The Biggest Cop Out

What's the single biggest barrier to solving problems, making improvements, finding better ways and moving forward? Four words: "It can't be done." People who use this phrase are doomed to failure. If they believe something can't be done they certainly have no reason to try hard to do it.

Too many employees have also learned to use "it can't be done" to avoid difficult problem solving and continuous improvement assignments. This avoidance is fostered by bosses who accept that excuse out-of-hand with no supporting justification. And this creates the biggest cop out. They avoid the effort and miss out on the potential reward. Because it will be done. Some day. By somebody. A somebody who realizes that each passing day brings new experiences, new technologies, new ideas that move people down the road into a future where the problems of yesterday become the opportunities of today and the improvements of the future.

Commercial space travel is within reach. The flying car is here. Nanotechnology is creating materials that were inconceivable thirty years ago. The inventors, innovators, creators, problem solvers, enhancers and improvers know this. They stay alert for new things to help move things forward. The nay-sayers and negative thinkers cop out.

Our post today can be summed up in two examples. Nay-sayers think like Charles Duell, head of the U.S. Patent Office who declared "Everything that can be invented has been invented." He made his declaration in 1899!

Inventors, innovators, creators, problem solvers, enhancers and improvers think along these lines when it comes to something that most believe can't be done, such as time travel: "Don't believe anyone who tells you that humans will never have efficient technology for backward and forward time travel." (source: NOVA online)

About me: For 25 years, Dan Pelley has presented supervisory management development programs in Rhode Island (RI), Massachusetts (MA) and Connecticut (CT). He is the 2004 recipient of the Richard Fontaine Award for Teaching Excellence awarded by Quinebaug Valley Community College in Danielson, CT.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Why Not Let Them?

Sometimes employees come to us with an idea for solving a problem or making an improvement to the department. They ask us what we think of the idea, hoping of course that we think it's great and will use it. With credit to them of course.

But many managers find that accepting the suggestion out-of-hand is difficult to do. Sometimes the idea triggers a different approach to the situation in the mind of the manager who then tells the employee to do it that way. Worse, some managers even present their idea to the employee "as a better way of handling the situation." Some managers partially accept the employee's idea with revisions and modifications made by the manager without a meaningful discussion with the employee. Other managers flatly reject the employee's idea without due consideration and a solid rationale for dismissing the idea.

Often the end result of all three approaches is an employee who is discouraged, disgusted and has little enthusiasm or interest in this situation now, and similar situations in the future. Yet what did the manager really have to lose by letting the employee try the idea? If we stop to think about it, many ideas can be implemented with very little downside risk. But many managers do not stop to think about it. Instead they decide what to do and then tell the employee to get on with it.

If the employee's idea has merit, you determine that the risk of failure is small, and the cost of complete failure is not substantial (a little wasted time, a little wasted money), then why not let the employee simple try their idea so they can learn from the experience?

If the employee's idea has merit but you think that modifications will improve it, then why not suggest those modifications for consideration by the employee? Let them choose whether or not to incorporate the suggestions. If they do, great! If they don't, it's quite possible that the experience of implementing their unmodified ideas may show them that the suggestions were indeed worthwhile. At that point the employee may well include them, or at least may be receptive to your making those suggestions again, as well as other suggestions in the future.

If you see a somewhat more significant risk of failure and/or a somewhat more substantial cost associated with the failure, then see if you can negotiate changes to the idea to minimize those risks and consequences. If not, then you may want to let the employee go forward with the unmodified idea under strict limitations that will stop implementation if the actual experience shows the risks were real and before the costs and consequences become unacceptable. Why do that? Because sometimes people have to be allowed to learn from the "school of hard knocks." And the boss who creates a controlled environment that lets the employee learn from those experiences often finds that employees tend to be more receptive to the boss's critiques, suggestions and warnings in the future.

If the risks are significant and/or the consequences are substantial, you will have to say no to the idea. But don't reject it out of hand. Take the time to educate the employee on the specific reasons why the idea can't be used as presented and, if possible, what the employee might do to restructure and resubmit the idea so it can be accepted. And, of course, whether you accept the idea or not; whether the idea works perfectly or not; whether the idea even works at all, always congratulate the employee for trying to improve the situation.

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.

That's Who I Want

Had a conversation the other day about people who are good team players. One person told us of a person he knew who was a caring helpful person with a great attitude. Whether external customers or internal associates, she would go out of her way to be as helpful as she could be. If a co-worker needed information, assistance, a favor or a ride home she was there to help. Although other associates may be ready to serve the customer now, many customers will wait to speak with her. They know she is someone who listens to them and wants to be helpful to them in any way she can.

The person telling us about this great team player summed it up by saying: "That's who I want on my team!" And I will simply say: "Me too!" And to those who aspire to customer service excellence, you know you're doing well when the customer's will wait to be served by you.

About Pelleyblog: Pelleyblog focuses on management topics for supervisors and other first-line managers. We are an extension of Dan Pelley Educational Services which conducts management development programs primarily in Connecticut (CT), Massachusetts (MA) and Rhode Island (RI), although we also serve the other New England states. Pelleyblog welcomes and looks forward to new readers from any geographic location.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

The Mandatory Team Member

The day before yesterday, our post discussed the non-participating team member from the perspective of finding the cause of the trouble before we go to work on the cure. In exploring those causes we may discover that the non-contributor simply doesn't value the team's work, and/or its importance, and/or may simply have other priorities to attend to. If the non-contributor's participation is voluntary (or at least not mandatory), we can usually solve the problem by thanking the team member for letting us know, releasing the person from the team and seeking a new team member who wants to be an active contributing member.

But what if team membership is not optional for the person? Because of certain skills, or expertise, or some other aspect of their function in the company the person's membership in the team is mandatory and, therefore, a certain level of commitment, cooperation, contribution, participation and support is required from that person. What do you do when the mandatory team member fails to live up to their team obligations?

Assuming you've done everything you possibly can to get the person to live up to obligations and responsibilities of the team, you no longer have a team issue. You have a performance issue that transcends the team. The person is not doing their job. And that will require a level of counseling and discipline that goes beyond the functions of most team facilitators. If the non-contributor happens to also report directly to you, its time to remove your team facilitation hat and put on your boss hat. If the non-contributor does not report to you, then you need to let the non-contributor's boss know that their performance is not acceptable in terms of meeting the requirements of the team.

About me: Dan Pelley teaches coaching, counseling and team facilitation skills as part of his "Participative Management (Building High Performance Teams)" program, one of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. 137 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.

Fun!

Here's some thoughts on making the workplace fun contributed by Dawn M. Coyer who works at Citizen's National Bank; reprinted with permission.

"Being a teller can be very a serious and stressful position. I have found by using humor (the joke of the day) and creativity with props (when a teller is balanced they ring a bell and all the other tellers clap for them) in the everyday job gives all individuals a positive attitude and helps to increase overall team performance and cohesiveness.

"I hold a monthly group discussion to decide what special days we will celebrate for the up coming month from a list of national days. Examples are Western Day when we dressed up like cowboys and served popcorn to our customers, and National Give a Hug Day when we gave out Hershey Hugs to all our customers.

"Since implementing these ideas I have helped create a workplace that we all look forward to going to including our customers and upper management. All of these things benefit my performance as a leader by helping to keep my team members in good spirits. When they feel good about their job they are much more efficient and accurate."

Dan says: Thanks for your contribution Dawn!

About Pelleyblog. This blog covers topics of interest to managers, both new managers seeking to learn new skills and more experienced managers seeking to update their skills. We also encourage everyone to participate in the blog by commenting on any post, or by submitting your own article for posting. If you would like to know more about submitting articles or topics for consideration, click here to send me an e-mail.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Understanding the Non-Participating Team Member

A team member who fails to participate, to attend team meetings, to make suggestions, to do their share of the work, to support and encourage the team effort, and/or to truly be an active member of the team certainly detracts from the team effort. And since most teams are small, that detraction can be significant indeed. Think about it this way: If you have a five person team and one person is withholding their contributions, you've lost 20% of your team's potential.

This is a very common situation experienced by manager's who must facilitate teams of all types, but it seems especially applicable to manager's who must facilitate cross-functional special project teams.

Before you can effectively deal with this problem, you must understand the problem. And the best way to do that is by getting the non-contributor's perspective. Find out what he thinks about the team and its mission. How does she see her role in the team? What does she like about the team? What does he dislike? What would he like to see changed? How would she like things to be? If given a choice, what role in the team would she like to have? What does the team need to do to increase his or her interest in the team?

If the answers to these and similar questions are getting you nowhere, and if the non-contributor's participation is voluntary (or at least not mandatory), you might them move on to discuss a different question: "Would the person like to be relieved as a team member?"

About Me: Dan Pelley teaches coaching and facilitation skills that support team member integration and positive team dynamics as part of his "Participative Management" (Building High Performance Teams) program. This program can be presented in-house at your company. Click here to visit our website to learn more about this and other programs offered.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

It's a Good Time to Delegate

Back in January I posted an article dealing with things to do when business is slow. Click here to see it if you wish.

Last weekend I reviewed a homework assignment from a manager who talked about the difficult economy and how people now seemed to be more receptive to learning new skills and working more independently. His focus was on upgrading technical skills so people could operate more efficiently now and, of course, when business picked up again.

After reading his work, I thought this would also be a good time to delegate more work. Yes, I know we're all looking for things to do. And delegating work will take some of those things away from you. But that's okay, because you can fill that time with the coaching, teaching and mentoring necessary to delegate work properly.

All too often delegation fails because we avoid it as much as we possibly can. When times are busy we absorb more and more work ourselves until we reach a crisis point that makes us delegate work on the fly. With quick instructions given under duress and pressure. With minimal training and little to no follow-up. Often times this process dooms the delegate to failure. We then take the work back, do it ourselves, and think: "See, I would have been better off doing it myself in the first place."

When delegation is done properly, the necessary teaching and training is done on a planned basis in a non-crisis environment that allows thorough training, follow-up and feedback. This of course takes time. And right now many of us have that time available.

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.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads and Granddads out there from this Dad (Bryan, Shannon, Lauren) and Granddad (Alex, Nicky and Mason).

No blogging today.

Yesterday marked the completion of five months of daily posting (7 days a week) and I've decided to eliminate the weekend posting as our statistics show very few visitors on the weekends. I will attempt to continue daily blogging Monday through Friday, although I find the blog is beginning to take too much time away from my other obligations and activities.

On a different note, I'm happy to report I have four reprint permissions in hand from first-line managers who will share experiences with you in future posts. This week I have five more reprint permissions to send out, and hopefully get back.

Renee Revisited

My March 21, 2009 post concerned a letter I received from Renee Holder that touched me deeply. Renee has Multiple Sclerosis and her letter talked about the challenges she faces daily. You may want to click here to read that post first.

A few weeks ago I received an update from Renee and reprint here with permission.

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you so much for supporting my recent Walk MS 2009. This was my first year participating in the event, and I was nervous about putting a team together, asking for donations, and even finding parking to walk that day! The event turned out to be a resounding success, and I want to thank you for being a part of this achievement.

April 19, 2009, wound up being a brisk, sunny day at the South Pier School in Narragansett. Our team, Walkin' Myelin & Myel-Out, arrived in matching team t-shirts embroidered by Haberek's Embroidery, and we were able to congregate in the cafeteria for snacks and coffee before the walk began. Here, we were able to chat with other teams and participants, some with MS, to exchange stories and learn pointers about how to survive the walk!

Our team, consisting of 23 people, wound up separating during the walk due simply to size (I remember panicking when I signed up for this event, wondering how I would find the minimum number of five people to join my team! I have the greatest family and friends in the world!) Our location offered two walks - one three miles long, the other six. We had planned on walking three miles, but some of us turned left instead of right at a critical juncture, putting them on the six mile hike. I am sorry to say that some of the six mile walkers actually beat my three mile group to the finish line, but heck, I have an excuse - I have MS!

After the walk, our team congregated back at my house for some good food and good conversation. Next year, I plan to have a picnic at the school after the walk to give us the opportunity to spend more time with our fellow walkers and enjoy the sunshine a little longer.

As a team, we had 119 donations totaling over $3870.00. At the beginning of this challenge, I was afraid that setting $500.00 as our team goal was too high - I can't begin to tell you how much it touched me to see the donations and volunteers pile up!

For those who took time from your busy lives to walk with me, thank you. For those of you who asked friends and family for donations, thank you. For those of you who want to walk next year, let me know! I will contact you earlier in the planning stages of the walk. To everyone who has been so supportive, I ask that you keep me and MS in mind as worthy cause to donate to again next year. If you have any fund raising ideas, please let me know.

I also wanted to share with you how I personally am doing on my journey with MS. When I first sent out a letter telling my friends and family about the MS Walk, I was newly diagnosed and not sure what the future held. My doctor had a "wait and see" attitude about my symptoms and flare-ups, and it took some time to convince him of the extreme pain I was in. He has put me on a regimen of pain medication for my hands, feet, and torso, a drug I take in the morning to keep me more alert and able to function during the day, and a steroid treatment approximately every two months to knock my symptoms back in line when they get worse. Although I am never completely pain-free, these drugs have helped me to lead as normal a life as possible - and give me hope that a cure is out there, waiting to be found.

For those of you who are interested, go to www.mswalkri.com and click on the link to view pictures from the day of the walk.

Thank you again for your love and support. I couldn't have done it without each and every one of you!

Renee

Dan's note: Renee Holder is scheduled to receive our Certificate in Supervisory Management along with other managers from her company on June 24 in Norwich, CT. To learn more about our programs for supervisors, click her to visit www.danpelley.com

The Next 10 Days

Most of my homework assignments contain a key question focused on making something better. For example. an assignment in my "Participative Management (Building High Performance Teams)" program looks at a weaker team player and asks what the manager will do going forward (as a coach and mentor) to strengthen the weaker team player.

All too often the answer involves generalities such as "I can give him feedback on his performance;" "I can talk with her about her negative attitude;" "I can give him some new assignments;" "I can let her try managing a special project;" "I can encourage him to share his ideas;" "I can delegate some responsibilities to her;" and so forth.

My feedback on these generalized answers is usually along these lines: "Good start. But you lack specifics. What can you specifically do in the next 10 business days to move forward in your coaching efforts with her/him?"

When an employee has performance issues and requires coaching from you, the overviews and the generalities give you a sense of direction and focus. But in and of themselves they don't create specific actions that you can commit to, plan for and implement to get the situation off the dime and moving forward.

About me: For 25 years, Dan Pelley has presented supervisory management development programs in Rhode Island (RI), Massachusetts (MA) and Connecticut (CT). He is the 2004 recipient of the Richard Fontaine Award for Teaching Excellence awarded by Quinebaug Valley Community College in Danielson, CT.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

The Importance of Payback

Ever have the disappointment of coming up with a great idea to solve a problem or make an improvement only to have your boss shoot you down because"it costs too much" or "we can't afford it." If you know how to do a payback analysis you'll have a pretty good understanding, even before you go to your boss, of the financial feasibility of your idea.

Payback is a financial tool that tells you how long it will take before the saving resulting from your improvement will pay back the cost of your improvement. The calculation is fairly straightforward once you gather detailed facts on just how much your improvement will cost along with a reasonable estimate of the monthly savings generated by the improvement.

Example: Suppose you have an improvement that reasonable people agree will save the company $250.00 per month. The cost of the improvement is $2,000.00. To calculate payback you simply divide the monthly savings ($250) into the cost of the improvement ($2000). The result of that division (in this case 8) is your payback period. In 8 months you will have saved enough money to pay back the $2,000.00 you invested.

Payback is very important when you are trying to get money to make an improvement because of a financial rule-of-thumb. Most financial managers will tell you that a payback of one year or less is a "no-brainer." That is, if the company has the funds available, a less than one year payback situation is a very good investment to make. If the payback is greater than one year, but is two years or less, it is still a fairly good investment to make. Beyond two years doesn't mean you won't get the money, but it does mean you'll probably need some pretty strong non-financial reasons why the improvement should be funded.

One last thought for today. The actual details that sum up to the two components of payback (cost of improvement and monthly savings) can be complex sometimes. My advice? If you are not familiar with the detailed mechanics of payback ask someone who is. Usually your company will have a financial person (controller, accountant, chief financial officer) who can show you what details you should include and how to perform the actual calculations. If you're lucky, the financial person may even check your work for you to make sure it's accurate.

About Pelleyblog. This blog is concerned with management topics. It is hosted by Dan Pelley, a management practitioner who offers a Certificate in Supervisory Management. The blog includes responses to questions and issues (posed by participants in Dan's seminars and classes, in their homework assignments, and by you via e-mail.); practical, hands-on, real-world advice (since Dan is still a practitioner); thoughts on how not to train (sharing some of the really stupid things that some companies do, and then they wonder why their “training” programs do not work); now and then a thought for the day (on any issue that strikes our fancy at the time); and occasionally a rant (although Dan's wife says he does far too many of them).

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

He Hit the Keys But Couldn't Continue

I think you'll get more out of this post if you read yesterday's post "Hit Any Key to Continue."

After reading my rant yesterday embodying some of my strong frustrations with aggravating computer systems, maybe you wonder why I didn't hit the damn thing with a mallet. Yes, I know my wife locked them up. But that's a solvable problem. Worst case, the hammer and mallet stores were open.

Many, many, many years ago (before I had distinguished gray in my hair), I was in the computer business. We had a service bureau (look it up if you are not sure what those were), sold minicomputers and also provided software services including programming.

One day, one of my best software technicians, a person who could write in many languages including BAL (Basic assembly language), got completely aggravated with a balky computer system. "Damn it," he said, as he jumped up and swung his fist, just missing the keyboard and hitting the desk hard. To his amazement, all of the characters on his screen split in half. We needed to place a service call so the hardware folks could fix the problem.

I sympathized with my software technician. I think most of you can understand his frustration as well. And that's why, as much as I want to, I don't hit the aggravating computer with my fist, a mallet, or anything else for that matter.

G'Day!

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.

Hit Any Key to Continue

Have you seen that cartoon? The version I saw had a duck standing in front of a computer with a grimace on his face and a rather large mallet raised over his head. The tag line said "Hit any key to continue." That's how I felt yesterday and why I am way behind today.

Saturday night I got a message from Microsoft asking me to download their newest version of Explorer. Seems like I get these update notices at least two or three times a week from this software company or that. Some companies have very smooth updates, such as Avast anti-virus. Others are a horror show. Take Adobe Software for example. I try not to update their programs as I generally find substantial problems afterward. With Microsoft it's a mixed bag. Sometimes good. Sometimes not so good.

Because updates often require a restart, I try to do them during off hours. Saturday night seemed to be a good time to get the Explorer 8 update done. Since then I've had a devil of a time using the copy and paste function in Blogger. When I am in Blogger using Explorer 8 I can't copy any text within the blog post using the blog editor, nor can I copy and paste anything from my Microsoft word files to blog posts. Since I started blogging, I've never had a problem with this although I've read many complaints from people who have had the problem in the past. Looking at some of the solutions given for past complaints, some people suggest using a plain text editor. So I copied from Word to Notepad, then from Notepad to Blogger; no luck.

I wasted hours on this yesterday. It's frustrating and time consuming. Worse, I have reprint permission for several posts written by others that I want to scan in to Word, edit them, and copy and paste to the blog. Obviously all of this is on hold. And, with me in a very busy month program-wise, time is limited.

Using both Google and Microsoft products extensively, I get the very real impression they don't like each other and work very hard to avoid cooperating. When people send me Word attachments in gmail, Google suggests I open them with Google docs. Yet Google docs has very little by way of capabilities. When I try to open them in Word, Microsoft tells me it can't deal with them without an upgrade? How come I don't have that problem with other email providers.

So why do I think the problem is Explorer 8? Because I write this post today using Mozilla Firefox instead of Explorer 8. And I can copy and paste back and forth between Blogger and Word quite nicely. Ah ha, you say. Problem solved. Unfortunately not. When I try to publish a post with copy and paste, I get all kinds of errors. I finally found a crude way around them so I can use copy and paste but at the moment it's difficult and time-consuming.

So here's today's post to let you know why you don't have a good solid business issue or interesting article from me. I don't usually rant here, but I had to vent somewhere. Now I've got to get going on other things.

Oh ya, my wife doesn't like my ranting either. As this process worsened yesterday she disappeared to somewhere quiet. Later I discovered she locked up all my hammers and mallets.

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.

The above was a copy and paste. I had to edit out a lot Html stuff to get it work using Firefox.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Developing New Team Members

I've just finished reviewing homework assignments in my "Participative Management (Building High Performance Teams)" program. The assignment looks at the manager's expectations of the team, descriptions of stronger and weaker team players, and what the manager will do going forward to strengthen the weaker team player.

As usual, several people noted that their weakest team player was labeled that way simply because they were new to the team; hadn't learned the necessary jobs skills; and were still getting used to their role in the team.

One manager talked about a new employee who lacks confidence, is afraid to ask questions and makes mistakes. "He is slowly starting to rely on team members but still needs to improve." The manager went on to talk about his coaching plan for the team member. The entire coaching plan focused on the daily efforts of the manager to help develop the team member into a stronger team player.

Another manager talked about a new employee who simply hasn't had enough time on the job to be proficient in his work. The manager said "other team members are still 'feeling out' the new person and do not yet feel comfortable with his ability to contribute to the team." In a manner similar to the first manager, this manager went on to talk about his coaching plan which again focused on what the manager was doing to help develop the team member.

To the first manager I suggested he think about how he might get the other team members to reach out to the new person, instead of waiting for the new person to reach out to them. To the second manager I suggested he involve the entire team in helping to teach the new person so they can see and assess for themselves each increase in the new person's abilities.

In this post I will combine both thoughts. When you have new team members, get started on the right foot by having your team members make a special effort to make the new person to feel welcome and to begin immediately to help the person learn how the team operates, why he is important to its efforts, and how to do do his part of the work to team standards.

About Me: Dan Pelley teaches coaching and facilitation skills that support team member integration and positive team dynamics as part of his "Participative Management" (Building High Performance Teams) program. This program can be presented in-house at your company. Click here to visit our website to learn more about this and other programs offered.

Copyright (c) 2009 Daniel W. Pelley All rights reserved

The Carnival Guy

I've written a fair number of case studies over the years. Although I do my very best to make them perfect when first published, they sometimes have errors or omissions or little glitches that cause difficulty for users. Thankfully people alert me to the defects so I can correct them. Over time then, the cases become "tried and true."

Still, some people argue about a "tried and true" case. That it doesn't mean what it says. That my conclusions at the end of the case are wrong. Or there's some other difficulty. Obviously, if it's a valid error, I can make a further correction; but with a "tried and true" case that would be rare. In other instances, I can usually show the critic the portion of the case they are misreading or overlooking, or I can present the underlying logic we are working with and how certain aspects of the case have been structured to focus on the issue at hand rather than allowing stretched logic and off-the-wall assumptions to enter the case discussion. The vast majority of people understand my approach, but sometimes a person will argue a point to death. That's when I have to tell them the story of the carnival guy.

It's possible to rig a carnival game to get a desired outcome, just as it is possible to write a case in such a way as to lead the discussion to the desired outcome (which may be one solid conclusion or a range of opinions). For instance, I once heard of a carnival game where one had to roll balls down a ramp into numbered chutes at the end. If the numbers added up to a certain value, I think it was "21," you won a prize. My understanding was that a game operator could construct the game in such a way that it was impossible to hit the required score. Yet people were winning prizes. How could that be? The game operator simply awarded prizes at random to stimulate interest in the game and to manage the outflow of prizes against the income from contestants.

"Wait a minute," you might be thinking. "Wouldn't we know we didn't roll '21'?" No you wouldn't if the game operator grabbed the balls quickly and shouted "Here goes another winner!" Besides, if you thought you didn't win the prize and the operator thought you did, would you really argue about it?

The concept I'm talking about here was stated so well by one carnival game operator. He said "It's my game. It's my prizes. It's my rules. It's my trailer. Do you really think you're going to win?"

In a similar manner, I always smile when someone tells me "how they beat the auto dealer when negotiating to buy a car." I just say something like "good for you." I don't have the heart to tell them they don't even understand the game much less how its really played.

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.

The Hole in the Bird House

16 month old Mason was visiting one day and, like all little boys, was busy investigating and getting into everything. In the kitchen he found a small metal whisk that suited his fancy and carried it along with him. Shortly thereafter he came upon a bird house sitting on a stool in a corner of the kitchen. His grandmother "GiGi" (the name our grandchildren call my wife) loves unique bird houses and has them located both outside for the birds to use and inside as part of interior decoration.

Mason stood there staring intently at the hole in the bird house. It seemed larger than the whisk. Next thing you know he tests the concept. Ah ha! It fits. So.....before we can say "stop," in it goes with a slight metallic plop. Mason pondered that for a little while and probably decided it wasn't coming back out. So off he went to investigate the next item to catch his eye.

We had a good laugh and tried to shake out the whisk, without success. But the amount of noise coming from the shaken bird house caused us to suspect Mason's cousins Nicky and Alex had been investigating the hole in the bird house too. Mason's dad solved the problem with a flexible claw used to retrieve small parts. Out came the whisk, a child's block, and other assorted items.

Isn't it interesting how small children continuously explore their environments, getting into everything, investigating how things work, trying things out, testing assumptions and continuously filling their growing minds with new information. And they do it with little fear. Even when they incur the occasional scrape or cut, they soon stop crying -- and immediately start exploring again.

Sadly, as people grow older, we begin to fear new things. We resist new ideas. We avoid emerging technologies. We stay away from the difficulty of learning new things. And when we do approach something new, we tend to do it slowly and with an abundance of caution. Accordingly, for large numbers of people, the older we get the more obsolete we become.

I try not to let that happen to me. But it's a struggle. And the older I get the more I must focus on learning new things. Luckily, I still very much do. And so should you. If you want to be a leader. And continue to be valuable in your work. And enjoy the benefits of new and better ways in all aspects of your life. Keep that innate curiosity of the child alive in you. And, if you've lost it, try to get it back.

About me: Dan Pelley teaches a number of productivity improvement techniques in his Proactive Leadership program. The program is offered on an open enrollment basis in Lincoln, RI and Danielson. CT. Click here to visit our website to learn more about this and other programs.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Get to Know the Human Being

In a recent homework assignment. a new supervisor examined the issue of motivating employees to improve accuracy, take on more responsibility and work with less supervision. The supervisor's approach was to "evaluate staff regarding job knowledge," and "research motivators for each staff member." Good things to do of course, but much too formal from my perspective.

I advised the new supervisor to also get to know each individual employee as a human being. Practice MBWA (management by walking around), socializing with them and getting to know them well as a boss and as a friend. When we take the time to know someone as an individual human being; when we get to know their personality traits, attitudes, values, standards, approach to work and so forth; when we get to know someone as a colleague and a friend; the formalities of evaluating their motivation (interests and needs) becomes far easier to do and we tend to be able to perform those evaluations with far more accuracy.

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.

Thoughts on Criticism

Criticism should always be constructive. And since it's often associated with discipline, criticism is usually best done in private.

When giving criticism you should always believe that it is necessary and warranted under the circumstances; i.e., that the criticism was justified. But never criticize from a self-righteous perspective. Be humane and show some empathy when you give criticism. When criticizing others it helps to bear in mind that you make mistakes too.

In preparing a strategy for giving constructive criticism you might want to reflect on how you were given criticism of your mistakes. Can you think of times when you experienced good solid constructive criticisms that allowed you to maintain self-esteem while learning from your mistakes? If so, what can you adopt from that approach? Can you think of times when you experienced nasty criticism that lowered your self-esteem while escalating your defensiveness? How can you make sure you avoid that approach?

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.

A Quality Statement

I had occasion to read the Quality Mission Statement of a local company the other day. There were four major points:

1. Conformance with the requirements of the Quality Management System.

2. Zero defects to the customer. (Great! I was expecting that one).

3. Zero late deliveries. ( Also great; but something I don't usually see).

4. Continuously reduce the cost of quality. (How very interesting. Although I've not seen that one before, it is so appropriate to the quality mission. After all, any quality deficiency invariably costs time and money. So lets go for zero defects and zero late deliveries and do it in such a way that we save money at the same time).

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.

Let Your People Set Their Own Goals

If you're a good leader you should be able to coach and teach your people to set goals for themselves as individuals, and goals for their department as a group or a team. If you can successfully do that you'll gain two very powerful results:

1. Studies have shown that people who are allowed to set their own goals tend to set those goals higher than the boss would have set for them.

2. People who set their own goals tend to achieve them no matter how much extra time and effort is required.

About me: Dan Pelley teaches Setting goals as part of his "Managing for Results" program, one of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. Other topics include an overview of the management process, organizing resources, scheduling, contingency planning, and time management.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Little Things Count

We were out the other evening for a dinner celebrating a special occasion. So we went to an expensive white tablecloth linen napkins kind of place. (Although every time we do, we end up wondering why as you can generally count on half the food at twice the price with service that's often mediocre and sometimes the food isn't all that special or even tasty - but that's a story for another time).

After the entree, the waiter's assistant (they don't have bus persons in upscale restaurants) cleaned the crumbs off the table with a crumb sweeper. And he cleaned and he cleaned until every grain was removed. He cleaned so much I actually took note of it and thought "He's doing a very thorough job."

Finally done, he picked up a plate not previously cleared away and underneath were two huge dark bread crumbs. Well surprise, he walked away without sweeping them away. And there they sat in stark contrast to the white tablecloth. "How very odd," I thought.

There's a concept in business called Total Quality Management (TQM), with the emphasis on total. In effect it says "if a job is worth doing it's worth doing right." There's also a concept in customer service that says "trivia matters." When you pay attention to the big elements of customer service and do them well, people view you as being excellent. But when you pay attention to the little points of service and do them just as well, then people will view you as being superb (beyond excellent).

The little crumbs did not ruin our experience. But they did confirm our impression of this facade of what a fine dining experience should be. Mediocre food and relatively slow service (TQM lacking) resulting in a less than excellent experience. Inattention to the small points of service including the crumb removal (did I mention our original bread plates were taken from the next table as our table lacked them?) resulting in a less than excellent experience confirmed.

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.

Man Plans, God Laughs

I took a day off recently to catch up on some things around the house. Yard work mostly. I had the day all planned out. Exactly what I was going to do and the order in which I was going to do it. I scheduled the late morning to power vac the heavy accumulation of lawn clippings resulting from finally mowing the overgrown lawn the day before. As soon as the morning dew dried I would get to it. Then I heard the weather forecast. Rain heading here. Arriving soon.

As I furiously raked up the wet (dewy) grass (the power vac doesn't like wet grass), I remembered an old Yiddish saying: "Man Plans, God laughs." Or, if you wish, "the best laid plans of mice and men and women are always subject to the unknown."

While researching the origin of the saying, I ran across an interesting article you may want to read. Click here to see the article at jewishmag.com.

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.

How Technical Must You Be?

Yesterday's post looked at the importance of knowing the technical requirements of the work your people do. But just how technical must you be?

Obviously, the more technical skills you have the better you will understand the work. But you also may be more prone to doing the work rather than managing it. You also may become too involved with how people do their jobs (their style) rather than concentrating on the the results of their work effort (the substance). (For more on style vs substance see "Much Ado About a Vacuum Hose" posted on May 5, 2009 and "Alternate Methodologies" posted on May 6, 2009). And no matter how technically competent you are, you must also have a good set of management skills which you are capable of using competently as well.

So just how technical must you be? In my judgment, technical enough to understand what your people do and generally how they do it so you can effectively plan, organize and schedule the work; provide the necessary supporting resources; coach and train people; give them helpful advice and counsel; and accurately evaluate performance factors for each employee as an individual as well as the department as whole.

For example, if you are going to manage electricians you don't need to know exactly how to wire a 220v dedicated circuit feeding a water pump. But you should know who on your staff is qualified to do it, about how long it should take, understand what possible problems might crop up especially in an old work situation, make sure the key components of the job are on-hand, be aware of possible disruptions to users and other departments, and know what permits and inspections are required. (If you've just read this paragraph and don't have a clue as to what I am talking about, you would indeed be quite limited in your ability to manage this electrical project for example. In that case you'll need the advice in yesterday's post).

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.

Knowing the Technical Requirements of the Work

One of the characteristics of a good leader is a thorough knowledge of the technical requirements of the jobs your employees do. Indeed, because good workers are often promoted into first-line management positions, that characteristic is one most supervisors have. But what if you don't? Just how important is it for the manager to know? That's the question I was asked yesterday.

My response: it is very useful for a manager to understand the work their people do. The better the manager understands what they do and how they do it, the better equipped the manager is to plan, organize and schedule the work; provide the necessary supporting resources; coach and train people; give them helpful advice and counsel; and accurately evaluate performance factors for each employee as an individual as well as the department as whole.

Having said that, it is possible for a newly assigned manager to manage a department performing work that the manager is unfamiliar with. Provided that the new manager has fairly good management skills. The wisdom to admit what they don't know. A willingness to listen and learn. A respect for the technical capabilities of the people in the department. An ability to make friends and get people on their side. A talent for asking the advice and counsel of employees in areas such as planning, organizing and scheduling the work. An appreciation for the guidance and help provided by employees. And a willingness to provide public recognition of their efforts.

It certainly won't be easy managing a department without a strong knowledge of what they do. But a manager can make the best of the situation by accomplishing the above, winning people over and building a team. But note this word of caution very carefully: You must also be a fast learner. If you don't learn at a reasonable pace, people will begin to view you as incapable and/or incompetent and/or uncaring about the work. Once that happens, your status as their leader will begin to fade away.

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." The issue recited above came from a participant currently attending "Leadership Skills" in Danielson, CT and "Managing For Results" in Lincoln, RI.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

The Best Time

When developing an action plan you must first decide what you are trying to do (the goal), how you are going to do it (the action steps), how long each action step will take (person-hours), when the action step should start and when it should be completed (target dates) and who will perform each of the action steps (scheduling; that is, assigning people to the task).

Another parameter to be considered is the best time to undertake the entire project which in turn will set a target date for project completion. Once the project completion date is set you can then work your way back through the action plan to decide the best time to do each step in terms of impact on customers, employees, suppliers and others.

I'm writing this post because I had a bit of a revelation this morning traveling to an in-house program about 50 miles from home. I went by a landscaping materials company and noticed they paved a good size apron where they now place loam, mulch, wood chips, pebbles and so forth. The facility looked very sharp and I though about how the paving underneath probably made it easier to keep the area neat and clean.

"Hmmm," I thought, "they must have done that over the winter." That thought was quickly followed by another: "Of course they did. They wouldn't do it during their busy season when they are open seven days and have customers to serve." That thought was quickly followed by: "But you can't pave in the winter. So maybe they did it just a few weeks ago as they only recently reopened for the season."

Then came the revelation. I've had to plan special projects of one sort or another throughout much of my career. I think I have a good solid knowledge of project planning methods and techniques. But I can tell you that the best time to undertake a project has been rarely considered in the projects I've had to plan. Nor have I seen a discussion of "best time" (or "most favorable" time) being thoroughly discussed in project planning resources I've used. I can remember an occasional customer telling me to develop an action plan to be done at a certain time due to other considerations such as business seasonality. The other action plans I've done tended to be more need-driven and usually had a parameter of "start it now and get it done as fast as you can. "

So out of all the above rambling, two thoughts on planning I want to share with you today. Unless your project has an "asap" delivery parameter, set your start and complete dates for the overall project by considering the interests of all stakeholders. Ask yourself when is the best time to minimize disruption to our customers? When is the best time to minimize the impact on our daily operations? When is the best time to have adequate staffing for the project? When is the best time to procure materials? Secure the financing? And so forth.

Bear in mind that this process will usually produce conflicting answers. The best time to minimize disruptions for the customer may not be the best time to minimize impact on daily operations. So you'll obviously have to assign values to each stakeholder's interest and then carefully plan to optimize among the competing interests to set your project start and complete dates.

Once you've set your overall project date parameters, you now apply a similar process to many of the action plan steps at the detail level. When is the best time to put an asphalt apron under the bulk materials yard in terms of minimizing disruption to customers? In terms of minimizing disruptions to facility operations? In terms of minimizing extra storage and handling costs for materials temporarily removed from the yard? When is the best time lay asphalt? When is the best time (cost-wise) to have a paving company do the job? And so forth. Again competing interests will have to be maximized. And your best time will also have to be considered in light of the overall project best time; bearing in mind of course that the best time to conduct the action steps of the project may possibly cause you to rethink and possibly reschedule the overall project dates.

About me: Dan Pelley teaches project planning as part of his "Managing for Results" program, one of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. He welcomes your comments on this post. Was it useful for you? You can easily respond via the comments link below.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Don't Point the Finger

Counseling is the positive side of discipline. Unlike sanctions and punishments, counseling gives you an opportunity to work with the employee to correct the problem or difficulty. To keep things on a positive note, try to avoid "you" statements in your counseling sessions. You statements point the finger at the other person and tends to put them on the defensive. On the other hand, "I" statements tell people how you see the situation.

For example, instead of saying something like "All you ever do is whine and complain about what we're trying to do," try saying something like "I'm concerned that you may be unhappy with some of our recent changes."

The "I" statement is much more likely to be viewed positively, doesn't accuse the employee, doesn't judge the behavior and thus is more likely to start a constructive dialog on the issue.

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.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

The Leader in the Back Row

Yesterday's post pointed out that leaders are not found in the back row. And while that is almost universally true, there is a very special kind of leader who chooses to sit in the back row for a very special reason. These rare individuals tend to be very strong leaders who have no trouble speaking up, speaking out, taking a position and/or making a decision. Over time they've come to understand that others are far too willing to defer to them, rely on them, follow them and let them always lead the way. They've also come to realize that while the group moves forward and things get accomplished, the ideas, talents, creativity and ingenuity of others in the group tend to not to come to the forefront, nor does the reliance on a strong leader develop and enhance the leadership skills of others.

These talented leaders recognize the problem and choose to sit quietly in the back row so others can have every chance to participate. Ah, you might say, doesn't that take away from your argument yesterday Dan? All those quiet people in the back row are simply strong leaders who have chosen to give others a chance. If you believe that, please contact me regarding a bridge I have for sale.

The fact is you know the type of leader I am talking about today. Because even though they choose to back off, you will find them encouraging others to speak, and helping to move the conversation along. You also know who they are because they stay involved enough so you clearly know where they stand on any issue.

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.

There's No Leaders in the Back Row

I've been teaching supervisors and other first line managers for many years and, while I've never taken a formal survey on the question, I'll bet most of them view themselves a leaders. So why do so many of them sit in the back row in classes and seminars? Why do so many of them remain silent throughout the discussions? Why is it when we seek someone to be a meeting leader or volunteer, most of them look down and hope I won't call on them?

Is that just human nature? Perhaps so. I used to be that way too. But I don't believe you find leaders in the back row. Head down. Not willing to speak up. Or share their thoughts, or argue their points or give and take in a dialog with others.

I learned many years ago, before I was in high school, that if you want something in life you have to seek it out. Ask for it. Let people know you are interested in it. And I learned somewhat later in life that if you want to be a leader you need to stand up, state your beliefs, point the way, make the decision, take advantage of opportunities, position yourself to benefit from luck, stick to your beliefs when you are right, always listen to what others say, learn from experiences, know when to give and take, admit when you are wrong, give credit to others when they are right, but always keep moving forward even if that means picking yourself up, dusting yourself off and eating humble pie. That's what leaders do. And they don't do it from the back row with their head down.

About me: Dan Pelley teaches what it takes to be a leader as part of his "Leadership Skills" program, one of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. 137 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.