What Results Do You Want?

Believe it or not, people do not stay at jobs because of the color of the office carpet, the waiting room aquarium or the interesting dogs they meet while doing their jobs.

Nope! People stay at jobs because of the people with whom they work. Unfortunately, America's corporate world has compromised the sense of community that a workplace should offer. Unaware corporate executives refer to work groups as teams, hoping that a bunch of people thrown together will work as a team. But it doesn't happen that way.

Just as we cannot put a Chevy in the garage, call it a Caddy and then sell it for a big profit, so we cannot just tell people to work together and reap the benefits of teamwork.

Remember, as my training with your organization explained, people stay in jobs because of the people they work with. They enjoy working in teams — IF those teams are led as teams — which is rarely the case.

Salary can motivate only to a point. But the joy of money earned is easily offset by debt and a number of unrewarding things on the job. For example, in a work group where teamwork is just a word thrown out but doesn't actually happen, individual performance is sometimes at the mercy of a work group member who doesn't do a very good job. This frustration makes looking for another job a really attractive idea.

But, if employees are drawn together in a real team effort, one filled with teamwork and team purpose, those people grow close to one another. Accomplishing things together, helping each other succeed and all those things we talked about when we were together in the training I provided — well, those things knit people together, like peas in a pod. Another job opportunity comes along, but they do not want to leave a team that works well together and makes things happen, not for just a few more dollars.

It might be easy to find a place to work where everyone is pleasant. But, that is not enough to keep them at their job. Every job promises to have nice people.

It is uncommon to find work groups that really accomplish outstanding things by working together. This is because few team leaders are trained in leading the team.

So, remember what I told you about presenting a critical purpose to your team, one that accomplishes what your company needs while scratching where the members of the team itch. Remember that few people come to work just to do their job, especially if their performance depends on someone else's performance who is not easy to work with or does a poor job. They may come to work to get a paycheck. However, using the information I gave you, you can motivate them to become a team that truly enjoys the challenge of the job because they are working at the purpose together. Then they will show up at the office or job site to work together and enjoy relationships with one another.

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2: How would you like to . . . develop your team so that it stays focused on the team's purpose in such a way that individual and team motivation is not lost?

As we discussed at length at the training, the most successful teams have a purpose to guide individual and cooperative effort. The purpose must be carefully chosen, presented in the way we discussed at the training so that team members buy fully into the purpose. It is this purpose that determines functional and dysfunctional team and individual behavior. And it is this critical purpose that provides team members with personal payoff that motivates.

Every team, no matter how boring the nature of its work, can adopt a purpose that melds what the company wants and what individual team members need. When this is done, the framework is set for accomplishing the company's needs while giving employees more benefits than just salary.

Remember how we talked about the importance of "tuning-in"? You want to understand the realities, thoughts and feelings of employees so you can devise a team purpose that gives them something they need — job satisfaction, a sense of teamwork, friends at work, help in becoming even more skillful and productive at what they do, etc.

So, spend some quality time thinking about the people on the team you lead. Write down the various personal situations they face. For each situation, brainstorm thoughts and feelings about what is going on. For example, if your employees are often facing family problems, then the purpose, carefully stated and discussed, can promise peaceful relationships at work because you will help the team become one that solves problems rather than getting after people.

Usually adding something general to the work purpose of a team does the trick. For example, if the organizational purpose of a team is "to work together to load the trucks in the best way for the truck drivers," adding the phrase "while making our jobs really enjoyable" will work. Another example would be "To work together and help one another increase our cumulative real estate sales by 15% over the last year in such a way that our personal lives do not suffer." A third example would be "to provide office support for the executives and enjoy our jobs."

Note the marriage of something for the employer and something for the employee. The purpose focuses the team's effort for both the company and the employee.

However, this just scratches the surface of all the benefits that can be made available to team members when a team leader helps the team with its basic tasks, those we outlined and explained at the training.

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3: How would you like to . . . develop teams in such a way that dysfunctional, non-productive behavior is minimized or eliminated?

Certainly as team leader you will see a lot of individual dysfunctional and non-productive behavior. But, you need to see such behavior as something the team itself must deal with. In other words, you notice individual behavior, but you do not act on it. You leave that for the team. Instead, you do what is necessary for the team to become able to deal with it.

These are the reasons that the team must deal with dysfunctional, non-productive behavior of individuals. (A) You will not always be around to help. It is more likely that only team members will be around when help is needed. (B) The team members, working together, should be able to come up with better solutions than you, once they have experience and confidence in dealing with their own problems. (C) Dysfunctional behavior might purposely be hidden from the team leader, but not the team members. Employees can deny to you that they did whatever you are bringing to their attention, and you will hindered in supervising. But, team members will often be eye witnesses.

The keys to helping teams eliminate both team and individual non-productive, dysfunctional behavior are (1) the team purpose and (2) the team handling its own problems (its own and its members' off-target behavior).

The team purpose defines what is helpful and what is dysfunctional. Most members have not thought through what kinds of individual behavior is dysfunctional with regard to their team's purpose. They automatically think of the simple problems like not showing up to work on time. In thinking of a few such obvious harmful behaviors, they assume that they have identified them all. In fact, they have thought of no more than ten percent of the possible individual behaviors that could hold the team back. If, as team leader, you list the things your team's members do that you consider bad for productivity or morale, you will notice many behaviors that do not automatically come to mind.

The team purpose also helps identify helpful and unhelpful actions of the team as a whole. The tasks of a responsible team are listed to the right for your review. It is the specific applications of these tasks that must be analyzed as to whether they are functional or dysfunctional.

The team being given the task to deal with its own problems motivates the team to solve problems so that they do not keep coming up. This ownership of their own problems also reduces many problems that often arise between labor and management, supervised and supervisor. Under this model the team leader is primarily a helper and secondarily an authority figure. He or she is someone who helps the team resolve its own difficulties so that it reaches its purpose in the most enjoyable and effective way possible.

Therefore, it is most crucial that you as a team leader do not solve the majority of the team's problems. If you do, team members will resent that you are not letting them participate as well as feel that you are imposing solutions out of power and authority, even though you just mean to be of help.

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4: How would you like to . . . develop teams in such a way that dependency is minimized or eliminated and independent competency established?

Dependency on teams exists for two reasons, an external reason and one caused by poor team leadership style. Good team leaders need to be aware of both causes of dependency, because both need to be overcome by teams through specific team leader behaviors.

There are a great many individuals who possess too little self-confidence, even though they are quite competent. They come to the job that way. The cause is usually in the way they were raised as children. Two polar extremes can cause lack of confidence in one's abilities: not being expected to perform competently and having to perform competently under unreasonable pressure.

Some parents don't require their children to do much around the house or to be responsible for tougher and tougher chores over the years. Perhaps they are afraid their children will develop a sense of failure or they don't want to add pressure to a busy schedule, but many kids think unconsciously that the real reason they don't have to do much or very difficult things is that they are not very capable. These children grow up without both confidence and also competence. They never discovered their potential.

Other children were expected to better at assigned tasks and chores than was reasonable and they either failed or were unfairly criticized. For example, at twelve years old, a boy was expected to do a mature job of landscaping when mowing the lawn. Many of these kids will grow up to be competent adults without good self-confidence.

These employees need their teams to help them over their lack of competence and/or absence of adequate self-confidence. A sharp team leader will make sure that his or her team encourages people, gives feedback about jobs well done, and helps out to train team members who do not yet know how to do a good job. And he or she will not do these things much, but will see that the whole team does them often. By not acting like the parent that does too much for the children, the successful team leader delegates to the team and its members so that they can develop more and more confidence in interpersonal tasks and increasing confidence.

The second cause of crippling dependency on teams comes from team leaders who do too much for their teams. You want to examine yourself and make sure that you are not treating your team and its members as less capable than they are. If you want to help them and not create dependency, do the simpler tasks they are able to do, not the more difficult.

People become dependent when other people do difficult things for them that they are capable of doing themselves. Good team leaders avoid creating dependency in people and teams by letting people do everything they are capable of, especially the tougher things. And when a person is having trouble doing something difficult, the wise team leader directs that person to the team for help. This builds a sense of competency in the team and its members and they become more confident and capable of independent, capable action.

Three good things happen when a team leader resists doing things for team members or the team. First, just because the team leader believes in them inspires individual and team confidence. Second, the individual team member who has to do the task gains confidence from having done something new and/or difficult. Third, the team gains confidence in group problem-solving while team members who contributed to the solution see that they, too, can be leaders.

The best team leaders do not congratulate themselves that they solve the most difficult problems or complete the hardest tasks. Instead, they feel great for building the team. When team leaders help the team succeed, they have something to celebrate. When teams help their members succeed, then the team as a whole has something to holler about.

Helping people succeed is the sign of a great team leader, not doing things for people. There are many people who had parents who did not help them successfully complete difficult tasks. Instead, they took over the job and did it themselves. Without knowing it, they taught their kids that they were incapable, and those people are now adults and they are everywhere – sadly – underachieving.

Yet, skillful team leaders can set these people free by believing in them, not rescuing them from difficult assignments, and helping them succeed, usually by helping the team help them succeed.

The opposite kind of employees also exist. They are the ones who had parents that gave them confidence by giving them ever-increasingly difficult assignments and praising their successful performances. These confident, capable employees are those who will strongly resent a team leader who does all the thinking and makes all the decisions. Team leaders who do too much for these employees will cause conflicts with authority, poor morale, and a host of other problems.

So, if you want to eliminate dependency and build competence and confidence, do not do for the team what it can do for itself whenever possible, which is most of the time.

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5: How would you like to . . . increase cooperation among team members?

Team members won't cooperate if they do not see the critical necessity of working well together. You might think that being on a team automatically leads to teamwork. Not so.

It is most unfortunate that most people think of being on a team not so much as working together as all being on the same list of names. For example, the phrase "we're all on the same team" rarely means that we must learn to work together. It usually just means that we all want the same thing. Or it is a marketing ploy to build a bridge between seller and buyer. Our highly individualistic society often works against teamwork.

To have significant cooperation among team members, a team leader must do tasks that correctly start a group of people off as a team, as we discussed in the training you attended. As your notes from the seminar will point out, right at the beginning the team leader suggests a team purpose that will meet the organization's need and also some basic needs of the team members (usually good working conditions and a pay check).

After a team has adopted a significant team purpose stated in terms of results (not activity), the team needs to discuss what kind of team and member behavior will be necessary to achieve the desired results. This discussion cannot be overlooked. It is this very discussion about needed behaviors that sets the stage for cooperation and efficiency in teamwork.

This discussion will highlight many cooperative behaviors that are necessary for the team to be successful. Getting to work on time, communicating need-to-know information, being friendly, and helping one another do their jobs right are just a few of the many things that the team will mention.

After the team leader gets the team as a whole to discuss constructive team member behavior in light of the critical team purpose, a discussion should be held regarding what the team as a whole will need to do. Here is where it will be mentioned that the team must work cooperatively. A long list of things the team as a whole will need to do should be mentioned, among which might be making sure that every team member gets a chance to contribute, knowing the strengths and weakness of all team members as well as the team leader, and regularly evaluating the team's performance.

Helpful to increased team cooperation is an additional discussion of what individual and team behaviors need to be avoided. Dysfunctional individual behaviors might include complaining rather than problem-solving, forming alliances, and not bringing to the team problems that need to be solved in a timely manner. Dysfunctional team behaviors to be avoided might include circular discussions that go nowhere, taking too much time for pleasantries and joke-telling, and excluding or not dealing with a disliked team member.

Then, after these discussions, the team leader must help the team implement what they have decided, promoting constructive individual and team behaviors and discouraging destructive as well as useless behaviors. As they do this over time, more and more needed behaviors and cooperation will be identified and implemented.

And keep in mind those four big mistakes in team leadership. (See front page.) They are deadly on team cooperation. Not leading the team as a whole prevents such cooperation. No critical purpose removes any reason for cooperation. Doing for team members what they can do for themselves supplants cooperation. And not leading the team toward synergy dismisses cooperation.

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6: How would you like to . . . develop teams that think through what will be necessary to accomplish the team's purpose?

The first step to getting teams to think how to accomplish their purpose is the initial discussion by the team and its members just after forming a work group into a true team about appropriate and necessary behavior for success.

But teams are notorious for discussing things and even making decisions, yet not implementing those decisions. Following through on initial decisions on how to accomplish the team's purpose is critical, and the successful team leader often asks the team to take a look at how the team is doing in working on its purpose and how progress can be improved. If this is asked seldom, the team is most likely to become dependent upon a reminder from the team leader to analyze its progress. However, if the team leader asks the team often and regularly how it is doing on working toward its purpose and implementing decisions and action plans previously decided, it will become automatic for the team to assess itself.

Lack of progress and lack of accomplishment usually bring a team to disillusionment, discouragement and abandonment of the challenging aspects of the initial purpose. But, lack of progress should merely be a challenge. The team leader must encourage the team to identify its lack of progress and problem-solve. In expecting eventual success, the team leader does not allow the team to even approach discouragement and lethargy.

While the team is working on its tasks and agendas, the skillful team leader should be analyzing the team's progress toward its purposes, goals and objectives. This is done silently in the leader's thought processes. When the team leader perceives a lack of progress, he or she should make note of it and wait a little while to see if the team will identify its own lack of progress. This fits the principle of not doing for others what they can eventually do for themselves. But, if the team does not recognize its lack of progress after a while, then the team leader should ask the team how its progress is coming. This subtle hint usually helps the team take a look, and forward momentum will be noticed.

Once the team recognizes its lack of progress, with or without the team leader's help, the team leader should wait to see if the team will analyze its own functioning, problem-solve, and implement a plan of action to overcome the inertia. If, within reasonable time, the team does not do something about its lack of progress, the team leader should ask the team what it wants to do to turn its lack of progress around. The team leader then must not offer too many suggestions or the team will back off from being independent and wait for the leader to decide what to do. Such will undermine the team's efforts to think through what will be necessary to accomplish the team's purpose.

Last, remember that avoiding the four major mistakes in team leadership will help a team struggle with what is necessary for success. (See first page.) Leading the team as a whole will help the team know that it is fully responsible to work toward accomplishing the purpose, instead of the leader or a few assertive team members. Helping the team establish a significant purpose will provide the challenge necessary to motivate the team and its members. Helping the team by not doing what the team and its members can do will provide and sustain the team's ownership and allow the team to think through what will be necessary to accomplish the team's purpose. And helping the team develop synergy will draw out the best ideas on how to accomplish the team's purpose.

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7: How would you like to . . . develop teams that encourage every-one to make their best contributions?

Several things help teams learn to consistently encourage everyone to make their best contributions. But it is not easy because of our American culture. In our highly individualistic society with its "sink or swim" mentality, "every man or woman for himself or herself" is the dominant theme. Helping one another achieve is absent everywhere, even where it is most critical -- in the family.

The most effective teams bring out the best from everybody. However, there are few good examples. Sports teams only give us an inadequate example because it is special coaches, not the players themselves, who help players give their best contributions. In the work world, where cost is prohibitive, it is not practical to hire a coach for every player on a work team. So the team must do the coaching of its own members.

First, a team has to go through the initial contracting phase where various agreements are made between team members and with the team leader. These agreements set the stage for constructive work toward a very important team purpose. The phrase "to help each other" in a team's simple purpose statement (a statement closer to a slogan than a mission statement) is critical.

A sales team might have this purpose statement: "To help each other so that the team sells one million dollars of product every quarter and the team members truly enjoy their work." The phrase "to help each other" sets the expectation for cooperation and encouragement which would include, among many other things, the task of encouraging everyone to make their best contribution.

In my training, I explained the absolute necessity for the team leader to lead the team as a whole. It is disastrous to lead the team by only supervising the individual team members or by treating the team when it is together in a meeting as if it is merely a collection of individuals somehow working together to get a job done. When the team leader leads the team as a whole, he or she gives the work of the team to the team, not to individuals. When someone is not giving his or her best contribution, it becomes a problem for the team to solve – not the team leader or some talented team member.

What this means is that the team leader would do one of two actions, depending upon the maturity of the team and team members. With a very mature team member and team, the team leader would say to the team, "Sally is having trouble reaching her potential. How does the team want to help? What can you do to help her make her very best contribution?"

If the team is new to handling responsibility for such tasks, or if the team member of focus is very insecure and would feel "put on the firing line", then that team leader would work with that individual to ask the team for help in areas of concern.

Lastly, the team leader must not do things that team members can do, at least not the more challenging tasks. If the team leader steps in and does things that a team member should do, the communication is that the person is not capable. This will undermine confidence and that person will be less likely to give his or her best contribution. If the team leader does the actual encouragement of team members to do their best, he or she will undermine the confidence of all team members and the team as a whole. Such action will communicate that the team and its members are not able to do the job of bringing out the best from each team member. (But, it is very important that the team leader encourage the team as a whole to do its best job of encouraging members to do their best.)

You will be pleasantly surprised to see how very well teams can encourage its members to make their best contributions to the team's efforts.

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8: How would you like to . . . develop teams that know how to make decisions and carry them out effectively?

A successful team must be able to make good decisions and then carry them out. This is easier said than done. Often, it is only the making of decisions that is easy.

First of all, the team needs to know that it has the responsibility to make decisions that will contribute to achieving the team purpose. It is the team leader's job to make sure that the team understands this responsibility. This is best initiated during a discussion of the goals that will lead to accomplishment of the team's purpose. Goals are decisions, and the team leader can caution the team to make wise decisions regarding each goal and its priority for team resources. Periodic review of goal accomplishment also offers the opportunity for the team leader to remind the team about making and carrying out decisions.

Over time, a team should become better and better at making and implementing decisions. However, at the first, it will probably be necessary for the team leader to keep track of decisions made by the team. The alert team leader will regularly review these decisions the team has made to see if they have fallen by the wayside. If so, the team leader must remind the team that it had made a decision that they need to implement or abort.

Teams need to decide how they will make decisions. Will they be simple majority, two-thirds, or consensus? Then teams need to get each team member to agree to treat team decisions as final, even if he or she disagreed. Everyone needs to abide by team decisions.

What if the decision is not the team's decision, but one that "comes from above"? No problem. But there is a better way of handling it than just telling the team that there is something they have to do. It is far better to get them to "buy into" the decision and, thereby, make it their own decision also. This may sound a bit naive, but let me assure you that it is not. Suppose a team leader hands out a new procedure for the team to follow and says, "Here is a new procedure the company is expecting us to do. Do you want to do it?" In most cases, after a bit of grumbling, the team will answer, "Yes." But, if the team says it does not want to do the new procedure, the team leader can ask, "Why not?" This will only open up concerns or problems that need to be addressed.

If the team expresses a lot of complaining, the team leader can help the team separate out those concerns that really do not connect with the new procedure and encourage the team to schedule another time to discuss those issues. If the team just outright says that it does not want to implement the new procedure, the team leader will help them assess what will happen if they do not. Most likely they will see that they will be fired. Then the team leader will ask them if they want to quit their jobs or find some way to think about the new procedure so that they agree to implement it. In the end, the team leader will help the team find a way to incorporate the new procedure without it seriously affecting morale. The team might decide to do the new procedure, yet still communicate their concerns or proposed improvement up the chain of command.

Some people believe that letting people express their concerns through complaining is counterproductive. And, it usually is. But that is because the problem is not bounced back to the team to solve. Low morale and negative thinking can best be solved by the team itself. It is just another problem the team must address with discussion, decisions, and the carrying out of those decisions.

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9: How would you like to . . . develop teams that help everyone know how to do whatever is needed to do their jobs well?

Teams that are led professionally know that it is the job of the team itself to make sure that all team members know what is expected of them for accomplishment of the team purpose. Usually this is left to the team leader or larger organization. But this sabotages the team and removes accountability for a good job done from the team and its members to the more distant and less-informed team leader or organization.

At the beginning of a team is the best time to help the team clarify expectations of team members. Right after a team agrees on its purpose, a fairly comprehensive discussion about what will be needed from the team and the team members is necessary. During this time many things will be identified that will be helpful to the team in its pursuit of the purpose. Following that focus, the discussion should transition to what team and individual behaviors will be detrimental to efficient and effective progress toward the team's purpose.

If this was not done at the start of the team, it can be done now. During an upcoming meeting the team leader can ask the team to evaluate how it is progressing on its purpose and related goals. Then the team leader can suggest that the team discuss what behaviors of the team and its members have been helpful and which have not been useful. After this lengthy discussion, the team leader can ask if the team can identify anything the team or the team members can do that would speed up progress toward the purpose or improve the quality of goal accomplishment.

During the regular course of teamwork, it is the team's responsibility to help its members become more skillful as well as stop dysfunctional behavior and processes. If the team leader has done a good job of helping the team know that it is responsible for its own work, for solving problems that arise, and for reaching goals related to the purpose, then the team will have an investment in the end result of their labor. This sense of responsibility will cause the group and its members to take responsibility for the performance of team members as well as the team as a whole.

Whenever a team member is unsure of what to do, or is doing a poor job, or is wanting to improve his or her performance, the team will step in. Since the final result is the team's desired and chosen purpose, the team will not ignore a team member's confusion or inadequate performance. And, the team leader should be there to aid the team in helping the confused or struggling team member.

Ownership of work toward the team purpose drives the team's concern for the performance of individual team members. It the purpose is one the team really wants to accomplish, the team will help its team members know how to do whatever is needed to do their jobs well.

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10: How would you like to . . . develop teams that solve problems rather than complain and lose morale?

Teams that do not fully realize it is their responsibility to work toward the team purpose will look to the team leader to solve team problems. Unfortunately, team leaders often think it is their responsibility to be the problem-solver. But if team leaders solve the problems teams face, teams will develop a dependency on leadership that robs them of their confidence to solve problems.

When a team leader steps in and solves a problem that the team could solve with a little help from the team leader, that leader communicates nonverbally that it is not the job of the team to solve problems. Furthermore, it communicates that the leader does not think that the team and its members have the skill to solve problems.

Two reactions can occur when a team leader does not encourage and allow the team to come up with its own solutions. First, team members can become angry at being insulted. This will usually be an unconscious reaction. But anger at management will grow by leaps and bounds. The feeling that management just imposes things on the team will become exaggerated. The world is full of people who do not believe in themselves but have trouble with authority because their parents did not believe in them and took over for them when things became a little difficult. Consider the father who, when seeing his cub scout son is struggling with the building of his pinewood derby car, takes over completely the construction of the car and the testing of its performance. That father gives no vote of confidence to his son. If his son gets angry that the father did not let him finish the car, distrust and anger at authority might set in.

On the other hand, if the cub scout thinks his dad does not think he is capable of doing a good job on the pinewood derby car, something worse than anger will follow. That boy will develop a lack of confidence in himself and his performance across the board is likely to go down, often for the rest of his life. He will avoid assertive action for fear that he is inadequate to do a good job. Later in life, this boy as a man will act incapable and helpless in the face of even simple problems faced in his employment and private life.

So, the team leader who solves the team's problems is likely to create negative performance, either in the form of resentment of authority, complaining and poor morale or in the form of passive, dependent behavior by competent team members who have no confidence.

Instead, the professional team leader almost always gives problems to the team to solve. At first, the team will take longer to solve the problem than if the team leader just solved the problem himself or herself. But in time the team will solve and prevent many problems quickly because of the skills and confidence produced by handling "their own stuff". Professional team leaders realize that they are building teams, not getting work done on other tasks. They believe that the teams they lead can and will do a far superior job of solving problems than they could do themselves – once their teams learn from opportunities given them.

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11: How would you like to . . . develop teams that recognize strengths and weaknesses with members helping one another rather than expecting everyone to be good at everything the job requires?

The great advantage of teams is the breadth of talents and skills available. When a successful team knits those strengths together to achieve a team purpose, far superior results are possible.

The professional team leader helps the team recognize the strengths it has in its members as well as the cumulative strength of the whole team acting synergistically. There are so many "mystery talents" waiting for discovery in every team. Unfortunately, those resources are usually overlooked by teams and their leaders.

Therefore, professional team leaders keep in mind that the team needs to recognize the available strengths in its members. It is a task necessary for outstanding success that a team take time and effort to bring out the best in its members. But the team will not do this adequately unless the team leader helps the team do it.

The team leader can best encourage this recognition of talent during team meetings. As the team struggles with a problem, the natural tendency will be for a few more vocal individuals to carry the discussion, most likely leaving out those more knowledgeable but less assertive or extraverted. This is when the team leader can make a timely comment, such as, "Does the team know which team members have special knowledge or talent regarding the problem you are considering?" The team leader might also add, "The team needs to be careful not to overlook talent and defer to the most talkative members." If this is done regularly, it will not be long before such reminders are unnecessary.

Just because of this tendency of teams to be controlled by those most vocal, teams must also recognize the weaknesses of team members. During team meetings, the team needs to make sure that it is not listening to those with less knowledge, skill or talent regarding the issue under discussion. And, at all times, the team needs to make sure that it is not relying on team members without the necessary talent. That is when a team must see that those with needed strengths help those whose weaknesses might get in the way of team success.

The team leader helps the team with its task of recognizing weaknesses by being comfortable in exposing such weaknesses and dealing with them. The leader might address the team and say something like, "The team needs to assess whose skills are not as high as this task requires and get those skills up or work around that team member's weaknesses." There will likely be a bit of a silence when such a concept is first openly stated. But, if the leader clarifies that no criticism is intended, and once it is seen to be safe to admit and recognize weaknesses, everyone will be relieved. The team will help and team members will not have to hide their shortcomings and hope that they do not fail.

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12: How would you like to . . . develop teams that add enough to the job to make it rewarding for each and every team member?

Teams need to know that every member needs to feel good about the team experience. This means that a successful team must make sure that there is enough variety in the work of the team to meet the needs of all team members. Teams will rarely realize this without the team leader's help.

For example, there may be more exciting job descriptions and less stimulating job descriptions on a team. Yet, the success of the team depends on all team members, those excited members as well as those who are bored with their jobs. Those whose jobs are less stimulating are more likely to quit, take unnecessary sick leave, come to work late, complain and bring down team morale, and overstay their breaks and lunch hour. This negatively affects the team's success. To be successful, the team must deal with this dilemma.

The answer to this dilemma is simply that everyone needs to get enough enjoyment out of the job. This is the same as saying that it is the task of a successful team to see that there is enough variety of activities to meet the needs of all members. The team that struggles with this team task will discover that there are many ways to add excitement to the more boring job descriptions. For example, friendship can't be beat. If a mailroom clerk is invited to lunch with the sales members of the team, and he is included and not patronized, such will make his job more personally worthwhile. Likewise, a team might be able to switch job duties around a bit to add something interesting to an otherwise boring job. For example, the filing clerk might be cross-trained to relieve the receptionist. Or, everyone might take a short shift in filing to give the filing clerk time to do some other office chore.

Let's illustrate this principle by looking at the family. When Mom, Dad and the kids go on a vacation, for that trip to be truly successful every family member must be able to do some fun things. Those not having fun will inevitably complain or behave poorly, thus taking some of the fun out of the vacation. If the family operates like a well-oiled team, it will plan enough different activities so that every family member will find enjoyment. Thus, the happiest families on vacation are those where every individual gets to do some fun things, and, in return, helps the others to enjoy their chosen activities.

Just as the family will not plan activities for everyone if the parents do not think of it, the team will not consider seeing that everyone enjoys his or her job. It is the team leader's task to get the team to work on making sure that everyone enjoys their job. Pointing this out to the team during team meetings or actually having the team discuss the need to see that everyone has adequate variety to enjoy their job is a leadership task.

But, note that it really is best if the team take on this task. Certainly, a team leader could add variety to a job description. And, parents could do all of the thinking for the family vacation. But, in robbing the team or family of its right to work on this task will only create problems. For example, in trading off bits of job descriptions, employees could resent losing exciting parts of their jobs and taking on some boring tasks to keep another employee happy. Only in the context of this task being the responsibility of the team will employees make such trades. They will do it for the sake of their team. And, in the family, much cooperation is needed from Junior who hates museums while the family takes its time in a museum Sister wanted to visit. Therefore, teams and families must be led in such a way that they deal with this task of providing enough variety for everyone to be happy.

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13: How would you like to . . . develop teams that can distinguish team and team member actions that will enhance success from those that will be detrimental to the team's purpose?

Teams must take responsibility for monitoring the team's behavior as well as the actions of each and every team member. On most teams, team members depend on the team leader to make sure team and individual actions are functional and not dysfunctional. When teams leave this task to the team leader, team functioning and productivity is seriously inhibited.

Therefore, the team leader must give the responsibility for deciding and analyzing the team's actions to the team. Teams must also be given the responsibility for analyzing the actions of team members. It is all too natural for the team and its members to look to the team leader for these tasks. Therefore, the professional team leader makes sure, right from the start, that the team knows it must distinguish team and individual actions that will enhance success from those that will be detrimental to the team's purpose. And, then the team leader must stubbornly keep from doing that task, while actively helping the team as a whole analyze actions. (Technically speaking, it is even the team's job to make certain the team leader's actions are functional rather than dysfunctional.)

Success always starts by the leader helping the team define and adopt an important purpose. If the team and its members do not consider the purpose critical, they will not care about the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of team and member actions. But, if the purpose is seriously desirable, there will be energized motivation to see that actions move the team toward the desired purpose and its important goals.

Once the purpose is decided, the team leader must ask the team to discuss what individual and team behaviors will be necessary to move the team toward accomplishment of the goals that lead to accomplishment of the purpose. This discussion of desirable and undesirable behaviors should not be hurried. This early identification of needed actions and behaviors to avoid will save much time and effort in the future. It will also prevent work done being sabotaged by inappropriate actions.

For example, necessary team actions related to the human relations side of team success include confidentiality, mutual support and respect of differences. Conversely, dysfunctional actions include gossip, unconcern for others on the team, and judgmental statements. These three action-clusters are but the tip of the iceberg. When asked to do so, team members will identify scores of needed functional behaviors and inappropriate actions. In doing so, the team sets the stage for very efficient productivity.

So, the professional team leader must delegate to the team its own task of being responsible for its own behavior and analyzing that behavior's usefulness in light of the team purpose.

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14: How would you like to . . . develop teams that can come up with creative solutions to complex personnel problems?

The old adage, "Two heads are better than one" is really true, although it has been challenged by the inefficiency of most committees. But, really, those committees we think of are not being led correctly. Committees and teams can do much better than even imaginable. Two to ten heads are far better than one – if the leader steps in with solid team leadership skills. However, professional team leadership skills are as rare as three-legged kangaroos.

Let me tell you what is really unimaginable – the variety of people problems a work team can face. From the employee whose mother-in-law pinned him down to lecture him making him late to work, to the employee who must leave immediately on time to get home before the dogs urinate on the rug, people problems cannot always be predicted. No matter how thorough the company policies and procedures, people and their needs will present something not thought of before.

For a team to come up with creative solutions to complex personnel problems, the team must know that it is its job to solve these problems. Most people have spent all of their working lives employed where teams are just what you call people who happen to be contributing to a task. It was most likely never emphasized that they become skillful in working together. Almost all problems were resolved by management.

The problem is that management has far fewer options with which to solve most personnel problems. Teams on the other hand, have many more ways to deal with personnel problems. (And I am not talking about the "woodshed treatment" where physical action is taken out of sight!) For example, teams have the powerful resource of friendliness with which to woo a person to change their behavior or want to come to work on time.

Why would teams want to resolve people-problems rather than let management do it?

The first reason would be that the team has a purpose that every team member wants to see accomplished. If the team purpose is critical and significant to the team members, they will be highly invested in solving any problem that gets in the way of efficient and effective progress toward the purpose.

The second reason for them to not defer to management, is that management tells them that it is their job. Management, with its heavier hand and disciplinary procedures can then be a last resort. Few employees would not want management to be the very last resort.

And the third reason a team will want to deal with its own personnel problems whenever possible, is that the team will learn that the team can do a better, faster and more complete job of solving problems.

Note that I am not mentioning how a team will solve specific problems people bring to the team process. Those solutions will be as varied as the problems presented. But the team will have the cumulation of many peoples' intelligence as well as social resources such as friendliness, withdrawal of friendliness, concern for each team member, help in many sensitive forms tailored to the specific individual, and too many other resources to mention here. Using these resources, the team will struggle to solve its first problems. The skilled team leader will not rescue them from the struggle, but help them keep with the task until victory comes. Each problem solved will strengthen the team, and soon problem resolution will happen spontaneously, almost without effort.

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15: How would you like to . . . develop teams that help their members emotionally when necessary?

People have feelings. Most of the time those emotions help. It is useful to have team members who get excited about new challenges or angry enough to solve problems or sad when something hurts another team member.

But, sometimes team members struggle with life and emotions get overwhelming. A team member can feel like giving up when some job skill is very difficult to learn. Sometimes team members get angry with one another and become destructive to the team's efforts. I could go on and on with examples.

The successful team helps its team's members with emotional struggles that impede progress toward the team purpose.

For example, if a team member's lack of self-confidence is getting in the way of performance, for the team's good and every member's benefit, the team should try to help before sending the person to get counseling. When teams struggle to help a low self-esteem member, they can actually help that person quite a bit. And, when they do, they help themselves as well.

Let's keep working with the example of the team with a member who is good at a job but lacks confidence and hesitates to act in a timely and/or assertive manner. The team leader should ask the team to address the person's lack of belief in himself or herself in a team meeting, right in front of the person. (Few like to be talked about behind their backs.) With a team that has not tackled helping someone with personal performance before, the team leader might say something like, "I've heard many of you mentioning that you wished Jake believed in his skills more. I think the team can help him. Why not talk to him and see what you can do to help and encourage him?" Then the team leader stays silent for as many seconds or minutes it takes for the team to think of what to say and how to go about helping.

For the team that has already helped a team member with a job-related personal problem before, the team leader would not say anything in order to see if the team would begin helping without being coached. If the team did not take up the ball to run with it, the team leader might say, "As you all know it is the team's responsibility to help any member having trouble being successful on the team. You need everyone to function as well as he or she can. There is someone who needs your help believing in himself. Why don't you put your heads together on this now and see if the team can be of help." (Note, it is not said as a question.) The team leader then stays silent and lets the team take it from there. If the team leader needs to encourage the team, he or she says something like, "You have done this before and done a very fine job."

Being singled out like that is not as embarrassing as you might think. Doubting one's abilities and letting the team down is far more embarrassing. And, there is no end in sight. If it is embarrassing, it will be so only until the team shows concern and begins to help. For the few who have trouble accepting help, it is a team leader's task to ask the team to help the person see that taking help is a smart thing to do that shows up positive in job performance evaluations. The team leader can also talk to the individual and say something like, "The team wants to help you. They can help you be a more valuable team member."

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16: How would you like to . . . develop teams that help their members functionally when necessary?

Sometimes teams need to help their members with individual job functions. This might be necessary when a task needs to be learned or when job demand is excessive and the individual cannot possibly get the work done within the team's time frame.

Usually, it is left to one team member or the team leader to teach job skills. But, if this task is given to the team as a whole, there is much benefit that would otherwise be lost. (a) When the team trains someone, everyone becomes cross-trained, at least a little. (b) When the team trains someone, the person trained receives encouragement from a lot more people. (c) When the team trains someone, everyone is invested in that person's success. (d) When the team trains someone, the team leader can spot potential leaders for future tasks and company promotions. If the team leader assigns training to one person, he or she might be selecting the most outgoing person rather than the best teacher or leader. (e) When the team trains someone, the team and the team leader will be able to identify those team members who are weak in the area being taught and avoid giving them special assignments involving that skill set.

Secondly, many things can impede an employee's production that are not the fault of the employee. Illness is the most familiar, but there are many other things like equipment breaking down, unexpected and unusual traffic jams, unforeseen special tasks that eat time, etc. When these kinds of things put a member of the team behind, it often affects everyone, as well as the team deadline. Successful teams watch to see who is falling behind and help out. Even if it is the employee's negligence or work style that is at fault, the team helps out and then deals with the problem of negligence or poor work habits later.

This task of seeing if anyone needs "a little help from his/her friends" is usually done by the team leader. But the astute team leader will avoid doing this task. It is much better that the team and its members spot when a team member needs help getting something done. This is because the team will often find out much sooner than the team leader and, therefore, jump into the action earlier and prevent a workload crisis. The employee will also appreciate the team discovering and acting on the problem (rather than the team leader), because often the team leader will have job performance evaluation duties. Help from friends is safer than help from the boss almost any day. Besides, if the team reaches out and helps on its own, then any team member who sees that he or she needs help will be able to freely ask for it from the team. This will encourage an employee to seek help at the earliest possible moment. But, if the team leader asks the team to help, then such help is felt to be coming in the way of a work assignment rather than help freely given.

How does a team leader get the team started in giving help freely? Well, the best time to address the responsibility of the team to functionally help out team members is when the team is started. (During the Contracting Phase we discussed at the training you attended.) Remember that the beginning team should discuss what behavior on the part of individual team members and the team as a whole is necessary to make good progress on the team purpose. But, if that was not done, then during a meeting or in a memo, the team leader should state something like, "It seems that if your team is to reach your goal, the team will have to jump in and help when someone falls behind in his or her work. What do you think?"

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17: How would you like to . . . develop teams that help their members get outside help when necessary to be able to do their jobs better?

People have problems from time to time. Even very talented team members will have struggles beyond their own resources every once in a while. Sometimes these situations will interfere with a team member's best performance on the team.

It is the team's responsibility to help its members get outside help when their team performance is negatively affected by personal or skill problems.

Think of an Olympic relay team. Winning the gold medal is dependent upon all four people doing their very best. Competition is tough. If they want the medal they have to deal with any problem that comes along for any team member. If it is a problem they themselves can take care of, like a team member coming to practice late, they provide the help. But, if the problem is something that is beyond their resources, then they must help the team member get the help needed elsewhere as quickly as possible. If the team member cannot concentrate on the relay because of a marital problem, the team needs to request and strongly encourage him or her to seek marital therapy so that he or she can limit thinking about the problem to the therapy session. If the problem is one that can only be helped by physical therapy, the team again insists the team member get help and be faithful in the therapeutic regimen.

Team members can be diverted from giving the team their best efforts by lack of education and training, financial problems, family problems, car problems and a host of other life challenges. People don't just have work to deal with. The faster they deal with other problems, the quicker their minds are freed for the team business at hand.

The team leader often must help the team realize that it is the team's responsibility to help its members get outside help when necessary to be able to do their jobs well. Too often the team members think that this is the job of the team leader. However, the team leader usually finds out about the need for outside help long after team members see the need. Furthermore, the team can put social pressure on the team member to get the needed help, and that pressure is more welcome and more effective than the implied threat of losing the job or losing pay raises that accompanies the team leader's insistence on outside help.

The team need not involve itself in getting a member to seek outside help until it clearly affects the team member's performance. If it affects the team member, it affects the whole team and becomes the team's business. This is when the team leader, with his or her oversight, can see the negative effect of a team member's life struggle and help the team help that person get outside help. And, in those particular sticky situations when management's hands might be tied for legal reasons, the team itself can still become involved without risking the company to possible legal action down the road.

The team is often more effective in getting someone to seek outside help because that task involves pointing out how such help will lessen stress and bring desired results and how it will help the team.

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18: How would you like to . . . develop teams that identify and utilize all available resources that are necessary for the best accomplishment of the team purpose?

It is the responsibility of the team to get the job done the best way possible. To do this, the team must utilize all available resources that are helpful for the best accomplishment of the team purpose. Depending on the team purpose, the number of resources can be very many.

What information is available that could be useful in reaching goals and working on the team's purpose? Are there people who should be talked to? Might there be useful information on the Internet? Should a team member take a college course or attend a conference? Are there machines that would do a better job than the ones available?

What resources to tap depends on the particular team. A secretarial team might need to keep abreast of what new office supplies are available by briefly looking through office supply catalogs that come in the mail. Whenever something new is needed, the secretarial team might be in touch with a couple of similar teams across the country and ask how they handle such a need.

A product delivery team might check into the latest truck maintenance techniques. Perhaps a conversation with the managers of a few of the stores they deliver to would help them understand how to be most sensitive to the needs of the customer. Or perhaps the team that drives trucks and delivers product needs to be on the lookout for health-related items like new and improved back braces to protect team members from injury.

A sales management team has many available resources to help accomplish goals and work toward the sales team purpose. Other sales teams in related but not competing areas can be information sources, giving suggestions and making cross referrals. This team might also want to take advantage of friends and job placement agencies to find more sales people.

So, how does the team leader help the team to take on this task of utilizing all available resources necessary for the best accomplishment of the team purpose?

Usually teams will do this task without reminder. But, it is very easy for the team leader to remind the team that they should use whatever resources are available in light of their purpose and goals, as well as time available. A simple statement like, "Remember that, working as a team, there are resources out there that might help and it is your job, not mine, to find and use those resources." Such a statement will not only give the team its task, but it will also reduce dependency on you as the leader.

You can further improve a team's resourcefulness by helping the team talk about who can check out what resources. Often until synergy develops and brainstorming occurs, the breadth of resources is not tapped.

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19: How would you like to . . . develop teams that can successfully work with other groups of people and systems that affect their performance?

The most successful teams utilize all resources that can help accomplish the team purpose and goals. They also deal with other systems that inhibit progress. It is the responsibility of the team leader to help the team accept these tasks as its own.

Using Helpful Resources
There are many resources outside of the team itself that can help the team succeed. Usually, the team will think of these on its own. However, it is too often the case that the team leader instructs the team to use this-and-that resource to get the team's job done. The problem with the team leader doing this is that it creates dependency. The team will be less likely to search for additional resources and the team's initiative will be squelched by seeing that it just has to passively carry out the team leader's instructions.

It is much better that the team leader ask the team in a meeting what resources it thinks can help the team succeed. After all ideas have been expressed, the team leader can then say, "The company would like you to also use the resources of this-and-that." In this way, the team does not develop a "sit-back-and-let management do all of the thinking" mentality.

When the team leader later thinks of another possible resource, he or she can request that the team evaluate the usefulness of this new resource. If the team rejects a useful resource, it is only a chance for the team leader to lead a team-changing discussion of why the resource was found to be unnecessary. If there is some other resistance than the actual unhelpfulness of the resource, this will come out during the discussion.

Systems that Hinder Progress
There are many things inside the team itself that can hinder progress. But, here we are addressing all of those things that can hinder team performance from outside of the team. Examples of outside systems that can hinder the work of the team are management, other teams within the organization, the heating and cooling system of the building, weather, the employee evaluation process, family responsibilities, automobiles, suppliers, and a host of other things.

All of these systems must be dealt with by the team when they begin to hinder team progress. For example, the team must figure out ways of operating when a team member must be gone for family emergencies. The team might decide that a limited amount of cross training is necessary. Similarly, the team will need to remedy supply problems. A team can even brainstorm ways to impact management for the better.

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20: How would you like to . . . develop teams that can assess their own performance and take independent action to improve their team and its performance?

Successful teams take total responsibility for their own performance and success. But, this does not happen automatically. It takes the kind of team leadership we discussed at the training almost a year ago.

Team leadership is not team directorship. The successful team leader does not direct the action of the team. Instead, the successful team leader helps the team to direct its own work toward its own purpose. When the team leader gives the work of the team to the team to direct, the team will take responsibility for getting the job done. When and where the team does not, the team leader asks what is holding the team back from taking responsibility for its own success. Once this is worked through, the team leader has a team that can assess its own performance and take independent action to improve the team and its performance.

Of course, for the team to take responsibility for its own success, there must be times when the team gathers, either informally, or, better yet, in a team meeting for the purpose of assessing the performance of the team and doing other tasks of the team. Time lost in team meetings, if the team leader does a good job of helping, will be regained by better team performance.

When the team is gathered as a whole in a meeting or in part at the water cooler or wherever, the team leader can ask, "How do you think the team is progressing on its purpose?" Other questions can be the following. "How does the team need to work better together?" "What problems does the team need to solve to be more successful?" "What is getting in the way of the team doing the best job possible?" "How does the team think it is doing in addressing [problem]?" "Can the team think of a better way to [do whatever]?" Etc.

During the ensuing discussion, the team leader must not give his or her own ideas. Instead of thinking of his or her own answers to the question he or she has raised, the team leader needs to think about how the team is addressing the question raised. When the team gets stuck, it is the well-thought-out question of the team leader that gets the team going again on assessing its own performance. Too much activity on the team leader's part will stop the process of examining itself, and the team may let the team leader take over, usually resenting such intrusion.

Every time the team assesses its own behavior and works on its own problems, the team becomes more skillful. After a while, the team will develop much confidence and be proud of its own abilities. If a new team leader is assigned that begins to take over directing the work of the team, all that has been accomplished will likely be lost. Morale, which was wonderfully high, will plummet and management will have created a catastrophe. The company will greatly benefit from a self-directed team that has grown in competency and confidence. It does not want to undo what it has gained by such good team leadership.

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21: The Four Biggest Mistakes in Team Leadership Revisited a Year After Your In-House Training

Are you still leading the team?
A year ago at the training you were challenged to lead your team as a whole. Are you still trying? I hope the temptation to become a more dominant figure in the team's efforts has not seduced you back into the old way of doing things.

If you have stuck to your guns and led the team as a whole for this past year, your team should be handling almost all of its own problems by now. If you have concentrated on talking to the team as a whole, your team should have developed its own identity and stopped depending on you for so much direction and problem-solving. If you have given the team its own work to do, the team should be identifying problems and trying to solve them independent of much of your involvement. If you have helped the team to see its own responsibilities, then the team is by now taking care of its own infrastructure and needs, leaving you free for problem-solving at the management level. If you have taught the team how to handle things without your primary involvement, you should have a pretty self-sufficient group by now.

But, teams and team members may have worn you down with the dependency upon leadership that they have developed over the years under less effective models of team leadership. If that has happened, then you have likely found yourself being far too verbal in meetings, far too involved in solving the problems of the team, and far too necessary to the team's success. I can only encourage you to back off and try again to help the team stand on its own strength rather than yours.

Is the team purpose still clearly in the minds of all team members?
Did your team develop its own purpose that fit into the overall mission of the larger organization? Did you remember to refer to the purpose often? Does your team still define its existence in light of the team purpose?

Did your team use the team purpose to define what behavior would be constructive to accomplishing goals and working on the overall purpose? Throughout the year, did your team continue to define more and more needed behavior, both by the team as a whole and by individual team members, for better and better progress toward the team's purpose?

Throughout the year, did your team continue to define more and more dysfunctional behavior, both by the team as a whole and by individual team members, that got in the way of the team's purpose?

Did your team analyze its own progress toward accomplishment of the team's purpose and related goals? Did you help the team have its purpose continually in mind?

If your team did stick to its purpose, then you should have had a successful year. The focus on the purpose likely produced a banner year.

Are you still not doing too much for your team?
Remember that we talked about how important it is for the team leader to not do what the team or its members can do? Have you avoided crippling the group by not doing too much of what the team can accomplish by its own efforts and those of its members? I hope so. This is critical to the development of a confident team.

If you did this well, the team should have become quite strong – capable of doing many things without your direction. This should have made your job easier.

I hope that whenever the team faced a significant problem, you gave the task of finding the best solution to the team itself. If you did, how did the team perform? If the team had trouble coming up with an outstanding solution, did you identify what was holding them back from being more effective in addressing the problem? Did you then give that problem to the team, the task of overcoming whatever barrier was preventing them from being a team that could solve difficult situations?

Did you help the team help its members? Were you able to take a minor role in helping individuals?

With the team and its members doing more of what they were capable of, did team members receive better job evaluations than the previous year as you and the team allowed them to do more and grow in their skills?

I hope you enjoyed letting the team accomplish many things without your involvement – except, of course, your critical leadership of the team as a whole.

Is there much synergy at work in your team?
Over the year did team members interact more with one another? Did you have to specifically point out to the team and its members that synergy was a powerful product of interaction? Did the team encourage its members to stimulate one another and draw out more and more as well as better and better contributions from each and every member?

Which team members, if any, were left out of discussions and problem-solving? Did the team explain to them its critical need of their contributions? Did they contribute?

Did one or two team members dominate the team? Did you help the team see that it needed to work toward more equal participation of all team members? Did the team utilize the dominant members in helping others contribute more? Did the team as a whole become more dominant than the dominant team members?

Can you think of times when one team member asked another team member to help a third team member more adequately contribute to the team's performance? If so, then your team made good progress on establishing the power of synergy. Congratulations.

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Dick Wulf, MSW
P. O. Box 8240
Colorado Springs, Colorado

(719) 520-8191