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.

Alternate Methodologies

Yesterday's post dealt with the matter of style versus substance when it comes to disciplining an employee who doesn't do the job the boss's way (has a different style) but does deliver the job in a way that meets the boss's performance parameters (achieves the job substance). You may want to read that post first.

Some people argue that there may be very good reasons for doing a job a certain way, reasons that go far beyond a boss's preference. Reasons such as standard operating procedures, company rules and guidelines, industry accepted best practices, and "customer approved" procedures. Certainly those are good and valid reasons for doing a job a certain way. But if an employee has found a methodology that meets all job requirements in terms of quality, productivity and other relevant measures then perhaps it is time to take another look at those procedures, rules, guidelines, best practices, and customer requirements.

Recognize that alternate methodologies can be found in many highly structured and strictly regulated environments. Indeed, both the ISO and QS systems for procedure control allow for alternate methodologies as long as those methodologies were properly qualified under the applicable ISO or QS system. Indeed, GAAP (generally accepted accounting practices) which regulate and control financial reporting practices allow for alternate methodologies in such areas as a LIFO to FIFO inventory conversion, and in converting accrual basis bookkeeping to cash basis reporting. And, if the customer agrees, even "customer approved" procedures can be changed to accept alternate methodologies.

Alternate methodologies allow employees the freedom to do the job the way the employees want to do the job, provided that the employees do follow an approved alternate methodology. When employees get to do the work the way they like to do it, chances are you may end up with even better than standard performance and quality.

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 have an opportunity to share my experiences and business philosophies with managers at all levels.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Much Ado About a Vacuum Hose

As a teenager, two people generally worked on my car. When I could afford it, I would pay Tupper at the local garage. When I couldn't afford it, my Uncle Mel usually pitched in. Each had a different idea of how a vacuum line should be routed to the carburetor. Whenever one opened the hood to do anything, if that line wasn't routed the way they did it last time, they would complain and re-route it with a pointed comment such as "who the hell moved that line?" I kept my mouth closed while I rolled my eyes.

Later, when I was in college and really had no money, Mike would also work on the car from time to time, along with Mel and occasionally Tupper. Wouldn't you know it? Mike had a third way of routing that vacuum line. Now I had three complainers to ignore.

The silly thing was that it didn't matter how the vacuum line was routed. It only mattered that it was connected at both ends and wasn't kinked, pinched or perforated. The actual routing was simply mechanic's preference.

Here we have a lesson in style vs substance. Style is how someone goes about doing the work. Substance is the end result of that work effort. As managers we often don't like it when an employee does a job differently than the way we would do it. So we counsel and discipline the employee to do it our way. After all, we understand our way and we know it works. Yet if the employee's style (approach to the work) gets the same substance (in terms of end result or performance) then perhaps we should reconsider forcing them to do it our way. If forced to do it our way, the employee may become resentful, rebellious, uncooperative or less productive. After all, if their style produces the same result, what's the problem? Just imagine what would happen if one of the three mechanics was the boss of the other two, and constantly got on their case to route the vacuum line the boss's way even if that meant having to re-do the routing job.

About me: Dan Pelley examines the question of style versus substance as it applies to both making work assignments and effective discipline 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 (NY) have one or more people who earned this certificate.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.