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Archive for the ‘Teamwork’ Category

It is not where you start …

In Leadership, Strategy, Teamwork on May 23, 2011 at 7:18 am

This weekend was the qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

Congratulations to Alex Tagliani for capturing the coveted pole position. But as racers say, “It is not where you start, it is where you finish!”

Since 1910, only 20 of the winners have come from the pole position. 500 miles is a long way, and lots can happen. In fact, many cars don’t even make it through turn 1 of the first lap.

For several years back in the 1990s, Nortel sponsored an IndyCar team. Part of my responsibility was to manage the racing program. It was an incredible experience, and I learned lots of lessons about high-performance organizations and the importance of focus, efficiency, and resilience.

In 1997, Nortel / Treadway Racing swept the Indy 500, with Arie Luyendyk finishing just .570 seconds over Scott Goodyear. It was an amazing 1-2 finish for the team. (More on Scott Goodyear next week.)

Building a high-performance organization is a long-term effort. It takes months, even years, of relentless effort.

Just like winning the Indy 500.

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust.

Shift Your Thinking…Accelerate Your Results.

A Follower Worth Leading

In Employee Engagement, Leadership, Teamwork on May 2, 2011 at 8:03 am

Last week, we challenged leaders to take a hard look at themselves to see if they were “a leader worth following.”

This week, we turn it around to challenge followers … to see if they are a follower worth leading.

In our work, we see all kinds of organizational pathologies.  One of the most damaging is employees who undermine their boss, and “throw them under the bus.”  This kind of behavior kills organizational performance, and must not be tolerated.

So, what makes someone a follower worth leading?  Great followers:

  • Accept (and implement) decisions that they were not included in
  • Highlight their boss’s strengths, rather than criticize their weaknesses
  • Express concerns privately and directly, rather than at the water cooler
  • Give the boss’s initiatives their very best, even if they don’t fully agree with them
  • Keep their word, meet their deadlines, and make their numbers … not one-time, but every time

Great leaders are rare.  But perhaps great followers are even rarer.

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust. 

Shift Your Thinking … Accelerate Your Results.

Zero Tolerance

In Leadership, Teamwork on November 1, 2010 at 7:48 am

High-performance organizations are fanatical about their values.  Their values are more than words on a web site … they are their defining DNA.

But, far too often, we see leaders who tolerate all kinds of destructive, dysfunctional behaviors (in themselves and in others) that are inconsistent with organization’s values.

Some of these behaviors include:

1.       Badmouthing teammates (one leader even described their teammates as “evil”)

2.       Judging motives … and assuming the worst

3.       Focusing on finding blame vs. solving the problem

4.       Bypassing the chain of command

5.       Passing the buck

6.       Missing deadlines and deliverables

7.       Talking about people behind their back

8.       Complaining about clients

9.       Second-guessing decisions

10.   Avoiding difficult conversations

We advise our clients to have a zero tolerance policy on these kinds of behaviors, especially among those in leadership positions.  Confronting dysfunctional behavior is difficult, but tolerating it will destroy you.

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust.

Shift Your Thinking … Accelerate Your Results.

Can This Team Be Saved?

In Teamwork on January 25, 2010 at 8:16 am

Last week, I ended with a reference to the Ladies Home Journal column called, “Can this marriage be saved” and wondered if we needed a new column called, “Can this team be saved?”

Well, consider this the first installment.

When I meet people, I ask them to tell me about their organizations, and the senior executive team.  Often, they’ll joke and ask if I want them to “lie down and start at the beginning?”

I’ve heard all kinds of things, like:

  • Our CEO has a different strategy every day … he has A.D.D.
  • Our CEO is incredibly out of touch … but refuses to listen to anything negative.
  • My vice president walks around the office bad-mouthing the other executives.
  • Our executives fight all the time … I’m not sure they agree on anything.
  • One of our VPs is totally passive-aggressive.  He is calm in the meeting but goes off the reservation afterwards.

So, can teams like these be saved?  Unfortunately, the answer is, “Maybe … IF they are willing to do the hard work required to change.”  Many will say that they are willing to change, but give up when the going gets tough.

The first step is a brutally honest assessment of the organization’s performance.  If you are losing market share and heading downhill fast, you have to face the facts.  If your executive team is passive-aggressive, you have to call it like it is.

The next step is to engage some outside help.  An outsider can be the voice of reason.  They can be the referee when meetings get hostile.  They can hold people accountable.  Of course, you have to give the outsider the authority to play this role.

Finally, you must “get the wrong executives off the bus.”  This can be really hard, especially when an executive has been part of the team for a long time.  Even harder when the executive is “delivering the numbers.”  But, you have to deal with the problem people, because they bring everyone else down.

I’ve been part of this process many times, both as a consultant and as an executive.  Reflecting back on my experience, the success rate is about 50%.    Not great … but not hopeless either.

Stay tuned for details about a new web site dedicated to this issue:  www.canthisteambesaved.com.

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust.

Shift Your Thinking.  Accelerate Your Results.

1+1+1+1+1+1=3

In Leadership, Teamwork on January 18, 2010 at 6:19 am

In Jon Katzenbach’s well researched book, Teams at the Top, he differentiates between “single-leader working groups” and “performance-driven teams.”

And in my experience, we need a third category, “Dysfunctional, non-working groups.”  In these groups, the sum is less than the parts.

Too often, the most dysfunctional team in an organization is the executive team.  In fact, the employee engagement research suggests that most employees do not trust their executives to do the right thing.

These groups are characterized by low trust, infighting, back-stabbing, and undermining.

At the executive meeting, everyone is partially checked-out.  They don’t fully engage, but wait until after the meeting to start undermining the decisions.

They complain about the other executives behind their backs.   Executive A is convinced that Executive B is “the wrong person on the bus,” and vice versa.

There is also a decided lack of accountability.  Since no one owns anything, no one takes the heat.

Often every executive has a different compensation plan, each driven by different performance factors.  Sometimes, the compensation plan creates a zero-sum-game where it is impossible for everyone to win.

Growing up, my mom subscribed to the Ladies Home Journal, which featured a column called, “Can this marriage be saved?”

Maybe we need a new column, “Can this team be saved?”

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust.

Shift Your Thinking.  Accelerate Your Results.

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