Making the Connection: Strategies to Build Effective Personal Relationships (Collection) (41 page)

Following a brief review of quality-control testing data, the new guy starts to ask some questions.

New guy
(interrupting the meeting to ask an obvious and somewhat foolish question): I noticed that all the numbers on the final testing chart are at the lowest possible limit for an acceptable release of product to customers. Am I reading this correctly?

Technical manager:
Where did you say you went to school? (followed by laughter)

QE
(mocking the new guy): Yes. So what?

New guy:
May I see the raw data from the testing lab?

Manufacturing superintendent
(pissed off by this young, inexperienced, ignorant new employee): We do not have time for this BS!

Technical manager
(acting highly insulted): Listen. As you can see, the data shows that the numbers are still all in the range of acceptable performance.

New guy
(unaware that he is a major irritant to everyone in the room): That may be so, but the question I am really asking is have these numbers been rounded?

Quality-control manager
(angered by the assertion that the data was somehow tainted): Yes, and all of it has been done correctly and according to proper scientific notation! You do have a degree, don’t you? (more laughter)

New guy
(undaunted by his obvious ignorance): How many product samples were tested?

Quality-control manager
(annoyed and red-faced): Testing was performed on samples taken randomly from production inventory according to proper procedure. For college graduates, this means that the numbers are statistically relevant.

New guy
(continuing to question the group, although he is by now conscious of the rising stress levels in the room caused by his questions): Although the data is scientifically correct, did any single sample of the product pass all five tests by more than the minimum?

Quality-control manager
: Why you arrogant bastard!

Technical manager
: Do you think we are stupid? There are well over 50 years of experience in this room, and what do you know after being on the job for 1 week?

New guy
(now aware that he has a problem): The numbers we are using to pass the product for release represent a potential problem. They are all low. As a matter of fact, if the testing was as tight as the data suggests, then do you think that any of this product is any good?

PM
(wanting to avoid a meltdown of her first product team): Time for a break. Let’s all get some coffee and reconvene in about 10 minutes.

Collectively, the members of this product team were responsible for a consistent run of profitable new products without encountering any major problems in the market. They had complete confidence in each other and credibility with corporate officers.

The technical and manufacturing leaders escorted the new guy to the coffeepot. Many man-years and millions of dollars had been invested in this product. In addition, their personal reputations were at stake.

These senior managers were not about to allow this newly hired outsider to get in the way of their personal string of successful product releases. Their annual bonus and future compensation rested on these new products, which, at this point in their careers, represented a significant amount of money. They had seen similar situations before where products barely made it through testing but were acceptable in the market. The company was a market leader known for quality products. So, the test data came as no surprise to them.

Even if a problem existed, they knew it would be fixed as quickly as it was discovered. As a matter of fact, that was the role of the new guy. His job was to support this product once it reached the market. They did not take a liking to him.

The hallway discussion was over quickly.

Manufacturing superintendent:
You were assigned to this team to keep your mouth shut and learn. We do not think you are going to work out here. You ask too many questions. You should look for employment elsewhere.

And with that dismissal, the technical manager and the manufacturing superintendent walked back into the meeting room.

As the new guy was returning to his office, his boss (summoned by the PM, who wanted to avoid a nasty scene) met him in the hallway. Effective immediately, the new guy was put on a temporary assignment.

However, now uncertain about the results, the PM nervously reconvened the team without the “new guy.” She was upset. This person whom she had never met before raised doubts in her mind that she could not dismiss as easily as her team members had sent the new guy packing. She elected to put off the final signing, on a technicality, to allow another customer technical-support person to be placed on the team. This proved to be a wise decision.

The product was never released. It did not work, just like the new guy had suggested after questioning the data. However, the business continued to persist in the development of this product because it was high on the wish list of their customers and the earning potential was greater than any other new product planned for the next two years. The invested dollars produced nothing of value. The product never went to market.

This is the story of how I started my career in industry. My reassignment, my punishment for saving the company from a serious problem, was to fly all over the world investigating and resolving customer product-quality complaints. I was to visit each and every site where customers had product-quality complaints that could not be verified in any way by normal procedures and resolve the problem.

I decided to accept the situation. How could I explain a painfully short tenure on my resumé? So, I was on the road (or in the sky) almost every day for nearly a year.

I was completely unequipped for this assignment. I was responsible for customers, and I was empowered to act as their agent. But, I thought this meant very little. I had no influence with anyone at the company. My immediate supervisor and the managers at the next level wanted me to quit and were doing everything possible to encourage me to find another job (so that they wouldn’t have to fire me and run the risk of exposing their product problems). In spite of this, I discovered that I was able to have a significant impact on the company.

I found that I could help solve problems, reduce the number of customer complaints, improve products, and even increase revenue by asking questions. When I called back to the company on behalf of a customer, I questioned everybody and anybody about product quality. I had no problem calling the plant manager, the fascist superintendent who tried to intimidate me into quitting, or anyone else to solve problems for customers—my customers. I was prosecutor, inquisitor, and chief justice of the court of customer confidence.

After all, they had already fired me! I had little interest in the usual politics or politeness that normally gets people promoted out of such awful assignments. The only threat that the company held over me was to stop depositing money into my checking account. Although I knew that day would inevitably arrive, I was on a mission.

It was on this extended journey that I started to recognize the value of questions. Questions got actions. Questions also resulted in more questions. Questions caused people to think. Questions also made people uncomfortable, created stress, and could cause problems of their own.

I asked questions. I listened to the questions others asked in response to my questions. I listened to customers’ questions.

Then, I started to keep notes on the “good” questions until I also realized that almost any question had the potential of having a positive or negative impact (often depending on who was asking and how). I also started to observe what managers said and how managers communicated when they asked questions.

The PM and I became reacquainted when I finally returned to the home office. She shared with me how upset she was by what happened in the project meeting. My questions had raised concerns in her mind that were just not there before I naively opened my mouth. Her instincts told her to be worried not only about the product, but also about the team she was running (and to be concerned about her career). She was on the fast track to be promoted before this bump in the road.

I had stumbled into her project meeting like some kind of drunk, spewing questions without concern for how my behavior might affect others. My questions may have been good ones—and it was clear that my insights were correct—but my approach left a lot to be desired. Our conversation went something like this:

PM:
They laughed a lot after you left the meeting. I felt like crying. After you raised doubts, I had to follow up, and you know the rest. You do know that my boss is the manufacturing superintendent’s wife?

I was dumbstruck. It had not occurred to me that personal as well as professional relationships dot the landscape of businesses. My inexperience had contributed to a near-fatal career event for a talented businesswoman.

Me:
After I started to ask questions, to follow the trail, I just did not know how to stop. Also, I knew that even if I said nothing, I would not have signed that release authorization.

PM:
Well, at the time, I thought my career was over. But if we had let that product out, I would have been blamed for the whole mess anyway and might not have had a job to worry about. So, I did what a product manager is supposed to do—more teams and more meetings. I will get another project, but you had better watch your back.
⁴

Her stressful experience, as a result of being on the other side of my questions, sensitized me to understand that I needed to fully appreciate the context, both personal and professional, as much as possible when asking questions.

Some managers were good at asking questions. Through insight, habit, or inquisitiveness, they made a positive impact on their businesses—on the people in their organizations. As I observed the management practices of both effective and ineffective managers, I started to break things down into bite-sized chunks for ease of use for me as a reference.

When I finally did reach management positions, I found this resource to be an invaluable guide. As I started to work more closely with leaders of one company, and then with leaders of other companies, I studied their questions, how they asked them, and what kinds of results they achieved.

This book is a distillation of those observations along with an analysis of questions as a management tool.

If managers are looking for better answers, they must start by improving their questioning.

Financial Times Press

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Inside Front Cover

You’d trust your life with some people. Others, you wouldn’t trust for an instant, even when the stakes are low. Why? What builds the personal credibility that some people simply exude? What do they do differently? This book shows you—and teaches simple techniques for building your own personal credibility, the #1 factor in earning trust and achieving success.

Leading speaker and coach Sandy Allgeier begins with a set of powerful stories that demonstrate how personal credibility is earned—and how easily it can be destroyed. She illuminates three crucial secrets of personal credibility, and then shows how to tear down your “human invisible fence” and bring more authenticity to all your interactions. Allgeier concludes with seven specific steps you can take every day to increase your personal credibility—or rebuild credibility you’ve already lost.

WHAT YOUR SMALLEST DAILY ACTIONS ARE SAYING ABOUT YOU
How people are deciding whether to trust you—every day, every minute
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WHY POWER, POSITION, AND STATUS ARE IRRELEVANT TO
PERSONAL CREDIBILITY
How to achieve strong personal credibility, no matter who you are or what you do
......................................................................
EARNING THE TRUST OF THOSE WHO DISAGREE WITH YOU
How to suspend judgment, really listen, and earn respect
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STEPPING UP WITH CREDIBILITY
Seven steps to deepen your personal credibility in all your interactions