“Breaking the large group into smaller groups seems like a good idea,” said Rosa. We were talking about getting her department engaged in team problem solving. “I can see how that makes the contributions more anonymous.”

“It makes a huge difference. It allows the team to do something that it could never do before,” I said. Rosa’s eyes grew larger.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Well, you know, Eric, your team’s eager beaver? When Eric has an idea, he is a little sensitive to the group’s response. Let’s say that one part of Eric’s idea has a creative spark, but the rest of the idea needs to be discarded. As long as it is Eric’s idea, the team has to tap-dance around, be politically correct and tactful. But if the ideas are flip charted from a small group, somewhat anonymous, whose ideas are they now?”

“Well, now they are the group’s ideas,” responded Rosa.

“So, if the ideas belong to the team, the team can now rip out that little creative spark, junk the rest of the idea, bolt the spark onto the back end of another idea, reverse engineer the logic and no one’s feelings get hurt.

“When it was Eric’s idea, the team couldn’t do that.” -TF

“I really feel awkward standing up in front of the group. I ask them a question and often, they just stare at me, like no one has a clue. I want them to participate, but they just don’t respond,” said Rosa. As the manager in her department, she had been trying to get more participation through team problem solving.

“Why don’t you think they speak up?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Rosa continued. “I suppose they might be embarrassed or afraid someone will think their idea is stupid.”

“I think you are right. Fear can be very powerful. It can keep people from risking their ideas in front of a group. So, how can you reduce the fear?”

Rosa pondered the question, and then responded. “I guess I have to create a safe place, so no idea comes across as a stupid idea.”

I smiled and jumped in. “Here is something I often use. Before I ask people to respond in front of a group, I always ask them to write their ideas on paper. I call it, priming the pump. And if the group is a large group, I always bust it up into smaller teams. People are more willing to share their ideas in a small group than in a large group. Once everyone has shared their ideas in a small team, only then do I ask each team to report to the larger group. By then, most of the ideas are anonymous and the risk of embarrassment has virtually disappeared.

“When you engage your team in problem solving, an important job for the leader is to drive fear out of the room.” -TF

“Tell me about your boring meetings,” I asked. Megan and I had been talking about why her meetings were real sleepers.

“Every week, on Monday, we get together and I go over the production runs for the week with all my supervisors. I talk about the problems I know about, like if materials are going to be late or whatever. It takes about 20-30 minutes, but it seems like a real waste of time. It doesn’t prevent any problems and we almost always miss our production goals for the week.”

“Megan, when do you know what your production runs should be?” She looked surprised at the question.

“Well, I know, almost a month in advance from the sales forecast. Sometimes we have last minute special orders, but those are usually small, no big deal.”

“I want you to rearrange your meeting like this. All your supervisors use email, right?” She nodded. “Friday, before the Monday meeting, I want you to email out the total production required for each of the products you have to run. In the email, tell your supervisors to come, on Monday, prepared to report to the rest of the team how they have scheduled their department to meet that production. Tell your purchasing guy to show up and explain what materials will arrive and when. Tell your inventory guy to show up with his list of materials on-hand.

“Tell the team, they have 30 minutes to sort things out, then go around the table asking for short one minute reports. You might have to go around the table more than once. Other than calling on your supervisors to report, you don’t say a thing.”

It was a very different meeting. -TF

“Sometimes, when I ask them a question, I just get a blank stare,” complained Emily. “They look at me with lizard eyes.” We had been talking about getting more participation in her team meetings.

“So, you ask a question and get no response? Why do you think that happens?” I asked.

“I don’t know. No, they don’t know. It’s like maybe there is something in there, but I just can’t get it out.”

“Let’s start with that,” I replied. “Let’s assume there is something in there and it is our job, as the manager, to get it out. We need to prime the pump.”

“What do you mean?” Emily sat up straight, much more attentive.

“Whenever you pose a question to your team, especially a difficult question, you need to prime the pump. Provide some time for people to jot their thoughts down on a piece of paper. Even thirty seconds will dramatically improve the quality of their ideas. These written notes prime the pump with ideas that will now come flowing out.” -TF

P.S.
We will be taking an extended holiday this Thanksgiving week. Don’t eat too much. Hug your family. We will see you back here on Monday.

It was Lori’s turn to talk, “After the hurricane, in the midst of all this, without power, downed traffic lights, dodging piles of debris on the side of the road, our team members showed up. We had no air conditioning. They had to share computers running off of generators. Our land line phone service was down and only three cell phones could receive a usable signal. The warehouse guys had to manually keep track of things on a clipboard, and be neat about it. They really came together as a team.”

People often ask me for ways to go about building teamwork. They suggest things like ropes courses, sensitivity training, personality and communication seminars. I always respond the same way.

If you want to build a team, gather the group together and give them a real problem to solve. Give them a problem that is difficult, where the outcome makes a genuine difference. Give them a problem where the challenges require them to cooperate and support each other’s efforts. Solving real problems builds real teams. -TF

Sam was turning schizophrenic on me. One minute, he was sure he was going to terminate Alex, the next minute he was sure the team could not live without him. True, Alex was a top performer, on top of the productivity list every month.

But, he was such a pistol to be around. He was arrogant, and he let everyone know it. It’s not that he was simply loud and boisterous, but even in one-on-one conversation, he was always stirring things up.

I told Sam to look at the sports page from over the weekend. Sam is not the only one struggling with this issue. The Philadelphia Eagles have indefinitely suspended Terrell Owens for -conduct detrimental to the team-.

“Sam, understand that Terrell Owens is one of only 6 NFL players ever to make 100 touchdown catches. Yet the Eagles know that his attitude and behavior off the football field causes more problems to the team than his superior athletic performance on the field.

“Your difficulty with Alex may be a deal killer,” I continued. “It is a tough call to make, but sometimes the individual contribution of a single team member is outweighed by the damage done to the rest of the team.” -TF

Carly met me in the conference room that overlooked the plant floor. She was a new supervisor running a parallel line to another crew. On the job for three weeks, she had been having difficulty with her crew’s productivity next to the other crew.

“It’s amazing to me,” she said. “We start ten minutes earlier than the other line. In fact, they just stand around talking for the first ten minutes of their shift. But, within half an hour, they catch up and then hammer us the rest of the day.”

“Interesting,” I said. “Let’s get Jarrod up here and find out what he is doing differently.”

As Jarrod joined us, he talked about a number of things, but he saved the best for last. “One thing, I know you have overlooked, is our team huddle at the beginning of the shift. It is our team check-in. I have found the most important obstacle to productivity on a line like this is a personal stuff that’s going on. It has nothing to do with work, but has a bigger impact than anything else. It makes a difference in hustle, covering someone’s back, taking an extra measure for safety. That daily check-in helps my team to work together. It’s only five minutes, but makes all the difference.” -TF