Mastley Performance Group

Jay Shafer builds tiny houses at TumbleWeedhouses.com.  It’s a different lifestyle, and I always appreciate a new perspective.  He dropped his mortgage, hefty heating bills, maid service, lawn service, and everything else that comes with a 4000 square foot house to live simply and freely.  He built a tiny house with the essentials, a bathroom, sitting room, kitchen, loft bedroom, and front porch, and then people asked him to build one for them. Now he sells plans to do it yourself or the small houses already built. Many of them can be pulled behind a truck, so travelers are buying them to see the country. People buy them to put on a lake lot or to use as a guest house or detached office or art studio.  Some folks live in them full time. I think it would be cool for a college student who wanted her own space.

You would lose a lot of space, “…a lot of wasted space,” Jay Shafer would say. What would you gain? A simpler life. Less clutter. A cleaner house. A tiny decorating budget. Curious friends. Of course, if more than one shows up, you’ll have to move outside for comfortable conversation.

The most obvious indicator of a sloppy management style and an unsafe place to work is poor housekeeping. You can see it as soon as you enter the warehouse.  Exit doors are blocked by pallets of material, fire extinguishers are on the floor, and aisles are mysteries rather than safe and clear passageways.  Products hang precariously over the edges of racks, tools are in piles on work tables, and extension cords run across floors. When I ask if the operator has seen the guard to the table saw, he says, “It’s around here somewhere. I know we used to have it.”  That answer would lead to trouble with OSHA, and managers would be hard-pressed to justify the response.

Poor housekeeping leads to unnecessary slip and trip hazards, fire hazards, and creates other potentially dangerous scenarios. If two people are carrying a large window, trying to load a truck, and one of them has to step over or around clutter on the dock, the odds of dropping that window or jerking someone’s back out shoot up dramatically.  Managers who keep a clean warehouse usually keep better records, have more inventory turns, experience less shrinkage, and have less on-the-job injuries than their messy peers. If you knew customers were visiting the plant, would your management team want them to visit the clean, well organized, efficiently productive and safe plant or the other one? Easy answer.

Housekeeping is a sign of management effectiveness. I visited ten Southwire distribution centers last year to perform air and noise monitoring, and I was consistently impressed with the level of employee involvement, the clear aisles, the marked racks, the mounted fire extinguishers, the unblocked exit doors, the neatly arranged and staged materials on the dock, and how quickly managers could locate anything I needed.  Those were signs of management effectiveness.  They get the job done safely.

Pretend you’re a visitor in your plant, and look around with a fresh perspective.  If it looks disorganized and messy, it could be creating liability for your business.  Keep it clean, and you’ll be keeping it safer for everyone.

Scott Mastley, SPHR, MBA, is a management consultant, coach, and speaker who works with leaders who want to increase performance and limit liability in their businesses.www.mastleyperformancegroup.com

The alarm sounds evil when it beeps at 5:30 AM, and I want to ignore it and go back to sleep.  Rolling out of bed requires a motivational talk, a debate in my head, about the benefits of rising early and managing the day versus the consequences of being lazy. Once I’m up I feel great, enjoy the drive to the gym, and am glad that I put in a workout first thing in the morning.  My body doesn’t always feel like doing it, but my brain knows that I’ll feel guilty if I skip it.  That’s what a habit can do for you.

Once you’ve developed a positive daily habit, your mind reminds you—nags you—until you’ve followed through on it.  I interviewed Nido Qubein, the President of Highpoint University in North Carolina, and he said something simple and profound, “Life is about discipline or regret. Pick one of the two.”  You either have the discipline to do what needs to be done and what should be done to achieve your personal and professional goals or you regret the lack of action and results in your life.  Your brain will not let you forget.  It knows what you want to do.

If you want to be a better manager, creating habits is one way to get there.  Here are some good habits to develop:

Make sure your employees know exactly what is expected of them by asking them about their priorities and sharing your priorities.

• Thank them with a handshake and a smile when they’re doing well.
• Let people know what you like by being specific with positive feedback.  Saying, “You’re doing a good job,” is meaningless.  Say, “I can count on you because you’re here on time, ready to work, have enthusiasm, and are diplomatic with the customers.”
• Give corrective feedback as soon as it’s necessary.  Don’t wait.
• Be approachable.  Make time for the people who are making you look good.
• Ask, “What should I know that I don’t seem to know?”
• Ask, “How can I help you succeed?”

Doing what needs to be done, whether you want to do it or not, usually generates a feeling of accomplishment and gets results.  Work on those daily habits, the ones that will lead to greater performance for you and your team, and your management skills will grow daily.  Why live with regret when a little discipline can give you great satisfaction?

Scott Mastley, SPHR, MBA, is a management consultant, coach, and speaker who works with leaders who want to increase performance and limit liability in their businesses.www.mastleyperformancegroup.com

Do you spend your time trying to keep up with changes in employment laws?  Do you wonder if you’re even close to compliance? Do you receive the alerts about proposed legislation and start to panic?  Has your management style been affected by workplace legislation?

“Nearly 90 percent of the 429 small employers (fewer than 500 employees) responding to a survey by the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) reported that employment regulations had increased and grown more complex over the past 10 years. More than half of the respondents said they now spend at least 10 percent more time in administrative efforts to comply with workplace regulations than they did 10 years ago.

The respondents weren’t very impressed by efforts by governments to reduce the administrative burdens of workplace regulations. Only 3 percent felt that the federal government has put a dent in bureaucratic red tape and paperwork. However, 49 percent of the businesses did believe the government had been “somewhat effective” in reducing the burdens, while the remaining 48 percent said that government efforts to reduce paperwork had “not been effective at all.”

When asked to rank which workplace laws posed the biggest compliance challenges, the No. 1 response was workers’ compensation. The respondents ranked reporting federal income- and employment-related taxes for workers as the second-toughest challenge. Compliance with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ranked third.”

Bill Leonard wrote that in 2007.  Small businesses are still struggling to keep up with employment laws.  Outside consultants can minimize the length of the learning curve by cutting down on research time and providing best practices.  Focus on what you do and get help with the rest.

Scott Mastley, SPHR, MBA, is a management consultant, coach, and speaker who works with leaders who want to increase performance and limit liability in their businesses.www.mastleyperformancegroup.com

Mike’s name comes up for random drug testing, and he says he’s too busy to visit the clinic.  Mike is a strong performer.  He is a valuable member of the team.  Does his manager let him slide altogether, make him submit the sample, or say he can do it any time this week? I would make him submit the sample before the end of the workday.  What if he says there’s a chance he could fail?  Mike’s high school reunion was over the weekend, and he hit the joint as it passed by, just for old time’s sake. I would make him submit the sample before the end of the workday. What if he swears that he goes to church every Sunday, has never done drugs in his life, and promises to get it done next week?  Make him take the drug test.   If you have a written drug policy and testing program, stick with it.  You can make employment decisions based on objective results with less risk than decisions based on the fact that Mike is your neighbor, goes to your church, has worked with you a long time, etc.  Trust and verify.

If you are a manager, trust your employees to do their jobs and verify their results.  Verifying the results is not in conflict with the trust you’ve given them; that’s part of your job.  If you don’t follow up on the results, you can’t confirm performance.  When a safety supervisor says she has delivered and documented all required safety training for the year, congratulate her and take a look at the records.  Give her the satisfaction of showing you the proof of her efforts.  Make sure they are complete. Trust and verify.

Management is about showing concern, demonstrating competence, and building confidence. Trust invites cooperation, and cooperation builds trust.  Verifying the results keeps everyone on the right track.

Scott Mastley, SPHR, MBA, is a management consultant, coach, and speaker who works with leaders who want to increase performance and limit liability in their businesses.www.mastleyperformancegroup.com

Mark Eaton, 7 ft 4 former center for the Utah Jazz, was the morning keynote speaker at a recent event in Chicago where I was speaking in the afternoon.  His is a story of success after success, and I love to listen to people who know how to win.  He said, “What seems reasonable to us is what appeals to our reason–doing what we’ve done before. Doing the unreasonable when it doesn’t violate your integrity is exactly what sets you apart.”  Sometimes we have to open ourselves to new ideas and try new approaches to old problems.  As Mark explained, unless you create “an environment of safety and freedom where people trust each other,” you won’t have a championship team.

Scott Mastley, SPHR, MBA, is a management consultant, coach, and speaker who works with leaders who want to increase performance and limit liability in their businesses.www.mastleyperformancegroup.com

I was a corporate HR and Safety Director for 9 years, and I’ve been consulting and coaching managers and speaking professionally for almost 7 years. Occasionally I’ll think I’ve seen it all, heard it all.  And then the phone rings.  A client calls and says the words that are always fun to hear, “Scott, you won’t believe this…”  Immediately my nonsense side looks forward to hearing the bizarre details of another irrational decision, and my no-nonsense side starts to think about minimizing liability and next steps. This call made me laugh and shake my head in disbelief at the same time.

Client: Scott, you won’t believe this.  A married manager slept with an employee.

Scott: (thinking, not speaking) Heard it. Happens more often than you think.

Client: The manager was drinking at a bar with his wife, and she confronted him about it. He confessed.

Scott: (still thinking)  That’s unusual–the confession part.

Client: They made a deal. The manager agreed to let his wife sleep with an employee to even things up.

Scott: Are you serious?

Client: Yes. The manager and his wife called the employee from the bar and explained why they’d like him to come over to their house.  The manager admitted that he’d been caught cheating and that he needed to make it up to his wife by letting her cheat as well.

Scott: (interested now) Please don’t tell me that the employee went over there.

Client: No, thank goodness. The employee called me and said he didn’t want to go along with his manager’s request.

Scott: Wow.

You can imagine that this situation needed to be discussed with the involved parties, and that a manager was given the opportunity to pursue career interests elsewhere.  Fortunately, this company had encouraged employees to speak up when they had concerns and to bypass the standard reporting hierarchy when necessary.

One person passes a stranger in need of help on the street, and the stranger locks eyes with the person passing. The person looks around for a cue thinking, “What should I do?” He quickly wonders if it’s a joke, if he’s on a hidden camera show, if it’s a scam designed to hurt or embarrass him, if the stranger is really in danger, if help is already on the way, if helping would be safe, and if his day will be greatly delayed by stopping to help.  That’s a lot to process in the few seconds it takes to pass someone on the street.  The good news is that this person will usually stop and help if no one else is around. The bad news is that this person will usually keep walking if there are other people around.

It’s human nature to steer clear of unknowns, and a stranger in danger is a definite unknown. If there’s a group of people walking by with you, you’re likely to look at them for cues.  Do they appear concerned?  Do they look like they believe this stranger? Does anyone appear to be calling for help?  Oh yes, there are a few people looking at the stranger and talking on their cell phones.  Maybe they’re not merely describing the scene for their friend; maybe they’re calling for help.  I would call for help. That’s probably what they’re doing.  I’ll keep moving.

And then we read about a person dying on the street in plain view of people walking by who are apparently unwilling to help. People are often willing to help but assume that help is already on the way. If you’re looking for help, appeal to one person, not to the group.  If you want a safer workplace, explain this concept to your workers. Practice emergency preparedness and realistic responses.  Instruct your workers to look a co-worker in the eyes and say, “Call for help. I think I’m having a heart attack.”   That will work much better than yelling, “Help!”  We’ve all become immune to car alarms, and we simply ignore them. What if a mother looked at you and pleaded, “Someone broke into my car and took my purse. There he goes!”  Would your reaction be different? I bet it would be.

Safety is about recognition, prevention, and response.  Remind your employees that this group effect creates a danger of its own. Teach them to overcome it, to speak up, to get attention, to respond appropriately.  If an ambulance needs to be called, have one person stay with the injured employee and instruct another employee to call the ambulance and report back when the ambulance has been called.  Assign some accountability. Create some focus. Create a safer place to work by working with individuals.

Scott Mastley, SPHR, MBA, is a management consultant, coach, and speaker who works with leaders who want to increase performance and limit liability in their businesses.www.mastleyperformancegroup.com

Da Mayor, a character in Spike Lee’s 1989 film, Do the Right Thing, says, “Always do the right thing.”  Whether you enjoyed the movie or not, Da Mayor makes a good point. If this were your only guiding principle in life, you’d do more good than most of the population.  The problem is that we’re challenged by misguided incentives, selfish desires, and affected by emotional, rather than logical, thinking. It’s not easy to always do the right thing.

Managers are pressured to increase production, maintain quality, demand safety, minimize costs, and develop employees while customers are calling, other departments are pointing fingers, and machinery is malfunctioning.  The typical response to these demands is to start to look out for number one.  Protect your turf, your people, and your career options.

What if you hire a friend?  That’s happening more often; we all have neighbors and relatives who are looking for work.  What if that friend isn’t cutting it? What if your parents are moving in and relying on you? They’re calling you at work and need help. What if you got no bonus this year? Your costs are the same, but your income is less. What if your kids are having trouble in school?  It all comes to work.  It’s all there when you’re making decisions.

It’s easier to rush through a performance review or skip it completely, ignore an employee’s request, fudge a report, talk about people behind their backs, and put the minimum effort into the job. Easy isn’t always right, and we know it.  If I stop and ask myself what the “right thing” is in almost any situation, I know it.  You do, too.  Sometimes it isn’t what we want to do, but we know that if we are being responsible and accountable, it’s the right thing to do. Now, all you have to do is do it.

Do the right thing, and you’ll have more satisfaction, more success, and less regret.  Sounds like a good night’s sleep.

Scott Mastley, SPHR, MBA, is a management consultant, coach, and speaker who works with leaders who want to increase performance and limit liability in their businesses.www.mastleyperformancegroup.com

Good news. Some businesses are starting to grow again, and that means hiring. With all of the talent in the market today, it may be tempting to make one of the most common interviewing mistakes–selling an applicant on your business before you’re sold on her.

Managers often get excited when they’re interviewing an intelligent, experienced, and competent candidate, especially when the business has an open position that needs to be filled as soon as possible.  When I’m coaching a manager to be a better interviewer, I sit in on a few interviews and typically see the manager giving a sales pitch to the applicant about the joys of working for his company. He’ll spend 15 minutes talking about it before he knows if he’s interested in hiring her or if she’s interested in the position.

What’s the problem? The initial interview time should be spent learning about the candidate, not telling the candidate about your business.  It’s too easy to waste valuable time talking about the business or swapping stories when you should be asking questions and listening. Asking. Listening.  That’s it.

If the applicant doesn’t ask about the business at the appropriate time, that tells you something. Once you see potential in an applicant and want to influence her decision, start selling the better points of employment with your company.  If you sell before you’re sold on her, you might be wasting time.  Time is too limited to waste.

Download Interview Like a Pro to avoid this and other common mistakes.

Scott Mastley, SPHR, MBA, is a management consultant, coach, and speaker who works with leaders who want to increase performance and limit liability in their businesses. www.mastleyperformancegroup.com 2010-04-26