Being rewarded for doing a good job is a critical component of
successful teams. In the book, “First Break All the Rules” the
Gallup Organization found that members of the highest performing
teams are congratulated by their manager at least once a week.
How often do you reward the accomplishments of your team?
Here is a way to remember to celebrate.
IF ITS WORTH MEASURING
ITS WORTH CELEBRATING
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We have had several clients come to us recently with concerns
about the quality of their team’s performance….. Shoddy
workmanship, lack of team cohesiveness, seeming lack of
dedication.
In all cases, the team leader thought these problems were because
the team members were screwing up or didn’t care. As they
traveled down this line of reasoning, the logical next step was
to break out the can of “Whuup Ass” and start playing the drill
sergeant.
This mindset is very common and a HUGE barrier to improvements in
team performance, because over 90% of employees want to be on a
winning team and are doing the best they can - under the
circumstances.
The truth is this,
YOUR TEAM’S PERFORMANCE IS A MIRROR
In this mirror, you can see the effectiveness of your leadership
and your systems.
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Have you seen the children’s television show “Bob The Builder”?
Every day Bob and his friends are faced with a seemingly
insurmountable obstacle. Once the details of what they must
accomplish are clear, Bob shouts out,
“Can we do it?”
and his whole team replies,
“Yes We Can!”
at the top of their lungs.
Bob The Builder is an inspirational leader. Bob knows that the Leader’s Energy and Attitude will dramatically influence the participation of the entire team.
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Do you have to be blunt, direct, Type A and forceful to be a good leader? Can you be both Nice and Effective in a Leadership Role or do you have to check your “pleasant” persona at the door when you go to work. Great question … and here is some Very Interesting Research on just this topic.
Recent psychological research is showing an interesting inverse relationship in the traits of “Warmth” and “Competence”.
This research involved thousands of adults in two dozen different nations … and it begs the question,
“Can a Nice Person be a good Leader?”
The answer is “Yes … But” and it all has to do with our natural defense mechanisms. In “the wild” our defenses consist of Fight or Flight. However, in the modern world … since we rarely run into lions and tigers and bears these days and other people are our biggest challenge … our radar is tuned to a more socially oriented “lookout” system.
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When an elephant trainer first gets a new baby elephant, they put a chain around one leg and tie it to a solid stake in the groud. The baby elephant soon realizes it can’t get away and stops pulling at the stake. They have learned that “escape” is impossible and you know what they say, “An elephant never …… forgets.”
An adult elephant will not try to pull out the stake its leg
is chained to … even though it could do so effortlessly.
The elephant learned that it was “impossible” when they were a
baby and assume it is still “impossible” today.
This is an excellent example of Assumed Constraints… things we assume are impossible - so we never test them.
On your team, Assumed Constraints show up when someone says,
“That can’t be done” or “That will never work.”
Well… in business, the big winner is usually the first company
to do something others think is impossible.
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Let’s face it … any change in any organization will meet with a certain amount of resistance and skepticism. We are creatures of habit.
However, when the change you are contemplating falls in to the realm of Process Improvement, there are unique challenges involved. Especially if you never learned the People Skills you need for smooth CPI Implementation.
LEAN/CPI is more than just the Technical Skill Set. In fact, sometimes the more technically qualified you are, the harder you may find LEAN to implement. WHY ?
LEAN Six Sigma does have a comprehensive set of technical tools with which you can approach any business process. You can spend months learning the various applications and nuances and, unfortunately, your data and compiling of statistics - the “Facts” does little to counter the resistance and skepticism of your Teams.
Success with LEAN Six Sigma implementation depends in large part on your People Skills.
When you focus too heavily on the Technical side of LEAN, you can unintentionally get in the way of these People Skills tasks. And your Teams remain resistant and obstructive.
Here’s one People Skill’s Tool that will get you started on the Right Foot with a new Team
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How Do You Eat An Elephant ?
One Bite At A Time
As a Leader, you probably do a lot of Goal Setting with your teams. And sometimes goals can feel like an elephant around our necks … can’t they. Especially if your organization has bought into the BHAG school of goal setting. Those are Big Hairy Audacious Goals.
Remember goals are our targets AND simply setting goals is not enough to reach them.
Using goals as a tool to focus our actions is the key. AND, since the only bite you can take of that Elephant that is your Big Hairy Audacious Goal is the next one … the most important question to ask your Team is this … “What is this week’s bite”
Once a goal is set, the critical next step is to help your Team figure out what step they must take THIS WEEK to achieve their
goal.
One proven way to find This Week’s Bite is
“Backwards Planning” here’s how it works [click to continue…]
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Leadership requires you give feedback to your work teams and
their individual members. Effective feedback reinforces team
behaviors that help you reach your business goals.
Here’s a technique, we call the “Feedback Sandwich” that will improve your ability to give effective feedback as a Team Leader.
Many leaders find giving honest, constructive feedback one of the
hardest parts of their job, especially if they are a new leader
giving feedback to former colleagues.
The toughest part of effective feedback is telling your people
about the behaviors you want them to change. What we all know as
“Negative Feedback”. There are two main pitfalls: [click to continue…]
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The Most Important Aspect of planning any Meeting is understanding the Session Objective. “What do we want to have accomplished by the end of this meeting to consider it a success?”
The Session Objective is the “Why” you are having the Meeting…it is your destination.
The Agenda is the “HOW”… the map to get there
One of the biggest challenges to Meeting Effectiveness is we are essentially Creatures of Habit. We do things this way because we have always done things this way … pure and simple.
In the average weekly staff meeting for instance - the agenda is often made up of routine standing items. These Agenda Items have always been there and no one has a legitimate reason when you ask the question, “Why?”.
You can create a radical improvement in the quality of these standing meetings by looking at each Agenda Item separately and establishing its Agenda Item Objective. You sit down and examine the Session Objective for each item on the Agenda. It looks like this … [click to continue…]
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This is a record breaking downturn in the US Economy. Wall Street, Housing, unemployment and a host of other indicators of economic health have worsened at record rates … and here you are working every day to keep your Team moving forward despite all the bad news.
How can you adjust our Leadership Style to accomodate the negative environment and the effects this may be having on your team members?
In the Jan 19th edition of Business Week, executive coach/guru Marshall Goldsmith recommends leaders make four specific adjustments these days. Here is my spin on his suggestions:
1) “Judge Less” - Goldsmith says crank up your empathy meter a couple of notches. If anyone on your team is struggling and underperforming, realize their could be contributing factors outside the team. Be more empathetic and tolerant than usual ESPECIALLY if empathy and tolerance are not one of your core skills. [click to continue…]
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