The TEAM Approach

Trust

What is the truth about trust?

Can Delegating Really Improve Productivity?

Dave Erdman, the President of Vital Learning Corporation, offers his thoughts.

The Issue

Have you ever wondered why it is, that even with the most careful planning and organization, certain projects fail to achieve the results you envisioned? Ask yourself this question, “Did I derail my own plans because I was not willing to delegate?

Some Perspective

We’ve all heard the phrase, “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” From my point of view, nothing could be further from the truth.

As a veteran of four different corporations, I often think about the lessons I’ve learned over the years. What I know for sure is that learning to delegate effectively will make you a more effective leader. Yes, planning and organization can help, but if you aren’t delegating, chances are you will constantly battle the problem of keeping up with everything that has to be done, which leads to productivity issues.

These days, leaders are charged with many challenges, including the maximization of resources. Those who are in a position of responsibility must constantly be in the mode of developing talent. And, one of the best ways to do that is by delegating tasks.

Delegating accomplishes two things. One, it expresses your confidence in your team members. And two, delegation motivates team members to step outside of their box and go beyond the previously defined limits of their potential.

I’ve also worked with team leaders who had other preconceptions, which always seemed to hold them back from delegation: “Some people are basically lazy, interested only in their paycheck and fringe benefits.” Or, “If I grant team members additional responsibility my authority will be challenged.” Does that sound familiar?

These preconceptions are often the reason team leaders hesitate to assign tasks to their team members, resulting in a lack of productivity, low motivation among the team, and in general, real problems in the workplace.

What’s holding back the team leaders in your organization? In my experience one of the main reasons team leaders hold back is that they do not have confidence that they know “how to” delegate effectively, and that the assignment will be done well, and the belief that they have done so in a manner that demonstrates real leadership.

Many team leaders can benefit by a deeper understanding of the skills that those who delegate effectively use and put into practice every day.

A Solution

The Vital Learning formula for boosting skill levels, and results, is found in our “Delegating” program. Without going into detail the basic model looks like this:
    •     Explain the need for delegation
    •     Use delegation of task to motivate
    •     Explain and ask team member's view
    •     Specify responsibility and authority
    •     Confirm team member's understanding and set up time for review

Check yourself!  Do you have a model to follow when you delegate?  The five steps above can really make a difference.  To develop the skill, consider our online course on Delegating or have your training director contact us for information on a classroom version he or she can conduct.

Quotable Quote

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. ~ Dwight Eisenhower

Under New Management

Today I passed a business with a sign prominently displaying the message: “under new management.” Whenever I see such a sign, I begin to wonder about its intended outcome. It seems to be reaching out to all who pass by to say, “we’ve changed…come in and try us again, see how we have improved, we are really worth another look…”

What a great idea for team leaders too: “under new management.” As managers, supervisors and team leaders, we can provide NEW management techniques and approaches to those we serve by making subtle changes (or not so subtle) to our management style. You may be one who boldly tries new approaches with your team regularly, or perhaps you are like most team leaders who a bit more cautious of changing their style and approach. Change is uncomfortable for anyone, but under the watchful eye of our team members we can let our imaginations get the best of us… “What will they think of me? Will it come off as planned?  What if it doesn’t work?”

Well, think of “under new management” as an opportunity to try out changes while allowing you to be open and upfront about what you are doing.  A perfect time to put up the under new management banner is right after you have attended some training, or read a new book. Use these situations as an 'excuse' to try new things. Get your team to support you. Openly announce that this is not comfortable or easy, but you believe it will make you more effective. Involve the team in a debriefing and get even greater level of support from them.  By showing your interest in their input and by allowing your direct reports to “coach” you, support and acceptance will come easier than expected.

Consider the benefits of taking the risk to try new behaviors and approaches and to involve your team in the process:

1. You are role modeling the importance of trying new behaviors for your team.

2. You are suggesting that improvement is always possible and that we can all work to be more effective.

3. You are involving your team and developing their observation skills and their ability to give feedback.

4. You are creating a learning culture.

5. And finally, you are growing and becoming more effective with each new skill you turn into a habit.

Are you the same team leader today that you were the day that you were given the title of mananger or supervisor? Or, is your team regularly under new management?

The Hidden Cost of Involvement

Organization #1

A team member notices an inefficient step in the production process and asks their supervisor if they can discuss this. Together, they plan to do a study of this process to gather data that can be taken to management.  They complete their analysis, prepare a proposal for a solution with input from the entire team and present the findings and recommendations to top management, who implements their ideas and reports the process saves the company over $100,000 per year.

Organization #2

An employee notices a step in the production cycle that has some obvious inefficiencies. After considering taking this discovery to the supervisor, the employee decides to keep quiet remembering the result the last time they made a suggestion. As the employee ponders the situation, they begin to feel frustration, which they voice to team members who happily add their own concerns. The employee decides to be sick on Friday to try to lift their spirits with a long weekend. Two other employees must have had the same idea. The company pays for temps to keep things going. Having such a high ratio of temps on this particular team leads to a bit of confusion around key work processes and results in some significant customer errors. When the team leader is held responsible, the relationship between the team and the leader deteriorates further…

The Lesson:

The impact of involving employees and seeing them a valued part of your team can be huge! Often, managers complain that employees do as little as possible and don't take responsibily or initiative. While there certainly are employees that have personal issues with motivation (why DO you hire and then keep these employees in the first place!?!) often the answer to this challange is the relationship with the manager. How does the manager value and involve the employees in decision making, goal setting and problem solving? The final skill taught in the Essential Skills of Leadership is just that, to involve your employees in these critical team functions as often as possible. It is good for them, it is good for the company and it is good for your customers. Check with your team today: what do they see that you do not? What opportunities, problems and ideas do they have that you can use to improve and grow your business?

Whales and Humans in Distress

I was mesmerized by a story in our newspaper today of a great whale swimming down the River Thames. This was quite a spectacle I am sure, drawing huge crowds of onlookers to view an enormous Bottle Nose whale normally only found in the deep Northern Atlantic ocean, and difficult to spot event there. The story then went on to explain that the whale was likely in distress causing it to exhibit this bizarre behavior with it’s surprising visit to London.

As you would hope and expect, elaborate plans were in the making to save this great creature. A whale in distress is something that touches our hearts and we want to do all that we possibly can.  But are not we humans, also magnificent creatures? How often do we see humans on the job exhibiting somewhat bizarre behavior only to be greeted with negative feedback, reprimands or worse yet, to be completely avoided and ignored?  How often do we take the time to try and see these employees as potentially “in distress” and try to rally around them to help them return to the safe waters again?

Seeing unusual behavior as a sign of distress rather than orneriness or incompetence is a first step in helping employees through what ever the crises may be and bringing them back to the team as a fully contributing member.  But, whatever we believe may the causing the behavior we need to remind out selves that this is only our opinion and all we really know for sure is the behavior we are observing. What we must focus our discussions on, as suggested in a course called the Essential Skills of Leadership published by Vital Learning, is the observed behavior, not the attitudes that we believe may be at the root of the problem. Attitudes are difficult to change, and even more difficult to identify because we can never really know what is happening inside another person, In fact most discussions about attitudes will usually result in defensiveness and bad feelings and not positive change.  In reaching out to engage your team members who may be in some kind of distress, highlight the behavior in question in a concerned and caring way and ask the employee for their opinion. Involve them in generating solutions and watch their commitment grow. Reel them back into the team and they will pay the team back with tremendous loyalty and quality efforts.

An Open Letter to Weis Markets

I have discovered that there are many little things that make moving to a new home a rich experience. Simple changes such as finding a new place to get your groceries can be an amazing journey of discovery. This was the case for me when we moved just far enough away from my favorite grocer to require a back up store closer to my new home. Welcome to Weis Markets.

My welcome to Weis was an unforgettable experience. As I stepped out of my car for that first visit and my foot touched the parking lot it landed in chewing gum. Gum in a parking lot can really happen to any business, but this lot looked grimy. I guess with 157 stores though, that is a “lot” of parking lots to keep up with, and I am sure that Weis is too busy to care about one customer with gum on their shoes.

On my first and subsequent visits, I was amazed to find that all but one of the cashiers were bagging or teaching customers how to use the self-service scanning devices at every register forcing any customers not willing to wait for the one and only human cashier to check out their groceries themselves. I even asked a manager about this, but was told they could not find enough employees. I was really curious about the ones that were already working there, but this did not seem to go anywhere with the manager who seemed to have more important things to do than talk to customers. Perhaps I am old fashioned, but having a human at a register is one of the last few services left that I am ready to give up.

So, I wait in the long line with the one human who is paid to run the register. Opps, Can you help me?  I forgot my “Weis Store Card.” What? You can’t ring it on a generic store card like my favorite old store use to do for me? I have to wait in line at customer service so they can look it up? You can’t even call them on your phone for me? Oh, you don’t have a phone at your register, do you? Gee that makes it a bit hard to help customers doesn’t it?

As I wait for ten minutes in the “Customer Service line” staffed by one frazzled employee, who is providing a whole host of services, I realize that 9000 employees is far too many to train and besides they won’t work for Weis long enough to make the investment in training worthwhile. What does it matter if you loose customers like me who drop an average of $120 per weekly visit into the one register staffed by a human. Who cares if I refuse, even in an emergency, to go to Weis and instead drive 12-15 minutes to the Oregon Dairy, where there are always humans who will ring me up on the “store card” and go out of their way to help me. Once they even sent me home with several bags of groceries and an IOU when I forgot to make a deposit and my bank card came up insufficient funds!! How does the Oregon Dairy do it anyway? They are a single store operation but charge the same prices as Weis and can actually afford to staff all those registers with humans? And where do they find all those employees just 15 minutes away? Something sure is fishy here. It must be the shrimp sale at the Oregon Dairy. I think I will stop by seafood and pick up a few pounds.

Self Esteem and Beethoven

According to Vital Learning's Essential Skills of Leadership program, a foundational skill in leadership is to always be building and maintaining the self-esteem of one's team members. In fact, this skill may very well be the cornerstone of good leadership. Often times, however, leaders move too quickly to take the care needed to do this effectively when providing feedback and both the loss of loyalty and talent can result.

To illustrate the fragile nature of self-esteem, consider for a moment one of the worlds most competent musicians to ever have lived: Beethoven. The film, “Immortal Beloved,” is about the life of Beethoven and while it has a fictional story line, it also offers many true scenes from this great masters life.

In one such scene, Beethoven is conducting his own composition (imagine that for a moment) but he is completely deaf and this fact has not yet been discovered by his audience or the populations at large. The orchestra becomes completely frustrated with Beethoven and literally stops playing. The audience is quite entertained and begins laughing due to their perception of his lack of competence. It is a powerful example of the fragility of self-esteem, and how easy it is for us to jump to conclusions about someone’s behavior and be totally off the mark.

When confronted with performance that falls short of the expectation, ask the team member for their opinion first and try to understand the situation from their perspective before providing your own observations. You may learn new information that builds both the relationship and the performance of your employee.

Service Quality Context: It's Everywhere!

I just finished a conversation with a leader in a top rated US hospital about creating a Customer Service culture. We both marveled at the comments she had received from her organization recently suggesting that customer service is so simple, why would their organization even need to teach it?!

Is customer service simple? Maybe. Is it easy to achieve consistently in most organizations? Definitely not. Most of us can recall countless examples where we personally witnessed (or were victims of) horrendous customer service failures.

So what is the solution? The problem, at least partially, may stem from our solution-orientation. We actually think we can fix this, and it will stay fixed. Customer service, however, is a moving target and we need to be working at it regularly. The more intentional we are about keeping service in the forefront of our organization, the greater the chances of providing consistently excellent service.

That of course is true, if we also pay attention to what Dave Erdman, President of Vital Learning Corporation, refers to as “Service Quality Context (SQC).” By SQC, Dave is talking about the various functions, policies and processes that impact service. One example of what of SQC might refer to is hiring.

Consider your organization for just a moment. Is hiring done in a way that leaves a candidate who was not selected feeling positive about your organization, wanting to spread goodwill about you, even though they were not selected? Does your hiring procedure begin the acculturation process even before a candidate steps foot in your organization for the interview and continue throughout the  process to enhance their comfort and integration in the first few weeks on the job?

As you can see, SQC can greatly impact customer service from dozens, perhaps hundreds of vantage points in your organization.  So should we invest time, energy and money teaching customer service? Perhaps you'll need to consider the your organization's SQC health before you can answer that question. But, what ever the answer, providing excellent service consistently is still a worthy goal that will differentiate you in times of increasing competition from around the block and around the globe.

Are You Tethered to Your Work?

As I finish up my workday and settle in to compose this post at 10:12 PM I remind myself that I did arrive in the office a bit late today. It was almost 7:45 AM which helps me feel a little better about the hours worked today. And of course, there was that breakfast meeting that lasted almost two hours. Well, it did at least include food.

As I listen to my own rationalizations, sometimes I wonder if I have gone mad. Then as I look around, I think the whole world has gone mad with me! The increasing time investment in the workday seems to be a problem not only for the self-employed types, but for my internal colleagues too. Everyone today seems tethered by the technology that allows us to extend the workday to include our drive time, home time, even vacation time. There seems to be little true “down time.”

A recent post by Management Issues notes that even the French (one of the few civilizations that still knows how to really live) are concerned that they may not work enough!

Well, according to the “Take Back Your Time folks, we here in America work more than medieval peasants did, and more than the citizens of any other industrial country. In fact on average, we work nearly nine full weeks longer per year than our peers in Western Europe do!

Are you feeling tired lately? Or worse yet, do you feel guilty about feeling tired? Be honest. If so, you need to order a copy of the Take Back Your Time book and perhaps start a support group with your work friends who are probably feeling the same way. As one of my favorite speakers Jim Rohn says, “Life is not a practice session.” This is it friends; it is ours to choose how to spend it. But, when it is gone, it is gone.

Communication: A Team Exercise

Have you ever sat in a meeting and watched team members communicate without any awareness of a communication miss that was kind of obvious to you?

To sensitize team members on how easy it is to miscommunicate, try a short exercise with your team called Words, Words, Words. Whenever you see this problem croping up, remind the team of the exercise and try and rally the extra effort that good communication requires.