Category Archives: Teams

The Name on the Locker

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“They get their name on their locker.”

I was working with a team of branch managers and I had posed the question, “What’s the difference between the home team and the visiting team?” We were discussing impact on performance. Why do teams statistically perform better at home than on the road? Why do teams covet Home Field Advantage in the playoffs?

For Managers looking for superior performance, this is more than an analogy. And someone said, “They get their name on their locker.”

When the visiting team arrives in their locker room, it is adequate for storing equipment and changing into uniforms, but it is anonymous. There are no names on the lockers, no posters on the wall. When the visiting team member opens that locker, it is empty.

What kind of locker room does your team have? In some cases, it is a truck or a cubicle farm. Do your team members have their name on their locker? When you open their locker, is it empty? This is no small thing for a Manager looking for superior performance. -TF

New Management Technology

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Joan was beside herself. She had taken over the business when her husband died two years ago. While she had a vested interest in the success of the company, she depended on her management team to provide direction, initiate action and measure results. They had just decided that the monthly management team meeting was boring, lacking substance and should be suspended to every other month. Of the eight people in management, only three truly participated, everyone else just watched, trying not to get in the way.

Instinctively, Joan knew the market was changing fast and they had a fierce competitor that decided to relocate not two miles away. Something had to be done to re-energize the group. It’s as if they had all gone brain-dead. Waiting sixty days to review progress and make strategic adjustments was out of the question.

Joan’s company had all the substance necessary, and the market turmoil surrounding them was far from boring. It was the meeting. A specific dynamic in the meeting had to change.

A recent development in management technology was about to transform everything. It is called the 3×5 card, and I suggested Joan use them in the following way. At the beginning of the meeting, Joan distributed the cards and asked each person to write down their one goal for the meeting. No talking allowed, just think and write, 60 seconds.

One minute later, Joan went around the table and asked each person to share what they had written. Instantly, the team went from three ringleaders and five pacifists to eight people with agendas. This is not a subtle difference. Joan was not satisfied with the first round, so she repeated the exercise. Now there were sixteen initiatives on the table. This was only the beginning for Joan and her team. -TF

Discover Executive Management Online. Next Orientation opens in 15 days. Session One opens in 29 days.

No One Gets to Coast

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There are three kinds of people who attend my classes, and I bet you find the same people on your team.

The first type always shows up early, helps set the meeting room and every time I ask a question, has their hand flailing in the air about to bust a gut. This is the person I call, the Eager Beaver.

The second type shows up on time, seldom late. This is the Vacationer. They are happy to be in the meeting, because they don’t have to be at their desk working. When asked to participate, sometimes they contribute, sometimes they don’t. It doesn’t matter to them, after all, they are on vacation.

The third type would not dare be late, not wanting to attract attention. They slide into a chair in the back of the room. They know they were told to attend this meeting, but they have no clue why. This is the Hostage, sitting arms folded, avoiding eye contact, with a look on their face that says, “Don’t even try to teach me anything.”

So, your team is trying to solve an issue. Which one of the three types will have the idea that saves the day? Think about it. Who can you count on? Who has the creative spark that solves the problem?

As a Manager, you don’t know. You can’t possible know. That is why you need the active participation of each member of the team. Nobody gets to coast, nobody sleeps through, everyone engaged. As a Manager, it is up to you to create that environment. Would you like to know how? -TF

Discover Executive Management Online. Orientation opens in 16 days. Session One opens in 30 days.

Build on Strength

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Omar was dejected. He had just spent his annual training budget on a re-engineering consultant. His rationale had been that re-engineering would require a reasonable amount of training to be effective.

Happy at the beginning, the biggest bottlenecks in the plant had been at the top of the agenda. In the re-engineering meetings, everyone was excited and enthusiastic. It was only now, after the project had been shut down and the consultant sent packing that the truth began to emerge.

Omar had intended this process to bring the team together, to create trust, cooperation. Tackling the toughest workflow issues seemed admirable. Only now, he began to learn of the different agendas within the team, hidden agendas, mistrust, turf skirmishes and blaming behavior. That was the buzz. Things were worse now than before.

For Pete’s sake (or Omar’s sake). Why would you take a team and try to solve the most difficult problem on the planet (floor)?

START SMALL. Build trust by having team members report on small successes for the week. Try solving a small problem. Everything the team does sets a precedent for the next team event. If the team tries to solve a difficult problem and fails, they are more likely to fail on the second problem. If the team solves even a simple problem and succeeds, the likelihood for future success (and trust) increases.

START SMALL. Build on strength. -TF

Who is the Bad Guy Here?

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As the team left the room, Mandy had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. There had been lots of promises, but in her heart, she knew that only 10% of the elements on the project would be complete. It was almost as if Mandy should stand on a chair and scream at the top of her lungs, “I really, really mean it this time. We have to get this stuff done.”

Those of us who have children know the futility of standing on chairs and demanding. It is pretty entertaining for the children, but hardly effective.

In what way could Mandy create an atmosphere that would drive higher performance toward the goals set by the team? If standing on chairs and screaming doesn’t do it, what does? Most Managers are not aware of or do not leverage team accountability. Managers assume the role of the bad guy and essentially let the team off the hook when it comes to holding each other accountable for performance.

Turn the tables. In your next meeting, when a team member reports non-performance or underperformance, stop the agenda. Ask each team member to take a piece of paper and write down how this underperformance is impacting their part of the project. Go around the table and ask each person to make a statement. Then ask the team to create an expectation of how the underperformance should be corrected. Go around the table again. Finally, ask the underperformer to respond to the team and make a public commitment to action.

Team accountability is a very powerful dynamic. -TF

Out of the Fall Line

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In the sport of snow skiing, control is achieved by counter-intuitive thinking. As speed increases, and the skier becomes “out of control,” conventional thinking causes the skier to lean backwards. This disastrous response moves the front edges of the skis off of the snow creating less control and increasing speed. The counter-intuitive response is to shift the body-weight forward, creating leverage on the front edges of the skis, giving the skier the ability to turn out of the fall line, resulting in skier control and a decrease of speed.

I see many managers attempting to gain “control” of their teams using force, command and control, threat of firing. Those of us with children know the futility of these efforts. The counter intuitive response is to ask questions instead of telling, to ask for commitment instead of demanding. It takes more time, requires more patience and has a longer lasting impact. Sometimes it even works with children. -TF

P.S. Join Executive Management Online. Orientation now open, Session One opens in 3 days.

I Saw Something Today

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Esteban was disturbed. His last conversation with the lead tech on the floor clearly indicated the line workers had no clue how their product was being installed or how it worked once in operation. They had been having quality problems, it seemed forever. Just this past month, they had added a third QC person to staff the last shift to catch the errors quicker.

“Everybody on the bus. We’re going to make a visit to one of our best customer locations to see how our manufactured equipment works in the field.” There was a sudden excitement on the floor, a conversational buzz. Esteban was sure it was because everyone was getting paid and didn’t have to produce any product while they were on the bus. It was like a vacation.

Once on the bus, but before they pulled away from the shop, Esteban distributed a dozen drugstore cardboard cameras and some pre-printed 3×5 index cards. On the card was printed, “I saw something today.” Esteban explained they were to look for specific examples of quality issues that had an impact on the way things worked in the field. It could be about the way something fit together. It could be about the speed of the units and the volume of production at the customer’s location.

I Saw Something Today became the central piece of their quality initiative. The team built a quality book complete with photographs of things that worked well and not so well.

What would your quality book look like if your team put one together? No typing allowed, just 3×5 index cards complete with pictures. -TF

P.S. Join Executive Management Online, Orientation starts in 2 days. Session One starts in 9 days.

No Respect

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Question
I just don’t know how to gain their respect. Sometime in the meeting, it’s as if they are not even listening to me. They nod and agree, promise to follow through. The next day, they are back to the same non-productive behavior. They don’t even respect the meeting. They show up late, sometimes not at all. Where are their priorities?

Response
Rodney lives on in the lives of many managers. Expecting respect, demanding respect didn’t work for Mr. Dangerfield and doesn’t work for most managers.

You will never gain respect until you, as their manager, bring value to their thinking and their work.

Stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about your team member. If you, as a manager, want to bring value to the thinking and work of your team members, start by asking them questions. Through questions, you can help them clarify, explore, challenge, plan and follow-up.

In my years in the classroom, I have found that no one really listens to me, anyway. So, I stopped lecturing and started asking questions. Something happened. My students started learning from themselves.

Start. Start asking questions that bring value to the thinking and work of your team. Rodney will rest in peace.

Oh, if you are not getting the response you want, you are asking the wrong question. Happy New Year -TF

Managing Agreement

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This meeting was different. “Business as usual” was shattered like crystal on a marble floor. The usual comfort level was suddenly traded for a stomach flipping tension-filled discussion.

“I am sorry, but I have to disagree.” The silence dropped, eyes got wide, butts in chairs started shifting. Someone cleared their throat. This team was at a cross roads. The next few minutes would determine whether it engaged in productive work or disengaged to avoid the conflict currently on the table.

This is not a question of being able to manage the conflict, more a matter of managing agreement. In fact, the more the group tries to manage the conflict, the more likely the agreement will be coerced and compromised with the real issues suppressed, perhaps even undiscussable.

Conversely, if the group engaged in a process to manage agreement, the conflict might be heard, even encouraged, thoroughly discussed. Opposing viewpoints might be charted out and debated. Expectations might be described at both maximum success and dismal failure. Indicators could be created with contingency plans for positive and negative scenarios.

Does your team manage conflict to make sure discussions are comfortable and efficient?

OR…

Does your team encourage spirited discussion of both sides of an issue? When things get uncomfortable, can your team live through the stress of conflict to arrive at a well argued decision?

When I look around the room and see that each person is comfortably sitting, I can bet the issue on the table is of little importance. But, if I see stomachs tied in knots, this issue on the table is likely to be important. —TF