experienced donut makers.
“Well…I’m not totally certain yet…but they’re talking like, um…” I lowered my voice and tried to spit it out with a slight cough. “…uh doubling it.”
“What?” The same donut maker asked. “Doubling what we’re supposed to produce…are they crazy? Are YOU crazy?”
Soon the whole group was chiming in with comments and angry looks.
“Sales...” another donut maker spoke up. “What did you tell them?”
“Well…” I started.
“Did you tell them that’s crazy? At least without adding some people…we are going to get some help aren’t we?”
“Actually I did tell them it was crazy…and no, they’re not going to let us have any more people.”
Now there was stunned silence. They knew these new numbers meant that everyone’s bonuses would be affected.
“Well…this is BS…Sales, and you know it!” One of the more quiet donut makers said with in a tremble in her voice. “They’re continually pushing and pushing for more, and yet they give us very little help. I don’t know, I have a mind to just tell you to…”
I held my hand up. “Hold on…just hold on. I know it’s tough to take right now, but we have to make the best of it...we just have to dig deep and get after it.”
The donut makers were now silent. No one made eye contact, just head shaking silence. They were angry as hell. And then I decided to get tough.
“Listen…I’m sorry you don’t like hearing this, any more than I like delivering it, but that’s the way it is, and I expect each you of to turn it up a notch and do whatever you have to do to create more donuts! Also, we have some help coming tomorrow…some consultant that is known for working with donut factories…so we’ll see how that goes….in the meantime, there’s still an hour to go today…let’s get back up to your cubicles and get shoveling.”
I had mixed feelings about coming down so hard on the DM’s (for short we use DM), mainly because down deep I guess I empathized with them and agreed with many of their points: I really didn’t believe we could pull it off.
As the donut makers begrudgingly climbed up the ladders above their silos to begin work, I shuffled off to my office that overlooked the production floor. I was hoping that my little talk would mean more donuts would be flowing. I was sure hoping that would be the case.
Before we go on, allow me to give you a thumbnail description of how donuts are made so you get an idea of what we’re talking about here. Donuts are made when the donut makers put the ingredients into their silos, or funnels. Once they load the ingredients, it’s their job to spin the silos in just the right way, at just the right times, in order for donuts to come out. Every donut maker seems to create a different amount, based on how hard they work, what they put in the silo, and their skill set in spinning it. Then, as I said earlier, my job is to stand underneath those silos and collect whatever comes out.
As manager I’m also expected to try and increase donut production, so if I see a donut maker is struggling I’ll go into action trying to do something. First I’ll ask the DM to do more: shovel harder, work longer, spin faster, etc.. Then I’ll see what I can do at the bottom of the silo: I’ll shake it, I’ll bang it with a broom, I’ll even cram my broom handle up there and try to unclog it when things get stuck. Sometimes these tactics work, but a lot times they don’t, and I was wondering what I could do differently to make such a dramatic impact this time. I’d have to get lucky and just hope the DM’s would respond.
The first few hours after our meeting I started to see some improvement. All the donut makers were shoveling harder and the donuts were dropping. I really shouldn't say "all the donut makers", some of the DM's rebelled against the concept and actually started slowing down! One guy was so mad he even threw a shoe down his funnel (who does that to their own funnel?)!
I knew that even with the “pep talk” (if you could call it that) and the immediate increase in activity, we were in for a hell of a fight, and I was praying that this Mr. Chise had some magical solution that could save the day.
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