Reggie was grinning like a Cheshire cat. "I'm really lucky," he said. "We are opening up a new division and I have three great candidates for the VP position. It's actually going to be tough to pick which one I think will work out best."

"Congratulations," I offered. "Internal candidates or external candidates?"

"All internal. Homegrown. Got the right value system. Good decision-making skills."

"And what will happen to the two candidates who will be left behind?" I asked.

Reggie stopped. He had been focused on his good fortune to have this kind of bench strength, but he had not considered what would happen after his selection.

"I guess they will just continue doing what they are doing now. I mean, they all play an important role, they just won't be a Vice President in charge of a division."

"They all know they are being considered as a viable candidate for the position?"

"Yep, I had a meeting, just last week, with all three of them. I wanted to be upfront, let them know what I was thinking."

"And, have you noticed any change since you had that meeting?"

Again, Reggie stopped. He knew I hadn't dropped by to chat about the weather. He also knew that sometimes, even on the outside, I hear about trouble before he does.

"So, something is up?" he guessed.

I nodded. "Don't go jumping in there, but take some time to take a hard look at the new dynamics you just created." -TF

"But he has been doing a terrible job, as a Manager," Cheryl observed.

"So, do you want him out of the company? Should he be gone?" I asked.

Cheryl shook her head. "No, Harold has too much knowledge, he knows everything about everything, he is just in the wrong position for our company. What he is doing now, works against us. But he could be so valuable in a different role."

"Right now, you have Harold in the role as a Senior Manager, which you say is the wrong place for him. But you don't want to fire him, just reassign him. How do you think that will work, in Harold's eyes?"

"He's not going to like it," Cheryl replied, still shaking her head. "He might quit and we really do need his technical knowledge. I am afraid he is going to be embarrassed in front of his peers, in front of his direct reports. This move is going to be very touch and go."

"So, what is the one thing you have to do, to make this move successful?" I pressed.

"Somehow, we have to allow Harold to save face in front of the company. I am just not sure how to do that."

"So, Phillip can handle tasks with a one month Time Span, but falls short on tasks with longer Time Spans," Joyce confirmed.

"So, what does that tell you about his role? You told me that you promoted him to Warehouse Manager. Based on Time Span, is that appropriate for Phillip?" I asked.

Joyce knew the answer, so her hesitation was from reluctance. "No. Now it begins to make sense. What we expect from a Manager, even the Warehouse Manager requires a Time Span of twelve months. Phillip is not even close."

"So, if you had determined his Time Span before the promotion, you might have done something differently?" I prompted.

"Absolutely. When I look at Time Span, it becomes so obvious that his promotion was a bone-headed decision."

"And who was responsible for that bone-headed decision?"

"That would be me," Joyce replied.

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Our next Leadership program in Fort Lauderdale begins July 16. For more information, visit www.workingleadership.com.
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Our next Leadership program Online begins in September. Watch for details. –TF

Joyce was thinking about her team. Things were not a disaster, but not running too smoothly. There was a perceptible friction that was beginning to take a life of its own.

"I have been watching Phillip," she started. "It seems he is struggling with his job as a supervisor, but it's hard to tell. He has his good days, but not too often."

"How would you rate his performance?" I asked.

"Well, that's pretty easy to see. He is always late with stuff and it's never completely done the way it should be. And then, when I go to talk to him about it, I can't find him."

"Is he in the building?"

"Oh, yeah, he will turn up, but it's like, he was two hours down in receiving, he said he was organizing the place. Now, I know the place needs to be organized, but he was doing it all alone, and not out here on the floor where he really needed to be. The receiving guy could have taken care of organizing."

"What do you think the problem is?"

"Well, even though he is a supervisor, it seems he would rather be doing lower level stuff. Some of his team members even accuse him of micro-managing."

"So, what do you think the problem is?" I repeated.

"It's like he is in a role that he doesn't even like, and probably in over his head," Joyce concluded.

"And who put him in that spot?"

Joyce turned her head and looked back at me, sideways. A bit of a grimace.

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Our next Leadership program in Fort Lauderdale begins July 16. For more information and registration, go to www.workingleadership.com.

Timo Söderlund, from Ebit Management, in Sweden, captured an important point in his comment posted last week. It was in response to our series about Cheryl, a technical troubleshooter who was recruited to improve throughput for a manufacturing company.

This is what you see quite often. An excellent salesman is promoted to become sales manager. It may work, but it may also fail. If you, at a certain age, have developed your skills and love the things you are doing - as a specialist or expert, and then start doing something else - like becoming a manager - I question if it can be "trained" into that person to become as successful a manager as he or she was before, in their field of expertise. A manager - in my view - is more concerned in people, their interaction, and the performance of the "team" - and this is quite far away from being an expert in a certain technical or administrative field.

In our classroom program, I have seen a number of technical and engineering people thrust into the role of management. Though they are extremely bright, this new management role requires a completely different skill set.

And it is a skill set of behaviors that can be learned. Interesting, I find that once learned, these skills have a transforming effect on the manager, as a person.

Beginning tomorrow, I will spend a few days exploring the role of positive reinforcement. "What gets measured gets done, but what gets reinforced, gets repeated." -TF

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Our next management program begins in Fort Lauderdale on September 25. For registration information, please visit www.workingmanagement.com.