June 2008
In this Issue:
To Thrive, Inoculate Your
Corporate Culture Against Rigid Thinking
By Joan Lloyd
Today, I had the first management team meeting with a new employer. I found the situation to be productive and extremely comfortable. Of the nine people in the room (all upper managers), three of us had less than a year with the employer, three had over 15 years experience, and the other three were somewhere in between. What made the meeting special was the interchange of ideas and a good dose of humor. The newcomers were neither singled out nor ignored. Even though we had little experience as a team, the humor helped us to build the relationships we will need to be effective in the future.
Contrast this to two other employers with whom I tried to build a career. Virtually from day one, it was made clear that "We won’t even know your name until you’ve been here for 10 years." Although it was a joke, it was also a sad truism. It was difficult to bring anything new to the table because the culture excluded contributions from newcomers (even at high levels).
One of my peers was constantly on the defensive as a manager because long service, lower level people would go over her head to other long service executives. Tens of thousands of dollars in recruiting fees were wasted because the employer did not have the gene that incorporates new contributors into the organization. Both employers had high turnover of middle management employees hired from outside the company. (And in neither case was I given the opportunity to give an exit interview.)
I believe there is so much to be gained in the collaboration of long-service employees with those who have other work experiences. Employers who do that are truly "employers of choice."
Every organization is like a living, breathing organism with it’s own personality, emotional health, ethical standards and an immune system that rejects behavior and ideas that threaten its state of being.
When a foreign object—such as a new idea—is injected into the system, the organization’s antibodies rush to surround it and destroy it before it can spread to the rest of the organization.
In a healthy company, the foreign behavior that isn’t tolerated may be that of a disrespectful sales rep, who verbally abuses the internal sales assistants. Or, the organization might drive out an employee who refuses to work cooperatively on her team.
In an unhealthy organization, it sounds like this, "Oh, we tried that already and it doesn’t work," or "Nothing changes around here unless the boss says it’s okay," or "Okay, try it if you want but I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes if it doesn’t work."
This kind of insulated, narrow-minded thinking usually comes straight from the top and the only way it will change is through a change in leadership (or seeing the Ghosts of Christmas Past). That’s one of the reasons old-line or closely controlled companies with calcified cultures so often start by looking for an enlightened leader with a strong stomach for initiating change. The problem is that the executives and managers are conditioned so well, it is very difficult to change years of reinforced behavior.
Organizations that want to inoculate their organizations against rigid thinking are wise to take some of the following steps:
- Hire enough people from the outside to keepfresh ideas in the company’s blood stream.
- Make it a point to take full advantage of lessons learned somewhere else. Ask, "Jack, you’ve had experience with this at ACME. When you were there, how would they have approached this problem? Any lessons we could apply here?"
- Do sixty-day interviews with new employees to find out how they like the organization, if they are feeling accepted and if there is more you can do to tap their experience.
- In meetings, squash nay-saying and premature evaluation of new ideas.
- If an employee has a new idea they are convinced will work, let them test it and monitor it’s effectiveness.
- Do a "Post Mortem" on projects that fail or ideas that didn’t work. Rather than blaming those involved, make them a valuable part of the analysis of why it didn’t work and what can be learned. Thank people for their efforts.
- As an executive or manager, have the emotional courage to stay open to new ideas yourself. Admit when you’re wrong. Ask for advice. Try something for the first time.
Even the smartest companies fall into the "not invented here" trap. If you think it’s seeping into your organization, it may be time for a booster shot.
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Use "Flex Meetings" To Improve
Communication & Increase Productivity
By Robert Bacal
Meetings are expensive. The more people at a meeting, and the more time spent the more expensive. That's one reason why meeting planning and management is so important particularly when we've moved to a more team based system of work. Effective meeting management is important for more than just the basic cost issues. If meetings are unnecessary, or unwieldy, people at the meetings get bored, frustrated, and start to find ways of avoiding attending.
There's an interesting way of managing meetings so that they are less wasteful of time, and less likely to engender frustration on the part of those attending. Before I tell you about the "flex meeting", here are some basic principles:
- We want the right people at meetings. That means that people attending a particular meeting should either have a NEED to be there, or a desire to be there. If people want to be there but don't need to be there, then they should have the option of attending, provided their attendance won't impede the meeting.
- We want to minimize unnecessary time spent at meetings due to both cost and frustration issues.
- We do not want to restrict access to meeting content or participation without good reason.
The Flex Meeting
The "flex meeting" actually has two separate parts to it. The first we call the core issues component. The core issue component includes agenda items that all meeting attendees NEED to know about, or need to be involved with. In other words, we put the mandatory and important items in the core issue part of the meeting.
The second part of the meeting is the non-core issues component. We reserve this time for discussion about less critical issues that may be of interest to only some of the attendees. Some of these may be important to SOME people, and totally irrelevant to others.
So, those are the parts. The core issues component is put at the beginning of the meeting. All potential participants are notified that attendance is expected for THAT PARTICULAR PART of the meeting. Consistent with good meeting management, time limits can be set for agenda items. Once the core issues have been covered, there is a break in the meeting, a coffee break, perhaps.
At that point the meeting attendance becomes discretionary. Those that want to participate in discussion of the non-core issues return, while those that feel their time could best be used elsewhere can choose to be elsewhere.
The idea behind the flex meeting is to make sure that the right people are at the meeting at the right time. We want "just the right" arrangement. We don't want people sitting through two hours of discussion that has no value to them, or where they can't contribute value. We also don't want people missing critical "core" information.
An added benefit of the flex meeting is that it empowers staff to decide where they can best allocate their time, and it is structured to take into account core, critical issues, and less critical ones.
If you try this method, you may find that your meetings are shorter, more efficient, and less frustrating. Keep in mind that ANY meeting format should have a clear agenda established before hand and use standard meeting practices to ensure the meeting stays on course and on time.
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The Six Deadly Sins of Team-Building
There is no question that the traditional workplace, with its emphasis on internal competition and individual star performers is undergoing a transformation. Management experts and researchers are suggesting that the successful organization is one characterized by effective teamwork, and leadership rather than management. Organizations are realizing the importance of developing teams that can work in a coordinated, efficient, and creative manner.
If you recognize the need for team development, and are planning some activities for that purpose, you should have some idea of the pitfalls of team building, and how to go about it. Whether you hire a consultant to help, or you lead the process yourself, you need to know what must be avoided. In this article we will discuss six deadly sins of team-building.
1. Lack of A Model
It is not uncommon for people leading a team-building process to focus on a single aspect of team functioning. Often the emphasis will be on communication practices, to the exclusion of other elements that are critical to team success and effectiveness. Teams just aren't that simple, and a team is only as strong as its weakest component.
It is rare that a team will benefit by focusing on only one aspect of team development. In fact, what may happen is that the unidimensional team building process may increase frustration, and destroy the credibility of the process.
RX
You need a model of how teams function, so that you can address all the factors that result in reduced team effectiveness. At minimum, consider that an effective team requires:
- Clearly stated and commonly held vision and goals
- Talent and skills required to meet goals
- Clear understanding of team members' roles and functions
- Efficient and shared understanding of procedures and norms
- Effective and skilled interpersonal relations
- A system of reinforcement and celebration
- Clear understanding of the team's relationship to the greater organization
2. Lack of Diagnosis
Each team is different. Each team has distinct strengths and weaknesses, and team building must build on these specific strengths and address weaknesses. Without knowing these strengths and weaknesses, the team building leader runs the risk of using a process that will be irrelevant or useless, again resulting in lack of credibility for the process, and the sponsor (often you).
Rx
Diagnose as a first step in the process. If you are hiring an outside consultant, insist that they do a thorough team assessment as the first step. If you are leading the process yourself, consider using the Team Assessment & Diagnostic Instrument.
3. Short Term Intervention
It is not uncommon for a manager to arrange for a retreat or team-building day, without developing a longer term strategy for team development. At best, a single day dangling on its own will result in a brief motivational surge that quickly fades. At worst, the day will bring to light issues that cannot be solved during that day, and are left to fester. Again, lack of credibility results.
Let's face it. Your organization or team has evolved its character over many years. It is not likely that one day, no matter how good, is going to make much of a dent in the norms, culture and practices of the team.
Rx
Plan a long term strategy for team building. We suggest planning for a full year.
4. No Evaluation of Progress
Since team building is a long-term process, you (and team members) need to know whether it is succeeding. It is common for team building efforts to take for granted that things are improving without putting in place a mechanism for regular evaluation of team functioning. However, it will be a rare situation where team improvement will occur smoothly...there are always glitches, but the team building leader must be able to identify barriers so that the team can work to eliminate them.
Rx
Plan regular evaluation of team progress. You can use the team assessment survey you initially took as a pre and-post measure of progress.
5. Leadership Detachment
It is unfortunate that management sometimes enters into a team- building enterprise in a somewhat detached way. The detached manager looks at team development as something that will help others change, so that the team will function more effectively.
However, the most influential person in most teams is the formal leader or manager. Like it or not, you set the tone for the team, whether intentionally or intentionally, and it is inevitable that team effectiveness cannot be improved unless the manager is willing to look at his/her contributions to the team. Management usually has to change too.
Rx
If you aren't willing to hear from employees how your behavior impacts the team (negatively or positively), don't do team- building. The worst thing you can do is start the process and refuse to acknowledge that you are a key player in the process.
6. Doing It All Internally
Team building generally will not succeed unless conflicts and problems can be brought into the open and dealt with properly. The problem is that poorly functioning teams are characterized by a climate of blame, defensiveness, and a lack of ability to deal with conflict. Poor teams lack the ability to improve themselves.
There are times when an outside consultant may be required. While a consultant may bring specialized skills that are lacking in the organization, the most important reason for using an outside consultant is that the "outsider" has no history with the organization, no preconceptions, and may have more credibility than someone who is perceived as having his/her own agenda.
Rx
 Consider hiring an outside consultant to help. However, the team should not become dependent on the consultant, and must ultimately develop the ability to improve on its own. Look to a consultant if there is a high degree of negativism about the team, or there are unresolved conflicts or emotions related to the team, or management.
Conclusion
Whether you are leading team building activities, or hiring someone, it is important that you stay away from the six deadly sins. Lousy team building is worse than doing nothing. Improperly thought out efforts are likely to increase negativity, reduce team functioning, and reduce management credibility. If you are a manager, your own personal reputation, and the degree to which your employees have confidence in you will depend upon your making effective team building decisions from day one.
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