and the college classroom. He has worked in companies as diverse as metal stamping, foundries, pharmaceuticals, computers and electronic components, hospitals, nursing homes, motor carriers, distribution, retailers, social services, government, quasi-government agencies, a major art museum and an airline. He shares his experiences through programs and seminars for companies in New England and through this blog.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.