"A" is for Attitudes

First off, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes you a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

Your Attitude

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness of skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our ATTITUDES.”

 - Charles Swindoll

There’s not really much that I can add to Reverend Swindoll’s quote except that we all need to live with that kind of attitude about our attitudes. I discovered this quote while reading one of his books on faith years ago and it stuck with me.

I posted this quote on my office wall just above my computer so that I would see and read it each day to sort of “set the tone” for the rest of my day. I also frequently made copies of this quote and gave one to each of my Teamers hoping that they too would also appreciate it and put it on a wall in their work area to help start them thinking about the lessons presented. Some did and some didn’t.

You need to accept and understand that you are in control of your attitude but very little else in life. You can decide who you want to be by controlling your attitude every day, which will help you control what you say, do and think. Your attitude is a voluntary response to everything that happens to you during your day and how you react. Make it a core value to think about and control your attitude as you start each day. A simple prayer or meditation or just a moment of silence before you start your day will help. Trust me, this single simple step will make your life better and reduce stress and conflict for everyone.

“Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force.”

 - Irving Berlin

Your Senior’s Attitudes

“I put a dollar in one of those change machines. Nothing changed.”

- George Carlin

Basically, there is nothing that you can do about the attitudes of your Seniors and they will often be different from yours. Get used to it! It is one of those things that I suggest that you not spend time thinking or worrying about it. I’ve had good Seniors who had similar attitudes to mine and lots of less than good Seniors who had different attitudes and agendas than mine. You can influence them but you can’t change them. Don’t even try. Work and adapt your attitude to deal with theirs. Make logical suggestions where you can, but don’t be fooled into thinking that you can influence a change in your Senior’s attitudes and thinking. You simply need to learn to deal with it and factor it into your efforts with your Teamers and their overall success.

“If men would consider not so much wherein they differ; as wherein they agree, there would be far less uncharitableness and angry feeling in the world.”

- Joseph Addison

Your Teamer’s Attitudes

“The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.”

- Abraham Lincoln

You can influence the attitudes of your Teamers in a positive way by adopting these five concepts and processes into your daily management role:

#1 - Listen to Them – The first thing that you need to do is to listen to your Teamers to understand and know each of them. What are their goals, values, skills, wants, needs and potential contributions to the success of your team and the Organization?

I suggest that you start by having regular meetings with all of your Teamers. I choose to call them “One-on-One” sessions. The frequency is up to your working relationship with each Teamer. Once a week is best to start out with, but some folks will only need to get with you every other week or even once a month. The frequency will depend on the person, their assignments, your understanding of their needs and your overall working relationship with them. But make sure that these meetings are habitual that is “every Tuesday at 10:00.” Depending on the number of Teamers that you have you will need to reserve blocks of time during your work week. I suggest reserving an entire morning or afternoon for these sessions. You’ll get into the One-on-One “groove!”

Make sure that this is not viewed as an adversarial meeting or a gotcha session due to the name. It is to help the two of you get to know one another better. This should be a special time spent together. Spend your time wisely with your Teamers. Make it a positive time together. You should have only two goals for the One-on-One session:

• ·        Help your Teamer feel better about you, themselves and the Organization.

• ·        Help you understand them and their needs, wants, dreams and concerns so that you can help them work in the “flow” as much as possible

You both should prepare a written agenda for each One-on-One session. Keep each One-on-One to no longer than a half hour. If you need more time, set up another session.

Sometimes you “inherit” Teamers through reorganization and you don’t know these folks as well as those that you have hired. The One-on-One session is an excellent way to “get to know” new Teamers. I’ve “inherited” lots of new Teamers over my years as a Middle usually through budget and staff cuts and reorganization, and the One-on-One session helps these new folks feel more comfortable working with you now, rather than old “what’s his name” (you!) that they’ve heard all about though the “grapevine.” Your goals are to get to know them and to get rid of their concerns and problems with the “transition.” Empower them by knowing them to help them work in the “flow!”

Some suggested agenda items for One-on-One sessions would be at least these:

• ·        Accomplishments during past time period

• ·        Goals for next time period

• ·        Problems or Concerns

• ·        Training opportunities

• ·        Other general “stuff”

Your goal must also be for your Teamers to “walk away” with a positive feeling about your meeting including the following:

• ·        They are in a comfort zone and can feely express themselves. There is trust and honesty present in each meeting.

• ·        You work on what needs to be done – DIRECTION!!

• ·        Make needed decisions. Stop tangent thinking and paralysis by analysis.

• ·        Have them feel that you really care about them, their work and their overall success and that of the team and the Organization.

• ·        Address any problems or concerns they have.

It is your job as the Middle to do everything that you can do to create the best possible meeting environment. Ask them how their One-on-One sessions can be more effective and how you can be a better leader for them. Then listen and do what you can to address their ideas and suggestions.

#2 - Build Mutual Trust - Trust is a critical ingredient in being a good Middle. Trust is a “two-way” relationship; you must trust your Teamers in order for them to trust in you.

Almost all of the folks that I’ve worked with over my five decades as a Middle really wanted to do good work and feel good about their performance and contribution to the success of the team and the Organization, so I recommend that you trust your Teamers until they prove that they can’t be trusted. If you have a Teamer that doesn’t want to do good work and be a part of the team that does, then it is time for you to help them find another opportunity.

Once you give your Teamer the assignment let them make mistakes. You must trust them to do the project. That’s part of the motivation for the project! My suggestion is to meet with them as frequently as you think is needed to avoid a disaster. Focus on their concerns and problems as well as their accomplishments and plans. Can you help them? Then do it! Work with them often so that they don’t go too far from what you want them to accomplish and give them immediate feedback on their performance.

Mutual trust may be the most critical ingredient in empowering you and your Teamers.

#3 - Let Them Fail - This may the toughest idea for you to accept. Your traditional “parent tapes” will kick in and you will always try to save them. Don’t! Give them the task properly defined and let them do it. Meet with them and talk with them but don’t control how they do the task. Ask them for their plans. Listen to their problems and concerns but make them be responsible for completing the task or project.

Many Middles simply won’t let their Teamers fail since they are fearful of the impact it might have on their Senior’s view of their performance. Trust me, it is not a “good thing” to overhear Co-Workers talking negatively about the performance of one of your Teamers while doing your business in the rest room!

If your Teamer fails, help them to learn what went wrong and what they need to improve and not to make the same mistakes on the next project or task. You can think of them as your “children” and how to be their parent, but to help them live and learn to be the best of their ability, you must be willing to let them fail.

#4 - Make the Work the Motivator – I feel that one of the major myths of management is that a person can motivate another team member. The only two things that motivate people are the work itself and the “environment” or working conditions that they work with every day. You can have an impact on the work assignments and the overall work environment, but it isn’t you that motivates them to do more, to do better. That comes from within them when they have projects that they understand and love working on.  You can reward and enjoy working with them, but you can’t motivate them, only the work can do that.

But what makes the work a motivator? Doing work in the “zone” or the “flow” as often as possible! That’s the key to making work the motivator! Perhaps you are wondering what is the “zone” or the “flow.” If you have ever participated in any sports you know this experience – it was the best game, set, match or round of your life, everything went perfectly! Got it? Now you want to move that experience into the world of work .If you’ve ever worked in the “flow” you know that you have experienced the best possible working experience.

I suggest that you make sure that you provide at least the following information and processes to your Teamers for all of the projects that you assign them.

• ·        Clear directions and goals on what to do

• ·        Real responsibility and authority to do the project

• ·        A “panic button” to push if you or they get into trouble and immediate feedback on their efforts

• ·        They are empowered to use their creativity and judgment

• ·        The schedule for the project is aggressive but doable

• ·        A proper balance between the challenges of the project and the Teamer’s skills

• ·        Your Teamers should have no worry of failure

In other words, you must strive to provide everything needed to get your Teamers to work in the flow on their projects every day. Working in the flow creates a Teamer that loves doing what they are doing, actually often loses track of time while working on a project and typically wants to do more. If you can empower your Teamers to want to do the work because they want to, you can accomplish unlimited potential with your Teamers.

#5 - Thank Them - First off, you should look for every opportunity possible to thank a Teamer for something well done. A good job, a great job, or truly outstanding performances, whatever, take every opportunity to thank your Teamers.

If you thank them you encourage them to do it again and that’s good. You also encourage other Teamers to improve their performance to get a “thank you!” It can be contagious!

I’ve been asked whether to “thank” your Teamers in public or in private. I always tended to thank people in public. Most times I would call an impromptu staff meeting and then thank them or present them with their service award or specific recognition. Promotion announcements are fine in public.

It’s really your choice if you thank them publicly or privately just make sure that you thank them!

“If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.”

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I wish you empowerment, happiness and every success!!

Jonesy @ www.middlemanagement101.com

PS - My book Middle Management 101 - Zen in the Art of Middle Management is available on Amazon.com.

Z Is For ZERO Defects

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton’s novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

What is Quality?

The simplest definition that I can offer for quality is a product or service that has ZERO defects!!

“If you don’t produce a product or deliver a service WITH a defect you WON’T have to fix it or apologize for it!!”

     - Jonesy

Quality has been the most misused and misunderstood “buzz” word in the working world since at least the early 50’s (Productivity would be in second place, just in case you might be wondering). But what is quality really, and how do you improve it? Quality must be a made a priority in all that you do!! You need to define quality, develop an improvement system that matches the goals and talents of your Teamers and determine how to measure, and therefore prove your improvement in quality.

Quality has been the hottest and most misunderstood topic for all of my work life. This was especially true when Japan set a new world standard for quality by practicing techniques taught them in the 1950s, but largely ignored here in America. Before you can improve quality you must have a definition for quality for you and your Teamers.

“Quality is not an act, it is a habit.”

- Aristotle

Another definition I can offer for quality is the “conformance to requirements or expectations.” But that simplicity often doesn’t address the typical real world, that is, the Organization’s questions, problems and concerns with quality. So let me try again, quality is having the products or services of your Teamers match or exceed the expectations of your client or customer. Much has been written about quality and improvement by famous writers including Peter Drucker, Tom Peters and Stephen Covey and many, many others but I think that the two writers and thinkers that influenced me the most were Philip B. Crosby and W. Edwards Deming.

One of the best books that I can recommend to you is Quality Is Free by Philip B. Crosby. It was written in 1979 and I read it in the early 80s as part of a quality improvement program that was started in my Organization’s engineering team (my thanks to Senior Tom). This book introduced the principle of “doing it right the first time” (DIRFT). It dispels the myths that quality costs more or takes longer to achieve. Crosby’s belief was that an organization that started a quality program would have savings that would more than pay for the costs of the quality program. He offered these four major principles for any quality program:

• The definition of quality is conformance to requirements. Do your projects meet the requirements or expectations of your client or customer?

• The system of quality is prevention.

• ·The performance standard is ZERO defects.

• The measurement of quality is the price of nonconformance.

But my interest in quality didn’t start with Crosby. I started being interested in quality in the late seventies. I had read an article by W. Edwards Deming who had saved Japan from producing poor quality products and services. Perhaps you aren’t old enough to remember when “things” from Japan were terrible and often the laughing stock of the world. What turned me on to Deming was that he had been teaching quality here in America but was largely ignored. Times were good then! But Japan found him in the early 50s and asked him to help them in their pursuit to improve quality. A number of manufacturers in Japan used his teachings and achieved greatly improved levels of quality and productivity. The improved quality and lower cost created a worldwide demand for products from Japan.

But as I said, his teachings were largely ignored here in America! It wasn’t until 1981 when Ford Motor Company with sales falling recruited the services of Deming to jump-start a quality movement.

I feel that Deming’s teachings were, to say the least, way ahead of his time. His basic philosophy was that “the key (to quality) was to practice continual improvement and think of manufacturing as a system, not bits and pieces.”

The bottom line is that W. Edward Deming was the founder of the “total quality management movement.” He and Philip Crosby will provide you with all that you need to know on quality. I highly recommend ALL of their publications.

Lastly, perhaps you and your Teamers can identify quality as what it is not, rather than what it is. I remember one of the first quality improvement launch meetings that I had with my Teamers. The team had a tradition of each member bringing in doughnuts and pastries for sharing with everyone when you had a birthday. I never understood why it was you who brought doughnuts in on your birthday, but anyway everyone loved a good doughnut or pastry and we often started meetings with doughnuts and pastries on me.

But this meeting I arrived with the typical “big white box from the bakery.” I sat the box on the meeting room table and opened it up to share with the team five packages of cheap store bought mini doughnuts! I pushed a package toward each group of my Teamers and said “Please help yourself and enjoy!” Their reactions and faces were priceless. This wasn’t the quality that they were used to or expected.

And we all had a “got it” moment that is “what quality isn’t.” Sometimes it is easier to start quality improvement by identifying what is not quality; a process step that often fails, a project hand off between Teamers that has failed or simply training that’s needed. Consider working on the obvious things that aren’t quality to get you started on defining what quality is for you and your Teamers.

Oh, I did excuse myself from the meeting above to get another big white box from the bakery filled with the expected goodies and everyone’s satisfaction level went up immediately! Matching expectations will always do that!

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.”

- Henry Ford

I wish you empowerment, every happiness, success and peace!! Jonesy

"Y" Is For Your

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton’s novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

Run It Like YOUR Own Business!!

“Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to ‘jump at de sun.’ We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.”

- Zora Neale Hurston

I got this “core value” from working with two printers in an internal print shop that had been “assigned” to me during a reorganization.

But first, you may be wondering what a “core value” is. Simply, a “core value” is a rule, principle, belief or guideline that guides, controls and directs you in all that you say, do and think during your workday.

Now these two printers (my thanks to Teamers Vince and David) that I had the privilege of working with and LEARNING from for several years, had worked in the outside print world and preached the gospel of running the internal shop like “YOUR own business!” If it needs to be done, YOU have to do it.

But let me give you a bit of background on the reorganization that got me the opportunity of working with Teamers Vince and David.

I was the Middle for a marketing communications team that created marketing collateral requested by internal product marketing managers within the Organization. We were having problems with the “turnover” of the electronic publications from the graphic designers in my team to both internal and external printers. Now the printing was managed by one of the “facilities managers” that took care of printing, purchasing, copiers and so forth. We seemed to have a communications problem with the printing specifications for the publication between the graphic designers and the printers. I reasoned that this was due to the fact that they were positioned in two different teams and were perhaps “marching a bit to different drummers.”

I suggested to my Senior (who also led the manager of printing) that if the designers and printers were in the same team, the problems would go away. The creation of the marketing collateral would be seamless, from writing and design all the way through to the actual printing. The next day the internal print shop and outside printing was moved under my direction (my thanks to Senior Bill).

My first step was to call a meeting of the graphic designers and the internal printers and explain the reorganization, and then challenge them to work more closely together, improve the turnover process and printing requirements for each publication, and TALK with one another if they had questions or ideas and ways to reduce cost and improve the overall quality of our print collateral. It worked like a charm.

But the real secret was that these two printers had previously worked for commercial printing businesses, and their values and attitudes were much different from most folks that I had worked with. They often told me that they “wanted to run their internal shop like an outside business” rather than just a job. And they displayed this goal, with their daily focus being on not wasting supplies, meeting and often exceeding their internal customer’s expectations and making sure that their internal charges and quality were competitive with outside printers to make their services attractive to their internal clients. I saw the benefits immediately and encouraged all of the rest of my Teamers to think like this. What a concept! This switch changed everyone’s attitudes and direction and my leadership style. You win, your Teamers win and your Organization wins.

“The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.”

- Mark Caine

I wish you empowerment, every happiness, success and peace!! Jonesy

"X" Is For Xtra

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton’s novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

And PLEASE excuse the liberty that I took with the spelling of the word “eXtra!”

How to get Xtra Stuff Done with Less – It Can Be Done!

As a Middle you will go through periods of budget cuts and staff reductions and still be expected to continue to “get the work done” by your Senior or you will simply have periods of having more work requests than your team can handle. This is like getting EXTRA stuff done with fewer resources, but I suggest that this can be done if you and your Teamers adopt some basic core values to develop POSITIVE working relationships between all the members of your teams.

“Man who says, ‘It cannot be done’, Should not interrupt man who is doing it.”

- Chinese Proverb

For well over 30 years, I had the quote above hung on the wall of my office and took time each morning to read and reflect on it, sort of a way to start my day off in the right direction.

Getting more done with less – here’s how I suggest that you CAN do it! I suggest that you instill these core values for your team for “good” working relationships with all of the members of your team. Yes, there is lots of work to do with fewer folks but these common sense activities and ideas help folks do more with less and get along better too.

• Time Off - Encourage vacation time for recharging. Give extra time off as a reward once things settle down for your Teamers who worked extra hours (we called it “comp time”). This helps prevent Teamer burnout.

• Communicate – Work continuously to get to know your Teamers better on a personal level by having One-on-One sessions, Performance Reviews and just by walking around and talking with them. The goal is to have your Teamers feel better about you AND the Organization.

• Have Empathy - Have concern for one another. Look out for one another. Help one another out when you can. That means ALL teamers. If one part of your Team is over worked ask other members to help them out if possible. Have activities or volunteer work for team building and bonding.

• Volunteer and Take Risks - Volunteer, collaborate and be flexible. Take on tasks and jobs that aren’t specifically spelled out in your job responsibilities. It’s a chance to learn new things and improve your contribution and value to the Organization.

• Keep Target Dates - Keeping deadlines and commitments is more important now since Organizations are typically doing more with less. Ask Teamers to work extra if necessary and let them do the work from home if they can.

• Don’t Be Selfish - Share credit for group tasks and make sure to give out accolades to those that deserve it. Take time to THANK your Teamers publicly in team meetings.

• Admit a Problem - If you see a problem, be the first to admit it and encourage your Teamers to do the same. Hiding a problem simply will make things worse. Drag it out from that dark corner to let everyone see it; DON’T assign blame and then work together to fix it. This also includes a “problem” performer if you have one. You MUST take action to address a Teamer who is not performing up to expectations AND your other Teamers will recognize and appreciate your efforts!

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

– Nelson Mandela

I wish you empowerment, peace, happiness and every success!! Jonesy

"W" Is For Working (in the "Flow" or "Zone")

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton’s novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

As I’ve mentioned in earlier articles, being in the “flow” or the “zone” is the best possible working condition and YOU need to accept that you must be the focal point and initiator to help your Teamers get to work in the “flow” as much as possible. That’s true empowerment. The key to working in the “flow” or “zone” is to properly and completely define each project that you assign to your Teamers. More on how to do that later.

It’s The WORK That Motivates Them

“If an egg is broken by outside force, Life ends. If broken by inside force, Life begins. Great things always begin from inside.”

- Jim Kwik

In my opinion one of the major myths of management is that a person can motivate another team member. The only two things that motivate people are the work itself and the “environment” or working conditions that they work with every day. You can have an impact on the work assignments and the overall work environment, but you’re not what motivates them to do more or to do better. That comes from within THEM when they have projects that they understand and love working on.  You can reward them and enjoy working with them, but you can’t motivate them, only the WORK can do that.

But what makes the work a motivator? Doing work in the “flow” or the “zone” as often as possible! That’s the KEY to making the work the motivator! As mentioned earlier, there are several key ingredients for projects that empower your Teamers to work in the “flow” including having clear goals, immediate feedback on their progress and a good balance between the challenges of the project and the skills of the Teamer.

“If you want to be successful, it’s just this simple: Know what you’re doing. Love what you‘re doing. And believe in what you’re doing.”

- Will Rogers

I want go into more details on how to provide projects to your Teamers that will get their creative juices flowing and enhance their love for working in the flow or zone also known as an empowered Teamer. If you can get your Teamers to do the work because THEY want to, rather than because YOU want them to, it would make for a truly great working environment and relationship between you and your Teamers!!

Working in the “Flow” – The ONLY Way to Go!

“Find a job you like and you add five days to every week.”

- H. Jackson Brown Jr.

You need to do everything possible to help your Teamers to work in the “flow” or in the “zone” or in the “groove” which is the state of mind that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a renowned expert on creativity, describes in his book Creativity as a “feeling of engagement and focus that time seems to pass unnoticed.”  If you have participated in any sports most likely you have experienced being in the “zone.” It was the best game, match, set or round of your life! Everything went perfectly and your Teamers CAN have this same experience at work too.

If you have never had the chance to work on a project and get into the “flow” I have sincere sympathetic feelings for you. If you’ve ever worked in the “flow” you KNOW that you have experienced the best-possible working experience.

You must always provide your Teamers with the best possible project definition and processes to enable them to have every opportunity to work in the flow. I suggest that you use a Project Work Plan for project planning and definition.

Meet with your Teamers and give them the assignment, but don’t do it for them! Be as specific as you can on what you want them to do and help them develop a Project Work Plan that includes at least the following items for the project. Here’s a sample Project Work Plan to help you and your Teamers properly and completely define each project they work on.

Project Work Plan

Target User or Audience for the Project

Who is the user or customer? Identify the specific audience this project will help or deal with in as much detail as possible. Include individual job functions and/or titles if possible.

Current Situation

What is the current “situation or problem” that you want this project to solve or address for the user? What are the problems your user is having or may have had that this project must solve or address?

Project Objective(s)

What will the project do to solve the user’s problems(s)?

What are the Main Benefits Offered by the Project?

These benefits tell not just what a project does, but what it does for those who use it. List the user benefits the project must provide for each user.

What are the Alternatives to the Project?

What are the major alternatives to NOT doing this project?

What is the Budget for the Project?

It’s important to know how much money you have to work with. Up-front budgets give everyone an idea of whether they’re looking for a Mercedes or a Ford. Both can get you where you want to go, but each project carries a different price tag.

What is the Call to Action?

What’s the next step for your Teamers and Senior(s) for this project?

Timetable

The plan. The steps and time estimates for each phase to complete the project.

*****

Make sure that YOU provide at least the following information and processes to your Teamers for all of the projects that you assign them.

• Clear directions and goals on what to do

• Real responsibility and authority to do the project

• A “panic button” to push if you or they get into trouble and immediate feedback on their efforts

• They are empowered to use their creativity and judgment

• The schedule for the project is aggressive but doable

• There is a good balance between the challenges of the project and the Teamer’s skills

• Your Teamers should have no worry of failure

In other words, you must strive to provide everything needed to get your Teamers to work in the flow on their projects every day. Working in the flow creates Teamers that love what they are doing and often lose track of time while working on a project and typically want to do more. If you can empower your Teamers to want to do the work because they want to, you can accomplish unlimited potential with your Teamers.

I strongly suggest that you read the book Creativity written by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi mentioned earlier which describes the flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. It is an amazing read and provides many more insights and ideas on how to provide the environment and tools for your Teamers to achieve the flow and the associated creativity.

“Trust that little voice in your head that says ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting if…’ And then do it.”

- Duane Michals

I wish you empowerment, peace, happiness and every success! Jonesy

"V" Is For Vision

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton’s novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

You are the Middle. You are the leader of your Teamers. You must provide the vision, direction and leadership to all of your Teamers every day. This is not easy! You will have good days and bad days, a problem with a friend or your family, an unexpected car repair or you simply don’t feel well, whatever! But you’ve got to “shake it off” (as my stepfather often told me) and get out there and provide your Teamers with the vision, direction and leadership that they need every day! Take a moment and look around your Organization and then ask yourself “If you don’t do this, who will?” Your Teamers are depending on you and you must deliver!

Provide Vision, Direction and Leadership DAILY

“I continue to find my greatest pleasures, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.”

- Thomas Edison

First, YOU must accept and realize that you are the most critical component in becoming the leader of the team that you have always wanted to lead. You must provide vision, direction and leadership to your Teamers each day. This can be very difficult for some Middles, since they are used to just hearing what their Senior or Organization wants done and just retelling their Teamers what they have heard. But REALLY effective middle management requires that you translate and properly define the project and the overall goals for each project. This requires you to develop the ability to provide vision, direction and leadership daily to your Teamers for each project they accept. Some definitions are needed.

My dictionary defines vision as “the act or power of anticipating that which will or may come to be.” Vision is the ability to see what’s coming and be right most of the time and help your Teamers respond and plan for upcoming, potentially unseen changes. Vision is also the ability to be flexible, sort of like a coach that sees problems with the team’s performance and changes the defense based upon what the other team is doing.

My dictionary defines direction as “control, guidance and supervision in overseeing during execution or performance.” But direction is also setting guidelines on what to do, what not to do and always providing your Teamers with clear goals and expectations.

Leadership is always asking how I can help. How can we improve? What should we stop doing and what should we change or start doing? Leadership is also “coaching” that is giving daily, even hourly attention and guidance to your Teamers by talking with them to find out their problems, questions and concerns with their projects.

As mentioned, this can be a very difficult core value for some individuals to develop and adopt. You must develop the abilities and trust in yourself to translate the goals and expectations that come from your Senior and your Organization so that your Teamers can truly know what to do and what is expected of them. YOU are the only person that can do this.

“To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world”

- Ebony Mikle

I wish you empowerment, peace, happiness and every success!!

Jonesy

"U" Is For Understanding

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton’s novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

What is Understanding?

What does the word “understanding” mean to you? Well to help in fully understanding what the word “understanding” means (no pun intended!) I decided to do a bit of research using Goggle and here’s some of what I found.

“Understanding” can be a noun or an adjective:

Noun

The ability to understand something, comprehension for example “foreign visitors with little understanding of English.”

Adjective 

1. Sympathetically aware of other people’s feelings; tolerant and forgiving, for example “people expect their doctor to be understanding.”

2. Having insight and good judgement.

For this article I want to focus on the adjective usage of the word “understanding.” Here are few additional definitions for “understanding” to help you focus on the meanings that I want to share with you.

1. A mutual agreement not formally entered into but in some degree binding on each side.

2. Friendly or harmonious relationship.

3. An agreement of opinion or feeling: adjustment of differences.

4. Tolerant, sympathetic

Got a feeling that you understand the word “understanding” now? My guess is yes. Now I want to introduce you to two processes that I suggest that you adopt in your daily work life.

• The One-on-One Meeting - You need to have meetings with all of your Teamers on a regular basis to encourage understanding and bonding between the two of you.

• Manage by Walking Around to See What’s Going On - I was never a Middle that liked to stay in my office/cube. There was too much going on “out there” and I often would “sign-off” from my desk, telephone, email and computer and seek out the first person I could find that would talk with me. I can’t count the number of times that I’ve found a problem, solution or an idea while cruising around among my Teamers.

 Let’s go into more detail on each of the processes in the following sections.

The One-on-One Meeting

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”

- Albert Schweitzer

The first thing that you need to do is to understand and know each of your Teamers. What are their goals, values, skills, wants, needs and potential contributions to the success of your team and the Organization?

Start having regular meetings with all of your Teamers. The frequency is up to your working relationship with each Teamer. Once a week is best to start out with, but some folks will only need to get with you every other week or even once a month. The frequency will depend on the person, their assignments, your understanding of their needs and your overall working relationship with them. But make sure that these meetings are habitual that is “every Tuesday at 10:00.” Depending on the number of Teamers that you have you will need to reserve blocks of time during your workweek. I suggest reserving an entire morning or afternoon for these sessions. You’ll get into the One-on-One “groove!”

Make sure that this is not viewed as an adversarial meeting or a gotcha session due to the name. It is to help the two of you get to know one another better. This should be a special time spent together. Spend your time wisely with your Teamers. Make it a positive time together. You should have only two goals for the One-on-One meeting:

• Help your Teamer feel better about you, themselves and the Organization.

• Help you understand them and their needs, wants, dreams and concerns so that you can help them work in the “flow” as much as possible.

You and your Teamer should prepare a written agenda for each One-on-One meeting. Keep each One-on-One meeting to no longer than a half hour. If you need more time, set up another session.

Sometimes you “inherit” Teamers through reorganization and you don’t know these folks as well as those that you’ve hired. The One-on-One meeting is an excellent way to “get to know” new Teamers. I’ve “inherited” lots of new Teamers over my years as a Middle, usually through budget and staff cuts and reorganization, and the One-on-One meeting helps these new folks feel more comfortable working with you now, rather than old “what’s his name” (you!) that they’ve heard all about though the “grapevine.” Your goals are to get to know them and to get rid of their concerns and problems with the “transition.” Empower them by knowing them to help them work in the “flow!”

Some suggested agenda items for One-on-One meetings would be at least these topics:

• Accomplishments during past time period

• Goals for next time period

• Problems or concerns

• Training opportunities

• Other general “stuff”

Your goal must also be for your Teamers to walk away with a positive feeling about your meeting, including the following:

• They are in a comfort zone and can feely express themselves. There is trust and honesty present in each meeting.

• You work on what needs to be done – DIRECTION!!

• Make needed decisions. Stop tangent thinking and the paralysis-by-analysis syndrome.

• Have them feel that you really care about them, their work and their overall success as well as that of the team and the Organization.

• Address any problems or concerns they have.

It is your job as the Middle to do everything that you can do to create the best possible meeting environment. Ask them how their One-on-One meetings can be more effective and how you can be a better leader for them. Then listen and do what you can to address their ideas and suggestions.

I want to thank Senior Tom for being the first to ever have a One-on-One meeting with me and teaching me what these times could be. He taught me a lot and was one of the best Seniors that I ever worked with.

“The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.”

- Abraham Lincoln

Manage by Walking Around to See What’s Going On

“You’re the only guy up there in that computer palace that ever comes down here on the shop floor to see what’s really going on and what we really do. All the others up there just tell us what they want us to do.”

- Anonymous Machinist at the Cincinnati Milling Machine Company

“My door is always open” is a great idea, but you need to get out on the floor and talk with your Teamers. You need to focus on managing people not things but also focus on getting and using things to help your people and make their lives better.

The quote above came from an old, crotchety machinist that I worked with at the Cincinnati Milling Machine Company, at that time the largest machine tool manufacturer in the world. I was a computer programmer working on a bill of material/parts explosion system. The customer would order machine tool number whatever and the system was to identify all the needed “parts” (down to screws, bolts and nuts!!) that needed to be built, with all of the appropriate lead times and shop floor locations to maximize and speed up the assembly of the machine tool. It took over two years to build some of these machine tools! This machinist told me straight away one day, “Those computer wizards up there don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground! I build these tools with these cards!” And he reached into his shirt pocket for a stack of dirty and worn 3 x 5 inch index cards about an inch thick with an old rubber band holding them together.

“Are you serious?” I asked him. And he responded “See that’s the difference between you and those other computer wizards. At least you ask questions and listen!”

This event provided me with a lasting insight that I always needed to be out on the “floor” talking with and listening to everyone; my Teamers (and Coworkers too) looking for problems and potential solutions. Perhaps it was new software, a change in your processes, or perhaps your policies that can make things work better.

Lastly, every payday I always walked around and handed out the pay checks to all of my Teamers with a personal “thank-you!” to each of them. Make sure that you spend time with each Teamer, as often as possible aside from One-on-One sessions. Impromptu meetings are often the best and most rewarding and you can’t have them just staying in your work space on your computer or telephone. Get out there and talk and listen to your Teamers!!! 

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”

- Maya Angelou

Lastly, as I did the research on the meaning of “understanding” mentioned earlier I stumbled upon an excellent article that appeared on HuffPost. It was written by Najma Khorrami, MPH, Contributor who is an “Advice Blogger, Contributing to self-empowerment at any age, especially for young adults.” I offer this article to you with no changes made by me since there is simply NOTHING that I could do to improve it! Enjoy it, I did!!

5 Tips To Be More Understanding

Do you want to be understood? Your feelings, circumstances, and point of view, for example. Do you make an effort to understand other people, even your closest friends? Most people, while wanting to be understood, do not simply have the time or energy to listen closely, really empathize and attempt to understand one another. Yet, innately, we each desire to truly feel understood.

Why is it that while we want to feel understood, the ability to understand one another is so challenging?

Here are some tips to create more understanding in our lives, especially for those who we care about:

1.      ASSUME THE LEAST ABOUT THE OTHER PERSON, RESERVING YOUR JUDGEMENT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, WHILE SHOWING GENUINE EMPATHY.

“Our days are happier when we give people a piece of our heart rather than a piece of our mind.” This quote summarizes how empathy and understanding can bring satisfaction to us while providing comfort to others. This cycle of satisfaction and comfort can also prevent and solve many problems in our social lives. Appreciating our differences of opinion, meanwhile, is a building block to understanding one another.

2.      TRY TO LISTEN TO UNDERSTAND, RATHER THAN LISTENING TO REPLY.

“The biggest communication problem is that we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply.” It is okay if we fail to understand but have the courage to reply I don’t know how to reply to that. That sounds tough. It’s better to face the truth instead of replying without showing understanding.

Consider friends and family. We might not have an answer for why someone could be feeling frustrated, angry or upset. The wisest thing to do, according to the above quote, is to try and just listen, and be a vessel of comfort.

3.      GIVE YOUR OWN SELF THE MOST UNDERSTANDING.

Quite possibly, the reason we don’t have the time or energy to understand one another could be because we don’t have a close understanding of ourselves. Do you give yourself permission to express yourself? Do you think it’s okay to feel a certain way? Be kind to yourself. Your skills in understanding others can strengthen, essentially through practice, by learning first and foremost to understand yourself.

4.      CONSIDER LEARNING TO UNDERSTAND OTHERS AS A STRENGTH, NOT A WEALNESS.

Perhaps some might consider showing understanding or empathy as a weakness. Question this. Think about how many quality friendships you might gain, or lives you might uplift, by becoming more understanding. As I have written before, quality relationships are shown in very recent research to be the No. 1 predictor of health and happiness long into old age. This is one convincing reason to have more understanding in our lives.

5.      REMEMBER, YOU GET BACK WHAT YOU ASK FOR.

Oprah once wisely said, “You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.” The fact of the matter is, our journeys take effort. You might be searching to be understood. Or want to be more understanding towards a loved one. Whatever it is, be courageous enough to look for it, and the return might be closer than you think.

While we are each a work in progress, becoming more understanding will certainly give us more comfort and support in our lives, while strengthening close bonds. Try these 5 tips, and hopefully you will see the added benefit!

I wish you empowerment, happiness, peace and every success!

Jonesy

"T" Is For Trust

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton’s novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

Perhaps you would agree with me that we currently live in a world FILLED with mistrust. Honestly I’ve NEVER seen it this bad. Our country is split apart and neither side trusts the other side. We generally don’t trust our leaders or politicians. Some folks aren’t sure which doctor to believe for their advice on how to deal with COVID-19. Some folks mistrust our police officers and even our religious leaders. Hell, we often don’t trust in the weather report! I sincerely wonder HOW we got this way, but I’m here to tell you in no uncertain terms that you MUST build a trusting relationship with all of your Teamers….it is ESSENTIAL to have a happy and successful team!

Trust Them and Help Them to Trust You!!

“Mistakes are, after all, the foundations of truth, and if a man does not know what a thing is, it is at least an increase in knowledge if he knows what it is not.”

-  Carl Jung

Trust is a critical ingredient in being a good Middle. Trust is a “two-way” relationship; you must trust your Teamers in order for them to trust in you.

As I said in a earlier article, almost all of the folks that I’ve worked with over five decades really wanted to do good work and feel good about their performance and contribution to the success of the team and the Organization, so I recommend that you trust your Teamers until they prove that they can’t be trusted. If you have a Teamer that doesn’t want to do good work and be a part of the team that does, then it is time for you to help them find another opportunity.

Once you give your Teamer the assignment let them make mistakes. You must trust THEM to do the project. That’s part of the motivation for the project! My suggestion is to meet with them as frequently as you think is needed to avoid a disaster. Again, as I mentioned in an earlier article One-on-One sessions are a good time for this checkpoint. Focus on their concerns and problems as well as their accomplishments and plans. Can you help them? Then do it! Work with them often so that they don’t go too far from what you want them to accomplish and give them immediate feedback on their performance.

Think about the five major steps and processes that I’ve covered in earlier articles to help you build mutual trust between you and your Teamers:

• Co-developing the Job Success Talents for their job

• Co-developing a Job Description for their job

• Asking for their help in interviewing candidates and selecting new hires

• Setting up regular One-on-One sessions with all of your Teamers

• Starting to have regular team building meetings

All of these steps and processes REQUIRE you and your Teamers to work together and to trust one another! Mutual trust may be the most critical ingredient in empowering you and your Teamers.

“A mature person is one who does not think only in absolutes, who is able to be objective even when deeply stirred emotionally, who has learned that there is both good and bad in all people and in all things, and who walks humbly and deals charitably with the circumstances of life, knowing that in this world no one is all knowing and therefore all of us need both love and charity.”

- Eleanor Roosevelt

I wish you empowerment, happiness, peace and every success!! Jonesy

"S" Is For Setting Goals

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton’s novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

There are two critical times for you to help in setting goals for your Teamers:

• When you assign them a project

• When you have completed a Performance Review and want to set goals for the NEXT review period

I’ll give you some ideas and suggestions on how to effectively set goals for your Teamers in each of these times in the following two sections.

Tell Them WHAT You Want To Achieve But Not HOW

“You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”

- Walt Disney

Meet with your Teamer and give them the assignment, but don’t do it for them! Be as specific as you can on what you want them to do and help them develop a Project Work Plan that includes at least the following items for the project.

SAMPLE PROJECT WORK PLAN

Target User or Audience for the Project

Who is the user or customer? Identify the specific audience this project will help or deal with in as much detail as possible. Include individual job functions and/or titles if possible.

Current Situation

What is the current “situation or problem” that you want this project to solve or address for the user? What are the problems your user is having or may have had that this project must solve or address?

Project Objectives

What will the project do to solve the user’s problems(s)?

What are the Main Benefits Offered by the Project?

These benefits tell not just what a project does, but what it does for those who use it. List the user benefits the project must provide for each user.

What are the Alternatives to the Project?

What are the major alternatives to NOT doing this project?

What is the Budget for the Project?

It’s important to know how much money you have to work with. Up-front budgets give everyone an idea of whether they’re looking for a Mercedes or a Ford. Both can get you where you want to go, but each project carries a different price tag.

What is the Call to Action?

What’s the next step for your Teamers and Senior(s) for this project?

Timetable

The plan. The steps and time estimates for each phase to complete the project.

*****

Sometimes the Project Work Plan can become a fairly sizable document depending on the scope and complexity of the project. My suggestion is to keep it as short and simple as possible but make sure that it defines the desired characteristics, objectives, benefits, budget and phases and steps of the project.

Then ask them to prepare their ideas and plans on how to do the project and get back to you later (but not too much later – bug them if you have to, you don’t want the dreaded paralysis-by-analysis syndrome to set in).

Have your Teamers present their ideas and plans at a Walk-Thru session with everyone that’s working on the project in attendance. Listen and make suggestions and modifications to their ideas and plans and then roll them together into a single, agreed to project plan. Then GO!

“I believe that everything happens for a reason, people change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you can appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so that eventually you learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so that better things can fall together!”

- Marilyn Monroe

Define the Goals for the Next Performance Review Period

“Goals. There’s no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There’s no telling what you can do when you believe in them. There’s no telling what will happen when you act upon them.”

- Jim Rohn

Now is the time to address any areas for improvement or training needs for your Teamer. Reserve a place on our Performance Review Form to cover at least these items:

• Include any specific areas for performance improvement; that is any specific Job Success Talent that needs to be addressed and how to address it. The HOW is the most critical part of this goal!!

• Include any upcoming projects that the Teamer will be working on to set goals.

• Also include any special projects that you will need their help with.

• Include specific training opportunities that will address areas for improvement. Encourage your Teamers to ACTIVELY look for future training opportunities.

Make sure that your Teamer participates in setting all of these goals for their next Performance Review. It’s critical to get their buy-in on their goals and opportunities.

“Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.”

- Kurt Vonnegut

I wish you empowerment, happiness, every success and peace!! Jonesy

"R" Is For Rumors

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton’s novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

Office Rumors, Gossip and Politics

“I mean the great advantage of a place like Knox (Business Machines) is that you can sort of turn off your mind every morning at nine and leave it off all day, and nobody knows the difference.”

- Frank Wheeler in Revolutionary Road By Richard Yates

Over my five decades in the workforce I think that I may have heard them all.

“Your boss was just caught having sex with one of his Teamers in a conference room!”

 So what!

“There are layoffs coming!”

Not true, since I was the one usually doing the layoffs and I hadn’t been told anything yet!

“There were bits of glass in the ham salad that made people sick!”

Not true, I had made the salad.

Standing around the “water cooler” and listening to rumors, politics and gossip is a waste of time. Have a Rumor Round-Up agenda item in all of your meetings (see the next section), but don’t dwell on this “stuff.” You will hear things that you simply can’t believe and most likely they are true, but ignore them anyway and focus on improving your Teamers and the quality of your team’s work in these specific areas:

• Finding, empowering and keeping the best talent possible

• Improving communications inside and outside your team

• Managing your team’s projects and quality.

• Working daily with specific key core values that guide what you say, do and think

• Eliminating time spent on things that you should not worry about

Do not involve yourself in rumors, gossip or politics. 

“Put your heart, mind and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.”

- Swami Sivananda

The Rumor Round-Up Agenda Item

“Trying to squash a rumor is like trying to unring a bell.”

- Shana Alexander

Always include the Rumor Round-Up agenda item in all of your team meetings. It should be at the close of the meeting. Start the agenda item up with open discussion. Ask your Teamers what they have heard. What rumors are flying around?  I suggest that you use this session to head off problems that might come from a rumor that doesn’t get addressed.

Sometimes Teamers have things to ask, but most times not, but it’s important for you to represent the Organization to each of your Teamers. Sometimes they may ask you a question that you don’t know the answer to. Simply say “I don’t know,” and add that you will get an answer from the Organization to the question and get back to them as soon as you can.

“Never bear more than one trouble at a time. Some people bear three kinds – all they have had, all they have now, and all they expect to have.”

- Edward Everett Hale

I wish you empowerment, happiness, peace and every success! Jonesy

"Q" Is For Quality

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton’s novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

What is Quality?

“Quality is not an act, it is a habit.”

- Aristotle

In my opinion quality has been the most misused and misunderstood buzzword in the working world since the early 50s (productivity would be in second place, just in case you might be wondering). But what is quality really and how do you improve it? What follows are some ideas, suggestions and a process for your consideration.

The simplest definition I can offer for quality is the “conformance to requirements or expectations.” But that simplicity often doesn’t address the typical real world, that is, the Organization’s questions, problems and concerns with quality. So let me try again. Quality is having the products or services of your Teamers match or exceed the expectations of your client or customer. Much has been written about quality and improvement by famous writers including Peter Drucker, Tom Peters and Stephen Covey and many, many others but I think that the two writers and thinkers that influenced me the most were Philip B. Crosby and W. Edwards Deming.

One of the best books that I can recommend to you is Quality Is Free by Philip B. Crosby. It was written in 1979 and I read it in the early 80s as part of a quality improvement program that was started in my Organization’s engineering team (my thanks to Senior Tom). This book introduced the principle of “doing it right the first time” (DIRFT). It dispels the myths that quality costs more or takes longer to achieve. Crosby’s belief was that an organization that started a quality program would have savings that more than pay for the costs of the quality program and offered these four major principles for any quality program:

• The definition of quality is conformance to requirements. Do your projects meet the requirements or expectations of your client or customer?

• The system of quality is prevention.

• The performance standard is zero defects.

• The measurement of quality is the price of non-conformance.

But my interest in quality didn’t start with Crosby. I started being interested in quality in the late 70s (I’ve always been a geek; you know chess club and debate team in high school!). I had read an article by W. Edwards Deming who had saved Japan from producing poor quality products and services. Perhaps you aren’t old enough to remember when “things” from Japan were terrible and often the laughing stock of the world. What turned me on to Deming was that he had been teaching quality here in America but was largely ignored. Times were good then! But Japan found him in the early 50s and asked him to help them in their pursuit to improve quality. A number of manufacturers in Japan used his teachings and achieved greatly improved levels of quality and productivity. The improved quality and lower cost created a worldwide demand for products from Japan.

But as I said, his teachings were largely ignored here in America. It wasn’t until 1981 when Ford Motor Company with sales falling recruited the services of Deming to jump start a quality improvement movement.

I feel that Deming’s teachings were to say the least way ahead of his time. His basic philosophy was that “the key (to quality) was to practice continual improvement and think of manufacturing as a system, not bits and pieces.”

Lastly, perhaps you and your Teamers can identify quality as what it is not, rather than what it is. I remember one of the first quality improvement launch meetings that I had with my Teamers. The team had a tradition of each member bringing in doughnuts and pastries for sharing with everyone when you had a birthday. I never understood why it was you who brought doughnuts in on your birthday, but anyway everyone loved a good doughnut or pastry and we often starting meetings with doughnuts and pastries on me, trying to get the “sugar rush” to kick in to get really productive!

But this meeting I arrived with the typical “big white box from the bakery.” I sat the box on the meeting room table and opened it up to share with the team only five packages of cheap store- bought mini doughnuts! I pushed a package toward each group of my Teamers and said “Please, help yourself and enjoy!” Their reactions and faces were priceless. This wasn’t the quality that they were used to or expected.

And we all had a “got it” moment that is “what quality isn’t.” Sometimes it is easier to start quality improvement by identifying what is not quality; a process step that often fails, a project hand off between Teamers that has failed or simply training that’s needed. Consider working on the obvious things that aren’t quality to get you started on defining what quality is for you and your Teamers.

Oh, and by the way I did excuse myself from the meeting above to get another big white box from the bakery filled with the expected goodies and everyone’s satisfaction level went up immediately! Matching expectations will always do that!

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.”

- Henry Ford

How to Improve Your Quality

“If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.”

- Thomas J. Watson

Improving your quality is simple, find a problem or process and fix it. Have regular team building meetings and empower your Teamers to find things to fix or improve. Help your Teamers adopt the “do it right the first time” attitude in all that they do to help improve the quality of the products and services provided by you and your Teamers.

Start with having a staff meeting to announce the start of your new quality improvement system. Send out your announcement with the single agenda item of having each Teamer bring his or her idea(s) on a potential problem to fix that the team should tackle in the meeting. My guess is that some “old problems” will come up, things that you’ve heard before. “Purchasing always takes too long to approve printing bids and puts us behind schedule” or “The designers never check the proofs quickly enough!” Be prepared! Some of the problems that your Teamers will bring to the meeting may have been stewing for them for some time. 

Get a copy of Quality Is Free by Philip B. Crosby for all of your Teamers, sort of like a “handbook” for their new quest to improve their quality.

Some of your Teamers will complain that they “Don’t have time for this” so you should reassure them that all of the quality improvement stuff can be recorded as “administrative time” on your time recording system. Simply, I would encourage you and your Teamers to find the time to address quality improvement. If one of your Teamers simply does not want to participate in any of the “quality BS” don’t force them to participate. Give them the option to leave the meeting now.

Here’s the agenda that I suggest for your first quality improvement meeting:

• Collect The Problems - Collect all of the problems from your Teamers on a flip chart or a blackboard. Have a scribe to create an electronic list of the problems. Ask each Teamer to explain and describe the problem briefly and why they think it should be considered. Also consider using a recording device. The key is to collect all of the problems and related information so everybody’s got “skin in the game.”

• Vote On The Problems To Work On - Have your Teamers vote on which problems to attack. I suggest that you give them more than just one vote with these options and of course make the voting anonymous.

1.      The top problem to work on

2.      The top three things to work on

3.      The top five

4.      The top seven (this may be way too many!)

• Choose Up Sides For Teams - Once you have the “winners” of the problems to work on, you will need to have quality improvement teams formed for each problem selected. My suggestion is that you don’t want to take on too many quality improvement projects, since you will most likely be the facilitator for all of these meetings to start out with until you get more facilitators trained. Depending on the size of your staff, I would start with three to five quality improvement projects and teams.

• ·Volunteers Anyone? - Once you have the projects selected, ask for volunteers to work on each project. Try to get a cross section of your team to work on the project to give you a variety of views, perspectives and opinions. You need to have at least three Teamers for a team, but don’t have too many Teamers assigned to any single problem. Try to spread them out and allow a Teamer to serve on more than one team if they like. Work to get as many of your staff involved in a quality improvement team as possible. Again, if Teamers don’t want to participate don’t force them.

• ·Collect Results and Problems – Each team needs to take minutes of each meeting highlighting their results, plans and any problems or concerns that they have in making the needed changes to address and fix each problem.

“For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.”

- Steve Jobs

I wish you empowerment, happiness, peace and every success! Jonesy

"P" Is For Post-Mortem

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton’s novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

The Post-Mortem Meeting

“By three methods we may learn wisdom; first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is the most bitter.”

- Confucius

This can be one of the most enlightening and challenging meetings that you can ever facilitate, where you review the project after completion, you can see where the problems occurred and why. No judgment or finger pointing can be permitted in these sessions, only honest ego-less problem solving, research, data gathering and analysis.  

If you have a problem project do this meeting! Or if you have an exceptional project, ALSO do this meeting to find out what made it exceptional. Don’t spend all of your time looking for problems, also look for successes..

Meeting rules are:

• Everybody who worked on the project attends with their prepared written agenda of items, things that went poorly and things that went well along with their reason(s) why.

• The facilitator gets all of these agendas together before the meeting and shares them with everybody so that they can review and prepare for the meeting.

• Have a time keeper to stay on schedule.

• Also have a scribe to collect and record all of the information developed during the Post- Mortem meeting. Use a recording device if needed.

Topics for the agenda must at least include:

• What worked and why?

• What didn’t work and why?

• What went really well and why?

• Lessons learned and why?

• Formal changes needed in policies or processes and why?

“If you do not know how to ask the right question, you discover nothing.”

- W. Edwards Deming

I wish you empowerment, happiness and every success!!

Jonesy

"O" Is For One-on-One

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton’s novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

The One-on-One Meeting

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”

– Albert Schweitzer

The very FIRST thing that you need to do as a Middle is to UNDERSTAND and KNOW each of your Teamers. What are their goals, values, skills, wants, needs and potential contributions to the success of your team and the Organization? The words in my first sentence are in ALL CAPS for a very specific reason. If you were to ask me the very FIRST thing that you should do from the ideas, tips, techniques and processes presented in my book Middle Management 101 – ZEN in the ART of MIDDLE MANAGEMENT, I would suggest that you consider adding the One-on-One Meeting to your work schedule immediately!

Start having regular meetings with all of your Teamers. The frequency is up to your working relationship with each Teamer. Once a week is best to start out with, but some folks will only need to get with you every other week or even once a month. The frequency will depend on the person, their assignments, your understanding of their needs and your overall working relationship with them. But make sure that these meetings are habitual that is “every Tuesday at 10:00 o’clock.” Depending on the number of Teamers that you have, you will need to reserve blocks of time during your workweek. I suggest reserving an entire morning or afternoon for these sessions. You’ll get into the One-on-One “groove!”

Make sure that this is not viewed as an adversarial meeting or a gotcha session due to the name. It is to help the two of you get to know one another better. This should be a SPECIAL time spent together. Spend your time wisely with your Teamers. Make it a positive time together. You should have only two goals for the One-on-One meeting:

• Help your Teamer feel better about you, themselves and the Organization.

• Help you understand them and their needs, wants, dreams and concerns so that you can help them work in the “flow” as much as possible

You and your Teamer should prepare a written agenda for each One-on-One meeting. Keep each One-on-One to no longer than a half hour. If you need more time, set up another session.

Sometimes you “inherit” Teamers through reorganization and you don’t know these folks as well as those that you have hired. The One-on-One meeting is an excellent way to “get to know” new Teamers. I’ve “inherited” lots of new Teamers over my years as a Middle, usually through budget and staff cuts and reorganization, and the One-on-One meeting helps these new folks feel more comfortable working with you now, rather than old “what’s his name” (you!) that they’ve heard all about though the “grapevine.” Your goals are to get to know them and to get rid of their concerns and problems with the “transition.” Empower them by knowing them, to help them work in the “flow!”

Some suggested agenda items for One-on-One meetings would be at least these:

• Accomplishments during past time period

• Goals for next time period

• Problems or Concerns

• Training opportunities – both you and your Teamer must look for these!

• Other general “stuff”

Your goal must also be for your Teamers to walk away with a positive feeling about your meeting including the following:

• They are in a comfort zone and can freely express themselves. There is trust and honesty present in each meeting.

• You work on what needs to be done – setting direction!!

• Make needed decisions. Stop tangent thinking and the paralysis-by-analysis syndrome.

• Have them feel that you really care about them, their work and their overall success as well as that of the team and the Organization.

• Address any problems or concerns they have.

It is your job as the Middle to do everything that you can do to create the BEST POSSIBLE meeting environment. Ask them how their One-on-One meetings can be more effective and how you can be a better leader for them. Then listen and do what you can to address their ideas and suggestions.

Lastly, I want to thank Senior Tom for being the first to ever have a One-on-One meeting with me and teaching me what these times could be like. He taught me a lot and was one of the best Seniors that I ever worked with.

“The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.”

- Abraham Lincoln

I wish you empowerment, happiness and every success! Jonesy

"N" Is For 'No Agenda - No Attenda'

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton’s novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

Meetings

“Meetings are a great trap. Soon you find yourself trying to get agreement and then the people who disagree come to think they have a right to be persuaded. However, meetings are indispensable when you don’t want to do anything.”

- John Kenneth Galbraith

Before I start making some suggestions for you to consider for improving your meetings, I want to tell you about perhaps the most amazing meeting that I attended in my five decades as a middle manager. This meeting actually happened and I was thrilled to have been a part of it and with the decisions and results. Now before I go any further I share the “legend” of Senior Stan and his “no agenda - no attenda” decree with you.

“The only means of strengthening one’s intellect is to make up one’s mind about nothing – to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts.”

- John Keats

The Legend of Senior Stan and the “No Agenda - No Attenda” Rule

Once upon a time, Senior Stan was in his office at his desk preparing for his upcoming staff meeting with all of his Middles. He was looking at recent data on how time was being spent by his staff on various projects and associated tasks. He got this data from a new “time management” system he had implemented (now please note that systems don’t manage time they only report it. People manage time!) All of his Middles were outside Senior Stan’s office and they began to wander in looking at their watches or papers and picking chairs away from Senior Stan’s desk.

“Well,” said Senior Stan. “Let’s all get started. We only have one agenda item for this meeting. That is the time we are spending in MEETINGS!!! It seems that we’re wasting lots of time!! What do you suggest we do to reduce the time we spend in meetings?”

All of the Middles start to look around at each other, puzzled looks on all of their faces. No Middle seemed to have any suggestions.

“Well,” said Senior Stan, “That’s just GREAT! All this time and effort we are wasting and NOBODY has any ideas on how to stop it!!

A hush fell across everyone and they simply looked at their shoes.

Now Senior Stan was from the Land of Texas, complete with boots with his suit and he pounded his fist on his desk and roared, “Well, I’ve got an idea, how about no agenda - no attenda! You know the topics to discuss, who does what, time estimates, that sort of thing – the whole nine yards! If you don’t get sent an agenda for a meeting PRIOR to the meeting, you don’t have to attenda! I’m serious!

“With all due respect you can’t be serious Senior Stan” said Middle Bob, “Marketing will eat us alive if we don’t go to their meetings.”

“Yes I am serious! Effective immediately, if you go to a meeting without an agenda you will be terminated! Am I clear?” Senior Stan scanned the group looking directly in the eye of each of his Middles for acknowledgement, understanding and agreement from each of them.

Of course he was clear, but all of the Middles were worried if Senior Stan really would support them if they followed his decree and didn’t go to an agenda-less meeting. Senior Stan did support them and meetings were shorter and better and the Kingdom was a far, far better place.

The End

Now, meetings are usually a waste of time, cost too much money and don’t get the desired results. So why don’t we change the way we run our meetings? I suggest that you immediately implement a new set of rules and bylaws for future meetings that you and your Teamers schedule and attend and consider including the following as appropriate:

• Never go to or schedule a meeting without an agenda. The meeting agenda should include at least the following information and be available to meeting attendees well prior to the meeting. For example, what topics to discuss, who will discuss each topic, why discuss the item, what’s the proposal or action needed and a time estimate for each agenda item.

• Have some time set aside for “general junk” and a Rumor Round-Up session at the end of the meeting.

• Have a facilitator to keep the meeting on schedule. I suggest that you pick someone as the facilitator that’s not involved with any of the meeting agenda topics and is an independent thinker.

• If you have a meeting with Coworkers from other departments or organizations, be sure to start with introductions so that everyone knows everyone.

• Start the meeting with an “ice breaker” agenda item to get the conversation flowing. “How they got assigned to this project?” can be a good one.

• Have a scribe to keep notes of the meeting and action items. Actually use a recording device if needed.

• Appoint a time keeper. Again, to help stay within the agenda and time estimates for each topic.

• Always keep meetings to one hour or less. Meetings are expensive. I once worked with a guy who had meetings without chairs. His quote was “If we don’t all sit down and get comfortable, we can get this done quicker! I’ve got work to do!” I suggest you try this at least once as a “wake up” for your Teamers.

• If you need more time schedule another meeting. If everyone wants to continue to complete a topic go another fifteen minutes or so, but try to keep the time limited.

• The facilitator should stop idea judgment or judgmental statements of any kind.

• The facilitator should stop letting multiple people talk at once. Let each person share their ideas without interruption.

• Stop endless talking and arguing. Play the “bad cop” if you have to.

• Encourage brainstorming and idea hitchhiking, that is “What if we did that, what would happen?”

• Encourage everyone to stay on schedule and stick to topics and solutions.

• No cell phones unless it is a REAL emergency!

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”

- Leonardo da Vinci

I wish you empowerment, happiness and every success!

Jonesy

"M" Is For Motivation

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

It’s The WORK That Motivates Them

“If an egg is broken by outside force, Life ends. If broken by inside force, Life begins. Great things always begin from inside.”

- Jim Kwik

In my opinion this is one of the major myths of management, that a person can motivate another team member. The only two things that motivate people are the work itself and the “environment” or working conditions that they work with every day. You can have an impact on the work assignments and the overall work environment, but you’re not what motivates them to do more or to do better. That comes from within them when they have projects that they understand and love working on.  You can reward and enjoy working with them, but you can’t motivate them, only the work can do that.

But what makes the work a motivator? Doing work in the “zone” or the “flow” as often as possible! That’s the key to making work the motivator! There are several key ingredients for projects that empower your Teamers to work in the “flow” including having clear goals, immediate feedback on their progress and a good balance between the challenges of the project and the skills of the Teamer.

“If you want to be successful, it’s just this simple: Know what you’re doing. Love what you‘re doing. And believe in what you’re doing.”

 - Will Rogers 

Working in the “Flow” – The ONLY Way to Go!

“Find a job you like and you add five days to every week.”

- H. Jackson Brown Jr.

If you have ever participated in any sports, you most likely have experienced being in the “flow” or the “zone.” You had the best game, set, match or round of your life! Everything is right with the world and your Teamers can have that same experience at work if you help to empower them. Perhaps you are wondering what is “empowerment?” To me, “empowerment” means that your Teamers are really getting into what they are doing and want to do more and better work. They can make decisions on their own and help directly influence quality control and customer satisfaction. You need to do everything possible to help them to work in the “zone” or in the “flow” which is the state of mind that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a renowned expert on creativity, described in his book Creativity as a “feeling of engagement and focus that time seems to pass unnoticed.”

If you never had the chance to work on a project and get into the “flow” I have sincere sympathy for you. If you’ve ever worked in the “flow” you know that you have experienced the best possible working experience.

You must do everything possible to always provide your Teamers with the best-possible project definition and processes to enable them to have every opportunity to work in the flow. I suggest that you use a Project Work Plan that is described in the next section to provide complete and proper project planning and definition. Make sure that you provide at least the following information and processes to your Teamers for all of the projects that you assign them.

• Clear directions and goals on what to do

• Real responsibility and authority to do the project

• A “panic button” to push if you or they get into trouble and immediate feedback on their efforts

• They are empowered to use their creativity and judgment

• The schedule for the project is aggressive but doable

• Balance between the challenges of the project and the Teamer’s skills

• Your Teamers should have no worry of failure

In other words, you must strive to provide everything needed to get your Teamers to work in the flow on their projects every day. Working in the flow creates Teamers who love what they doing and often lose track of time while working on a project and typically want to do more. If you can empower your Teamers to want to do the work because they want to, you can help your Teamers unlock their unlimited potential.

I suggest that you read the book Creativity written by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi that describes the flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. It is an amazing read and provides many more insights and ideas on how to provide the environment and tools for your Teamers to achieve the flow and the associated creativity.

“Trust that little voice in your head that says ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting if…’ And then do it.”

- Duane Michals

“Visualize” What You Want to Build or Do

“If you want to reach a goal, you must ‘see the reaching’ in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.”

- Zig Ziglar

The most critical step in doing any project is in the definition phase of the project. You will need to write down what you want the project to do, for whom you are doing the project, the overall budget for the project and as many other characteristics and benefits of the project that you can think of.

Middles must help their Teamers understand what needs to be done for effective project management. Make all of your mistakes on paper, not the in the real, day-to-day world where it costs lots more to correct.

In order to make certain your projects are on target with the objectives you need to develop and use a Project Work Plan for each project your Teamers do. Once you develop this document, review it with your Teamers and Senior to get their suggestions, changes and approval. Once they approve it, start using this plan as the blueprint that keeps everyone involved focused on the same vision.  You don’t build a house without a blueprint, why should you try to do any project without one.

The following sample Project Work Plan provides some typical topics to cover for your projects. Please feel free to modify it to develop a Project Work Plan that works for you, your Teamers, your Senior and for your specific work discipline.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SAMPLE PROJECT WORK PLAN

Target User or Audience for the Project

Who is the user or customer? Identify the specific audience this project will help or deal with in as much detail as possible. Include individual job functions and/or titles if possible.

Current Situation

What is the current “situation or problem” that you want this project to solve or address for the user? What are the problems your user is having or may have had that this project must solve or address?

Project Objectives

What will the project do to solve the user’s problems(s)?

What are the Main Benefits Offered by the Project?

These benefits tell not just what a project does, but what it does for those who use it. List the user benefits the project must provide for each user.

What are the Alternatives to the Project?

What are the major alternatives to NOT doing this project?

What is the Budget for the Project?

It’s important to know how much money you have to work with. Up-front budgets give everyone an idea of whether they’re looking for a Mercedes or a Ford. Both can get you where you want to go, but each project carries a different price tag.

What is the Call to Action?

What’s the next step for your Teamers and Senior(s) for this project?

Timetable

The plan. The steps and time estimates for each step to complete the project.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sometimes the Project Work Plan can become a fairly sizable document depending on the scope and complexity of the project. My suggestion is to keep it as short and simple as possible but make sure that it defines the desired characteristics, objectives, benefits, budget and phases and steps of the project.

“The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.”

- Earl Nightingale

I wish you empowerment, happiness and every success!!

Jonesy

"L" Is For Listening

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

Listen First and Watch What YOU Say

“Words have special powers. The power to create smiles or frowns. The power to generate laughs or tears. The power to lift up or put down. The power to motivate or de-motivate. The power to teach good or evil. The power to express love or hate. The power to give or take. The power to heal or harm. Choose your words carefully.”

– A.D. Williams

As a Middle you will be judged by what you say by your Senior, your Teamers and Coworkers. I suggest that you avoid the following phrases that I always worked to stay away from.

“We” Versus “They” - I always tried to stay away from “they are doing this” or “they are doing that” since as a member of the Organization we are all in it together and should think of everyone as “we.” If I heard someone use “they” in a meeting, I always suggested that “they is really we” since we all work for the same Organization and hopefully have the same goals. Using “we” and “they” tends to foster separate thinking and battles over resources and power. I’ve had Seniors that actually created “we” and “they” thinking between teams to create a sort of checks-and- balances system in decision making. My experience is that “we” and “they” create more problems than they solve. Always use “we” in your communications.

Working for Me - I never like it when a Teamer said that “they worked for me.” It sounds too much like a “blue collar” and “white collar” working arrangement. I always suggested that the Teamer “works with me not for me” and it always seemed to improve our relationship and the trust that I had with each Teamer.

Thinking Outside the Box - Lots of people say this but I hate it. First off, don’t ever put yourself or your Teamers in the box.

Touch Base With You - “I’ll call you” or “write you” or “I’ll stop by and talk with you” is fine but please don’t “touch base” with me. That sounds like you are patting me on the head!

We’re In This Together!! – Oh, really? I usually heard this one from my Seniors and they didn’t really demonstrate that in their actions, so I tried never to use it with my Teamers.

We Can Make This Work - Oh really - again! We can’t make the project work if it is poorly defined, planned, staffed and monitored. Projects work because they are clearly defined, properly staff, managed well and corrected when needed.

I’m Just Doing My Job - “It’s nothing personal, I just have to let you go.” Perhaps you’ve heard this one too. There are times and situations when you just have to say “I’m not going to do that,” and try to stick to it with your Senior(s). There is always the right and wrong thing to do, and you need to live with yourself and your Teamers.

At The End of the Day – Again, I never really liked this one. Perhaps “bottom line” is better and I always wondered what was going to be different at one minute after midnight?

My simple suggestion is that you do more listening than talking and always think about and plan ahead what you are going to say before you open your mouth.

“Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble.”

Frank Tyger

I wish you empowerment, happiness and every success!!

Jonesy

"K" Is For the KEY Principles to Quality

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

What Is Quality?

“Quality is not an act, it is a habit.”

- Aristotle

The simplest definition I can offer for quality is the “conformance to requirements or expectations.” But that simplicity often doesn’t address the typical real world, that is the Organization’s questions, problems and concerns with quality. So let me try again, quality is having the products or services of your Teamers match or exceed the expectations of your client or customer. Now, let’s make it really simple! You order a cheeseburger with pickles, lettuce, onion, mayo and NO tomato and you GET a cheeseburger with pickles, lettuce, onion, mayo and NO tomato!! Enough said?

Much has been written about quality and improvement by famous writers including Peter Drucker, Tom Peters and Stephen Covey and many, many others but I think that the two writers and thinkers that influenced me the most were Philip B. Crosby and W. Edwards Deming.

The best book that I can recommend to you is Quality Is Free by Philip B. Crosby. It was written in 1979 and I read it in the early 80s as part of a quality improvement program that was started in my Organization’s engineering team (my thanks to Senior Tom). This book introduces the principle of “doing it right the first time” (DIRFT). It dispels the myths that quality costs more or takes longer to achieve. Crosby’s belief was that an organization that started a quality program would have savings returns that more than paid for the costs of the quality program and offered these four major principles for any quality program:

• The definition of quality is conformance to requirements. Do your projects meet the requirements or expectations of your client or customer?

• The system of quality is prevention.

• The performance standard is zero defects.

• The measurement of quality is the price of non-conformance.

But my interest in quality didn’t start with Crosby. I started being interested in quality in the late seventies (I’ve always been a geek; you know chess club and debate team in high school!). I had read an article by W. Edwards Deming who had saved Japan from producing poor quality products and services. Perhaps you aren’t old enough to remember when “things” from Japan were terrible, and often the laughing stock of the world. What turned me on to Deming was that he had been teaching quality here in America but was largely ignored. Times were good then! But Japan found him in the early fifties and asked him to help them in their pursuit to improve quality. A number of manufacturers in Japan used his teachings and achieved greatly improved levels of quality and productivity. The improved quality and lower cost created a worldwide demand for products from Japan. But as I said, his teachings were largely ignored here in America! It wasn’t until 1981 when Ford Motor Company with sales falling recruited the services of Deming to jump start a quality movement.

I feel that Deming’s teachings were to say the least way ahead of his time. His basic philosophy was that “The key (to quality) was to practice continual improvement and think of manufacturing as a system, not bits and pieces.”

Deming offers the following Key Principles for management to transform business effectiveness:

• Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service.

• Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age.

• Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality.

• Institute training on the job.

• Drive out fear.

• Institute leadership.

• End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag.

• Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.

• Break down barriers between departments.

• Eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity.

• Put everybody to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody’s job.

The bottom line is that W. Edward Deming was the founder of the “total quality management movement.” He and Philip Crosby will provide you with all that you need to know on quality. I highly recommend all of their publications.

Lastly, perhaps you and your Teamers can identify “quality” as what it is not, rather than what it is. I fondly remember one of the first quality improvement launch meetings that I had with my Teamers. The team had a tradition of each member bringing in doughnuts and pastries for sharing with everyone when you had a birthday. I never understood why it was you who brought doughnuts in on your birthday, but anyway everyone loved a good doughnut or pastry and we often starting meetings with doughnuts and pastries “on me.”

But this meeting I arrived with the typical “big white box from the bakery.” I sat the box on the meeting room table and opened it up to share with the team five packages of cheap store bought mini doughnuts! I pushed a package toward each group of my Teamers and said “please help yourself and enjoy!” Their reactions and faces were priceless. This wasn’t the quality that they were used to or expected.

And we all had a “got it” moment that is “what quality isn’t.” Sometimes it is easier to start quality improvement by identifying what is not quality; a process step that often fails, a project hand off between Teamers that has failed or simply training that’s needed. Consider working on the obvious things that aren’t quality to get you started on defining what quality is for you and your Teamers.

Oh, and by the way, I did excuse myself from the meeting above to get another big white box from the bakery filled with the expected goodies and everyone’s satisfaction level went up immediately! Matching expectations will always do that!

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.”

 - Henry Ford

I wish you empowerment, happiness and every success! - Jonesy

"J" Is For Job Definition

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

Job Definition

Recruiting must be the first step in improving the overall performance of you and your team. You can’t improve your quality, productivity, planning or communications without having the best possible talent on your team. But you must understand that recruiting is a process, not an event and the first step in recruiting the best talent possible is to formally define each of the jobs within in your team using two very specific tools:

• The Job Description – A complete, formal, written and up-to-date definition of what you want each of your Teamers to do and their overall responsibilities.

• Job Success Talents – You need to identify and define exactly what you want to find, that is, the skills and strengths that you need for each of your Teamers. How can you effectively recruit if you don’t know the talents that you need for each of your Teamers to have?

Now let’s cover each of these tools in more detail in the following sections.

The Job Description

  “If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.”

- Lawrence J. Peter

Simply stated, the Job Description is the “foundation” of all that you do with your team. Most people know what a Job Description is but few know what a Job Description can be. Most Middles see a Job Description as just another piece of paperwork that you need to do to get a hiring approval from your Senior or the Human Resources group. Most employees see it as a waste of time, since it never really relates to what they really do, how they do it and how they can improve their performance.

Think of the Job Description as the following tools to address these critical needs:

• It’s an agreement between you and each of your Teamers on what you want them to do, what responsibilities they will have, what qualifications and talents they must have or develop and how they are to work with other Teamers and the overall Organization.

• It’s a tool to help you measure each Teamer’s performance.

• It provides information for your Salary Administration group to determine the appropriate salary for each position.

• It provides information for your Human Resources group to use for advertisements and Internet job postings for hiring. Think of it this way, how can you possibly develop a job ad or posting and recruit a person for your team without knowing what you want that person to do?

• It provides standard expectations to feed your reward, empowerment and performance review processes for your Teamers.

A good Job Description is the “vision” of the person that you want to work with and have as a member of your team.

I know that most Organizations have guidelines on what your Job Descriptions might be like but trust me, YOU are the best person (along with your Teamers) to write them. It is not easy work but most necessary!

Lastly, perhaps you are thinking “I can’t write!” Yes, you can. Everyone can write, just some better than others. Just focus on this simple rule. Write fast and edit slowly. Always ask your Teamers to review your copy and include their suggestions and changes.

A Job Description should contain at least the following items or topics:

• Position - The actual title for the job.

• Date - The date of the most recent change to the content of the Job Description.

• Supervision Received - Who is their boss?

• Supervision Exercised - Who do they manage or supervise?

• Position Summary - A high-level description of what you want this person to do within your team. What are they supposed to do each day? Here are a few examples:

1.     Acts as a single point-of-contact for clients using the services of…

2.    Responsible for providing project status information to clients…

3.     Responsible for monitoring the client satisfaction for projects…

4.     Administrator of the project time management system…

• Responsibilities - Provide a specific list of tasks that the person filling this position must do. Here are some examples:

1.      Work closely and proactively with team, clients, consultants…

2.      Expedites all “crisis” jobs…

3.      Monitor the results of client satisfaction surveys…..

4.      Develop and implement processes to improve productivity…

• Qualifications - Provide a specific list of skills, talents, strengths, characteristics and educational needs. Here are some examples:

1.      MBA preferred

2.      Must work well under pressure

3.      Must have great organizational skills

4.      Must have excellent attention to detail and ability to meet target dates

Your Job Descriptions must include the Job Success Talents primarily in the Responsibilities and Qualifications sections. We’ll cover those in the next section.

Ask your Teamers for help in writing and updating Job Descriptions on a regular basis, but you are the one to start the process by writing new or updating existing Job Descriptions and having them reviewed by your Teamers. Include their suggested changes. They are the people actually doing this work. They know what it takes to do their job. Trust them and always work to include their changes and comments!

“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boast the self-esteem of the personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.”

- Sam Walton

Job Success Talents

“In creating, the only hard thing’s to begin; a grass-blade’s no easier to make than an oak.”

- James Russell Lowell

Job Success Talents are the skills and strengths that a person needs to have or develop to do a job well. Perhaps you are wondering “what’s the difference between skills and strengths” but it is really fairly simple. I think that the best description of the real difference between skills and strengths is provided in the book Don’t Retire, REWIRE! written by Jeri Sedlar and Rick Miners on how to find fulfilling work after retirement. They focus on identifying your skills and strengths to help you find the right opportunity that matches them and you. They offer that the difference is this. “The most practical and useful way to look at it is that strengths are innate and skills are learned. Strengths are what you have to work with; skills are what you develop.”

“Innate” means talents that you have from birth or that are native to you. You can’t learn them but you can improve them with training and practice. An example of a strength could be being “self-motivated” while an example of a skill might be “oral or written communication skills.”

Strengths would include:

Ability to Learn, Adaptability, Ambitious, Analytical, Attention to Detail, Caring, Confident, Controlled Demeanor, Creativity, Decisiveness, Determined, Direct, Energy, Ethical, Fair/Open-minded, Flexibility, Friendly, Goal Oriented, Hardworking, Honest, Logical, Initiative, Innovation, Integrity, Leadership, Motivation, Patient, Persistent, Resilience, Results Oriented, Self-Development, Self-Motivation, Self-Organization, Sensitivity, Team Player, Tenacity, Thoughtful and Trustworthy.

Skills would include:

Adapting, Analysis, Consensus Building, Counseling, Critiquing, Decision Making, Delegation, Empowering, Hardware Skills, Interpersonal Skills, Judgement, Leading, Listening, Managing People, Management of Meetings, Mediating, Mentoring, Motivating Others, Negotiation, Oral Communications, Oral Presentation Skills, Persuasiveness, Planning and Organization, Prioritizing, Problem Solving, Project Management, Research, Scheduling, Socializing, Software Skills, Strategizing, Stress Tolerance, Teaching, Team Building, Thinking, Training, Work Standards and Written Communications.

Please note that not all job positions have the same needed Job Success Talents, and not all job positions need the same level of Job Success Talents. For example, everyone needs to be able to write, but a professional writer needs to have a very high level of writing talent, while a graphic designer can function very effectively with a lower level of writing talent. I’ve worked with organizations that use “expectation ratings” for Job Success Talents. For example, “essential or must have,” “nice to have” and “needed but not essential.” Using these ratings can help when comparing candidates. 

Developing the Job Success Talents for all of your Teamers is not easy and it will take some time. But how can you hope to recruit new Teamers without knowing what Job Success Talents each position requires? 

I suggest that you ask your Teamers for help in developing the Job Success Talents for each of the jobs in your team. You should write a “draft” list of Job Success Talents for each job position, and then have your Teamers review them and make suggestions for additions and changes.

Once you and your Teamers have agreed to the Job Success Talents for each job position within your team(s) you are ready to start using them during recruiting, job postings, candidate interviews and Teamer performance reviews.

During your recruiting interviews don’t waste valuable time asking “generic” and really  meaningless questions like “Why are you interested in joining our organization?” or “What do you feel that you can provide to help our organization?” During candidate interviews always ask targeted questions to determine if the candidate really has the Job Success Talents that you need. For example, if you need a person with great “oral presentation skills” ask them “What’s the best (or worst) presentation that they’ve ever done and why?” If you need someone who can handle stress ask them “How do you deal with stress?” If the person you need must be able to solve problems, ask them “What’s the biggest problem that you’ve solved?” Get the idea? A résumé tells you what the candidate wants you to know about them, but you need to ask the right questions during the interview to get a better idea if they really have the necessary Job Success Talents.

These are only sample talents and questions to help you start writing your own interview questions for you and your Teamers to use. As you develop questions you will also need to focus on your business and discipline to create the best Job Success Talents and interview questions for you and your Teamers.

“We can throw stones, complain about them, stumble on them, climb over them, or build with them.”

- William Arthur Ward

"I" Is For Improving

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

How to Improve Your Quality

“If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.”

- Thomas J. Watson

Improving your quality is simple, find a problem or process and fix it. Have regular team building meetings and empower your Teamers to find things to fix or improve. Help your Teamers adopt the “do it right the first time” attitude in all that they do to help improve the quality of the products and services provided by you and your Teamers.

Start with having a staff meeting to announce the start of your new quality improvement system. Send out your announcement with the single agenda item of having each Teamer bring their idea(s) on a potential problem to fix that the team should tackle. My guess is that some “old problems” will come up, things that you’ve heard before. “Purchasing always takes too long to approve printing bids and puts us behind schedule,” or “The designers never check the proofs quickly enough!” Be prepared! Some of the problems that your Teamers will bring to the meeting may have been “stewing” for them for some time. 

If you can afford it, get a copy of Quality Is Free by Philip B. Crosby for all of your Teamers, sort of like a “handbook” for their new quest to improve their quality.

Some of your Teamers will complain that they “Don’t have time for this” so you should reassure them that all of the quality improvement stuff can be recorded as “administrative time” on your time recording system. Simply, I would encourage you and your Teamers to find the time to address quality improvement. If one of your Teamers simply does not want to participate in any of the “quality BS,” don’t force them to participate. Give them the option to leave the meeting.

Here’s the agenda that I suggest for your first quality improvement meeting:

• Collect The Problems - Collect all of the problems from your Teamers on a flip chart or a blackboard. Have a scribe, if you need one, to create an electronic list of the problems. Ask each Teamer to explain and describe the problem briefly and why they think it should be considered. Also consider using a recording device. The key is to collect all of the problems so everybody’s got “skin in the game.”

• Vote On The Problems To Work On - Have your Teamers vote on which problems to attack. I suggest that you give them more than just one vote with these options and of course make the voting anonymous as follows: The top problem to work on, the top three things to work on, the top five or the top seven (this may be way too many!)

• Choose Up Sides For Teams - Once you have the “winners” of the problems to work on, you will need to have quality improvement teams formed for each problem selected. My suggestion is that you don’t want to take on too many quality improvement projects since in the beginning you will most likely be the only facilitator for all of these meetings. Depending on the size of your staff, I would start with three to five quality improvement projects and teams.

• Volunteers Anyone? - Once you have the projects selected, ask for volunteers to work on each project. Try to get a cross section of your team to work on the project to give you a variety of views and opinions. You need to have at least three Teamers for a team, but don’t have too many Teamers assigned to any single problem. Try to spread them out and a Teamer can serve on more than one team if they like. Work to get as many of your staff involved in a quality improvement team as possible. Again, if Teamers don’t want to participate don’t force them.

• Collect Results and Problems – Each team needs to take minutes of each meeting highlighting their results, plans and any problems or concerns that they have on making the needed changes to address and fix each problem.

“For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.”

- Steve Jobs

How to PROVE That You Are Improving Your Quality

“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”

- Carl Sagan

As your quality improvement teams begin to implement changes in your processes and procedures to address quality problems you need to follow-up and make sure that these changes really do bring about the results and improvements that you want to achieve. Simply monitor the results from each “fix” or change that is implemented from the work of your quality improvement teams to prove the improvements in quality.

Also, if you think of the people that your Teamers do projects for as your “clients” you need to ask them how satisfied they are with the projects or services provided to them. At the end of a project, send them a “satisfaction survey.” Email is not good for this since it is not anonymous, so I suggest that you send the survey by email, suggest they print it and then snail-mail back the completed survey to you. Keep the survey simple to encourage your clients to respond. A team that I worked with had a simple five question survey sent to the client after the completion of all of the marketing communications projects with these questions:

• ·Was the project completed on time?

• Was the project completed within budget?

• ·Did the project meet your overall communication needs?

• Would you use the team’s services again for your next project?

• How satisfied overall was the client with the project or service provided to them by rating their satisfaction on a scale from “1” (Very Satisfied) to “5” (Very Dissatisfied)?

Collect the responses to these questions and prepare anonymous reports to your Teamers and to your Senior frequently, perhaps monthly. If you get a survey with really poor satisfaction ratings meet privately with the client and even do a Post-Mortem meeting on the product or service to find out what went wrong and why, but always keep this information anonymous.

“Strive for continuous improvement, instead of perfection.”

- Kim Collins

I wish you empowerment, happiness and every success! Jonesy

"H" Is For Honesty

As always, I want to offer my sincere apology to Sue Grafton for using (stealing??) her approach for the titles of her many outstanding mystery novels for this series of articles that I hope makes YOU a happier and more effective leader working with a truly empowered team that really enjoys what they do! Oh, and if you have not read any of Ms. Grafton novels I highly recommend that you give her a try.

ALWAYS Look Them in the Eye with TOTAL Honesty

“It has always seemed strange to me…the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.”

- John Steinbeck

I’ve talked a lot about building a trusting relationship between you and your Teamers and this all starts with your honesty. Being a Middle is a very difficult life to lead. You are always between your Teamers and the Seniors of your Organization. Difficult decisions will be made by your Seniors and your Organization and you will need to be able to explain them to your Teamers with honesty that you may not get from your Senior.

One essential trait that you must develop is to look your Teamers in the eye each time that you talk with them. Looking down or away or at papers will simply not provide them with the trust that you want them to have in you. In meetings, I always worked to look everyone in the eye, moving my focus from one Teamer to the next. The bottom line is that if you can’t tell them what you have to tell them without looking them dead in the eye, perhaps you don’t really believe what you are telling them.

You must realize that you are the only real link to and translator of all that your Senior and Organization decide to do. This must be translated to your Teamers no matter how difficult this can be for you, with as much total honesty and trust as you can develop. You need to develop the habit of looking your Teamers directly in the eye as you talk with them. Just practice and it will become second nature for you.

You may also experience “extra side benefits” from always looking your Teamers in the eye when you talk with them. One of the side benefits that I experienced was working with Teamer Karen. We were having a One-on-One session and she commented that I was the only manager that she had ever worked for that didn’t look at her chest. Now admittedly, Teamer Karen was a very attractive young lady and well endowed, so I completely understood the behaviors of her other managers, but I took it as a compliment and rededicated myself to always looking Teamers in their eyes when talking with them. 

“If I only had three words of advice, they would be, Tell the Truth. If I got three more words,

I’d add, All the Time.”

- Randy Pausch

I wish you empowerment, happiness and every success!!

Jonesy