Miguel was stunned. At some point, he thought I was a nice guy, but now he was not so sure. He was already working twelve hour days running a 10 hour staggered shift. We were about to expand to an 18 hour swing shift and expected Miguel to run the whole thing. Welcome to management.

"But I am already working as hard as I can," Miguel protested. "How can you possibly expect more?"

"I expect more, because you are capable of more," I replied. Miguel's face turned blank. He was tired of fighting. He was tired of fighting the twelve hour days, he was tired of fighting me, but mostly he was tired of fighting his own thinking.

"I can't work this way any longer," he resigned. "Something has to give. I am already in trouble with my wife. I hardly get to play with my kids. My golf clubs have rust on them."

"And I want you to manage a longer work process with about double the headcount you have now. What are you going to change?" -TF

Miguel looked at me, then back to the schedule on his desk. He put the pen down and let out a sigh.

"It's not going to get any better, is it?" he asked. We had been talking about the 12 hour days he had been putting in since becoming a manager. I didn't say a word. Miguel continued.

"But, it's my responsibility. I feel guilty if I'm not here and something goes wrong."

"Miguel, you are in charge of this work area, running two shifts on staggered schedules. What if I told you, we were planning to ramp up production in two months, to add another shift to run 18 hours per day? What would you do, then?" Miguel's eyes got wide. I raised my eyebrows in response. "What are you going to do then?" I repeated.

"Well, I don't know, you would have to get a different manager for the other shift."

"Miguel, you are the manager for this work area. Everything that happens here is your responsibility. I will not have another manager so you can blame each other for things going wrong. I want one person to be responsible for the area. That's you." I stopped to gauge his reaction.

"Well, how am I going to do that?" Miguel responded.

"That's what I want to know, how are you going to do that?" -TF
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http://www.managementblog.org/survey-oct2007/

It was 6:30p when I stopped by Miguel's office. "What's up?" I asked.

Miguel picked his eyes up off the paper, holding his place on the schedule with a ballpoint pen. "Just going over tomorrow. It's going to be another big day. Three special orders to get out the door."

"Where is everyone, why are you still here?"

"Oh, we shut down at 4:30p. My crew is up with the chickens, tomorrow we start at 6:30a. I run a staggered shift. The first guys get the day started, then we're full strength by 7:30a. The first wave is off by 3:30p, while the second wave picks up the pieces for the day."

"Why are you still here?" I repeated.

"Well, there is just a bunch of little things that have to be done each day. Sort of out of control, huh? This won't last forever. My schedule is getting better."

"How long have you been working this late?"

"Gosh, ever since I became the supervisor, I guess. But it's going to get better, soon." Miguel looked optimistic.

I didn't believe him. -TF
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Thanks for those who responded to our survey. It only takes about a minute. We will keep the survey open until October 19. The results will help us finalize an online program we are set to release in the next three weeks. -TF

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

I have a performance review with a top performer on my team. In addition to reviewing his past 3 months results, I am trying to prepare some discussion topics that are geared towards 1) further developing his strengths and 2) finding ways to challenge him so he does not get bored.

Response:

I think you just defined the discussion topics.

Developing strengths can usually be identified with the following questions.

• What is it that you believe you do well?
• If I was standing as an observer, what would I see in you as a strength?
• How do you gain the greatest leverage from your strengths?
• How do you nurture your strengths?
• How can I, as your manager, nurture those strengths?

Finding ways to challenge the team member is most easily done through delegation. Most people believe delegation is a time management tool, but it is also your most powerful people-development tool. Ask these questions.

• Looking forward, what responsibility would challenge and test your abilities?
• If we were to assign that responsibility to you, what safeguards could we put in place to make it a learning experience rather than a trial by fire?

When you think about retaining your top performers, these are the most important conversations. -TF

From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

Yesterday, in a post about the Magic Pill, you said that a manager should only work 40 hours a week. There's no way I can get all of my work done in 40 hours. You have to be kidding?

Response:

The Magic Pill is a mind-set. Forty hours a week is a mind-set. Of course, managers do work more than 40 hours a week, but the point is the mind-set. If you worked 80 hours in a week, would you be able to get all of your work done? The answer is no. The work of a manager is never done.

The point of the Magic Pill is two-fold. First, when you get tired, exhausted, burned out, your effectiveness drops off dramatically, down to zero. But the most important part of the Magic Pill is to work differently. The role of a manager is not the same as the work of a team member.

Let me tell you about the Super-Magic pill. It only allows for 10 hours of work in a week. If you took the Super-Magic pill and only worked 10 hours a week, what would you have to change to work effectively?

No, I am not kidding. I am as serious as a heart attack (the one you will have working 60-70 hours a week). -TF