Cheryl was waiting in the conference room when I arrived. I could see that her meeting had some unexpected twists.

“I felt like I had been fed to the wolves,” she started. “You were right, they said the problems with the finished goods were my problems. They said that I was responsible for the 2 percent increase in failure rate.”

I nodded. “So, how did your stomach feel?”

Cheryl looked genuinely pissed, but maintained her composure. “It was upside down. You could have cut the tension with a knife.”

“That’s good,” I said. “When your stomach is upside down, you are almost always talking about a real issue that needs to be out on the table.” Cheryl may have been looking for sympathy. “So, what did you say?”

“I practiced that stupid speech we talked about, so that is what I said. I told them that I needed their help. It felt strange. I didn’t like it. I felt like I was leaving my reputation totally in their hands. I felt like I was losing control.”

“And how did they respond?” I asked. “Did they argue with you?”

“Well, no,” Cheryl replied. “They were mostly silent. Then Hector pulled one of the parts from the reject pile. He pointed out a burr that was in the same place on every part. Sammy spoke up and said they had run short on that same part the week before. Get this. Because they were short, they used the rejected parts to finish the batch.

“They said they would have asked me what to do, but that I had been yelling at them, so they all kept quiet.” Cheryl stopped.

“It was a tough session?”

“It seems I was the problem. Yes, it was a tough session.”

Just because Cheryl saw the light didn’t mean she knew what to do or what to say. She knew she had sounded like a critical parent and invited the response of a rebellious child.

“And now, you have a whole group of rebellious children?” I followed.

“I suppose so,” lamented Cheryl. “I think I already dug a hole for myself. How do I get out of it?”

“What could you try?” I asked.

“What if I explained the connection between bad incoming parts and the failure rate of our finished goods?”

“So, you think if they understand the logic of the problem, things might be better?”

Cheryl bit her lip on this question. “I think they already understand the logic of the problem. I also believe they think it is my problem and that I have to solve it. And they don’t seem willing to help.”

“As long as they believe you are the critical parent, it will continue to be your problem and yours alone.” I let that sink in. “You have to invite them to willingly become problem solvers. You have to invite them to willingly become accountable for the solution.

“I don’t know what to do. When I got here, the failure rate was 18 percent. Now, the failure rate is 20 percent. I need the team’s help. But, I don’t know what to say.” Cheryl was disappointed in her setback, but determined to make some headway.

“Tell them just what you told me,” I responded. “Get your team together and give them that same short speech.

When I got here two months ago, the failure rate on finished goods was 18 percent. I have tried some things, but the failure rate has increased to 20 percent. If we are going to solve this thing, I need your help. I need your ideas. I need your follow-through. I cannot do this myself.

“Then call a meeting for 9:00a tomorrow. Ask each team member to come prepared to talk about ideas that may improve the failure rate. Let’s see what happens.” -TF

“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.