Newsletter - March 2005

TO MEASURE OR NOT TO MEASURE

All teams that begin the process of finding a path to success begin by confronting the brutal facts of their current reality.

I'm working in an organisation at the moment that has a large spread of people across the State in a Branch Office network. They are facing many issues trying to implement change. There is great resistance to anything new, including the General Manager and his management team. He is facing many issues on all fronts with unhappy staff through to antiquated technology. He is trying to implement a new operational plan and as you can imagine is frustrated with the attitude of staff at many levels in the organisation.

During a recent meeting he threw his hands up and said "Where do we start, there's so many problems!" I asked if staff had ever been surveyed to find out what they thought or if their thoughts even aligned with his and the management team. He pondered this question. Often as team leaders we think we know what's best for everyone in the team. We sometimes forget that the staff at the coal face have all the information and if they are given the right opportunity will willingly share what they think is going well and not so well within their team or the organisation. Not only that they will offer concrete suggestions and insightful solutions.

There are many surveys available in the market place today. I regularly use the Strategic Team Development Profile. It is inexpensive, easy to administer and gives solid information about key strategic issues in teams. It's based on the High Energy Teams Model developed by Margerison and McCann. It measures eight parameters and answers the following questions:

1. Who are we?
2. Where are we now?
3. Where are we going?
4. How will we get there?
5. What is expected of us?
6. What support do we need?
7. How effective are we?
8. What recognition do we get?

The survey is completed by all team members, their supervisor/manager and can also accommodate ratings by peers or others which could include, customers, other team managers or members of the Board.

The report quickly identifies satisfaction and importance ratings against the eight key strategic parameters. This data can then be used to identify what the staff see as important to them and it also measures satisfaction ratings. Similarly the manager and other rater's results can be compared and contrasted to identify areas for action and attention.

Having a yardstick to measure by is useful in the long term health of the team. By measuring periodically the team's progress can be monitored and appropriate interventions unfolded as needed.

A key feature and benefit of this survey tool is that it is anonymous and allows everyone to be totally honest without fear of identification or recrimination. If you manage a team, think about how your team is functioning and how you measure or quantify the health or otherwise of the team.

COMMUNICATE OR PERISH

If you want to create a culture of success within your team you must allow your people the opportunity to be heard and ultimately for the truth to be heard. This is a two way process and involves regular communication both from the manager to the team and back again from the team to the manager or leadership team.

Take the opportunity to regularly schedule a team meeting where information is shared in a meaningful and productive way. This does not mean an information dump where the team leader speaks and the team members listen and do not comment. It must include an opportunity for the team to engage in dialogue and share their thoughts and fears.

Creating a culture where the team are happy to deal in the truth includes just four simple actions.

1. Lead discussions with open ended questions rather than decisions or answers.
2. Encourage debate and comment from all members of the team. Remember some team members may be introverted and require a little prompting to get involved.
3. Analyse situations which have occurred positively with a learning perspective. That is, how can we learn from this experience rather than who do we blame for this stuff up!
4. Create safety nets that capture information that must be captured and dealt with for the safety and well being of the team.

Keep your eyes and ears open and never be afraid to communicate with your team.