“First of all, who’s goal is it?” I asked. Gordon was perplexed. His memo to the team fell flat and he needed their cooperation to complete the project.
“Well, it’s my goal, but it’s their goal. I gave it to them,” he explained.
I sat still. Gordon finally broke the silence. “Okay, it’s my goal.”
“And your job is to get your team engaged to achieve your goal. How can you do that? I gotta tell you. I looked at the project specs and the deliverables and the milestones aren’t that exciting.”
“Well, yes, but when the project is finished, overall, it will be quite an accomplishment. That’s how I described the vision in my memo,” Gordon continued.
“And you think a memo is the best way to engage your team? This is not Mission Impossible. Your memo is not as exciting as a tape that self-destructs.” I stopped and let Gordon stew for a bit. “No one listens to you, no one reads your memos. Yet, you need them to cooperate to achieve your goal. How are you going to do that?” -TF
Gordon better wake-up fast and understand that nobody cares about him or his goal. To be truly effective you need to spend time with each team member and discover what it is that makes them tick. Albeit, not an easy task, but if it were, Gordon would be making 8 bucks an hour.
CAUTION – Many people make the mistake of developing a bonus system in place of time spent with the team members; don’t take the short term easy road out. Help them get what they want… Don’t forget, they are already being compensated to do their job effectively and properly.
Amen to AJ’s response. I find too many young managerial associates lack the skill or tact to work with groups or one on one with their charges because they only direct via email, text messaging or any other non-personal means of communication. They rather direct like Oz.