Alicia looked puzzled. “But I think I really need to have a heart to heart talk with my two project leaders, away from the team. When we have that kind of friction, out in the open, I don’t think the team can be very productive.”
“I agree you need to have a heart to heart talk with your project leaders,” I replied. “But what would happen if you had that talk in the meeting instead of away from the team?”
“Why do you think they were too scared to talk about the real problem stopping this project?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Alicia replied. “I guess I really need to work on creating a more open environment. But I think I have a personality problem. It’s hard to talk about a personality conflict in the middle of a meeting. That’s why it was so weird. We couldn’t talk about the real problem, so we couldn’t talk about anything at all.”
“So, how do you intend to create an environment where your team can deal with the real problem and get back to productive work?”
“I guess I need to pull the two project leaders aside and talk to them in private,” Alicia nodded.
“What if I told you, in the long run, that would make matters worse?”
“I don’t get it,” Alicia explained. “We just had a meeting on how to rescue this stalled project. No one came up with any ideas. For an hour. It was like waiting to go see the dentist.”
“So, your team didn’t isolate the problem,” I prompted.
“Oh yeah, they did, just not in the meeting. We wasted an entire hour. Only when the meeting was over, I find out, at the water cooler, the project is stalemated because the two project leaders are angry at each other.”
“Someone told you at the water cooler?” I asked.
“Oh, no, I only found out by accident. There were two people whispering a little too loud. I put two and two together.”
So, why didn’t this come up at the meeting?”
“I don’t know,” Alicia wondered out loud. “It’s like it was a secret. A secret everyone was too scared to talk about.”
“What do you mean, cripple my team?” Lydia protested. “I mean, I agree that I shouldn’t force my decision on the group. I need to get buy-in. But cripple my team?”
“No, in this case, buy-in is just a cover-up. This is a team decision with team responsibility and consequences for the team no matter which way they choose. As the leader, if you make this decision for the team, they are no longer responsible and the consequences are no longer theirs. Even with buy-in, when the team suffers the consequences from your decision, you will be to blame. They will take you to the mat.”
Lydia was silent.
“And your team will gain more experience and momentum in avoiding responsibility than stepping up to the plate. As the leader, you will cripple your team.”
“I cannot believe the way people are responding to this situation,” Lydia explained. “They know the right thing to do, but they are all wimps, now that they have to stand up for it.”
“What is your position?” I asked.
“To do the right thing. I laid out the steps we need to take, who we need to contact and how we need to present the facts. I know it’s unpopular, but it’s the right thing to do.”
“How are you going to persuade the team to take the right action?”
“I’m the leader, so I could just force the issue, take the steps on my own,” she replied.
“And what kind of leadership is that?”
Lydia thought, grinned, then slowly nodded. “That would be tyrannical leadership, I suppose.”
“And if you are a tyrant and force it, then you let the team off the hook. They are no longer responsible for taking action. You cripple them from being responsible in the future.”
“What’s the one most important thing you do?” I asked. “In a year’s time, looking back, what one thing have you done that has had the most impact on your company?”
Kristen was thinking. She had some stuff up on her walls, some recognition plaques, a framed letter from a customer. “I don’t know,” she started. “My highest contribution? I guess it’s just making sure my people are always busy and not wasting time. That’s what managers do.”
“No, on your team of 19, you have two supervisors, that’s what they do, keep people busy. What is the most important thing you do?”
“I guess I never really thought about it. No one ever asked me, or told me. In fact, when I got promoted last year, the only difference is that I go to management meetings once a week. I spend the rest of my time dealing with problems and issues. Who is arguing with whom? Who wants time off? Why someone is constantly running behind? Why things don’t come out right? Motivating my team? I stay pretty busy doing all that.”
“What would you have to do differently, so that you did none of those things?” I challenged.
“Well, there’s no way. The people I have on my team just wouldn’t be able to get along and stay productive without me in there.”
“So, what would you have to do differently?”
From the Ask Tom mailbag:
Question:
You talked about Managers and systems. And you described the most important system for a Manager as the People System. What’s inside that system?
Response:
There are three primary accountabilities for any Manager.
Failure in any part of this system falls to the Manager.
“I thought I was very clear,” Marianne grimaced. “It was important for the team to understand and take ownership. This is a very important team goal.”
“Describe what you see?” I asked.
“Their words are supportive, but their actions are passive. There is no skip in their step, no sense of urgency, no critical eye for detail. It’s as if they are just going through the daily motions.”
“You described the project, what you are trying to accomplish. Whose goal is it?” I wanted to know.
“Well, it’s a team goal,” Marianne explained, sounding like I should have figured that out on my own. “I need the team to work together, support each other, cooperate. That’s why it’s a team goal.”
“Have you ever heard that if it’s everyone’s accountability, it’s no one’s accountability?”
That was a stumper to Marianne. A slow burn in her brain. “So, I have to single one of them out?”
“If it’s not the team’s goal, whose goal is it?” I repeated.
Marianne did not like the realization. “If it’s not the team’s goal, it must be my goal,” she flatly stated.
“And, if that’s the case, what changes?”
Reggie was adamant. “I believe that using a written memo is the best approach to communicate my vision of the project, because it ensures consistency and allows everyone to refer back to the information whenever they need it. I feel that face-to-face communication might lead to misinterpretation or forgetting important details.”
“Written memos are useful,” I replied. “Tell me more?”
Reggie was quick to continue. “Sometimes I feel like the message gets lost or diluted when I communicate verbally. There have been instances where team members seemed distracted or didn’t grasp the complete vision during our face-to-face discussions. That’s why I thought a written memo would provide a clearer message.”
“Maybe that’s the downside of a verbal conversation. What about the upside?” I pressed.
There was a pause. Lasted forever, but silence often does the heavy lifting. “A verbal discussion, in a meeting, allows for immediate feedback on the project, understanding its purpose, its scope, its sequence. It may also surface questions that everyone has, but most are too timid to ask about. It might also create a sense of connection and trust in the team.”
“In what way could you combine both the clarity and consistency of a memo, a written description, with the improvisational value of a robust discussion?”
I was walking the floor. The drone of the saws was dampened by my ear protection. The conversation with Lloyd could barely be heard above the din.
“What’s with all the green shirts?” I yelled.
Lloyd looked around. “It’s green shirt day.”
I nodded as we ducked around a corner where the noise wasn’t so bad. I popped out my earplugs. “What’s green shirt day?”
Lloyd smiled. “It’s like the difference between a light bulb and a laser light. 100 watts from a light bulb will light up a room, but with all the light beams focused together, a 100 watts of laser light will drill a hole in the wall. Same thing works with my team.”