"It's not just me and the computer anymore, trying to fiddle with inaccurate or untimely data. People really need me now, and I feel like I'm contributing. But you know what? I think that the change, at least as it relates to my function, is very fundamental. What I'm holding in my files is data. What you are usually asking for is information. I always regarded information as those sec- tions of the data which are needed in order to make a decision- and for that, let me admit it, for most decisions my data was simply unsuitable. Remember the time we were trying to find the bottlenecks?" He looks at each of us in turn. "It took me four days to admit that I simply couldn't find the answer. What I started to realize is that information is something else. Informa- tion is the answer to the question asked. The more I am able to do it, the more a part of the team I become.
"This bottleneck concept has really helped me to move along these lines. Let's face it, today the plant obeys a schedule that's. released from the computer.
"What's my wish, you ask? I want to develop a system that'll help in what Bob wants to do, that will help to shrink drastically the time and effort needed to engineer a sale, as he calls it. I want to develop a system to help Stacey manage the buffers, and even to help in managing the local improvements. I want to develop a system to help Lou measure, in a much more beneficial way, the local performance. You see, like everyone else, I have my dreams."
It's quite late, the kids are already fast asleep. Julie and I are sitting in the kitchen; we're each holding a warm cup of tea in our hands. I tell her about what happened today at the plant. She seems to be more than mildly interested; she actually claims that she finds it fascinating.
I love it. Rehashing the day's events with Julie really helps me to digest it all.
"So what do you think?" I ask her at last.
"I'm starting to see what Jonah meant when he warned you about increasing the dependency," she replies.
That makes me think for a while, but I still can't see the connection. "What do you mean?"
"Maybe I'm wrong, but you gave me the impression that you're not too sure that Lou'll be able to come up with a good, new measurement system."
"That's right," I smile.
"Is a new measurement system important for you?"
"Are you kidding? I don't know of another single thing which is as important as that."
"So if it weren't for Jonah's refusal to continue giving you pointed questions, am I right in assuming that you'd be on the phone right now, trying to squeeze more hints from him?"
"Most probably," I admit. "It's certainly important enough."
"And what about Bob's idea," she continues. "Do you regard that as something important?"
"If he pulls it off it'll be a revolution. It'll guarantee that we take a big share of the market. Definitely our problem with get- ting more sales will be over."
"And how much hope do you have that he'll be able to do it?"
"Not much, I'm afraid. Ah. I see your point. Yeah, I would have run to Jonah with these questions as well. And the same with the issues that Stacey and Ralph have raised, each one of them is essential."
"And how many more things will pop up when you start to manage the division?"
287
"You're right, Julie. And Jonah is also right. I felt it today as well. When each one of them spelled out their immediate dream in such a tangible form, I wondered what mine is. The only thing that kept popping into my mind is that I must learn how to man- age. But where on earth am I going to find the answer to Jonah's question: What are the techniques needed for management? I don't know, Julie. What do you think I should do now?"
"All the people back at the plant owe you a lot," she says, stroking my hair. "They're proud of you, and rightfully so. You've created quite a team. But this team is going to be broken up in two months when we go to the division. Why don't you spend the time that's left sitting with them and going over your question. They'll have ample time after you're gone to work on their problems. Anyhow, it'll be much easier for them to achieve what they want to achieve if you have the management tech- niques."
I look at her in silence. Here is my real, true advisor.
So I've done what my advisor suggested. I gathered them all together and explained that if each of them wants to be free to concentrate on his pet project the division must be well run, and in order for the division to be well run the division manager must know what he is doing. And since I, frankly, don't have the foggi- est idea of how to run a division they had better put their brains to helping me. Thus, we are going to devote the afternoons- provided of course that no special emergency comes up-to help me analyze how the division should be run.
I decide to start the meeting with the most naive questions. Initially they might think that I've lost all my self confidence, but I must expose to them the magnitude of the problem I'm about to face. Otherwise I'm going to end up, at best, with some frag- mented, vague suggestions.
"What are the first things I should do when I assume my new position?" I ask them.
They look at each other, and then Bob says, "I'd start by visiting Hilton Smyth's plant."
After the laughter dies, Lou says that I should first meet with my staff; "you know most of them but you've never worked closely with them."
"What is the purpose of these meetings?" I innocently ask.
288
If this question had been asked under any other circum- stances they would have taken it as a clear indication of a total lack of managerial knowledge. As it is they play the game.
"Basically you should do general fact finding first," Lou an- swers.
"You know," Bob adds, "like where the entrance is, where the toilets are..."
"I do think that meeting the people is important," Stacey interrupts the laughter. "Financial numbers only reveal a small fraction of the picture. You have to find out what the people think is going on. What do they see as problems? Where do we stand vis-a-vis the clients?"
"Who has a grudge against whom?" Bob contributes, and then in a more serious tone. "You also have to get a sense of the local politics."
"And then?"
"And then," Bob continues. "I'd probably take a tour of the various production facilities, visit some of the big clients, and probably even some suppliers. You've got to get the full picture."
Maintaining my poker face I ask, "And then?"
At last I've succeeded to provoke them, since both Stacey and Bob answer vehemently, "And then you'll take it from there!"
How easy it is to give advice when the responsibility is on someone else's shoulders. Okay wise guys, it's time to turn the table, and in a calm voice I say, "Yes, what you suggested just now is the usual line of action one takes when he is told to 'go there and fix it.' Let me play it back for you, but in a more schematic way. Where are the colored markers?"
I grab a red marker and turn to the white board.
"The first step, as you all have pointed out, is fact finding. I hold a staff meeting and what do I find? Oh, here we find fact A," and I draw a nice red circle. "And here are three somewhat smaller circles. And here is a tiny one and there are two which are overlapping. Now let's talk with another manager, this is very helpful. You see, this circle, he claims, is not as big as we were led to believe. And here, in the left upper corner are two more big- gies. Now, someone else reveals to us that some rectangles exist. We check, and yes, he's right. Here there is one and here and here and here. We're making progress, the picture starts to un- fold."
What they actually see is how the white board is getting the
289
measles. It looks like one of the drawings my kids used to bring home from kindergarten.