Authority – Principles of CAD Management

Authority, according to Fayol, is the principle that managers have the right to give orders with the expectation of obedience.

Authority is something that is granted to people.  I believe that all authority is good is granted.  Authority can be demanded, taken or usurped, but in order for it to really work for the betterment,it is usually granted.

Where does authority come from?

It comes from organizations via the title and position that is given.  It comes from others (apart from title) based on them allowing you to lead and rule over them.  Some attempt to demand authority, but it really is up to those around the person to either reinforce that authority or to rebel against it.  We see this all the time in groups and team as they elect leaders and also in in nations as the people elect rulers and governors over them.  The negative side is despots and tyrants who extract obedience thru oppressive means.

In today’s firms we hopefully do not see much tyrannical rule,but it happens sometimes on a smaller scale.  Some person exercises overbearing and micromanaging efforts that annoy and frustrate others.  They create domains for themselves that require some form of entry fee (do it my way) in order to participate.

Authority, when properly expressed, works with a teams strengths to make things happen.  It does not become overbearing.  It is authority that is granted to the person because the team sees the benefit in leadership.

Who can give orders?

CAD Managers have the right to give orders, but not like a ships captain who barks out demands that may end in “walking the plank” if they are disobeyed.  They work positively with others to make team progress.  There may be times when they need to enforce the guidelines and when that happens there should be a reasonable expectation of compliance.

Those who gave the title and position should back up the CAD Managers authority and not undermine it.  They should support the decisions made and seek compliance from those that are working in CAD.  I have seen too many Project Managers that have not done this and actually encourage their teams to break the rules because they personally do not agree with the guidelines.  This is not good and the CAD Managers superiors should assist in correcting this behavior.

Authority rests on the shoulders of the CAD Manager mainly because they have impressed others with their skill, decision-making ability, and people skills.  They have authority because they have earned it the opportunity and others have granted it to them.  Granted authority that works best comes from individual followers who grant it to their leaders.

Henri Fayol’s first principle is division of work.  Today some call this division of labor.

This consists of dividing the work up to make things more efficient.  Everyone would agree that this helps.  Many hands make the job lighter.  Fayol was not talking about just throwing more people at a problem.  The principle is that each person would do a specific function that collectively would get the job done better.

Employees that are very good at one thing can make production more efficient.  That has been proven over the years.  In an industrial environment, this has been used for many years.  In a professional or services environment there is a need for specialization also, but not so narrow a view of it.

It is easy for a firm or department to settle into the frame of mind that one employee is the best at something and should be the go to person for that function.  In the early 1900’s industrialized workforce where people hired into firms or trades and stayed with the company until retirement or death, this was an easy answer. It also produce higher quality output since the best person was doing the work.

Make Everyone is an Expert

In a CAD environment, you still may have disciplines who perform the plumbing or HVAC efforts collectively but you do not have one person who does all of the VAV boxes or another who places all the J-Boxes and lets someone else route things back to the electrical panel.  With CAD you have to have everyone be able to handle the software tools in a high quality manner.  The discipline education of electrical or architectural is beyond the CAD Managers efforts in training.

So your purpose now is to try and make everyone an expert and leave the division of work up to others.  You are a supporting role for the design team.  You need to make sure that everyone knows the tools that need to be applied in differing ways as others divide up the work.  So division of work does not directly apply to those that use your CAD platform, but it may apply to the team (if you have one) that supports that environment.

Your Team needs Focus and Redundancy

Dividing the work among your CAD Team helps if one person is the point person for a given technology.  You may have a CAD Support person that does the CAD area and one that does the BIM area.  You may have one that oversee plotting and one that manages the network licensing.  Dividing things up by task increases the knowledge of the tools by consolidating and focusing the learning and advancement of an area on to one persons shoulders.

This does not mean that you totally silo each person and that is all they do.  You need every function to have at least two who can solve problems at any given time.  One may be out of the office or leave the firm. You do not want to be caught short.  So make sure that knowledge is shared among the team and that no one person “holding the keys” to any mission critical area.  Have redundancy as well as focus.

Henri Fayol (1841-1925) was a French mining engineer who went on to become Director of Mines with over 1000 employees.  His company flourished and was the largest producer of steel and iron in France during his days.  In 1916 he published his perspectives in the book “Administration Industrielle et Générale”.  Included in his book are the 14 Principles of Management.

I will review and expand on these over the next few posts.  I will also comment on what may have changed from his time to the modern operational organization that most firms have adopted.

Fayol’s Principles of Management

• Division of work
• Authority
• Discipline
• Unity of command
• Unity of direction
• Subordination of individual interests to the general interest
• Remuneration
• Centralisation
• Scalar chain
• Order
• Equity
• Stability of tenure of personnel
• Initiative
• Esprit de corps

Many of these may seem like “no brainers” because we today enjoy the fruits of the “Progressive Era” when people like Henry Ford and many others employed these principles during the industrialization process in so many countries.  We have operated this way for so long that these principles are just ingrained in us all.

But some of these are taking on new shapes. The have either totally been discarded or they have been changed into something that no longer represents the original concept.

“Let’s get this done” – “We can do this” – “It is not as bad as it appears” – “We need to kick it into high gear”

These are just some of the motivating statements that might be used in your daily interactions with your team and others.  The CAD Manager has to motivate people to encourage progress.  Motivation is the process we use to spur others on to action.

It is imperative that the CAD Manager be a motivator so that the firm move forward on all front.  They need to motivate in the small stuff and the large things.  Daily, weekly and ongoing motivation is needed because people get bogged down in the project work and may lose sight of the purpose of where they are headed and why they are doing it.

Extrinsic Motivation is when you are motivated by something outside of your own thoughts and internal desires.  This is where the CAD Manager lives in relationship to others.  All  of the statement above can be used in an extrinsic manner when working with others.  Extrinsic motivations can include money, grades, time off, extra benefits, avoidance of pain or effort and many more ways of getting things moving.

Intrinsic Motivation is when someone is motivated by their own internal desires, values or feeling of duty.  We all have this within us in differing measures.  Some can energize themselves, pick up the pieces after a failure and strive for more out of themselves without much interaction with others or reward at the end of the process.  Others may need to be motivated when they have no internal desire to move forward.

The CAD Manager may have access to tangible motivators like bonuses, gifts and such but most likely they do not on a regular basis.  So they have to define motivators that can be used that may not involve some physical reward.

Here is a list of some Extrinsic Motivations that I have used:

Build Teams. Define a team that helps with software decision – adding the right people to the team will be a motivator.  Those involved will feel appreciated and take a higher stake in production.  Take a look at the posts I have on CAD Standards Teams

Ask spot questions. Just asking what someone thinks about your processes or standards can motivate them with a feeling of involvement.  When people feel  that they are involved and that they are contributing, it makes them willing to push a little harder on their efforts.

Give rewards. Extra software utilities that do not cost a lot can be purchased and distributed first to those that need a little motivation.  Tossing a little utility at those who are trying to improve can make them try even harder.

Buy them lunch – or provide lunch at a casual meeting.  Ask several users to come to a meeting at lunch (onsite of off) where you will gather some ideas about what might be done better.  Creative conversations can spark users to think outside the box an come up with new approaches to getting things done.

Give people credit. When a good idea is provided make sure that you announce who gave it to you or who was pivotal in making a new initiative work.  Giving credit to those that help you will encourage them to help you again.

Talk about the big picture. Some may be motivated by the long range, big idea discussions.  Just knowing what is going on elsewhere in the firm can help people grasp the purpose beyond their own project and function.  If times are tough and they will soon change, just knowing what is planned for the next few months can keep people from frustration and giving up.

Tell people Why. Besides knowing what needs to be done, tell people why it needs to be done.  No one likes being given directions without much information.  Provide more than is expected and it will motivate individuals and teams.

CAD Managers have to work with and through others to get things done.  They have to work with people that they hire,but mostly they work with people they do not hire.  Others hire them.  They report to other managers. They are promoted by others and they are fired by others.  Some CAD Managers wish that they could fire some people 🙂

Working with employees that others hire and fire does not mean that you have no input into the process at all.  You can seek to have a part in the hiring and promotions and also give indications to the managers of those employees that may not be contributing to the firm in a positive way.

Here are some ideas about getting involved in the processes that you do not control.

Set up a screening process for new hires. This may be a CAD Test or something that attempts to verify the validity of a candidates statements about their technical ability. There are commercially available CAD Test or you could make your own. It could be a written test or it may include an actual drawing component.  I have used both.

Become part of the interview process. It could be that you become part of the interviewprocess and actually get some time to talk to new hire candidates.  I have done this before.  It was just a casual conversation about what software they used, how long they have been doing it and where they worked before. During this chat, I was looking for language that made me believe they actually have used the software to the level they stated.  I would ask a couple of direct questions about advanced software areas or maybe ask them questions about the standard they use to use.  All of this was to see the comfort level of their interaction and what level  they discussed.  Advanced users are usually very willing to discuss details while novice users will either avoid details or get them wrong.

Once the employee is hired – your interaction is not done.

Get involved in evaluations. I try to provide input into employee reviews if the employee is providing superior efforts or if they are detracting from the team.  Mostly the former.  Seldom and selectively on the latter.  Just email the manager or supervisor or have a conversation about the employees contributions.  It is a way of complimenting the good employees and helping managers see the negative side of an employee in an areas they may not notice.  I don’t do this for every employee just the top 5% or bottom 2%.

Staffing is part of your job and you can have input even if you are not the hiring manager.

Systems and Standards include the way you do things and what guidelines you use to control the output.

Systems:

How do you control project setup and initiation? Is there a process you use for that? Do you just let everyone create them as they like?

Systems are procedures and processes that assist in formalizing your methods of defining things.

You may set up systems for defining who gets what hardware and software.

You may have systems and processes in place to define how software is reviewed and approved to add to your mix.

You may have systems and teams in place for reviewing your standards.

These are all examples of defining the process and procedural part of your work that end up being systems of review, definition and progression with hardware and software.

Standards:

I have written on this subject extensively.  You should search my CAD Standard category to see all those posts.  Standards must be followed to provide control over output.  Standards must be respected as a tool to get better production, not an end in themselves.  Your firm does not get paid for creating perfect CAD files.  You get paid to design.

The technology in which your firm invests must give your firm an advantage against others. Your firm spends its money on technology that improves the bottom line.  It may also investigate technology that might push them to the front of the tech curve.

You are the first line of defense against lagging performance of the technology you use.  You may not be the first one to notice that things are not working as well as they used to, but you may be the best person to get things back on track.

Software:

Invest in the best your firm can afford.  This may seem obvious,but some firms go the cheap route.  I understand the need to stay within a budget, but you need to move them toward better/newer software if you can.

Once you have the software, make sure it is stalled and configured to give your team maximum performance.  This is an original setup issue and also a fine tuning effort. Make sure that the end user does not modify firm wide standard that you have built into the menus and such. Reset them back to standard installs if you find them getting creative.

Customize your software as far as you need to in order to gain more speed and efficiency.  Check out my list of what needs to be customized and how to approach it.  Don’t go overboard.  Read that post.

Hardware:

Again – buy the best you can afford.  Move the older machines into other areas that are not as power hungry as CAD and BIM.  When you buy new hardware give it to your best team members.  Making them faster will improve the firm.

Maximize the hardware you have by adding more RAM or updating the OS.  This can get you more speed and cost less than a new machine.

Control the synchronization  of software and hardware:

Check the requirements for hardware as you move to newer software. It is more demanding than the old stuff and you do not want to put software on a machine that just cannot handle the load.

CAD Managers control many things but the most impact may come from controlling the performance of people.

Good Performance in people may fall into the following areas of focus:

Keep people focused on what matters most. This may seem obvious, but transferring this concepts to actions may be hard to do. First you need to know what matters most and then you need to figure out how to keep those areas the main focus. If your firm is most focused on quality, then make that the CAD focus also.  Creating quality output and files.  If your firm is more driven by creative design, then get the clutter out of the way by simplifying the standard so that people can focus on creativity.  If your firm is analytical, then look to bolster the employees by getting higher end software in place to assist in the analysis of your models.

Measure not only performance, but also accomplishment. People need to be doing things the right way, but they also need to get things done.  Sometimes we may focus on getting the process exact and forget that the output is king.  reward those that get things done as well as getting them done right.
Allow measurement of accomplishments, not just of the work that is performed.

Track performance in terms that your firm appreciates. Measuring performance and tuning the process means that you need to analyze data that you collect.  Start collecting measurements in the areas you defined as mattering most.  That way everyone can agree on what the modify.  Track plotter speed if you are focused on getting the plots out faster.  Track file creation speed and the use of template files if the front end of a project seems to get bogged down.  By tracking the right areas, you can show improvement using the same measurements.

Remember that people are not machines. Performance increases and decreases based on their personal perspective each day.  If they are enjoying their work and projects, then they will be more productive. If they are having family concerns outside of work, then they may not stay focused.  Make sure you read the people each day to see what might be affecting them and then motivate them to greater progress.

Focus on behaviors that are impacting performance. You cannot use your limited understanding of all of the combinations that might impact a persons performance without psychoanalyzing them and becoming their counselors.  You do not really know what is motivating their behavior, you just know that the behavior is not meeting the productivity standard needed.  So address the fact of what they are doing and avoid stating why you think they are doing it.

One of the things that I have listed among the seven functions of a CAD Manager is that they need to be controlling things.  Controlling can seem overbearing and annoying to people if it rings of some micromanaging person in your past.  Done right and it is motivating.  Done wrong and it is just annoying.

Let me expand on the definition.  Controlling should be controlled and not allowed to leak into every aspect of your work life.  If you are a controlling person, it is seen as dominating.  But if you control the things that tend to go out of control, then you will be appreciated.

Before we start defining what to control, let’s talk about why we need to and what needs to be in place.

We control things that tend to need improvement or maintenance.  Maintaining control over your sped in a car will prevent accidents and tickets.  Improving your gas mileage can save you money.  So even in this simple example, we see a need to control.  They way we control begins with Measurement.  We measure our speed with a speedometer.  We measure our mileage with gallons used per miles driven.

Measurement is critical to controlling.  Without it, how would we know where improvement or control is needed?  How would we measure our effectiveness in controlling?

Start measuring and tracking the areas you think need to be controlled.

So what needs to be controlled?  Here is my list:

• Performance of People
• Performance of Technology
• Performance of Systems and Standards

I will cover these three items in the next few posts.