Be on the same page.

Do you have an employee who isn't performing up to your expectations? Is there a boss, who doesn't perform to his employee's expectations? What do you do when the employee and the boss don't have the same concept of what their roles are?

Contrary to what you might think, this miscommunication occurs more frequently the higher you go up the corporate ladder. After all, expectations of the line employees are usually very well defined, and the actions to be taken when an employee is not meeting these expectations ate generally spelled out.

Going Up the Ladder

It becomes more difficult as soon as the bargaining unit is left, The expectations of a line supervisor are fairly well agreed upon. The line supervisor is expected to establish an atmosphere where his employees will have good attendance. do high quality work and put forth a good effort, Of course, none of those things can be easily measured. These problems can magnify every step up the corporate ladder. Not only is performance hard to measure, but there frequently isn't agreement about what is expected.

What is expected of a quality manager? There seems to be as many definitions as there ate facilities. Is the quality manager responsible for identifying defects or identifying and correcting the cause? What happens if the correction he wants to apply isn't the same as the one the foundry superintendent wants to use? Is the quality manager responsible for setting the targets for key variables? What is his responsibility when he notes that production employees aren't following established procedures? I've seen different answers to all of these questions in various operations.

Now, think about the job of the foundry manager. I've seen operations where the responsibilities and authority that go with that title ate almost unending. On the other hand, there are a]so those places where the foundry manager is little more than a leadman, Is the foundry manager responsible for cost improvements? Does he decide that a different lining material would be good for the operation or is he the one that decides that it's time for a new melting system? Does he decide whether someone is capable of running a molding machine or that it's time for a new machine? Is he expected to recognize the need for a new core machine? Is he expected to develop the justification for new machinery, of does he merely do the best with what he has?

With these differences in operations, there's little wonder why so many problems with the performance of subordinates occur, The subordinate frequently has one definition of the job, while the boss has another.

It's easy to visualize potential problems when the boss and employee learned under different systems, Fortunately, in the case of new hires, the interviewing process gets the boss and subordinate on the same page.

The problem does magnify itself under two sets of conditions. It's easy to see that bringing in a new boss is likely to reveal problems. The old boss and the subordinate may have been on the same page, but the new one brings in a different view of what should be happening. What can cause even more frustration is when boss and subordinate have matured in the same system but the boss decides that system is not working any longer. The problem is obvious--all of a sudden what has always been good enough isn't.

Finding Common Ground

What's the solution? If you're an employee who feels the boss doesn't appreciate the job you're doing, the fix is simple, but not very easy--you have to find out what he wants. You could try simply asking, but if you're already sensing his displeasure, that probably isn't the way to go, You'll just confirm in the boss's mind that you don't know your job (while it's true you don't by his definition, you don't want to admit it to him). You're going to interpret his expectations by paying attention to what pushes his hot button--both good and bad, What do you get "the look" for? What causes him to relax? No, it's not precise, but it's better than doing nothing.

If you're the boss, the first thing you need to do is make sure you know exactly what you believe your employees; jobs entail. It won't be easy for you to be explicit, but if you can't define what they're supposed to be doing, what's the chance of getting them to understand? A second step is to decide if your definition is realistic.

Once you have a realistic description, then you have to decide what the cause of the problem is. Does the employee not know what you expect? Is he notable to do what you expect? Is it something else altogether? No matter which of these alternatives you initially believe, making sure you're both on the same page is a good first step.

Roy Lobenhofer,

Lobenhofer Consulting, Inc., Mt. Prospect, Illinois