1. The Power of Completion

Those on the team will see that you believe in the task, and if it is important to you, it will be important to them. They will derive their loyalty to the project based on what they see in your leadership. They generally look to you as an example, so you need to ask yourself some important questions concerning your mind-set in overseeing a task or project:

1. Do you believe it is doable?

2. Do you believe that the human resources are competent enough to complete it?

3. Do you believe that the organization really needs this done and will benefit from it?

1. The scope—Boundaries as to only what needs to be accomplished.

2. The goal or deliverable—What is the product, service, or desired output the task or project is assigned to produce.

In some cases the goal might be defined, but not understanding the boundaries or scope allows for tasks to expand or migrate beyond what was originally intended, making it harder or making it take longer to complete. Without a clearly defined scope, resources can get misdirected or distracted, leading them down a path that is unnecessary, wasting time and effort.

Part of why completion might be difficult is that unrealistic goals might be set. If an overly optimistic completion time was set in a management meeting, a task can fail if that time frame is not attainable. If all the components of a task or project were not originally accounted for, an unrealistic time frame might have been set. In understanding the time requirements of task items, the manager must know how that information was obtained. Were the time frames simply your best guess or did you seek expert advice in getting accurate time assessments? One of the biggest problems with managing a task or project is holding to the schedule. If the schedule was built with inaccurate time information, holding to the schedule will be difficult, and you will feel you have no power in completing the task or project.

Another area to consider is the skill set of the team. If the skill set of the team is inadequate to address the scope of the task, the task has a much higher probability of failure. Acquiring the appropriate skill sets within the team can have a very big impact on the success of the task. Some resources might overstate their abilities just to get on the team for notoriety. Other resources might be assigned to task teams by their manager even though they lack in their skill sets, but they might be the only resources available.

Another part of proper assessment involves gathering information needed about the task or project. The power in completion actually goes back to the beginning, to having a clear scope of the goal and accurate cost and schedule data. Reporting on the status of a task might be accurate as to what is happening at that time but might appear over budget or behind schedule with reference to your original data set at the start of the task. If you had more accurate information at the beginning, reporting on the task will appear better if you are actually staying on course. So be careful about who is at fault here—if the team is doing their job, the numbers are only off because of inaccurate baseline data that you set at the beginning.

Organization is critical because the team is more likely to support the task or project if there appears to be time invested in organizing the task. Teams need leadership, direction, and organization; without these fundamental components there is no power in completion or, in most cases, any completion at all. Organizations that are not efficient can usually trace this back to a lack of leadership in their management that directly affects the bottom line. Most of what the working staff understands about the professionalism of the organization comes from their perception of management.

This can also trickle down to how staff members view the organization of task assignments and projects within the department. Do not underestimate the perception of a team because most teams can get a sense of buy-in and organization from the leader very quickly in the first meeting.

Good organization is a sign that thought and time have been spent and care was taken to assess the details. The team will see this and realize how much this project means to the manager, which will drive the importance directly home to them. This is power in completing tasks or projects in your department. There has to be a driving force that steers the team, keeps them focused, assigns tasks, and holds them accountable to get things done. Teams that are left to develop the tasks on their own tend to struggle with arguments and run into delays, and team members become disinterested in the task because it doesn’t appear to be important to anyone. These are the projects that fail. This doesn’t mean that the manager always has to lead a team for them to be successful, but it means that there should be a designated leader and the entire team should know who is leading the team.

1. Having a clear understanding of what needs to be done

2. Being expected to produce the assigned task within a given time frame

Accountability applies to managers overseeing an assigned objective and the staff assigned the actual task items to be completed. The focus here is on having team players take ownership of task items and having the overseeing manager be held accountable for the task’s completion. As just a reminder, managers are responsible for getting processes completed in their department and hiring staff to carry out the tasks. Team members need to be held to a quality standard in producing their task. It is one thing to complete an assignment, but the accountability needs to ensure completeness in both scope and quality of what is being produced.

Managers have a tendency to overcommit in meetings or to say that they will complete projects or task items when they don’t really have the data to support what their team can actually do. This can be dangerous for the team because they had no input on the commitment but are now held accountable for that commitment. This can also be bad for the manager because it will be difficult to keep the team focused on the scope of the project and on schedule. Do not sell your team short by inaccurately committing, but rather find the correct information and then update the other managers on what you are committing to. This will increase your credibility with not only your peers but also your team.

After the project is underway, the flow of information is critical. How often does the management team meet to get the status on tasks or projects? Meeting too often does not allow enough time for task items to complete, but not meeting frequently enough takes the accountability away from the managers in reporting accurately. Status meeting must be scheduled frequently enough to capture the right amount of data to be reported yet be efficient in management’s time and mitigating of problems. Not knowing about problems as quickly as possible can have a detrimental effect on the task or project.

Sticking to an original plan can be good, but consider being open-minded and looking into other ways to accomplish a task.

In some cases, brainstorming sessions with your team can reveal slightly different approaches that might be more efficient.

These types of activities can be great for both discovering new things about your project and building a great team.

For the manager, this can be an eye-opening experience, revealing how many different alternatives there can be to accomplishing a task or project. This type of process approach can be a very effective decision-processing tool for the manager, as well as an opportunity to learn more about your team members and how the team interacts. This can also be used as an instructional tool for team building.

Always keep this question in mind: “What is the fastest and most cost-effective way to complete a task or project correctly?”

1. Opportunity—The resource is capable of performing the normal task and enjoys the opportunity to participate in other assignments, further developing the resource and improving his job satisfaction. “They enjoy it.”

2. Punishment—The resource wants only to perform his required duty and feels that he should not have to be involved in other tasks or projects. This resource might or might not be capable of performing extra tasks and will see this as an increased stressful work environment. “They hate it.”

In most cases a manager will present these opportunities by asking for volunteers, to get those most likely to embrace the opportunity and not see it as drudgery. The warning here is to not forget that this resource not only is performing her regular duty, but is taking on extra work and will need to have guidance in modifying her work schedule to include additional tasks. This is where problems can start and managers can either gain power or lose it.

Managers might come out of a meeting with an action item list and start throwing resources on new tasks just to get things started. Managers engaged in these new tasks or projects can get overly focused on completing those tasks and forget that these resources have their regular job to perform. Managers still have an operation to run and need to schedule these resources according to what the operation can afford. When these resources are off of their normal job, the organization suffers as a result. This is offset by what the resource is contributing on the special task that will benefit the organization. So as a net result the resource’s time and completion of assignments is in balance relative to the bigger picture in the organization.

If too much time is spent on the special tasks, morale might decline because people get their satisfaction from performing their normal job.

There is a threshold that people will have in the balance of their normal job versus time spent on a special task that yields a certain job satisfaction. With some, too much time on the task takes them away from their normal job and they cross over the threshold and begin to resent the task for taking them away from their job, resulting in lower job satisfaction. On the other hand, there are people who thrive on the special task assignments and want to get away from their normal job to get the satisfaction they desire. They want to be on several tasks and avoid their normal job as much as possible. This might or might not be good for the organization or the resource. This topic is covered in Chapter 5, “Managing Your Resources.”

One of the problems with initially structuring a project relates to going into enough detail on the tasks to cover all the items that will need to be completed. If this data is not accurate, the manager is starting off with incomplete information about the project that can result in inaccurate schedule or cost information. There are several benefits to breaking down tasks or projects into smaller parts:

• Creates an outline form of the task or product to better view all work required.

• Breaks up the project into major components or steps.

• Makes it easier to define each step and breaks steps into smaller work packages.

• Reduces the chance of forgetting required steps.

• Makes it easier to communicate the work to the project team.

• Creates a better resource scheduling tool.

• Enables the project to run more efficiently.

• Allows the manager to have better problem and risk management.

• Enables the manager to more accurately report the status.

When projects are broken up into smaller components, resources are likely to view their part as a smaller, easier task to complete than if they see their part listed as a single large item taking a long time to complete. Part of the power in this tool stems from the perception the resource has of his work. This can be a perception of his regular duty or of an additional task he volunteered for. In many cases the title of Manager or Director can be daunting due to the responsibility involved, but in reality it is just a bunch of smaller jobs that make up that title. How a resource views what he is required to do can play a big role in his perception of a workload. Breaking up projects or tasks into smaller parts allows the resource to see that it might be much easier to complete a large item than originally thought. This can be equally beneficial for the manager. This is also how project managers view a project and how they communicate the tasks, as just small parts that each resource needs to focus on.

Managers are more successful when they have a sense of organization and control over tasks being worked on in their department. Managers should look for ways to make their department run more efficiently and should have more details on what resources are doing, allowing the manager more information to consider alternatives. When managers have the ability to actually manage and control the work performed in their department, they feel better about their job. People working on a project or working in that department can see that the manager is organized, has a sense of vision and direction as to the work being performed, and knows what the end goal is leading up to. This also promotes accountability within the department or team as resources can see more details about what is required and when.

One tool used in project management that the operations manager can use to better organize a department is a work breakdown structure, or WBS, as shown in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1. Work Breakdown Structure Illustrated in Microsoft Excel

This structure can be built using Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project. The work breakdown structure is used to subdivide work into smaller tasks. You can continue to break down these subtasks as far as you need to go until you get to what’s called the work package. This helps the manager organize tasks in sequence and reveals which subtasks need to be completed before others can start, which is called the predecessor. Predecessors help the manager understand the flow of work and sequence of tasks. This also helps the manager understand, from an accountability standpoint, who will need to complete their work before other work can start.

The manager can also use this work breakdown structure to assign resources to tasks, smaller subtasks, and work packages. The manager can use these resource assignments for those overseeing a task or the people actually doing the task. Other things can be assigned in the work breakdown structure, such as costs for resources and materials, start and stop times that define the timeframe in which a task will need to be completed, and quality checkpoints. This tool can be used for projects or general organization of a department that has several components of work that need to be scheduled in sequence.

The work breakdown structure can help the manager not only see information relative to tasks and resources, but also better organize and plan for resources that will be used later on the project. The manager might also want to use a WBS to help capture all the tasks that need to be done on a large project. When large projects are first organized, it can be difficult to understand everything that needs to be completed because there might be a large amount of work to be done or it might span a long duration of time. Starting off with main subdivided parts of the project can act as an information repository that can be further organized to define the work that needs to be completed. In most cases further refinement is in allocation of resources.

One area of concern in operations management is resource management. Resources can be in the form of facilities, capital equipment, cash or lines of credit, IT and communications systems, and human resources. In the work breakdown structure, the manager can assign not only human resources to tasks, but also other resources that might be required to complete a project. This is critical for efficiency within the organization because most companies do not have an unlimited supply of resources and an organized scheduling structure. Some resources needed by a manager might be critical, such as a line of credit, expensive equipment, corporate aircraft, or resources used by an outside company or contractor. These types of resources require special care and in some cases require contracts to be written that will define the scope of what is needed by the resource. Financial resources can be small and easily managed within the department or they can be very large, requiring a line of credit or a significant amount of the company’s financial resources. This is when the manager could use a work breakdown structure to help other managers like financial managers understand when critical pieces of finances need to be used on a project.

One thing midlevel managers might not be aware of is the amount of cash flow required by a company. Cash flow is typically used for such things as salaries, materials, equipment, and running the operation, but when a special task or project is underway, extra financial resources might be required to complete critical things on a project or areas of the operation. Using a WBS works well with coordinating tasks on a project or cost-sensitive areas of the operation with the financial department to not only plan cash flow but also coordinate with all the departments in the organization. This is done differently at various levels of management and responsibility.

If the manager has responsibility over a single department, overseeing special projects within that department might be more simplified. In this case, the manager is generally more focused on the people and details of tasks being done. Another level might be the operations manager in charge of several departments or facilities. This level of management requires a more organizational approach and tools like a work breakdown structure to help with identification and the sequence of processes or defining of special projects. It will be important to coordinate resources used on normal departmental activities and those on special projects. This type of tool brings organization, definition, logistics, resources, and accountability all together and makes them all visible in one single tool and increases your power as a manager in completing tasks.

Executive management is looking at not only the ability of managers to accomplish their normal responsibilities, but also how successful they are at running special tasks and projects and getting them done! This is primarily the ability to complete special tasks or projects. When scheduled completion dates are accurately assessed and hit on a project, the manager knows that the team did a good job when completing the task. This doesn’t mean that the manager can just push out the dates to ensure that they will always be met, because then these tasks would drag on too long. Managers have to be diligent in sticking to the schedule and managing teams to get things done. In some cases it might be wise to get more accurate information about completion dates instead of committing to a schedule knowing that it’s not realistic.

This can be the first step in understanding how to gain power in completion. Try to improve your process of being better organized as a manager, taking a few extra steps in understanding what you are getting yourself and your team into. Most mistakes made can usually be tracked back to poor assessment of time, resources, or cost or scope of the task, and this results in tasks either not getting completed or taking too long to complete. This is when the operations manager is not thinking like a project manager and is focusing too much attention on the department’s normal work and not enough time on special tasks that need a detailed mind like that of a project manager. The operations manager can do this; they just need to know when and have some basic tools to help organize the project. Completing these special projects on time and efficiently saves the organization time and money, increasing power in both the manager and the organization. The other way to view this is in the organization of normal everyday processes and how much control or power the manager has in accomplishing those tasks.

One key part of effective managing is the manipulation of resources to improve processes or a project budget and/or schedule. There are two fundamental approaches in overseeing processes or projects: reporting and managing. In reporting, the manager is observing the team progress and reporting the status. In managing, there is the manipulation of things within the project that allows the manager to bring a project back on schedule or budget. This is accomplished first by outlining all the tasks that need to be completed and setting a baseline of project cost and schedule. As a project progresses, you can compare real-time data to the baseline to monitor any deviations and look for ways to shift resources to get costs or the schedule back in line. Depending on how you have your task or project set up, there are some tools that can help bring things back on schedule, several of which are covered in later chapters.

When a process is being completed, resources need to know what to do if something goes wrong. The manager can add more resources to improve the schedule, or in other cases the manager can purchase or lease something that will help fix the problem. In any case, the manager needs to have some idea as to how to fix a problem, and this goes into the area of risk assessment, management, and being able to actually identify potential problems before they happen.

1. Doing tasks simultaneously—If there are several tasks in a row, each having to be completed before the next can start, then reevaluate the sequence to see whether that is necessary. There might be a couple of tasks that can be run together or in parallel, allowing you to get you back on schedule.

2. Sequencing of task starts and stops—In the initial layout of a project, you have certain tasks that have to be completed before the next task can start. Reevaluate whether that is true because there might be other tasks that can start before all the requirements of the previous task have been completed. This will allow you to get a jump on the schedule.

3. Adding more resources from other tasks—You might have to get more resources for a given task or process that is taking too long to complete. Remember, resources can be anything the organization has, whether human, equipment, computers, or lines of credit. Temporarily adding a few more human resources on a task can bring it back on schedule and help the overall completion date. Every day you slip adds to the end date!

4. Evaluating the scope or requirement of the task—What did you set out to accomplish and did you bite off more than you could chew? Sometimes taking another look at what you are doing can help bring focus back to the team. Teams also have a tendency to get distracted and drift off topic, putting them behind. Keep the team focused on the task at hand.

5. Determining whether you have the right skill sets on this project or task—Evaluate who is on your team or in the department and whether they really have the skills to complete the tasks and processes on schedule and on budget. It is great to have lesser-skilled resources on a task to give them the experience they need in order to improve. There is a schedule and a budget that also have to be met, however, and if those resources will likely struggle to hit those targets, you might have to get them a little help or consider another, more skilled resource.

The manager might be overseeing several tasks and processes and might need to act as a program or project manager. This requires some other skills or knowledge that managers might not have. Depending on how high up the managers are and how many departments they oversee, they might view their departments like projects within a program to help organize them. How do you view your organization—as a department with a bunch of resources doing stuff? Or do you view it as a bunch of smaller groups or cells like small project groups?

One rule in organizing operations is to break things down into smaller components. This allows you to visualize and see the separate parts of your organizations more clearly. This is why a CEO doesn’t manage all the departments in the organization, because they would just see one mass of resources. When an organization is broken down into smaller departments, the CEO can see separate functional parts of the company being managed independently.

The operations manager needs to view his department or organization the same way, as smaller groups or components, to better monitor and control his department. This is also taken down another level to completing tasks, processes, or projects as you break them down into smaller pieces to better understand the goal of the task and help organize the resources working on the task. Depending on how big the process or project is, you might have to break down each piece further into smaller subtasks.

Organization starts with the “view” or perception managers have of what they are managing. One of the successful tools project managers have is the visibility of the project, and breaking the project down gives better clarity of the details. Viewing the department in smaller pieces helps give clarity and detail to what is being done, allowing the manager to actually “manage” tasks, costs, and schedules so that completion is realized. This also allows the manager to take on special projects as well and see them to completion, giving the manager power in what they are trying to accomplish. The perception will be of organization, visibility, and knowing that they are more in control than simply watching. Managers need to know that they have the ability to make changes if needed, and using key tools will give the manager confidence to “manage.”

• The power tool here involves helping the team stay focused on only what is required to ensure that they are efficient in completing their task.

• Accurate time frames and schedule information are necessary for developing the overall completion time that will be reported. Having realistic time information will help match times during the execution of the task or project, ensuring that resources are more likely to stay on schedule. This is another way you build power in completing tasks.

• The ability of the manager to select staff with appropriate skill sets is another way to build power in completing things in the organization.

• Managers who believe in something will invest time in it and will lead it.

• Being organized is good for both the manager and the team. Good organization involves having specifics identified, such as detailed tasks, names of people assigned to certain tasks and why, time frames and scopes of individual task items for those doing the tasks, and maybe even some potential risks.

• Another tool in the power of completion and in accountability is having accurate data. Try not to guess!

• Think out of the box and consider other alternatives.

• There might be others in the organization who have done something similar in the past whom you can consult to find out “lessons learned” and mistakes that were made that you can avoid.

• Brainstorming can touch on some team skills such as listening versus hearing and information gathering meetings that can reveal other ways to accomplish things.

• It is important for a manager to keep an open mind in how she approaches decision processing and to consider other areas for information that can help develop the best course of action.

• You have to maintain a balance of normal departmental duty work and special project work to make the most efficient use of resource time and benefit to the organization.

• When you have a task or project assignment, it is best to break it up into smaller subtasks that will allow for better definition of what is required and better management of each part.

• The power of completion is in organization that allows more control over work being performed. This is seen not just in reporting on tasks, but also in actually feeling as though you have control over your resources, task detail, and scheduling options as a result of better task organization.

• Assessing areas of risk is not hard; it just requires some time spent asking questions of key individuals about what can go wrong so that you can plan for the problems.

Planning for problems is a great way to “manage” a process or project because you feel you have more control when you have tried to account for details such as potential risks.