Building the management team
Some mistakes you can only make with a computer. That’s how a draft of this went out well before its time. My apologies. Here’s what I meant to say:
“Give people a fact or idea and you enlighten their minds; tell them a story and you touch their souls” -Hasidic proverb
Lately I’ve been thinking about how disconnected a work team can get while each member is pursuing their separate responsibilities. Nowhere is this more evident than the in an executive’s team of directors. Each director has more to do than they can handle, and oversees a function that is wildly different from and independent of those of their peers. Add distance to this mix and building cohesion gets even more difficult. That’s why staff meetings can become recitations by the boss - tidbits of information, detailed reports from the boardroom - one endless, boring presentation after another. Rather than break down silos and territoriality, these meetings reinforce it.
Let’s face it: These middle and senior management teams have no common work product that they can come together in service of. Saying they all work together to realize the company’s annual goals is too abstract. And, the cost of gathering these groups together for face time necessary to build cohesion is significant.
So, if your group doesn’t realistically work on a common task, how can you build esprit d’corps?
1. Lower your expectations. You’re not failing if your group isn’t going bowling together every Friday night. You’re not getting substandard results because some people work best alone. Teams have been over-hyped and oversold. Instead of thinking your team has to join hands and sing Kumbaya, adopt this standard instead: No injuries, no deaths = a successful team.
2. Treat them like adults. They buy and sell big ticket items, make life and death decisions, balance their own budgets and work within limitations every day. Is it realistic to think they can’t handle the truth about a budget cut, a lay-off or be undone when they hear the word “no?”
3. Suck it up. Rather than swinging wildly between faux-sensus (get them in a room, ask them to come to agreement about something that is a foregone conclusion, but may prove unpopular, and call it “coming to consensus”) and dictatorial emails that infer the decision is someone else’s fault. Instead, notice that these are the same thing: You not owning a decision that is yours to make or announce. Eventually, your group will notice this is a game and they’ll stop playing it.
4. Use processes designed for groups. These make a place for the orderly expression of conflict which enables your group to disagree without becoming disagreeable. They allow you to get exactly the kind of participation and interaction you want out of every meeting. That’s what you want. The road to “teamosity” goes right through the town of conflict and returns there often. Having a clear path to walk ensure you’ll survive the trip. I’ll write more about these in next week’s post.
5.Stories. Tell each other stories about what touches you, what challenges you, what inspires you, what you’ve learned, what you’re grateful for. Tell your story. Tell them the story of the department you’ve always wanted, the vision you hold but need their help realizing, the reason you came to work here, took this particular job. Make yourself visible and vulnerable, then see what happens next.
I have this persistent idea for an icebreaker: Each time you meet, a different person has to bring a story, poem or quote that has touched or changed them. They tell the story, read the poem or quote, then say what it means to them. I’m looking for an on-going group(s) who will be my guinea pig on this. Any takers?