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Management Side
Week of 20 October 14: Messes Part One--Inheriting a Mess

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This is a subject we covered over a decade ago in this column. But we have many newer readers and the rest of us likely have forgotten what I said on the subject. It is worth going over again, and there are some fresh ideas to discuss, as well.

The scenario I want to set before you is one in which you are brought into a new job. It could be from the outside or it could be an internal transfer--makes no difference. Likewise, your new area of responsibility could have been known to you to be a mess or you are surprised by this after landing there. Again, no difference--this is where you find yourself.

The question is: What to do? Where do you start?

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You start in two places at once. First, you find out the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) associated with your responsibilities and keep an eye on them. Second, you start setting an example in your own personal workplace, which includes the transportation you take to work each day.

The KPIs are important, but not overly so in the first few weeks. You'll be forgiven if you flub them to start with, and your direct reports, even if incompetent, are used to looking at them at least a little. They may not know what to do about them, but, if they are like most people, they certainly don't want to be yelled at and so have in some crude way tried to keep them under control.

It is more important that you be under control and project an image of being under control. Make sure your new digs, even if they consist only of a desk in an open space in the middle of chaos are--you guessed it--clean and organized. I don't care if your desk is World War II surplus and is dinged, scraped and rusted. It should be the cleanest dinged, scraped and rusted World War II surplus desk on the planet when you have finished cleaning it up. And you are going to keep it that way. Target for accomplishing this: end of first week.

Next, you are going to determine your mission. You are going to discover its shape and form by talking and observing. Talk to lots of people, both within your own area (your direct reports as well as those under them) and your customers. If you are in maintenance, your customers are easy; they are all local. If you are in production, some of your customers may be local (an adjacent printing or converting plant) and some may be far away. Your first link to these far-away customers will be the sales force.

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Thanks and a question which you likely can't answer ... Check out the latest edition of Strategic & Financial Arguments.

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Listen a lot, talk little. Beware of those who want to be conspiratorial in their discussions with you. You'll know them by the way they start the conversation: "Let me tell you how things really work around here..." I'll give you the proper interpretation of this: "Let me tell you how I have survived around here..." Listen to them, but carefully.

It will be great if you can spend a shift "in the trenches" alongside the production workers in your area. If your area involves several departments or even several lines of similar equipment, try to do a shift on each line. You'll find that even identical production lines, for example, in a converting plant, are operated differently by different crews. If your area is utilities, do likewise, particularly on an off shift in the powerhouse. See what they do.

After a month of these activities, take a day and set your course of action. Look over your notes, use your education, experience and street smarts to create your personal plan. Set goals for one, three and six months. And every month, reset goals for one, three and six months. Do this for at least the first year. It's likely, if you have followed this plan, that you'll be promoted in your second year.

About executing your plan--avoid big speeches. Your plan's execution involves demonstrable actions, quiet correction of your employees, and loud praise when they do something right. You manage by example, not yelling, not cursing, but example. And cleanliness is next to godliness when it comes to setting an example, which is why your car and your old desk are noticeable in a positive way to your direct reports. They show you have high standards from the start.

Did I miss anything, considering that I tried to stuff all of this into less than 1,000 words? If you have any ideas, please offer them in our quiz this week, which you may take here.

For safety this week: we know it comes first, even though it is at the end of this column.

Be safe and we will talk next week.

You can own your Nip Impressions Library by ordering "Raising EBITDA ... the lessons of Nip Impressions."


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