Category Archives: Manufacturing & Operations

How Do You Manage Long-Term Members of the Team? Three Strategies

Situation: A company has a team that built their critical systems some time ago. The CEO is upgrading skills and adding new team members to update these systems to current technology. The challenge is that the original team members don’t see the need to update the company’s systems.  How does the CEO help them to see the benefit of upgrades? How do you manage long-term members of the team?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Given the company’s values of loyalty between company and employees, it’s not possible to just shoot these people. Given them the opportunity to remain valuable to the company. Be patient
  • If there is friction between the employees who have been with the company for a long time and the newcomers, make them work things out. Don’t try to fix it.
    • Be public about company and team objectives, expectations and timelines. Explain where and why the company is going and the potential benefit to them and to the company.
    • It will be messy at first. There is risk. However, these are mature individuals and the new people come in with a great deal of experience, so this may mitigate the risk.
    • As necessary, work one-on-one with individuals. Make it clear what is and is not acceptable behavior; for example, sniping at each other and spreading discontent.
    • Where obvious conflict occurs, have the individuals involved go talk it out over a beer. Let them know that they are expected to be able to handle and resolve their differences.
    • Don’t let individuals become destructive. If necessary, put individual long-termers in roles that are not obstructive to new initiatives.
  • Some long-termers may leave on their own and solve the problem. It will become obvious who they are.

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How Do You Boost Team Morale? Ten Suggestions

Situation: A CEO is concerned because he anticipates an increase in stress within his team – from handling clients who are anxious about the economy on the downside to a potentially overwhelming number of new clients to manage as people start to reinvest in growth as the economy improves. How do you boost team morale?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Help team members to prepare for additional pressure:
    • Communicate with them as a team, and individually as necessary, about what the company anticipates to be the new challenge. Do this with a positive tone.
    • Be open with the team about the realities that they may face, and have the team work together during weekly meetings to develop solutions that will help to reduce the pressure as it builds.
    • Make stressors positive. Bringing on new clients is wonderful for the firm, will increase profitability and the opportunity for profit sharing.
  • What have others done to successfully maintain employee morale and increase productivity?
    • Reward programs for people who learn new processes or develop new skills. The real reward isn’t the cash, but recognition by the CEO, who makes a big deal about the reward.
    • Monthly or quarterly drawings for a cash price. Employees can increase their odds of winning because the number of tickets that an individual has in the hat is driven by accomplishments against criteria set each period.
    • Monthly barbeque lunch for the whole company. This promotes camaraderie, and encourages people to talk to one another about things other than business.
    • Project-based bonuses – tied to individual contribution.
    • Spot bonus or gift cards – allowing employees to recognize each other’s’ contributions.
    • Post individual “win” achievements on a bulletin board in the break room. This injects fun competition into day-to-day work.
  • Develop a list similar to the suggestions, above, and ask employees what type of recognition and pressure relievers they would like to see – bring them into the decision.

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How Do You Assess Team Morale? Five Points

Situation: Given current uncertainty about the future of the economy, a CEO wants to assess team morale. In the past, as the company grew, she received lots of input on how people were feeling about their jobs. As the company has grown, she no longer receives this. What can she do to gather more input without alarming people in the process? How do you assess team morale?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Find opportunities to spend time informally with your employees. Talk to them one-on-one or in small groups in the lunchroom or while getting tea. Organize, or have others organize company events where individuals can be more relaxed and open about their feelings.
  • If you have lunch in the lunchroom 3 times a week, and sit with different employees each day. Over the course of a month or a few months you can talk to the majority of them – perhaps several times.
  • Ask how they are – family, friends, relations, and their neighborhood. They may be hesitant to talk to the CEO about their jobs, but it is possible to get a sense of how they feel indirectly by asking about family and friends. Listen to what they have to say. Be sympathetic.
  • Be open to others. MBWA – Manage By Walking Around.
  • Ask supervisors to be your ears. They work with their teams on a daily basis and will have a sense of what is going on and how employees are feeling. They may have good ideas about improvements that the company can make in employee relations.

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How Do You Supervise Without Being Bossy? Six Points

Situation: A CEO has received feedback “through the grapevine” that some of his employees consider him to be bossy. This isn’t the image that he wants to cultivate. Instead he aspires to be a collaborative CEO who is approachable by employees. Have others encountered this situation and If so, what have they done? How do you supervise without being bossy?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • When you hold morning update meetings keep them short and to the point.
    • Review updates on an exception basis. Go down the list and ask whether there are any challenges that need to be addressed to assure that deadlines are met. If on track, then no need to discuss, unless an individual anticipates a challenge coming up.
    • Don’t try to solve specific issues during the meeting – this wastes the time of those not involved in the issue. Schedule follow-ups to address challenges or just continue the meeting with a couple of people who have issues and who can assist each other in developing solutions.
  • Do 1-on-1 checks at end of day, as necessary.
  • Manage by walking around. When visiting specific employees ask: How are you doing?
    • If they are struggling, ask about the problem. Listen and perhaps suggest the next step. Take care to watch any body language for signs of discomfort that suggests that the individual is struggling.
  • When planning a project set milestones and timelines for each project.
  • When following up, ask how the individual is doing on their segment of the project and whether they have the resources that they need – including time and knowledge.
  • Have employees build the schedule for the project – assuring that their timeline meets the company’s delivery schedule. Ask for commitment to meet the timeline and hold them accountable for meeting it.

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How Do You Say “No”? Four Suggestions

Situation: A CEO has employees who frequently show up in his office with a request that he solves a problem for them. This takes up the time that he needs to solve bigger picture issues. He’s also concerned that employees should be able to solve these problems themselves. What tactics have others used to address this issue? How do you say “no”?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Don’t say “no.”
    • Saying “no” discourages future questions and reduces communication. Instead, answer their question with a question. Help them to see the next step in the process of solving the problem themselves.
  • What questions do you ask?
    • What do you think is the best solution?
    • Have you tried X, Y, Z?
    • Encourage them to use their peers as resources.
    • Focusing on #2 and #3, may give them insight into solving #1.
    • Have you spoken to (name) about this. (Name) may be able to help.
  • Another good response – “I can’t help you right now. Why don’t you try to solve it and I’ll follow-up with you when I can.”
  • It may be difficult to learn how to say no. Instead work on helping others to understand what you know about a particular technology or issue. Just ask questions to show them how to approach the problem, and then let them work through it.
    • This will take more time than “doing it yourself” at the beginning. However, they will rapidly gain more comfort working through issues and options on their own and will also gain both confidence and competence. Long-term it will save you time.

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How Do You Make Hard Decisions on Employees? Four Points

Situation:  A company needs to adjust expenses to control costs. It’s largest expense item is payroll. They are evaluating three options to adjust staff costs to anticipated revenue. Alternative A – Cut everyone back to part-time. Alternative B – Cut a few employees, but keep retained employees busy. Alternative C – A balanced approach between these alternatives. From others’ experience, which is best? How do you make hard decisions on employees?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • The unanimous response from the group – for employees, Alternative B is the most positive approach. Extended cutbacks in hours has been painful for all and led to grousing. Once staff were cut it helped retained employees to focus on their work.
  • When it comes to vendors, use Alternative A – don’t pay everything that you want to pay, but pay what can be paid consistently and predictably. It is critical as this is done to make sure that promises are kept.
  • When it has been necessary to make cuts – how has employee morale been maintained?
    • In the short term, those who remained have been happy to have a job. Longer term, companies have had to do more than this.
    • One option is to set quarterly revenue and expense targets. When gross or net margin targets have been exceeded, companies committed to share some of the excess with employees.
  • Before making any decisions, have a meeting with employees and openly ask them what they’d like to see that will help to build company culture and enthusiasm.

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How Do You Adjust to Tight Cash Situations? Eight Options

Situation: A company is faced with a tight cash situation. A combination of increased interest rates, a business slowdown, and slow deliveries from suppliers have contributed to this. The CEO needs to find ways to stretch available cash, or to rely on other alternatives to assure that commitments are delivered to clients. How do you adjust to tight cash situations?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • One company actively and consistently uses their bank line of credit to cover end of quarter payables. They pay this down promptly as cash comes in.
  • Profit sharing represents 20 -25% of another company’s total compensation. When profits are down this gives them some cushion because payouts are lower.
  • One company maintains frequent and open communication with their vendors. This makes it easier to get them to work with the company when cash is tight.
  • Another company has vastly increased sales activity. This has helped to improve the business pipeline, and this in turn improves the story that they can tell their bank and vendors. It helps to reassure them that they are a good partner and a good credit risk when cash is tight.
  • It’s a good idea to maintain regular contact with the company’s best funnel clients – the ones who bring in new business. As a result if their competitors are struggling then they get a shot at their business.
  • It is better to cut select people than to put a large number of people on extended reduced time. Hard as it is to let people go, this is better for morale.
  • For less skilled operations work, one company used to use temp workers. When they’ve discussed the need to cut back with permanent employees and asked about this work, they were told that they could cover this work in their available time. The team really pulled together and were grateful for the opportunity to remain full-time.
  • Another company continues to model their pipeline, and plans for adjustments in customer demand. This enables them to act sooner rather than later when adjustments are needed.

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How Do You Supervise Without Being Bossy? Six Points

Situation: A CEO has received feedback “through the grapevine” that some of his employees consider him to be bossy. This isn’t the image that he wants to cultivate. Instead he aspires to be a collaborative CEO who is approachable by employees. Have others encountered this situation and If so, what have they done? How do you supervise without being bossy?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • When you hold morning update meetings keep them short and to the point.
    • Review updates on an exception basis. Go down the list and ask whether there are any challenges that need to be addressed to assure that deadlines are met. If on track, then no need to discuss, unless an individual anticipates a challenge coming up.
    • Don’t try to solve specific issues during the meeting – this wastes the time of those not involved in the issue. Schedule follow-ups to address challenges or just continue the meeting with a couple of people who have issues and who can assist each other in developing solutions.
  • Do 1-on-1 checks at end of day, as necessary.
  • Manage by walking around. When visiting specific employees ask: How are you doing?
    • If they are struggling, ask about the problem. Listen and perhaps suggest the next step. Take care to watch any body language for signs of discomfort that suggests that the individual is struggling.
  • When planning a project set milestones and timelines for each project.
  • When following up, ask how the individual is doing on their segment of the project and whether they have the resources that they need – including time and knowledge.
  • Have employees build the schedule for the project – assuring that their timeline meets the company’s delivery schedule. Ask for commitment to meet the timeline and hold them accountable for meeting it.

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How Do You Handle Underperforming Employees? Four Points

Situation: A CEO has several employees who report to a single manager but who are not performing to expectations. The manager is seeking the CEO’s assistance. When faced with a similar issue in the past, the CEO has turned up the pressure on an individual until he or she decided to leave on their own. Is this the best option? How can she resolve this situation and, at the same time, improve company morale? How do you handle underperforming employees?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Letting underperformers go sends a positive message to the rest of the team. It reinforces the message that a high level of performance is expected, and that a low performer won’t be allowed to penalize the overall performance of a team.
  • There is a serious downside to just turning up pressure until an individual leaves.
    • Even low performers usually have friends among the staff.
    • Turning up the pressure on an individual without telling them why creates an impression of unfairness. “Why is Joe being asked to do all of this – particularly when it doesn’t look like he can handle the work?”
    • The most serious downside is that a high performer becomes fearful that the company may have the same “unfair” expectations of him.
  • It is healthier to sit down with an underperformer and face the problem. This also reduces exposure to charges of discrimination.
    • Plan a meeting with the manager and each of the under-performing employees. In each meeting, tell the individual that specific areas of their performance are not up to company standards. Provide objective, measurable examples. Listen to the individual’s reaction.
    • Work with the manager to develop a program with each individual to assess whether they are willing to improve their performance over a specified time frame. Inform them that there will be a decision as to whether they will remain on the team at the end of the time period. Again, listen to their reaction.
    • If an individual does not respond positively and improve performance, it will be necessary to fire them. However, they have received fair warning and a fair chance to demonstrate that they can produce the expected performance.
    • If an individual isn’t interested in performing to company standards, the assessment period gives them time to look for another job.
  • Because these individuals report to their manager, coach the manager on the process outlined above and have her oversee the outcome. Help the manager to make a call after a period as determined with the manager.
    • Continue to coach and support her during this process.
    • Make it clear to the manager’s team that she is in charge of this process.

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How Do You Maintain a Culture Focused on Quality? Five Points

Situation: Quality is a CEO’s #1 objective for his company. As the company has grown and processes have become more complex with more people involved, consistent quality is becoming an issue. The CEO wants to refocus and reestablish a quality culture to support future growth. What have others done to increase the quality of their product or service? How do you maintain a culture focused on quality?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Trust is a company’s most important commodity. This trumps financial exposure. In case described, the client trusts the company to produce and deliver a quality service upon which they can rely.
  • Go all of the way back into system design – or how any particular product system is set up.
    • Assemble a diverse group to review both the company’s deliverables and the system inputs.
    • Brainstorm everything that can break.
    • Prioritize the list based on potential exposure to the company.
    • Do a deep-dive analysis of the top 5 or 10 exposure areas.
    • Reprioritize after the deep dive has been completed.
    • Fix all issues identified in order of exposure.
    • Repeat the exercise periodically to assure that quality is maintained.
  • Empower and reward anyone who develops improvements in quality control.
  • Shield the company from any exposure over which it has no control. This can be accomplished through language in the company’s service agreements, and through language covering service deliverables.
  • Once the company has shielded itself from an exposure, set up flags in the monitoring systems that will alert the company of events or situations that will impact clients. This allows the company to inform clients of situations that may impact them without making recommendations as to how the client should handle the situation.

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