Next instalment…Cross-functional relationships: Start with one!

Ethan was focussing on the cross-functional relationships of his Quality Engineer. We’d established the role was accountable for engineering standards being met such that all work passes inspection from government regulators and any other external audit functions we may choose to bring in.

“Each role relationship attaches to an accountability” I explained. By setting up a clear role relationship for each accountability, we can give your Quality Engineer the authority they need to get their work done.”

“Wish I’d had that years ago” Ethan smiled. “Let’s do it then. What’s the role relationship?”.

“A couple more questions for you and we’ll be there”. Read more…

Continued…Cross-functional relationships: Start with one!

Ethan was ready to start making life better for his people by sorting out how their roles fit together across the organisation. I suggested he start with the role of Quality Engineer. He reached for the phone.

“Don’t do that” I jumped in. Ethan looked surprised. I continued; “it’s not up to your Quality Engineer to decide the work system, it’s up to you. We’re going to get her input for sure, but first, tell me what you are ultimately holding her accountable for”.

Ethan didn’t answer.

“We’ve found our starting point.”

“OK….” Ethan said. I needed to explain;

“Work occurs because someone gets someone else to start doing something, wait before doing something, or stop doing something.”

“Sounds reasonable”.

“And why do they do this…why does it happen?” I asked.

“Because…it’s their job?” Ethan ventured

“Yep. Or to get right to the bottom of it, they feel they are accountable for a particular thing happening or not happening, so to make sure they can do what they believe they are accountable for, they go and talk to someone else”. Read more…

Improve your life – sort the work system

If you’re a manager, you’re in charge of a work system.  I’m not talking about technology systems, I mean a system as in there’s an external world that puts things in, your area does things with them, and then something comes out to the external world.

A system.

You might even have done that thing where you draw the boxes and arrows, some ‘swimming lanes’ if you’re fancy and so can now declare “there’s my work system.”

Nice one.  So how come you still don’t have enough hours in the day?  Why is there still a line of people outside of your office?  And why does that diagram just fester on your G: drive and you didn’t know that your Visio licence expired two years ago?

The reason is because your work system isn’t so great.  You haven’t yet put in focussed effort to see your area as a work system, and then, every time something requires your intervention, see this as a work system failure.

That’s right – every time one of your people needs to come to you to ask a question that is not of the nature of ‘why do we do this?’, it is actually a failure of your work system. Read more…

Cross-functional relationships: start with one!

Ethan was enthused and exasperated at the same time.

“OK, I can see there’s this model for sorting out our cross-functional relationships.  Tears, tars or something, and a lot of words like audit, monitor, coordinate and stuff like that.  All sounds great.”

“You don’t seem to think it’s all great” I offered.

“Well it’s not.  We’ve got a million of these relationships.  Everyone talks to everyone, and to go through and work out every role relationship in the place would take a decade, and wouldn’t it just turn us into a bureaucracy anyway?”

“Sure would”.

Ethan looked surprised – “but you’ve seen this stuff work before”.

“Yep”.

“So what do I need to do”?

“We fix one“.

“One?”

“Yep, one”. Read more…

Stop happying and start helping

“HAPPIER EMPLOYEES ARE MORE PRODUCTIVE” screamed recent headlines as a study from the University of Warwick hit the streets.  Music to the ears of some HR practitioners who see their role as Entertainment Officers with the responsibility of making work fun for employees, rather than their actual role of assisting managers to provide the conditions to lift productivity.

I don’t think the study is necessarily wrong.  An employee that does not feel that their organisation respects them, that can’t trust the organisation to not cause them harm, and who gets treated in a way that does not feel fair is never going to put their best effort forward.  And they’re not going to be happy.

But to conclude from the study that organisations should provide chocolates and bean-bags or offer free meditation sessions for every employee is simply not valid. Read more…

The simple way to good service area relationships

“I can’t win” sighed John.

“Tough day?” I asked.  John was the Senior Manager of Work Health & Safety in a large organisation.

“It’s my senior colleagues from other areas” he began.  “We need a better approach to work health and safety around here, but that’s not going to happen if they don’t listen.”

“Why don’t they?”

“Because if I was them, I’d be doing exactly the same!  They’ve got serious businesses to run, they’re all on the hook for more profit next year and delivering services better.  Then along comes one of my team and somehow they’re supposed to prioritise my stuff’?” Read more…

The real job of middle management

Matt Darling invented a system called Smart Ward in the most tragic of circumstances.  It puts touchscreens into hospitals which look like the ones in hospitality where staff use wristbands to identify themselves then can enter and access data.  The result is less duplication and more reliable information, allowing nurses to do what they’re good at – nursing, and reducing mistakes due to admin overload.

ABC ran this article the day before Christmas, and a warning that the photo of Matt’s little girl may bring a tear to your eye.

Here’s the point:  the decision to implement a system such as this is why middle management exists. Read more…

Baby and bathwater

There’s a trend going on to reject managers and management, the latest being Zappos, a subsidiary of Amazon.  And fair enough when we get definitions of ‘manage’ that read like this:

“To direct or control the use of”
“To have control of…” 

I’m pretty sure you’re like me in that you don’t like being controlled.  Or used.  Or commanded for that matter.   So if we get too much of this, we leave, or even worse, just show up with a blank stare and look forward to lunch.

No wonder management has a bad name, and it’s enabler – hierarchy. Read more…

Pay grades – how to make them work

ASO4, APS2, PSO3…and countless other classifications are all around the world, denoting the different gradings that determine what someone is paid.  Government is a common spot where this is found, but in no way is government alone.

The concept itself is fine.  The original work of organisational scientist Elliott Jaques studied pay levels and the findings were clear that it was believed to be fair that those doing more complex work receive higher levels of pay..

So why is it the case that government departments have the reputation for bureaucracy, frustration and an inability to deliver? Read more…

Improving processes? This first…

Processes in your business are what makes a customer requirement a non-surprising event – your people know what to do to hit the expectations that you’ve put out into the market.  They know what comes first, what comes next, who does what, what they use, and it all flows like a swift-moving happy river to the sea no matter what.

Right?

Right.

I know a couple of outstanding improvement specialists who have never come across a business process where they didn’t create significant ROI for their clients, and when I ask them how they do it, the answer is “we look”. Read more…